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

What Jimmy Garoppolo Didn’t Do Well in Week 2

Jimmy Garoppolo’s efforts in Cincinnati weren’t entirely wonderful, and there were certainly a handful of gaffes.

On a positive note, Garoppolo cut down on many of the high-and-wide throws which plagued him in Week 1. One could assume Jimmy G is merely getting more comfortable under center, as it’s been just eight quarters of action since tearing his ACL.

Still, Garoppolo has developed something of a bad habit, locking onto his receivers and not throwing off defenders by putting his head on a swivel.

This was made apparent by the one interception Garoppolo threw against the Bengals, picked off by Cincinnati cornerback William Jackson III:

Garoppolo was trying to target the speedy-but-small wide receiver, Richie James, who just happened to be in triple coverage. Heck, quadruple coverage.

Most of Garoppolo’s receiving targets are covered up by the time the pocket starts to collapse. Yet he has a man open in the flat, who appeared to be the hot-route read. Had Garoppolo recognized James was not open, while also seeing his down-field targets covered, dumping the ball off into the flat for what would have been a nice gain would have been the better option.

“That was a stupid interception today,” Garoppolo told reporters after the game.

Yeah, pretty much. No other way around it.

The good news, however, is Garoppolo responded with some excellent passing attempts after this second-quarter mistake. And the Bengals weren’t able to generate points off the takeaway, either.

Now, Garoppolo and the 49ers prepare for a Week 3 home contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are averaging 8.3 pass yards against on the young season — fifth most in the league after two weeks.