The 49ers’ offense put up 10 points on Sunday night. It was Jimmy Garoppolo’s first start after a protracted offseason saga in which he underwent offseason shoulder surgery and the 49ers failed to secure a trade partner for him.
San Francisco kept Garoppolo on a re-worked deal, and after Trey Lance sustained a season-ending ankle injury, he returned to his starting role.
But Garoppolo did not participate in training camp. He did not ask for a playbook. He worked off to the side on a practice field at the team facility rehabbing his arm, but not taking actual reps.
After an 11-10 loss in which he as 18-for-29 with 211 yards, a TD, an INT, a lost fumble and a safety, he and others pointed to the 49ers failing to “get into a rhythm” in the second half.
It was obvious that was the case, though it served as a bit of an ethereal, unfulfilling answer to why the team struggled so plainly.
Pressed on what changed from the first to second half, Garoppolo brought up his return to the team.
“We weren’t in a rhythm at all in the second half. You could feel it, you could see it,” Garoppolo said. “Guys, we were talking on the sideline, but I was just thinking about — it was kind of my first week with these guys and I just got to get in a rhythm with them; especially like third down, we were terrible today. I just gotta get on the same page with those guys. We got to convert those.”
He mentioned that his arm felt weary after the game when asked if there was a period of re-acclimation. Garoppolo said, pretty plainly, that he’s not in game shape.
“Oh, yeah. My arm’s feeling it right now,” Garoppolo said. “It’s different. You try to do all the practice and preparation you can on the sideline being the number two and then when you get tossed into it — you know, I didn’t go through OTAs and training camp and I’m not trying to make excuses or anything but I just got to get into game shape and get rolling now.”
He pointed to the routine being different, again citing that his training camp period was different.
“It’s a different routine than I’ve been used to in the past,” Garoppolo said. “So I just gotta get back to where I was.”
The 49ers can’t exactly afford to have issues with “rhythm” much longer. They’re averaging 15 points per game and just visually speaking, have been an eyesore.
There will at least be an extra day of rest with a Monday night game against the Rams waiting ahead. They’ll need to make use of that to get Garoppolo closer to the game shape and back into the rhythm he spoke of.
