Many saw the play as a microcosm of Jimmy Garoppolo’s shortcomings, but Greg Cosell of NFL Films disagrees.
With less than six minutes to go in Sunday’s game vs. the Colts and the 49ers down five, Garoppolo threw what proved to be a game-deciding interception. Garoppolo tried to squeeze a pass to Deebo Samuel who ran a hitch on the far side of the field. The throw was misplaced, and picked by Xavier Rhodes.
What appeared to make it worse is that Mohamed Sanu was streaking down the middle of the field wide open, as Garoppolo elected to throw the other way. The clip was passed around on social media and used as the latest piece of evidence against Jimmy G.
Cosell saw it differently when he broke the play down on Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks Wednesday.
“The Colts were in cover one which is a man coverage with a single-high safety,” Cosell began on KNBR. “Samuel was the boundary X, which means a single receiver to the short side of the field. Here’s what we don’t know: On the other side of the field was what we call “trips bunch”. In other words, it was three receivers and they were in the bunch which people can visualize who are listening.
“What we don’t know is, what was the play called? Was the play call supposed to go to bunch? Was the play call supposed to go to Samuel? If it was supposed to go to bunch and Garoppolo feels ‘hey, I’ve got my best receiver one-on-one, I’m going to throw it there.’
“When Sanu broke open, which of course is what everybody sees, that was an hour after the ball was released, so that’s totally irrelevant. I saw that on Twitter. Some guy says ‘Jimmy Garoppolo must play with his eyes closed.’ Those are the people that don’t have any idea, because that happened way after the ball was thrown.
“He threw the hitch to his best receiver in one-on-one coverage. My guess is most coaches would not say that’s a terrible thing to do.
“What I don’t know is was the design of the play supposed to go to trips? I don’t know that.”
Cosell then broke down what he thinks about Garoppolo as a player, and if he thinks he’s good enough to still be a starter in this league.
“As far as schematics, Kyle is really good and Garoppolo is a schemed player,” Cosell said. “In other words when it’s presented to him, which Kyle does very well, Garoppolo can be efficient. If it’s not presented for whatever reason, which often happens on third down, third and long, this year third down has been a struggle for Garoppolo. When it can’t be presented as clearly, then the defense tends to have a more tactical advantage with the things they can do. Then Garoppolo tends to be not as good.
“Garoppolo to me, even though he’s got that kind of whiplash-like delivery, I’ve studied him pretty closely the last number of years, I think the later in the down it gets, the longer he’s in the pocket, the less efficient he is. I think he is the pure definition of a timing, rhythm player. Where he has to hit that back foot, the ball has to come out and he has to feel good about where he is throwing it to. So I think that’s what Jimmy Garoppolo is.
“If people think that’s not good enough in the NFL, then he’s not your guy. If a coach thinks that’s good enough, and he can make that work, which apparently worked okay in 2019, then you can play with Jimmy Garoppolo.”
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Listen to the full interview below.