Jimmy Garoppolo gets spontaneous vs. Rams, and that’s a good sign as 49ers enter bye week
It’s been a cringe-worthy feeling for 49ers fans over the years when Jimmy Garoppolo drops back to pass, surveys the landscape and then is unable to quickly find an open receiver.
Something will doom the 49ers shortly, whether it’s a forced pass that gets intercepted or a drive-killing sack.
But something happened in a 31-14 win over the Los Angeles Rams that altered the usual storyline. Mixed in with Garoppolo’s assortment of on-time, precision-oriented passes in the middle of the field were instances of actual spontaneity.
Chief among them was a 9-yard touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey on a play where the 49ers’ do-everything running back wasn’t even supposed to be on Garoppolo’s radar.
It gave the 49ers their first lead at 17-14 with 1:51 left in the third quarter in a game they would win going away.
It couldn’t have happened without a remarkable blocking effort from the offensive line. Aside from that, it was natural creativity and a quickly-formed connection between Garoppolo and McCaffrey that could pay big dividends down the road.
“It was awesome,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Jimmy went all the way across the board, with a receiver in the left side. We were pulling out Christian to draw other people.”
Garoppolo described it this way:
“Went through the whole read, left to right, came back to Christian and he wasn’t even really in the read. He turned it upfield, and that’s just being a football player. We’re trying to emphasize that on offense about being a football player, about being in the moment.”
Jumpman! Jumpman!
First @CMC_22 touchdown catch in the red and gold
#SFvsLAR on FOX pic.twitter.com/cwGhwF7YH8
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 30, 2022
That’s a big deal as far as Garoppolo is concerned. Garoppolo can function as a winning quarterback by being on-time and execution-oriented. He’s done it since he came to the 49ers.
The knock on him, and part of the reason the 49ers drafted Trey Lance, is that the only surprises with Garoppolo were usually bad ones, and sometimes that happens when the first read or second read isn’t available.
McCaffrey said he didn’t know the offense well enough to say where he was in the progression. In fact, he wasn’t in the progression at all. McCaffrey just got open and Garoppolo strayed from the play as scripted to do something better.
Garoppolo’s reputation as a functioning robot is not what McCaffrey has noticed during his nine days as a 49er.
“Just a little bit of backyard football,” McCaffrey said. “The play wasn’t designed to go to me. But one thing I’ve learned about Jimmy is he’s a football player, through and through. We didn’t rep that, but that’s just a guy going out there playing ball.”
Garoppolo wasn’t done being creative. With the 49ers up 24-14 and with second-and-7 at their own 30, it was the time of the game where the 49ers usually do something safe in an effort to control the clock and protect a lead.
Tight end Ross Dwelley was split to the left, guarded by corner Derion Kendrick. It wasn’t a matchup the 49ers were looking for, except Kendrick let Dwelley run straight by him. Garoppolo drifted to his left and launched a 56-yard strike off his back foot that set up the 49ers’ final touchdown of the game.
Another unscheduled big play.
Dwelley was seeing time because Kyle Juszczyk was out following surgery on a broken finger.
“For the most part I think Jimmy was good with the ball and he made a huge off-schedule play to get the ball to Dwelley down the sidelines, made the one to Christian and that was a hell of a throw to George (Kittle) there at the end,” Shanahan said.
Garoppolo’s 7-yard strike to Kittle running along the back line of the end zone was the knockout blow. Once again, Garoppolo was drifting to his left, his feet weren’t planted and he was on target.
In all, Garoppolo completed 84 percent of his passes (21 of 25) for 235 yards and the two touchdowns with no interceptions. That is the fifth-highest completion percentage in franchise history with a minimum of 20 attempts and the best since Steve Young posted 85.7 (18-for-21) in 1997.
49ers top percentage performances (minimum 20 attempts)
Steve Young vs. Det, 1991 (18 of 20, 90.0)
Steve Young vs. NO, 1997 (18 of 21, 85.7)
John Brodie vs. Atl, 1968 (17 of 20, 85.0)
Joe Montana vs. Atl, 1983 (27 of 32, 84.4)
Jimmy Garoppolo vs. LAR, 2022 (21 of 25, 84.0)— Jerry McDonald (@Jerrymcd) October 31, 2022
Garoppolo’s passer rating of 100.7 for the season is seventh in the NFL and higher than former MVPs Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson and Tom Brady. His interception rate is 1.9 percent, which would represent the lowest of his career over a full season.
It wasn’t perfect against the Rams. On the 49ers’ first series, Garoppolo had Ray-Ray McCleod open on a deep throw to the goal line and missed him. In the third quarter, Jalen Ramsey came in on a blitz, tipped the ball and it was nearly picked off.
Garropolo thought that in terms of putting all three phases together on the same day, it was the 49ers’ best game this fall.
“That’s how we’ve made our runs in the past,” Garoppolo said. “We smother teams. When we stop-score, stop-score like that, it’s a terrible feeling I bet on the other sideline,” Garoppolo said. “The more we can do with our offense, defense and special teams working together, that’s a dangerous combination.”
The 49ers had been outscored 49-13 in the third quarter and have done much of their best work this year under Garoppolo as frontrunners. This time, they dominated the second half on the scoreboard and physically.
“That third-quarter stuff, we talked about that,” Garoppolo said. “I think that’s when the game is won, at the beginning of the third quarter. We had a chance to come out and take advantage of that and I think guys did. We calmed down, settled into our game plan and guys just stuck with it and I think the results speak for themselves.”
As of now, Garoppolo looks better than at any time in 2021, when he was nursing thumb and shoulder injuries and still led the 49ers to the NFC title game. Whether it’s sustainable or not will play itself out when the 49ers return from their bye.
Garoppolo’s willingness to successfully color outside the lines if necessary is a good sign moving forward.