George Kittle Defends Garoppolo on ESPN First Take
Criticism of Jimmy Garoppolo has been nonstop since his horrendous fourth-quarter performance in Super Bowl LIV. It was even used a driving factor as to why the 49ers should target Tom Brady in free agency.
Now since then, the criticism has cooled off with Brady heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, that criticism reared its ugly head once again Tuesday on ESPN First Take.
Stephen A. Smith, a featured host, is well-known of his constant slander of Garoppolo. This time around he had to do with 49ers All-Pro tight end George Kittle, who stood up for his quarterback.
"He got us to the Super Bowl" said Kittle.
That is a statement that has been echoed from every player of the team and even former teammates like Emmanuel Sanders. Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. went as far as to call the criticism "ludicrous" when I spoke him on March 4.
The 2020 NFL regular season cannot come soon enough for the San Francisco 49ers. It is the only way for Garoppolo to quell his critics. There is nothing that needs to be said at this point.
The only way to quite everyone is by performing at a high-level and winning games. What is amazing about the criticism of Garoppolo is that a lot of it is based off of recency bias. His playoff run, in which the 49ers won games, is being used against him.
Like when he only dropped back eight times in the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers. However, that was a game in which the Packers could not stop the run to save their life. So why on earth would the 49ers deviate from what is working?
It just goes to show the strength of the dislike of Garoppolo and the 49ers. Once again, the only way for this to simmer down is for him to go out and perform.
