Is Jimmy Garoppolo Playing the Best Football of his Career?
It was a sluggish performance by the 49ers offense versus the Chargers.
That has been a constant theme from the offense all season long. It looked like things were finally looking upward once the 49ers acquired Christian McCaffrey, but Sunday night against the Chargers was more of the same staleness.
However, despite the underachieving performance, there was a bright spot for the 49ers. That bright spot was Jimmy Garoppolo. He was solid throughout the entire night. The highlight of the night from Garoppolo was his clutch third down conversions. Those were impressive, especially considering most of those third downs took more than five yards to convert.
Garoppolo came through when the 49ers needed him with the run game struggling for a stretch. His connections to keep the Chargers off balance defensively aided the running game. In fact, Garoppolo has been coming through for the 49ers for a good portion of this season. He has only three interceptions while tossing 11 touchdowns. And the typical three-to-five ill-advised throws that he usually makes a game aren't there. It's more like one or two now. He's picking up a lot of the slack this year and it resembles that of 2019, and perhaps even better.
It begs the question: Is Garoppolo playing the best football of his career?
He just might be. He definitely looks like he is knocking on that door. Garoppolo is playing the best football of his career since 2019, that much I am sure of. Where it all dwells down to is the negative plays that Garoppolo used to commit that would hold the offense back. But he hasn't really been making those offensive derailing plays.
Garoppolo is taking care of the football, taking more shots down the field than usual, and is stepping up on critical situations like third-and-long. A lot of this is out of character for him and he's been playing quite efficient.
“I think Jimmy made some big plays on third-and-long, from what I remember," said Kyle Shanahan. "I don't know how many we got, but I know the one that he hit Ray-Ray on down the side, that was an off-schedule play, did a great job finding him. And then the one to George over the middle was a really good job, a great throw by him. Progressing to number two, coming across and a good play by George, but some of those long ones kept us going and he's always doing a hell of a job with those sneaks.”
Don't get me wrong, I don't think Garoppolo is playing elite football. That will never happen. But considering the roller coaster ride he's used to being, there has been a lot more highs than lows with him. This is why the 49ers only putting up 22 points against an average Chargers defense is frustrating. Garoppolo is playing solid ball right now, yet the offense is still struggling. He is no longer the scapegoat. That falls on the head coach.
Shanahan should start trusting Garoppolo a little more. If he sees that Garoppolo is hitting his wide receivers accurately, and especially consistently, early on, then he needs to start letting him steer the offense for a stretch. I think Garoppolo has earned that right so far because what the 49ers are doing now offensively isn't it at all. The offense reverted back to it's sluggish self against the Chargers after going off against the Rams with McCaffrey embedded in the playbook. Now it just looks like they can only play great against the Rams and no one else. That needs to end fast.
Maybe letting Garoppolo have more hands on the steering wheel can aid that.
