The 49ers were quick to defend their quarterback on Sunday night, though it’s unclear what they’re defending him from.
The San Francisco 49ers are 10-1, yet have faced a bit of scrutiny after some less-than-convincing wins. Some of that scrutiny, however small it is, has been fixed on the team’s quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Is it deserved? Maybe? But also the 49ers are 10-1, and it’s clear they’re trying to find anything to sink their teeth into and get them motivated. Even 10-1 teams need to channel that “nobody believes in us” energy, and so the 49ers have chosen to fixate on the criticism of Garoppolo’s play this season.
After the 49ers beat the Packers convincingly on Sunday night, 38-7, the San Francisco players heaped praise upon Garoppolo.
First came tight end George Kittle, who is playing through a horrifying sounding injury, on the speech he credits Garoppolo with lifting them over the Packers.
Here’s Kittle, via B/R:
“I think my favorite thing in the game was, I think it was after our third drive, we scored right away then had two three-and-outs that weren’t very good. Jimmy got the whole offense together. He was like: ‘Hey, you gotta play with intensity. Our defense is playing their asses off, and we’ve just got to take advantage of the opportunities they’re giving us. Because Aaron Rodgers is one heck of a quarterback, a Hall of Fame quarterback. We just can’t give him the opportunity to come back and beat us.’
Then next came Richard Sherman, who by the sound of his speech made it seem like the entire punditry class was saying Garoppolo should be kicked out of the league and thrown in a dumpster. Again, not sure that’s the case!
Here was Sherman’s speech.
The transcript:
“You hear some of the noise and things said about him, and it’s frustrating, because we see him every day. We see what kind of work ethic he puts in, the hours he puts in preparing — the first one in, the last one out. The guy looks for no credit. All he does is encourage his teammates and put more work in.
“And then you have people nit-picking. We run for 300 yards, and they’re like, ‘Well, he didn’t throw a lot.’ We ran for 300 yards! You know, then he throws for 400, and they’re like, ‘Well, I think he got out-played by Kyler Murray.’ And Kyler Murray barely had 100 yards passing. And you start to laugh at these things, but you’re like, the goalposts keep moving with him.
“And the one thing you can appreciate — and I’ve said this before — you can appreciate being good enough that people got to make excuses for why you’re good. He’s a good enough quarterback that people have to make excuses, they have to move the bar.
“…What else can the guy do? He’s helping his team win.”
Are people really being that critical of Garoppolo? He had a shaky preseason, and he had an awful game against the Seahawks. But other than that, he’s been fine, which is all the 49ers need him to be.
My colleague Steven Ruiz ranked him 15th in our NFL quarterback ranking, which seems more or less fair to me. He’s got a quick release and can make good throws and sometimes makes iffy decisions. That’s not bad for a starting QB! A lot of teams would happily take that.
Still, teams need bulletin board material, I suppose. My guess is that the 49ers seized on criticism of Garoppolo before the game, and found some pundit who said that Aaron Rodgers is better than he is. (Which is true!) They then won the game, and then used the mics given to them afterward to tell all the haters how wrong they were.
Which, who am I to criticize. Whatever it takes, right?
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