The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Garoppolo gets elite tips, lessons
MIAMI >> Jimmy Garoppolo had a front-row seat in the best classroom on the best way to prepare for being a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl.
After watching Tom Brady prepare for two Super Bowl wins as his backup on New England, Garoppolo now gets the chance to translate those lessons into his first trip as a starter for the San Francisco 49ers.
“I think just how calm he was,” Garoppolo said about what he learned watching Brady prepare for wins over Seattle following the 2014 season and Atlanta two years later.
“Everyone says you’ve got to treat it like another game, just the way he actually he did it. I was up close and personal, picking up everything I could, seeing how he went about his business and everything. And obviously it worked out the two times that I was there with him.”
Brady is the most accomplished Super Bowl passer there is, making nine trips to the big game and winning six of them, including the two with Garoppolo as his backup.
Both those wins were memorable ones with the Patriots overcoming a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Seahawks and then rallying from 28-3 down to beat the Falcons in overtime.
The work for those comebacks began long before Brady went on the field.
“You could see it, how he is, his body mannerisms, everything, just how he prepares for it makes him confident on Sunday,” Garoppolo said. “And so, I’m trying to do the same thing, be ready to go and we’ll see what happens.”
Garoppolo said he received a congratulatory text message from Brady as he prepares for the game. Garoppolo will try to join former Niners great Steve Young and Jeff Hostetler as the only quarterbacks to be active for a Super Bowl win as a backup quarterback to later go on and win the title.
If that happens, the 49ers will have the Patriots to thank as the team that has played in the past three Super Bowls still has an impact on this year’s game.
The rebuild of the 49ers was fast-tracked midway through the 2017 season when the Patriots offered to trade Garoppolo to San Francisco for a secondround pick.
With Brady showing no signs of slowing down or wanting to retire and Garoppolo set for free agency the following spring, coach Bill Belichick decided to offer him up to a franchise he respected.
“It was a big step in our ascension as an organization,” general manager John Lynch said. “He made us better as an organization instantly. He’s a winner. A lot of that is just inherently who he is but I think the ‘Patriot Way’ helped shape that as well. He had great experiences there. All he cares about is winning.”