© Kyle Terada | 2020 Sep 13
The criticism keeps flying in on Jimmy Garoppolo. First it was his questionable playoff performances and missed potentially game-winning pass in the Super Bowl. The noise continued into the offseason as the 49ers flirted with the prospect of signing Tom Brady. Then there was last week’s opener, where Garoppolo looked every bit as skittish and rusty as he did in last season’s debut vs. the Buccaneers.
Though most are taking this opportunity to pile on, former 49ers Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young has empathy for the young signal caller. Primarily, because he sees Garoppolo struggling through the same growing pains he once did.
“One of the things that I struggled with is I tended to read (my progressions) too fast,” Young told Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks on Wednesday. “I would go ‘oh no, no, no’ and then my options were over and then Mike Shanahan would turn to me like ‘bro, no one is open because you’re going too fast.’
“The reason why I say that is I notice in Jimmy, especially in those key plays in the Super Bowl at the end, George (Kittle) came open, and he had to be primary, and my sense is when I watched the game back was that he went through it too fast. He wanted to make sure he found somebody and that’s when he overthrew out wide.
“I got that feeling again this week. He would go through things and it was like ‘hold on. Just take a deep breath, they’re going to come open.’”
Garoppolo’s stat line wasn’t bad on Sunday, going 19/33 for 259 yards with two touchdowns and no picks, but he missed a number of throws and didn’t even look at a number of open receivers down the stretch.
“That’s something I want to keep an eye on. Early on, you’re pressing. You’re pressing off of a Super Bowl situation that’s in the back of your mind. You feel like you’ve got to get things done, especially towards the end of games you feel you should win at home against the Cardinals, you press, and then you just get fast.
“It’s hard to know if you haven’t played what that looks like when you’re going too fast. To me, it looks like he’s going too fast, then late. There were times that he was late, not because he was too slow, but because he went too fast, and now you have nothing and the ball just kind of flies.
“I want to believe that things will get settled, and things will get much, much better.”
Garoppolo needs a good game in a bad way, and has a good chance of having one vs. the lowly Jets this weekend.
Listen to the full interview below.