On the 49ers, Jimmy G, and Lazy Analysis
I expect better from you, Steve Young.
I’m a diehard 49ers fan. I moved to the Bay Area in the summer of 1981, a few months before the 49ers had their Cinderella season and won their first Super Bowl. I was into football before this, but that did the trick and I’ve been on board ever since. I’ve watched almost every single game since (with exceptions for travel, life and a world before satellite TV), and I consider myself fairly well educated about the team.
It’s not exactly a hot take, therefore, to point out that coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t exactly enamored with the starting QB, Jimmy Garoppolo. Why? Because Shanahan (and GM John Lynch) traded three first round picks for a new QB, rookie Trey Lance. That’s fairly clear.
Jimmy is a decent to good QB who has limitations. He tends to panic when the pocket collapses and he’s not mobile, so those situations tend to lead to sacks, interceptions or other bad outcomes. Hence, Trey Lance.
But what kills me is that the so-called experts on this always cite ONE example for why Shanahan has looked elsewhere - the 2019 NFL playoffs. To jog your memory, the Jimmy G led-49ers went all the way to the Super Bowl. In the playoffs, they handily defeated the Vikings and the Packers. So, why do people cite this? I’ll let Hall of Fame QB Steve Young speak for the masses:
[Young] said it was obvious from the way Shanahan called plays during the 2019 playoffs that he lacked faith in quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
In playoff victories over Minnesota and Green Bay, Garoppolo attempted a combined 27 passes.
“If Jimmy and Kyle could get a trusting relationship so that Kyle when he smells . . . he can go after it with Jimmy taking care of it all, we would be really humming.
“But because he doesn’t trust him — and we saw that in the playoffs of 2019. Because of that, he doesn’t feel he can call those plays that . . . ‘Let’s go.’”
OK. Deep breath. Because I actually WATCHED those games. And here’s what happened - the 49ers couldn’t be stopped in the run game. They absolutely ran down the Vikings and Packers throats. Against the Vikings, the rushing yards were 186 for the 49ers and 21 for the Vikings. The time of possession was 38 minutes to 22. Why would you throw the ball? (Note: They DID throw the ball. Jimmy threw 11/19 for a TD and just under 200 yards.) Again, the 49ers won that game HANDILY. The Vikings didn’t score in the second half. Why would any rational coach chuck the ball up and put turnovers into play?
Against the Packers, there was even more domination. After three quarters, the score was 34-7. The team rushed for 285 yards and 4 TDs. They averaged 6.8 yards per carry. Again, WHY WOULD YOU THROW? If the team had been up by as much as they were and you kept keeping your QB in the pocket to either get sacked (and hurt, possibly) when there was literally no good reason, that’s malfeasance.
This isn’t hard, guys. Yes, when you see a boxscore that shows that your QB attempted only eight passes, it’s odd! But isn’t the more important score the box score? They WON! With ease! (It doesn’t escape me that this week, Patriots QB Mac Jones literally threw THREE passes in a MNF win over the Bills, and the media praised him and coach Belichick for a smart game plan, and said nothing about how the team didn’t trust Jones to throw in high winds like that - despite the opposing QB throwing 30 times.)
Finally, let’s go to the Super Bowl. Jimmy threw it 31 times. The 49ers went into the fourth quarter up 20-10. It’s not Jimmy’s fault that the Chiefs scored 21 points, it’s the defenses. (And yes, Jimmy threw a pick that helped in this a lot. Blame him for that, but it also doesn’t prove evidence that Kyle doesn’t trust him - or didn’t then, at least.)
There are many reasons Kyle Shanahan has determined that the path forward for the team is not with Jimmy G. Among them are:
He’s not mobile
His arm strength is average, at best
He gets hurt way, way too often
He can make idiotic interceptions, often to linebackers he seemingly can’t see
Because of all of this, Shanahan likely has plays he’d like to run, but doesn’t because of who is lined up behind center
All of these are things that Shanahan learned on the way to the Super Bowl and last season (which included, of course, Jimmy getting hurt again) led to them drafting Trey Lance. But the 2019 playoffs didn’t show Shanahan’s lack of trust. They showed that Shanahan loves to run, is exceptional at it, and is smart enough to not mess with a good thing when he has it.
Steve Young, I expected more from ya. Be better.