49ers film room: Breaking down Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Bengals

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo bounced back nicely in the San Francisco 49ers win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, and Niner Noise examines the play tape behind his efforts.

A week after a sluggish 166-yard performance in Week 1, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had himself quite the game on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals, helping lead Niners to a 41-17 drubbing at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday.

Garoppolo finished the day going 17-of-25 for 297 yards, three touchdowns against one interception and a passer rating of 131.2.

Quite the contrast from his first game of 2019 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Granted, the Bengals defense surrendered more yardage in 2018 than anyone else. And despite a strong showing in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks, one has to factor in Cincy has a long way to go before turning around its defensive efforts.

And Garoppolo needs to give a hat tip to head coach Kyle Shanahan, too, who drew up an awesome game plan.

Still, Garoppolo did a lot of good things on Sunday, and the film suggests his woeful efforts in Week 1 were more anomaly than what’s to be expected over the rest of 2019. Especially because Shanahan dialed up plays tailored to Garoppolo’s strengths, which include passing into those short- and intermediate-area windows, as shown by NextGen Stats:

Granted, it wasn’t perfect. Garoppolo did toss an interception deep down the field, showing his ability to execute on deep passes beyond 20 yards isn’t at the top of his skill set.

But there was far more good than bad from Jimmy G, and Niner Noise’s Week 2 film review takes a look at how the franchise quarterback took advantage of a bad Bengals defense to give Shanahan and Co. the most decisive win in the head coach’s tenure with San Francisco.