Garoppolo gets clear view of Beathard sacks, 49ers’ drops
SANTA CLARA >> Jimmy Garoppolo, who didn’t play Sunday, still got a nice welcoming ovation when he came out for warm-ups.
There were even a few fastacting fans wearing No. 10 Garoppolo jerseys.
“Oh, were there?” the quarterback said, cracking a smile. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
After that introduction, Garoppolo would have been well served to avert his eyes for the next 3.5 hours. The 49ers lost 2010 to the Arizona Cardinals, who pummeled C.J. Beathard with 16 quarterback hits and five sacks. You would have understood if Garoppolo made a U-turn and hightailed it back to New England.
Beathard’s receivers dropped passes, his offensive line struggled and the 49ers scored precisely 10 points for the third consecutive week.
Garoppolo, from the safety of the sideline, spent the day stretching obsessively on the sideline and playing spirited catch like a hurler without a pitch count. At times he wrapped a stretchy exercise
band around his lower legs and walked from side to side like a back-up dancer in the “Thriller” video.
“It’s kind of my normal routine,’’ he shrugged. “After three years with the Patriots, I got one. You never know what’s going to happen, so you just have to stay ready.”
A week ago, Garoppolo was in New England surrounded by the most powerful team of this era. On Sunday, he was at the other end of the NFL spectrum.
His first impressions of last place?
“I was trying just to soak in as much as possible,’’ said Garoppolo, who was acquired Tuesday in a trade for a 2018 second-round pick. “It’s a different sideline, a different crowd, a different stadium. I really liked it. It was a good experience. Hopefully, it will get better going forward.”
As welcome wagons go, this was a dud. There were lots of empty seats and the home team was down 14-3 by halftime. It was the most subdued atmosphere of the year at Levi’s Stadium, which is saying something.
In the bad old days, the Giants used to give away something called a Croix de Candlestick to the most loyal followers. It was a souvenir pin given to any fan hearty enough to brave the elements all the way to the end of an extra-inning night game.
With that in mind the 49ers ought to hand out something to their faithful, too. A Lapel de Levi’s? Or maybe Lynch Pins?
Because anyone with enough physical and mental fortitude to stick around for four quarters of 49ers football these days deserves a commendation.
The team is now 0-9, injury-ravaged and getting more mistake-prone as the season goes along. Receiver Marquise Goodwin understands the frustration and was in no rush to make excuses.
“People want to make it about us being young, but the league doesn’t care about that. The fans don’t care,’’ Goodwin said. “We need a win for these great coaches that we have. We have a great GM, a great owner. They treat us so great. We just have to be better. That’s it.”
Goodwin was the target of eight passes but managed only two receptions. In the second half, with the 49ers clinging to hope for their first win, he dropped an on-themoney pass from Beathard that would have kept a drive alive.
“Critical drops. I dropped a first-down ball I make 100 percent of the time,’’ Goodwin said. “Obviously, I have to be better. We have to be better at being complete all the way through the game ...
“It’s the same thing every week. It’s the same story. We just have to get better from this. I mean, I know how: It’s to not false-start, to not get a holding (penalty) or to not drop a ball at a critical time.”
At this point in Goodwin’s answer, a television reporter suggested the phrase “self-inflicted wounds.”
“Self inflicted wounds,’’ Goodwin repeated without missing a beat. “(The Cardinals) didn’t go out there and beat our heads in. We do it to ourselves each week.
“That comes from guys like me. It’s my fifth year. ... I need to do a better job of helping my quarterback . ... I have to be the person that makes him better.”
This dispiriting scene might be jarring for Garoppolo, whose Patriots teams went 44-12 during the regular season during his time there.
And to the 49ers’ credit, they’re giving him time to adjust to the culture shock. Coach Kyle Shanahan said that he never even considered a mid-game change from Beathard to Garoppolo.
“To just throw out a quarterback who’s had three practices with extremely limited reps who doesn’t know your offense, that’s kind of an unfair position to put him in,’’ he said.