© Stan Szeto | 2019 Nov 24
The 49ers dominated the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, but it took the offense some time to wake up.
After being gifted an easy TD following a Aaron Rodgers fumble deep in Packers territory, the San Francisco offense went three-and-out on three of their next four drives, gaining just 39 yards in the process.
Holding on to a 10-0 lead with nine minutes left in the second quarter, Garoppolo held court on the 49ers’ sideline to try and get his offensive compatriots going. It worked.
“I think my favorite thing in the game was, I think it was after our third drive, we scored right away then had two three-and-outs that weren’t very good,” George Kittle said after the game. “Jimmy got the whole offense together, he was like, ‘Hey, you gotta play with intensity. Our defense is playing their asses off and we’ve just got to take advantage of the opportunities they’re giving us. Because Aaron Rodgers is a Hall of Fame quarterback. We just can’t give him the opportunity to come back and beat us.’
“That was really awesome. Everything after that just kind of took off because of what Jimmy said.”
From that point forward the 49ers went three-and-out just one more time throughout the game, and turned their remaining six drives into 27 points.
Garoppolo, as is his custom, was nonchalant and nonspecific about the whole thing.
“The defense had a fast start and we got the touchdown right away and then we were kind of in a little bit of a lull it seemed like,” Garoppolo. “I just thought everybody needed a get the juice going type of thing. Just kind of brought everyone together and it did us well.
“I just try to be myself. I think guys respect that. They’re going to see right through you if you try to get fake and stuff like that.”
Garoppolo had a terrific game, going 14/20 for 253 yards, 2 touchdowns and a QB rating of 145.8.