Garoppolo to play through ankle injury against Rams
49ers QB is 3-0 vs. LA
Jimmy Garoppolo is 3-0 against the Los Angeles Rams. Getting to 4- 0 will require an against-theo dd s, no - pa i nno-gain approach Sunday night.
So what makes coach Kyle Shanahan confident that Ga roppolo can play through an ankle sprain better than last game?
“Jimmy’s in a better spot this week than last week,” Shanahan said Friday. “I’m not thinking about the ankle. I expect him to go out and play well.”
Two of Garoppolo’s wins over
the Rams came in thrilling fashion last season, and the other finished off his December 2017 dominance as the 49ers’ next great quarterback.
None of those victories came with him battling a high- ankle sprain, something he must overcome Sunday night when the 49ers (2-3) host the Rams (4-1).
Garoppolo lasted only the first half of last Sunday’s upset loss to the Miami Dolphins. Perhaps it’s surprising he even went that long before Shanahan relieved him with C. J. Beathard.
Garoppolo’s ankle got targeted on his very first pass. After he took a shotgun snap and slid further in the pocket, linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel dove at Garoppolo’s legs after a third- down incompletion
already set sail. A few series later, Van Ginkel beat tight end Ross Dwelley and promptly clobbered an unsuspecting Garoppolo in the back.
“Unfortunately, on the very first series, he got hit low at the end of the play, and just the way he responded, the way I saw him gingerly on one leg, it
didn’t look right,” general manager John Lynch said Friday on KNBR 680-AM. “That affected his ability to rotate and throw the ball effectively.
“Not an excuse. What I saw on the field. But Jimmy’s a competitor, came back and made nice throws. But it never materialized.”
Former 49ers quarterback Steve Young is concerned not just over Garoppolo’s health but his trust level with Shanahan, something Young has questioned since the Super Bowl loss and its first-half finish.
“It’s not in tatters right now, but it needs to get better,” Young said on KNBR. “... I’m sure Kyle at ( last Sunday’s) half — Jimmy was hurt, I get that — but Kyle was also frustrated with Jimmy. I’m sure Kyle is like, ‘ Guys are coming open, you’re rushing through it, slow it down.’ I think that’s what’s got to happen quickly.”
A year ago, the 49ers scored 20 unanswered points to win 20-7 at Los Angeles in Week 6, then Garoppolo converted a pair of third-and-16 passes on a winning drive in their Week 16 rematch at Levi’s Stadium.
This being the Rams’ divisional opener, they hyped it up with a social-media video. The closing scene: a sack on Garoppolo.