Bill Belichick had nothing but praise for his former quarterback.
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Coming off a Super Bowl appearance and cementing his role of starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo is truly living his best life. Once the backup to Tom Brady, Garoppolo now has the spotlight to himself and has made the most of his opportunities.
In addition to on-the-field accomplishments, he has also managed to secure himself a big contract while in San Francisco, signing a five-year, $137.8 million deal in 2018. Speaking on WEEI Monday afternoon, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick indicated that he is pleased in seeing the success Garoppolo has had on the West Coast.
“Jimmy’s a good quarterback,” Belichick said. “Took them to the NFC Championship last year — won the NFC Championship. So he’s certainly been able to have a high level of achievement, accomplishment out there. They signed him to a contract that showed they had confidence in him as their quarterback.
“So I don’t think any of that is all that surprising. I think we all know Jimmy’s a good player.”
Once thought to be Tom Brady’s successor, Garoppolo has managed to find his niche with the 49ers. Time will tell if he can continue to play at a high level. New England will get a first-hand look at it on Sunday As for now, a change of scenery has served him well.
Kyle Shanahan has done an excellent job in hiding his quarterback when he needed to. He won’t be able to in Super Bowl LIV.
With 34 seconds left in the first quarter of San Francisco’s eventual 27-10 divisional playoff win over the Vikings, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo made a rather gutsy throw to Minnesota linebacker Eric Kendricks that was only prevented from interception status by tight end George Kittle breaking up the pass.
Undaunted, Garoppolo went back to the well with 2:49 left in the first half — this time, he chose to ignore Kendrick’s placement on the field again, and this time, Kendricks got the ball.
The Vikings managed a field goal on their subsequent drive, and on the last play of the half, Garoppolo knelt to kill the clock. And that, for the most part, is the last we’ve seen of Jimmy Garoppolo as a passer.
In the first half of that win over the Vikings, Garoppolo completed eight of 13 passes for 105 yards, a touchdown, and that interception. In the second half, though the 49ers were only up 14-10 at that point, Garoppolo attempted just six passes, completing three for 26 yards. Head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t need Garoppolo to go off because he had a great running game and a clampdown defense, and that trend absolutely continued into the conference championship round.
Running back Raheem Mostert absolutely blew up Green Bay’s defense with 220 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries, and San Francisco’s defense limited the Packers to seven points until the game was already out of hand in a 37-20 win, so it didn’t matter, but… Garoppolo threw the ball just six times, completing eight passes for 77 yards. Per NFL Research, that made the 49ers the third team of the Super Bowl era (the 1971 and 1973 Miami Dolphins were the others) to finish a playoff game with fewer than 10 attempts in the Super Bowl era.
It was a different type of game back then, when you could get away with a few passing attempts as long as you made shot throws downfield. In the 1971 AFC Championship game, Miami beat the Baltimore Colts, 21-0, and Bob Griese completed four of eight passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. Paul Warfield caught a 75-yard touchdown pass, safety Dick Anderson returned a Johnny Unitas pass 62 yards for a touchdown (Unitas threw three picks in the game), and Larry Csonka finished things off with a five-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
The 1973 Dolphins had very much the same prototype — a mistake-free defense, and a running game few teams could stop. Griese completed three of six passes for 34 yards and an interception in Miami’s 27-10 AFC Championship win over the Oakland Raiders because Csonka ran for three touchdowns, and the Dolphins kept the Raiders’ passing game in check. In Super Bowl VIII against the Minnesota Vikings, Griese completed just six of seven passes for 73 yards and the Dolphins won, 24-7, because Csonka ran for two more touchdowns, and the Vikings were limited to just 238 total yards.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese (12) and running back Larry Csonka (39) in action against the Minnesota Vikings during Super Bowl VIII at Rice Stadium. Miami defeated Minnesota 24-7. (Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports)
The 49ers unquestionably have a team that can win in old-school fashion, with their multi-faceted running game and top defense. But can they do so against a Chiefs offense that is rolling on all possible points right now? Patrick Mahomes is playing at a historic level for a postseason quarterback, and if Mahomes plays anything like he did in the divisional and conference championship rounds, odds are the 49ers will need more from Garoppolo in Super Bowl LIV.
The question then is, will they get it? Garoppolo completed 69.1% of his passes in the regular season for 3,978 yards, 27 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions, and he’s been known to give the ball away with some head-shaking coverage awareness issues. If he does that as he did against the Vikings, and the Steelers, and the Cardinals, and the Rams… it could be a long night for Kyle Shanahan and his staff. Adding turnovers to Mahomes’ fire would almost certainly be a recipe for defeat. And in the second half of the regular season, per Sports Info Solutions, Kansas City’s defense engineered a remarkable turnaround that has continued through the postseason.
In Weeks 10-17, the Chiefs tied with the Ravens for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed with seven, and picked off 10 passes — tied with the Falcons, Browns, Colts, Saints, and Dolphins for the most in that span. They also had seven dropped picks in the second half of the season. Only the Steelers, Packers, and Ravens allowed a lower completion percentage than Kansas City’s 57.36%.
In that time, the Chiefs allowed 6.22 yards per attempt — only the Ravens, 49ers, and Steelers were better, and only the Steelers allowed a lower QBR than Kansas City’s 68.72. The Chiefs’ defensive Positive Play Rate (the percentage of plays in which an opposing offense has Expected Points Added over zero) dropped from 46% to 42%.
Yes, Kansas City’s run defense is susceptible even to average teams, much less to San Francisco’s nightmarish array of talent and scheme. But Garoppolo’s not-so-mysterious departure from the 49ers’ offensive design leaves Shanahan with previous little margin for error against a team that could stretch the limits of his “hide-the-quarterback” philosophy to the breaking point.
If that happens, Garoppolo will have to earn every bit of his five-year, $137.5 million contract (or at least the $74.1 million that’s guaranteed), and bring his talent to bear against an aggressive, opportunistic defense in the biggest game of his life.
No matter how well the 49ers run the ball down the Chiefs’ collective throat, there’s no hiding from that reality.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”
