He should be part of another team. He should be furious at the 49ers. The 49ers should get rid of him. This relationship ended long ago. Jimmy GaroppoloIt shouldn’t be. This shouldn’t be happening. It’s too uncomfortable. It’s impossible!
And yet there Garoppolo was on Sunday afternoon, back on the Levi’s Stadium field after Trey Lance’s A devastating ankle injury, back as the 49ers’ quarterback, their best hope, their emotional rock and their undeniable, accidental QB constant.
Back out there and … diving through defensive linemen in the fourth quarter, slamming in from 1-yard out on fourth-and-goal to seal the 49ers’ desperately needed 27-7 victory to get them to 1-1. Garoppolo was foolish to put his health at risk with the game getting out of control and Lance out for the year.
“Not my call, man,” Garoppolo said with a grin after the game. “I just run the plays. It worked out. I kind of had a feeling it was coming.”
It’s amazing. It was so wildly unexpected. It’s so unforeseeable. But, perhaps we all could feel it was coming.
Judging by their reactions in the moment and the somber tones they spoke with in the locker room afterward, it’s going to take some time for the 49ers players to get over the shock of seeing Lance in so much agony — someone who represents so much of the team’s present and future. In this terrible situation, however, they were able also to lean on their QB, running the old plays (and some fewer), and barking at them in a huddle with that same voice and helping to get the same result.
Will they hit the same ceiling with Garoppolo they’ve hit in the past? Almost certainly; that’s why they acquired Lance in the first place. Garoppolo has suffered injuries in three of his last four seasons. This is another reason why they bought Lance. We don’t know.
But let’s put it this way: The 49ers are better off taking these shots with Garoppolo again than they would be if they had kept Nate SudfeldAs QB2 oder gone with rookie Brock Purdy. Everyone in the organization is aware of this. This may help relieve some of that ridiculous pressure, both inside and outside, about Lance playing while Garoppolo was a proven QB.
Now Lance can’t play until 2023 at the earliest. And it’s Garoppolo’s offense once again. Lance, this season and throughout the season, was my choice. Now things are much clearer.
“I’m real proud of Jimmy and how he came in,” Shanahan said. “He was ready for the moment and helped this team win.”
Second TD of today @JimmyG_10!
📺 #SEAvsSFOn @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/onYYke7jE2
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 18, 2022
This has all developed randomly, circumstantially and mostly out of Garoppolo’s hands. He was supposed go, but no one knew how. Now it’s an emergency. And he’s still here, set to start for the rest of this season (if he stays healthy).
“It felt good to be back out there,” Garoppolo said. “I feel terrible for Trey. I’ve been on that side. This league is hard, and everyone gets hurt. It’s a terrible situation for everyone. It’s a terrible thing. But he’s our brother, we’ll pick him up.
“Trey’s a tough dude, he’ll be all right.”
Garoppolo was kept by the 49ers because of this. This is why Garoppolo agreed to continue as the backup on a reduced deal. The incentive clauses, which will increase at least $250,000 per healthy game for the remainder of the season, increased his salary by $350,000 Sunday.
“I’m not saying I knew this was going to happen,” Garoppolo said after he completed 13 of his 21 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown (101.1 passer rating). “But I was ready for this in case it did happen. Just want to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Unbelievable. Absurd. Inevitable? Inevitable? NFL universe by agreeing to bring him back this season as the backup on a restructured deal and now he’s their accidental leader once again.
Garoppolo started warming up after Lance fell in the second quarter of the first quarter. Was Kyle Shanahan able to say anything to Garoppolo in order to reset the situation? Or just to check if Garoppolo was up for it? Well, no.
“We don’t sit there and talk like that,” Shanahan said. “We’re on headsets, we’re getting ready. If a guy’s down, you tell him he’s up and he starts warming up and he’s out there ready to go.”
Oder, wie tackle Mike McGlinchey said about Garoppolo’s re-entry as QB1: “He doesn’t need to say anything to us. It is something we all know. We’re all professionals. You’ve got to move on and keep playing. Just proves why he is who he is and why he’s helped us win games the last five years. And thank God he’s here. Because we’d be in a troubled spot.”
Garoppolo, a quarterback without a team, was recovering from his shoulder surgery in March. He conducted throwing sessions on a sidefield while the 49ers were going through training camp. He was throwing to a health-and-performance staffer who once played high school football. His teammates could only see him during breaks in practice.
Garoppolo asked me Sunday if you were throwing any of the routes that you had to in this game. “Oh, for sure,” Garoppolo said. “Always do that.”
Ross da boss!
📺 #SEAvsSFOn @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/STInKil6fT
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 18, 2022
On Sunday, however, he was throwing to Deebo Samuel Brandon Aiyuk, instead. You won’t believe your head spinning if you ask Garoppolo about his summer side sessions, which were held while Lance took the top spot.
“I don’t think that’s ever happened before,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “That was a little weird. We’re in the middle of practice and he’s going on the other field, throwing to trainers and stuff. It was definitely different.”
Then, even after Garoppolo re-signed with the 49ers late last month, he didn’t practice in full team offensive drills. These drills were reserved for Garoppolo, who was the starting quarterback. Instead Garoppolo did his work with the Scout team. At least it was enough for this game. Garoppolo sure didn’t look rusty on Sunday. His arm looked fresh and healthy, just as it did in the side sessions.
“I don’t want to downplay how much we feel for Trey, because it really is a big deal, but this is the reason why you buy insurance,” Juszczyk said. “You don’t want to have to use it. Jimmy was our insurance policy, in the event of something like that. Good thing we did because we feel completely confident with Jimmy going forward.”
Garoppolo said he felt awful for Lance, and recalled that he had gone through something similar when he tore the ACL in Week 3. While everyone has their own experiences, it is important for Lance to know Garoppolo was fully able to play in 2019, and that he helped the 49ers reach the Super Bowl.
Shanahan cited the 49ers’ heavy injury history at QB over the past six seasons, which is certainly accurate. This raises the question: Why is Lance being exposed to three in-line running plays this early in the season?
“Every time a guy gets hurt, I wish I didn’t call that,” Shanahan said. “But no, that’s something we were going to do and something we could continue to do. It’s a football play and something that gives him a real chance to be successful.”
Left unsaid: These are option plays that allow Lance to use his running skills if the defense leaves a lane open, and Shanahan has clearly felt more comfortable banking on Lance’s legs than his arm these first two weeks. Lance is out there because he was threatening to run and wants his QBs can throw from the pocket. To be dangerous as a runner you must run. And Lance isn’t a speedster; his most effective NFL runs have been right up the middle.
But now it’s onto Garoppolo again for the rest of this season.
Shanahan seemed happier when asked whether Garoppolo was any different on Sunday than it was in years past.
“No,” Shanahan said, smiling. “He’s still handsome.”
He’s still Garoppolo. He won’t dazzle anybody with his arm strength or mobility. He might get in trouble once or twice. He’ll be a leader. He will pull out a throw you didn’t expect once or twice a game.
And if the 49ers play defense like they’ve done the first two weeks and run the ball like they did on Sunday (45 rushes for 184 yards), they can win a lot of games. As they’ve always done with Garoppolo. It’s possible you have forgotten it, or the 49ers just wanted to forget. But it’s Garoppolo again.
“It’s never about you,” Garoppolo said. “I’m not a big ‘me’ guy. It’s about winning football games. I’m a big believer in that. People can say whatever they want and talk stats or whatever, but when you win football games, that’s what you’re here to do. And that’s all I’m trying to do.”
He’s a guy who never really wants to be the main story but somehow always is. He’s inevitable. In a world of chaos, he’s the 49ers’ accidental QB constant. And they’ve never been happier for that than right now.
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
