QB Jimmy Garoppolo Press Conference

QB Jimmy Garoppolo

Press Conference – November 11, 2021

San Francisco 49ers

You’ve talked about how the offense is at its best when you’re able to distribute the ball to multiple people. How much has WR Brandon Aiyuk’s kind of little resurgence here helped and what’s helped him get there from your perspective?

“It always helps me. Whenever guys are coming on like that and playing better every week, it makes a quarterback’s job easier. But I mean, when you could just distribute it differently, you guys dropped the stat with [WR] Deebo [Samuel] having such a high percentage a couple of weeks ago, when we could get away from that and get other guys the ball, we have a lot of playmakers on this team and so whenever we could do that, it’s always a good thing.”

What about him specifically, Brandon, that’s kind of from your perspective has helped him?

“It could be a number of things. I think it starts with his mindset and just what he brings every day into the building. I think other guys have helped him, talked to him. [WR Mohamed] Mo [Sanu Sr.] played a big role just being the veteran leadership in that room, I think Deebo, and then all the coaches obviously playing their role in it. But it’s a group effort. It’s not just one guy, but B.A. has been showcasing some good things lately.”

You guys played the Rams in 2019 without former T Joe Staley, without T Mike McGlinchey. And you won that game pretty handily. Does that get revisited at all this week that, you know, even with some injuries you guys are capable of beating this Rams defense?

“Definitely. Yeah. I think whenever you could go back to last year’s game, you know, players change coaches change, but their players haven’t changed a whole ton. They brought in some new pieces here and there, but their key players, we know who we have to handle and obviously they brought [Los Angeles Rams LB] Von [Miller] in who’s a hell of a player. So it’ll be a challenge for us, but yeah, you could always rely on last year’s tape and even just we’ve had injuries here in the past, so it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before.”

In 2019 your offense had such a clear identity. Do you feel like you guys have established one yet this season?

“You know, I think that kind of just comes naturally. You never want to say this is our identity at the beginning of the year and we have to stick to it. I think with injuries, as the season progresses, your identity kind of changes with the season in a way. And I think we’ve had some games where our identity is clear cut and, like Chicago, we ran the ball very well and hit some play action off of it. And I think we’re just trying to find that still.”

You’ve had back-to-back games with 300 yards and QB Trey Lance hasn’t come in to relieve you. Has that helped you get into a groove and do you feel like you’re in one now?

“I really haven’t put too much thought into it. Every week if Trey comes in or he doesn’t come in, it really doesn’t change what I’m doing out there. But yeah, I think you could say we’re in a groove. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement with us. I think we have some things that we could shore up just in the past game, especially just with crisper, getting onto the details and things like that. I think it will make us that much better.”

The locker room back when you first here, there was a lot of adversity, you kind of sparked the offense and got into a winning streak. This year with all the adversity you’re facing now, it’s obviously a different locker room. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said that you guys have been through so much more now, that it’s a different, maybe a higher level of disappointment at this point. How do you manage that?

“Well, our expectations are very high so I think that leads to the more of a disappointing feeling. But that kind of is a good thing in a way. And I know it sounds weird to say, but when you are progressing as a team, as an organization, you start getting better, your expectations start going higher and that’s the way you want to trend. And so, when you do have losses and things like that, it hurts. But I don’t know if I’m wording this the right way, you are trending in the right direction because your expectations are going up. And I think that in our locker room as a whole guys have that mindset, have that feeling and we just have to go execute now.”

Did you make any recruiting pitch to Los Angeles Rams WR Odell Beckham Jr.?

“In our building, I guess you could say. But no, I’m happy with the guys we’ve got right now. I just heard that news a little while ago.”