What we’ve learned about Jimmy Garoppolo in the scant time we’ve seen him is that he’s a swashbuclikng type of quarterback. He thrives, just like he did in college at Eastern Illinois, without much scheme.
He doesn’t know the 49ers’ offense. He learns the plays during the week of practice, sits down with coach Kyle Shanahan and the other coaches and they pick the plays he likes. He then goes into the game and weaves his pin-point magic.
Shanahan said this week that Garoppolo is not necessarily an analytical quarterback. He said he’s not going to sit in a meeting and diagnose a play to tiniest detail. What he will do is find a hole in the defense and as Shanahan said, “let it rip.”
He did that constantly in the last-second defeat of Tennessee. Garoppolo found Garrett Celek for a 5-yard touchdown pass on a play when Celek wasn’t supposed to be open. When the Titans dropped coverage again on Celek, the tight end just kept running for open space and Garoppolo found him for a 61-yard gain.
When rookie tight end George Kittle was open on the game-clinching drive, he turned his head early and the pass from Garoppolo was already on it’s way for a turned out to be a 24-yard pass play.
That’s exactly what Garoppolo did at Eastern Illinois. They didn’t even have a playbook in their spread offense. Garoppolo went to the line of scrimmage, found the match up he liked and went to it.
So many quarterbacks get steeped in what the scheme is, they get frozen. When 49ers Alex Smith was a young quarterback, he often suffered from paralysis by analysis. Former 49ers receiver Isaac Bruce once said that Smith over complicated things on a seam routes. If the safety is there, don’t throw it, Bruce would say. If the safety vacates, then throw it. Not complicated.
The 49ers should learn from what Garoppolo is doing right now, and maybe, they go into games even next year, light on scheme. That would allow Garoppolo to do what he’s doing now, which is to find the soft spot in the defense and attack. It will allow him to see the field and go more easily off script.
“I think he’s got a natural feel out there,” Shanahan said. “It’s not always he’s going to sit there and tell you exactly what coverage and what parts (the defense is) in.”
Shanahan said that’s what the great quarterbacks do.
“They don’t sit there and over think it and overanalyze something. They try to stay pretty mindful, pretty poised, very balanced in how their body is,” Shanahan said. “And when they feel holes, they let it rip with no hesitation, and I think you guys can all see that on tape, and he’s done a real good job with that.”
What you see from Garoppolo on tape is his ability to scan the field and then make an accurate throw with his quick release. His ability to see the whole field allows the 49ers to attack a defense horizontally as well as vertically. He’s able to spot players who adjust their routes when defenses make coverage mistakes.
Garoppolo seems to thrive with little scheme. From what we know of him, he’s more Russell Wilson than Tom Brady, more Eastern Illinois than New England Patriot. So keep it that way.