Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made his debut for the San Francisco 49ers in Week 13 and led his team to a 15-14 away win over the Chicago Bears. The ex-patriot didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but opened up new possibilities for the Niners. SPOX lights up his first appearance.
On Sunday it finally happened, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made his debut for the San Francisco 49ers. Since he was unexpectedly traded to the West Coast by the New England Patriots just over four weeks ago, Niners fans in particular could hardly wait to see his potential franchise QB.
Expectations were high, after all “Jimmy G” was the apprentice of the best quarterback in the last four years. And when last year he was allowed to use it himself during Tom Brady’s lockout, he showed more than just positive approaches. Who knows how good he would have looked without his shoulder injury in the second game of the season against Miami in the next two games without Brady?
Garoppolo made his Niners debut last week against the Seahawks in the end, as Rookie C. J. Beathard had hurt before. Garoppolo immediately orchestrated his first touchdown drive of the season.
In Chicago, Garoppolo’s hometown, he was finally allowed to start from the beginning. Head coach Kyle Shanahan had seen enough of Beathard or who else could pass. It was time to look at how the QB of the future would develop.
And how was Garoppolo? All in all, it is clear that he led the NIners to a 15:14 away win, the second victory of this team in the season and the only fourth in the last two seasons combined.
“It’s not always the most beautiful victory, but at the end of the day you just want to win,”Garoppolo analyzed his first appearance from the beginning for his new team.
Concretely, he started a bit over-motivated and fired a pass over the head of Wide Receiver Louis Murphy – Murphy and Garoppolo had an eventful game together.
The second pass was then a laser to Marquise Goodwin for 15 yards and a new first down. The next pass was a checkdown to play-action on Fullback Kyle Juszczyk for 16 yards and another first down. Garoppolo quickly found his rhythm and eventually prepared a Robbie Gould’s field goal, scoring five times and taking charge of all his team’s points.
What was noticeable in Garoppolo’s early days was his sense of the situation, and Jimmy G was able to adapt to the pace and situation of the game, much like his teacher in New England. He had to go fast because Chicago was lightning, then the fast release came, he had more time, he moved mostly well in his pocket and was looking for the free man. Always looking forward in search of Big Play. And if this didn’t come to pass, they followed safe throws into no-man’s-land or even checkdowns.
However, the latter didn’t always work, especially Running Back Carlos Hyde had his difficulties with it and sometimes dropped short passes. Hyde ended up with five targets on three receptions for lean twelve yards. This part of the game – which Garoppolo knows from Patriots times well enough and which Shanahan also used so gladly in Atlanta – is thus still clearly expandable.
The effectiveness in the red zone is also capable of being built up. The absence of touchdowns underlines this. Five trips to the Red Zone turned into five field goals. The reason for this was not necessarily bad play calling, but rather poor execution of it. The Niners shot themselves, as it is symptomatic for them in this season, again and again with unnecessary penalties even in the foot. But at least Gould and the Niners could rely on their own defense – the Niners only allowed 85 passing yards!
“The Red Zone is a tough place. It’s just like the third try, you have narrow throwing windows, you have to develop blind understanding with your boys and since I’m only here recently, it will take a while before all this works out. But I think we are moving in the right direction overall,”Garoppolo said about the problems just before the end zone.
Garoppolo finally came to 293 yards (26/37) and achieved an interception. His first ever in the NFL after 104 pass attempts without. However, it was by no means on his head. Rather, it was Murphy who simply didn’t hold the ball over the middle. Cornerback Kyle Fuller took advantage of it and grabbed the leather.
The ratio Garoppolo-Murphy was difficult at all – with six targets the receiver caught a pass. For 16 yards. This pass, on the other hand, was one of Garoppolo’s weakest ones, as it was thrown into triple-coverage, which you shouldn’t do as a rule. Murphy caught him, however, making sure that the third quarter was an important first down in the phase.
Apart from this, however, there were not many bad passes of the quarterback, which seemed to be totally cool and kept the peace at all times. That’s what you want from a quarterback – and that’s what you expect from someone who’s had a couple of years on his back. Garoppolo, however, showed this already in the third start. Basically, he already showed it in the two starts in 2016.
“Ever since I met Jimmy, and it’s not that long ago, he was the same boy every day. His mood is never too good or too bad and that’s what you want from a quarterback,”said Shanahan,”and that’s what he kept throughout the game. Of course, not everything was perfect, but he hasn’t changed and that’s what you want. This allows you to overcome mistakes and it helps you not to lose focus when things are going well.”
Also impressive was his understanding of the receivers Goodwin and Rookie Trent Taylor, both of which presented themselves as reliable gaming stations. Goodwin caught eight passes at eight targets (99 yards), Taylor had six receptions at six targets (92 yards) – for him it was even a career record.
“It’s very impressive,”Goodwin said about Garoppolo:”He’s just a confident guy. If you play with this confidence, you’ll feel unstoppable. I’m just happy he came in here and got a victory. It will take him much further than quarterback, as a person and as a leader. And it helps this organization a lot for the future.”
This was also made possible by a pocket that was extremely stable for Niners. Garoppolo collected two sacks and a total of five QB hits. Not a matter of course, after all, the Niners take the seventh-most sacks (37) this season – three per game. But this could also be a result of Garoppolo’s quick decisions.
Speaking of quick decisions: According to ESPN Stats & Information Garoppolo was 9-12 for 115 yards against the lightning. Before that, Niners-Quarterbacks didn’t even pass half their passports (49.6 percent – 29th place in the league) in this situation.
Apart from that, Shanahan should be pleased that his new QB has installed all nine passes after play-action – previously it was 54.5 percent (30th place in the league) for San Francisco in these plays. Connoisseurs of Shanahan’s system know that play-fake is an important part of their playbook.
There are many aspects of the game that Garoppolo is easier to implement than the Niners passers-by who have been busy with it. It didn’t go perfectly, no question. But Garoppolo has achieved one thing: he brings new hope to the Bay Area. He hinted at a level that hasn’t shown any quarterback in this team for a long time. And that’s a good start.