Lions vs. 49ers: Week 2 preview for San Francisco
By Chris Wilson
QB Jimmy Garoppolo vs. QB Matthew Stafford
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t begin the 2018 season where he left off in 2017. After leading the top offense in the league during his five starts for San Francisco last season, Garoppolo came down to earth in Week 1 against the Vikings.
The loss of his favorite wide receiver Marquise Goodwin and injuries to the Niners’ offensive line proved to be too much for Garoppolo to overcome, given the defensive talent he faced in Minnesota. The end result was Garoppolo’s worst game as a starter, which included three interceptions and a completion percentage under 50 percent — which was a far cry from his weekly performances in 2017:
| Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Rush | Rush | Rush | Rush | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | G# | Opp | Result | GS | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Sk | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | Att | Yds | Y/A | TD |
| 1 | 2017-11-26 | 11 | SEA | L 13-24 | 2 | 2 | 100.00 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 143.7 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 19.00 | 1 | 4 | 4.00 | 0 | |
| 2 | 2017-12-03 | 12 | CHI | W 15-14 | * | 26 | 37 | 70.27 | 293 | 0 | 1 | 82.4 | 2 | 15 | 7.92 | 6.70 | 4 | 8 | 2.00 | 0 |
| 3 | 2017-12-10 | 13 | HOU | W 26-16 | * | 20 | 33 | 60.61 | 334 | 1 | 1 | 92.2 | 2 | 20 | 10.12 | 9.36 | 5 | -3 | -0.60 | 0 |
| 4 | 2017-12-17 | 14 | TEN | W 25-23 | * | 31 | 43 | 72.09 | 381 | 1 | 0 | 106.8 | 3 | 18 | 8.86 | 9.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | 2017-12-24 | 15 | JAX | W 44-33 | * | 21 | 30 | 70.00 | 242 | 2 | 1 | 102.4 | 1 | 4 | 8.07 | 7.90 | 3 | 3 | 1.00 | 1 |
| 6 | 2017-12-31 | 16 | LAR | W 34-13 | * | 20 | 33 | 60.61 | 292 | 2 | 2 | 84.4 | 0 | 0 | 8.85 | 7.33 | 2 | -1 | -0.50 | 0 |
| 6 Games | 120 | 178 | 67.42 | 1560 | 7 | 5 | 96.2 | 8 | 57 | 8.76 | 8.29 | 15 | 11 | 0.73 | 1 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
It wasn’t all bad for Garoppolo in Week 1, as the QB recovered from mistakes, completed a number of deep throws, and tossed a perfect touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis. Garoppolo’s performance wasn’t nearly as bad as Stafford’s first game of 2018.
While Garoppolo was obviously fighting through pass protection issues and personnel changes on Sunday, Stafford simply looked nothing like the quarterback he was in 2017, when he threw 29 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions.
Stafford continued to make bad decisions throughout the game, and lacked both the throwing power and accuracy that he regularly demonstrated last season:
| Year | Tm | G | GS | QBrec | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | TD% | Int | Int% | Lng | Y/A | AY/A | Y/C | Y/G | Rate | Sk | Yds | NY/A | ANY/A | Sk% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | DET | 10 | 10 | 2-8 | 201 | 377 | 53.3 | 2267 | 13 | 3.4 | 20 | 5.3 | 75 | 6.0 | 4.3 | 11.3 | 226.7 | 61.0 | 24 | 169 | 5.23 | 3.64 | 6.0 |
| 2010 | DET | 3 | 3 | 1-2 | 57 | 96 | 59.4 | 535 | 6 | 6.3 | 1 | 1.0 | 36 | 5.6 | 6.4 | 9.4 | 178.3 | 91.3 | 4 | 36 | 4.99 | 5.74 | 4.0 |
| 2011 | DET | 16 | 16 | 10-6 | 421 | 663 | 63.5 | 5038 | 41 | 6.2 | 16 | 2.4 | 73 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 12.0 | 314.9 | 97.2 | 36 | 257 | 6.84 | 6.98 | 5.2 |
| 2012 | DET | 16 | 16 | 4-12 | 435 | 727 | 59.8 | 4967 | 20 | 2.8 | 17 | 2.3 | 57 | 6.8 | 6.3 | 11.4 | 310.4 | 79.8 | 29 | 212 | 6.29 | 5.81 | 3.8 |
| 2013 | DET | 16 | 16 | 7-9 | 371 | 634 | 58.5 | 4650 | 29 | 4.6 | 19 | 3.0 | 87 | 7.3 | 6.9 | 12.5 | 290.6 | 84.2 | 23 | 168 | 6.82 | 6.40 | 3.5 |
| 2014* | DET | 16 | 16 | 11-5 | 363 | 602 | 60.3 | 4257 | 22 | 3.7 | 12 | 2.0 | 73 | 7.1 | 6.9 | 11.7 | 266.1 | 85.7 | 45 | 254 | 6.19 | 6.03 | 7.0 |
| 2015 | DET | 16 | 16 | 7-9 | 398 | 592 | 67.2 | 4262 | 32 | 5.4 | 13 | 2.2 | 57 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 10.7 | 266.4 | 97.0 | 44 | 251 | 6.31 | 6.39 | 6.9 |
| 2016 | DET | 16 | 16 | 9-7 | 388 | 594 | 65.3 | 4327 | 24 | 4.0 | 10 | 1.7 | 73 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 11.2 | 270.4 | 93.3 | 37 | 216 | 6.52 | 6.56 | 5.9 |
| 2017 | DET | 16 | 16 | 9-7 | 371 | 565 | 65.7 | 4446 | 29 | 5.1 | 10 | 1.8 | 71 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 12.0 | 277.9 | 99.3 | 47 | 287 | 6.80 | 7.01 | 7.7 |
| 2018 | DET | 1 | 1 | 0-1 | 27 | 46 | 58.7 | 286 | 1 | 2.2 | 4 | 8.7 | 28 | 6.2 | 2.7 | 10.6 | 286.0 | 47.9 | 0 | 0 | 6.22 | 2.74 | 0.0 |
| Career | 126 | 126 | 60-66 | 3032 | 4896 | 61.9 | 35035 | 217 | 4.4 | 122 | 2.5 | 87 | 7.2 | 6.9 | 11.6 | 278.1 | 87.9 | 289 | 1850 | 6.40 | 6.18 | 5.6 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Every NFL quarterback plays a poor game on occasion, but Garoppolo’s Week 1 mistakes were more understandable — and fixable — than those made by Stafford in his first start of 2018. But if either QB has a repeat performance in Week 2, expect a media frenzy during the lead-up to Week 3.