‘Peyton’s Places’ talks up 49ers QBs.
Retired QB legend Manning hasn’t seen enough of Garoppolo to render an opinion
ENGLEWOOD, COLO. >> Peyton Manning impressively knows the history of 49ers quarterbacks, and he’s entertainingly sharing it through an ESPN and NFL Films project commemorating the NFL’s 100th season.
He’s sat with Joe Montana at Bill Walsh’s original desk inside the 49ers Museum. He’s tossed passes with Steve Young while lamenting the dearth of left-handed quarterbacks. And he’s marveled at John Brodie’s and Y.A. Tittle’s pioneering exploits at Kezar Stadium.
As great a storyteller as Manning is on “Peyton’s Places,” he’s not sure what to say about the 49ers current quarterback. Who does? Jimmy Garoppolo’s comeback from knee recontruction is only now unfolding, albeit in healthy fashion through training camp.
“It’s just that he hasn’t played that much. He got hurt,” Manning said Friday in an exclusive interview at the 49ers joint practice with the host Denver Broncos.
“It’s one thing if you’ve played a lot and there’s a lot in the bank.”
Garoppolo has only 10 career starts, including his 5-0 debut with the 2017 49ers and his three starts last season before a torn anterior cruciate ligament ended his — and the 49ers — season.
Manning had 208 career starts, plus 19 more in the playoffs and a Su
per Bowl ring, when he returned in 2012 from a year’s absence. Remember that? He left the Indianapolis Colts, considered the playoff-contending 49ers and instead finished his Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Broncos, capped by a Super Bowl 50 win at Levi’s Stadium.
“The more you’ve played, you usually comes back a little quicker,” Manning said. “Had it happened early, it might have been difficult.”
Manning overcame neck surgeries, obviously different that Garoppolo’s leftknee retrofit. Still, Manning has sage advice for Garoppolo, the same he offered at Colts camp Thursday to an injured-again Andrew Luck.
“You figure out a way to make it happen, figure out a way to do it,” Manning said. “Even if you don’t feel your best, you can still be effective.
“For me, I wasn’t throwing it way down the field, but because I couldn’t, my reads and my footwork got better.”
Manning quietly observed from the 49ers sideline as Garoppolo worked against the Broncos on Friday. Mike Shanahan, Garoppolo’s film-room guru during last season’s rehabilitation, watched next to Manning during some drills.
Garoppolo didn’t meet Manning afterward but hoped to do so after today’s encore practices.
Manning has spent much of the past two years meeting football royalties. He’s visited 25 cities and 52 total places for “Peyton’s Places,” and the 49ers’ historical feats were so vital (“non-negotiable”) that he made two Bay Area trips.
Last summer, he ran the famed Peninsula hill with Jerry Rice. Manning didn’t know Roger Craig actually introduced that training gem to 49ers lore. “I asked (Rice) if Young or Montana had been here. That was kind of cool to be a quarterback doing it with him,” Manning said. “It was fascinating to witness that and go into his world.”
Earlier this year, Manning came to Levi’s Stadium and met separately with Montana and Young. (No, he didn’t ask them about the NFL’s all-time greatest quarterback controversy.)
With Montana, they revisited “The Catch,” as well as Montana’s initial comeback win in December 1980, against the New Orleans Saints and Manning’s father, Archie. While sitting at Walsh’s desk in the 49ers Museum and reviewing film with Montana, Manning said, “You feel it.”
Throwing passes with Young, the Hall of Fame’s first southpaw quarterback, led to trivia questions, such as who was the last lefty to throw a touchdown pass in the NFL (answer: Dez Bryant, the former Cowboys receiver).
Manning’s Bay Area visits also dove into Raiders lore. He met up with Fred Biletnikoff and caught passes after slathering Stick-Um onto his hands — and then paint thinner to get rid of it.
The 30-episode, documentary series debuted last month and runs weekly on ESPN, and so far Manning is accomplishing his goal of revisiting NFL history in a fun, entertaining but informative way.
“More than anything,” Manning said, “it has made me even prouder to have played and been a part of it.”
• A mostly civil practice unfolded on the Denver Broncos practice fields Thursday as the 49ers made their first visit since 2016.
An injury-riddled training camp has another apparent casualty: Mike Person, the starting right guard. After participating throughout practice, Person emerged from the 49ers locker room on crutches with an orthopedic boot on his left foot, and he was driven away by a cart.
• The 49ers interior offensive line might be most cause for concern three weeks into camp and three weeks from the season opener. Center Weston Richburg (quadriceps) remains on the physically unable to perform list, and guard Joshua Garnett has been out since undergoing surgery about two weeks ago on his right hand’s ring finger.
Person started all 16 games last season at right guard. Ben Garland is a potential option there but he’s been the first-string center in place of Richburg. Other candidates: Najee Toran, Ross Reynolds, Justin Skule and Dillon Day.
• Last seen getting five passes intercepted by the 49ers defense Wednesday, Garoppolo started hot against the Broncos (4 of 4) and finished 9 of 14.
He had only one pass intercepted in team drills, and it is worth analyzing. Broncos pass rusher Von Miller came charging hard around the right side past tight end Ross Dwelley. Rather than step into the throw with Miller lurching toward his legs, Garoppolo threw almost flat-footed toward Marquise Goodwin, and Simmons snared what almost was a jump ball.
As for the five-interception fiasco, Garoppolo said he was “pretty ticked” about “five bad decisions,” though he credited the defense for getting the best of him, adding: “It’s only going to lead to a better football team.
• The Broncos defense repeatedly taunted wide receiver Dante Pettis, starting when a 50-yard pass from C.J. Beathard went off Pettis’ fingertips early. As Pettis returned from the play, Broncos safety Will Parks, who was not practicing, asked Pettis how he dropped it as a first-round pick (Pettis was a 2018 second-round choice). Pettis earlier dropped a pass in a red-zone, one-on-one drill, and later got pancaked by safety Justin Simmons while trying to block for Tevin Coleman.
• Veteran Jordan Matthews also got heckled on a couple incompletions and in a special-teams drill. • Tarvarius Moore has made so many strides at free safety that it’s no sure thing Jimmie Ward will assume the starting spot once he joins full-team drills. When Ward broke his collar bone in May, Moore switched over from his rookie spot at cornerback.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh on the safety competition: “It’s definitely something to talk about. Tarvarius, he had the door open. We always talk about if you get your foot in the door, it’s your job to blow that thing open. He’s doing a good job. He’s going to make it very difficult.”