Question No. 3: How prepared is Jimmy Garoppolo?
Recalling how Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t spend training camp working with the rest of the 49ers offense as he was preparing for a trade that never materialized, perhaps there’s a bit of an excuse for why he looked so rusty and out of sorts versus Denver.
Garoppolo admitted such, too, telling reporters, “I just got to get in a rhythm with them:”
“It was my first week with these guys and I just gotta get in a rhythm with them. Especially like third down, we were terrible today."
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) September 26, 2022
Jimmy Garoppolo on working to get back into a rhythm w/49ers starters. He added later he didn’t want to make excuses pic.twitter.com/ev86UwoRIo
Interesting.
After Garoppolo helped the Niners knock off the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2, he told reporters after the game that getting back under center was just “like riding a bike.”
Read More: Jimmy Garoppolo’s play vs. Broncos isn’t only brutal thing from 49ers loss
So, what is it?
Despite having a long-established rapport with weapons like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle, Garoppolo and the offense still looked completely out of sync during the game. It didn’t help that the Broncos stacked the box with an extra defensive lineman for most of the game, thereby helping take away San Francisco’s rush attack and daring Garoppolo to throw.
But, even when presented with those opportunities, signs pointed to him not having much rhythm and rapport at all.