Nevius: Playoffs tighten pressure on 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo

It is hard to play quarterback in the National Football League ...

... as Jimmy Garoppolo reminds us every weekend.

In the five-plus years he’s been with the 49ers, he’s been through nine stages of the life and times of a quarterback. They are:

1. Unabashed adoration. 2. Unfortunate injury. 3. Mild concerns. 4. More injuries. 5. Deeper concerns. 6. Replacement drafted. 7. Benching demanded. 8. What? Playoffs? 9. Never mind.

Which brings us to Saturday, accepting the Jimmy that we have, not the Jimmy we wish we had.

The Press Democrat’s Inside the 49ers blog

If you follow any team and player for years, you start to pick up personal quirks and tendencies. Think Brandon Belt looking at a close pitch for strike three because he thinks he’s the master of the strike zone.

For Garoppolo, it is interceptions. Full term papers have been written about what they mean. Pointy-headed analysts say the 49ers are 2-6 when he throws a single interception.

So apparently, if he throws a pick the game’s over. You’d think the other 59 minutes and 30 seconds would have something to do with the outcome, but apparently not.

Now, a little reality check. During the regular season Garoppolo threw 12 interceptions. That’s not even in the top 10. Matt Stafford, of the NFC West champion Rams, threw 17. So did 2020 first overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence.

AFC East champ Buffalo QB Josh Allen threw 15. Garoppolo is down the list, tied with Tom Brady, who also threw 12.

But, you say, it isn’t how many he throws, it is when he throws them. And he does toss some howlers.

In last week’s Dallas game, he surely had the Jimmy-doubters leaping off the couch when he airmailed a pass directly to a Cowboys defender in the game’s final 10 minutes.

It gave Dallas a short field and gave Dak Prescott a chance to run the ball into the end zone. That cut the 49ers’ lead to 23-17 and set up a possible Cowboys comeback.

So yeah, bad throw.

Know who else had a critical interception? Prescott. When he was picked off by K’Waun Williams in the third quarter, it gave the Niners the ball on the 26. On the next play, Deebo Samuel had that remarkable touchdown run.

Which, as it turned out, was the margin of victory. So who threw the more consequential interception?

And as much as we ding Garoppolo for not throwing deep, you have to admit he made some impressive third-down throws in Dallas.

He’s also proved to be surprisingly deft at fourth-quarter drives. Bleacher Report credits him with “three fourth-quarter comebacks and three game-winning drives.”

So yeah, some good, some bad. But we’re looking at Stage 2 of the playoffs, so right now the good outweighs the bad.

Also, it should be noted that playing QB for Kyle Shanahan does not appear to be a beach vacation.

He admits he is stingy with the compliments, but he also has shown a little tendency for under-the-bus tossing.

At the end of the Dallas game, all the 49ers had to do was get a first down and the game was over. The Cowboys couldn’t stop the clock and time would run out.

Shanahan called a quarterback sneak, which was successful, and all was well until officials announced that a 49ers lineman had false-started. Trent Williams had been put in motion and didn’t come to a full set position before the snap.

Shanahan said it was Garoppolo’s fault. He “got real excited,” the coach said, and didn’t wait for Williams to get set.

Which is true. He should have waited.

My question is, it’s a quarterback sneak — why are you putting someone in motion? To try to draw the Cowboys offside?

And if you insist on putting someone in motion, why make it Williams, an offensive tackle who surely does not have much experience in doing that?

That was a lot of window dressing for what may be the simplest play in football. And one that has been consistently successful with Garoppolo. Why not just run the play and not overthink it?

Shanahan also has that old-school coaching mindset about injuries.

Remember when it leaked out that Garoppolo had a thumb injury? Shanahan said it was a “sprain.”

But reports quickly began to circulate that it was more serious and Shanahan finally acknowledged that it was a torn ligament and chipped bone.

You have to feel like Garoppolo was getting a little frustrated with the “he’ll be fine” happy chat. Surely it wasn’t an accident that, when asked how it felt, he said “it (effing) hurts ... it feels like the web in your hand is tearing a little bit.”

We have now revisited the injury transparency question when Shanahan announced that Garoppolo has “a slight sprain” of his throwing shoulder. And he added that the thumb was a greater concern that the shoulder.

But Garoppolo said the shoulder was just as problematic as the thumb, making it sound more than “slight.”

In fact, I am not totally convinced that we won’t see Trey Lance in this game. Reporters have documented how Garoppolo threw before the shoulder injury (really well) and after (not very well.) It could be enough to get him out of the game at some point.

If that happened, we would see how the 49ers’ apprentice quarterback plan has worked. Lance is supposed to be watching and learning this season.

I’m sure he is. And I bet I can tell you one thing he’s learned.

This is a lot of pressure.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius