The bar wasn’t very high, but Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday in Carolina played his best game of the season. He told reporters after struggling in his first start back in Week 3 that he’d need time to get into a rhythm. He appeared to have found that rhythm in Week 5, and it came with a surprise improvement in a key area for the 49ers’ signal caller.
Garoppolo had a good game against the Panthers. He completed 18-of-30 throws for 253 yards and two touchdowns. He also didn’t turn the ball over. That stat line is good, but not something entirely out of the ordinary for him. The area that jumps out is what he did under pressure.
Pressure is the kryptonite for any quarterback, and even the best see their numbers dip when surrounded by defenders in the pocket. Garoppolo’s numbers under pressure historically have dipped dramatically. In the previous two weeks he’d gone 4-of-10 for 26 yards, no touchdowns and one interception in such scenarios.
That wasn’t the case in Carolina.
Garoppolo when kept clean Sunday was 13-of-21 for 173 yards (8.2 yards per attempt) and a touchdown.
Under pressure he saw his completion rate dip some, but his yards per attempt went up and he still threw a touchdown with no turnovers. He went 5-of-9 for 80 yards and a score.
Perhaps this is a one-game blip. A much larger sample size of Garoppolo’s career would indicate that it is. However, it’s notable because better performance in those situations would dramatically improve Garoppolo’s value in San Francisco’s offense. Turning even two negative plays per game into positive ones could be the difference between losing a close playoff game and winning it. And when he performs as well as he did Sunday, the 49ers offense is hard for anyone to stop.
