The Seattle Seahawks might be licking their wounds following their first defeat of the season, but will be back to take on their rivals the San Francisco 49ers and their quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
After a meteoric rise to prominence thanks to a 6-0 record to start his NFL career, the shine around Garoppolo has begun to fade considerably. Instead of becoming the next big star, Garoppolo has become somewhat of a glorified game manager for San Francisco.
As a whole, Garoppolo has some decent numbers this season, but a closer look at individual game logs – or better yet, watching Niner games – tells a different story. Ever since his poor play down the stretch during San Francisco’s collapse in Super Bowl XIV, Garoppolo has struggled.
Over his last three games, Garoppolo has only three touchdown passes against four picks. This is made worse when you realize all three only came in one game against the Rams, meaning two of his last three games he has failed to deliver a score.
The most egregious example was a 43-17 loss to the Dolphins where he completed only seven of 17 passes for 77 yards and two picks, which resulted in him being benched at halftime.
Garoppolo may not be the elite talent some thought he would be, but he has shown he can play very well in coach Kyle Shanahan’s system. When Garoppolo is allowed to get going, he compliment’s San Francisco’s dominant ground game making it difficult for the Niners to be slowed down.
The last time the Seahawks faced Garoppolo, he was downright surgical, completing 18 of 22 passes for 285 yards.
The Seahawks defense has struggled this entire year, and now they face a mistake-prone quarterback. Seattle has to figure out a way to disrupt Garoppolo early and get San Francisco’s offense out of synch early, otherwise, it could be another long Sunday for the Seahawks.
