Jimmy Garoppolo was surprisingly aggressive in 49ers win vs. Panthers

The 49ers didn’t need Jimmy Garoppolo to take over Week 5 versus the Panthers, but he was notably more aggressive than usual during the victory.

The San Francisco 49ers’ Week 4 Monday Night Football victory was a blueprint for how the Niners can win games with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

He doesn’t have to be electrifying, nor does he have to take over games.

Instead, Jimmy G has to just limit mistakes and make the smart throws that are given to him.

Garoppolo did that very well against Los Angeles, yet it was quite provocative to see a much more aggressive Jimmy G in San Francisco’s follow-up win the next week over the Carolina Panthers.

Yes, Garoppolo has the reputation of earning a paycheck by living in the middle of the field no further than 10 to 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. And, given his skill set, that’s not a terrible thing to do.

Provided he sees the lurking linebacker between the hash marks, of course, and he doesn’t always do that.

However, Garoppolo showed a bit more aggressiveness in the 49ers’ lopsided 37-15 victory over Carolina, and his higher-risk, higher-reward attempts are worth pointing out.

Jimmy Garoppolo threw plenty of deep passes in 49ers win vs. Panthers

Garoppolo’s line from last Sunday was certainly respectable.

Against a still-good Panthers defense, the Niners veteran went 18-of-30 passing for 253 yards, two touchdowns thrown against zero interceptions and a passer rating of 109.4.

All good Jimmy G-like numbers when he’s on top of his game.

Yet it’s the nature of his aggression that stands out in contrast to what he usually attempts, as the below Next Gen Stats chart from Week 5’s win points out:

Five pass attempts beyond 15 yards from the line of scrimmage are notable even if they’re almost solely down the left sideline. And while only two of them connected, it did have the desired effect of forcing the Panthers to at least respect the fact that Garoppolo might toss it deep.

Particularly on that long throw to rookie wide receiver Danny Gray.

And it’s also notable how Garoppolo targeted outside the numbers, too, which isn’t something he’s done frequently.

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Carolina, like so many teams on San Francisco’s schedule thus far, were selling out to stop the run, daring Garoppolo to throw.

When he took advantage of those chances, the Panthers had to back off and subsequently gave up ground on the ground, primarily to running back Jeff Wilson Jr., whose 120 yards and a touchdown helped set the offensive tone.

Garoppolo might not be consistent in this regard on a week-to-week basis, but it is noteworthy.

And the 49ers surely benefited from him doing so.