Does Joe Staley have a point and should we rethink our opinion of JimmyG?
Maybe i need to….



"Former 49ers offensive tackle and current NBC Sports Bay Area analyst Joe Staley sees a massive issue with the criticism that Garoppolo doesn't attack downfield.

“He didn’t have the huge plays down the field and that’s what I think everybody that loves fantasy football and the stats and all these stat patterns and stuff want to be like ‘well he’s not throwing the ball 40 yards downfield,'” Staley said Monday on KNBR. “Well, that’s not what he’s asked to do in this offense. It never has been. If you look at Kyle Shanahan’s offense it’s never really been that. It’s been about controlling the clock, moving the ball down the field, and doing what it takes to win.”

The fact that Shanahan, who employed a more vertical attack as offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, has elected to handcuff his quarterback with the scheme, speaks to the limitations he knows Garoppolo has.

Through two weeks, Garoppolo has thrown just two passes that have traveled 20 or more yards in the air, and the 49ers have only six pass plays that have been labeled as explosive. Garoppolo is averaging just 3.6 air yards per game and his average depth of target (5.2) ranks ahead of only Matt Ryan, who has a horrible offensive line, and Andy Dalton."

Did we trade our future for a Kaep clone?

I was thinking the same exact thing yesterday. I wasn't overly impressed. The guy can run and the guy can throw uncatchable rockets into tight spaces. AKA Kaepernick.

What is up with Lance guys? Haven't seen any of his games, but stats not great.

Clearly Lance isn't ready yet… I do not like him running and taking hits like he was either. Jimmy needs to play out the rest of this season as the starter. I know someone people may not like that but he gives us the better chance to win game.

Our defense is ok but cannot keep us in games if our offense cannot do anything. Kyles play calling hasn't been great IMO. Hopefully Jimmy and Kittle come back good to go soon so we can attempt to put some wins together. Maybe enough to make the playoffs?

Lance isnt ready yet but aside from a few throws i thought he played well. It's obvious the plan really was to let Jimmy G start all of 2021.

Only thing i'm skeptical about is the play calling. 9 designed QB runs on top of the plays he improvises (scrambles) is too many QB runs/hits. I'm really disappointed in the game plan. I know the penalties kinda dictated some of the calls but 9 designed QB runs are too much.

Any idea when JimmyG could be healthy enough to play again?

Offense has no identity or playmakers outside of Deebo and a good run scheme.

Getting sick of Shanahans shtick, look how the players for the Chargers respect Staley. Shanahan has an “it’s everyone’s fault but mine type of attitude.”

Lance not ready, he took some huge hits yesterday, but thought he looked pretty good

Get Aiyuk the fukn ball

I would think he'd be back next week after the bye

JJ Watts dropped him like a bad habit a couple of times.

He’ll be alright. Going up against that defensive line for your first start is not ideal

Kyle is gonna ruin Trey's career just like RGIII. fuk outta here with these runs. Sorry to say but Kyle needs to revamp the offense or he gotta go

Letting Kyle go in the next year or two would be complete idiocy. Let him see what he can do with Lance over a few years. The guy took a scrub team to the superbowl in three years, he's the best playcaller we've had since his dad.

That being said, Kyle has not been great this year, he needs to get that running game going again…unfortunately we don't really have a good RB.

Trey needs to tighten up his release and accuracy, been looking Kaepish for sure.

Welp this certainly wasn't the start of the season most of us wanted to see happen and injuries appear to be a bitch once again. Not sure wtf we can do about them, just can't get one of those lucky seasons you need to go far these days where you avoid critical injuries.

My thoughts on the QB situation are simple.

Play Lance. With the injuries to Verrett, Mostert and others the team isn't able to perform at a high level anymore and carry the offense.

I still have love for Jimmy, will support him wherever he goes unless he's playing against us or a team we need to win against his team. But fact is Jimmy is what he is. I was hoping we'd get 2017 Jimmy back with Trey pushing him but I think that guy is gone. When the running game isn't having its way with the other team and the OL isn't iron clad Jimmy starts getting skittish in the pocket. Defenses know what they have to do to defend our offense with Jimmy in there. If he's out there our execution has to be flawless and with the injuries we've had that hasn't been the case.

With Trey obviously you're going to get some bad…in some cases really bad. However you also get a chance to have some big plays and win plays when they should be loses. I think Trey needs to play because the kid needs live reps. He can work on his mechanics during the offseason, he can work on the playbook and film study during the offseason…live reps cannot be replicated. The kid had barely over 300 passing attempts in college. He needs reps and clearly Kyle wasn't going to give them to him as much as we hoped for with Jimmy starting.

Also the team needs reps WITH Trey. Guys have to learn how to play with him. Whether it's getting used to his arm, growing chemistry with timing and what he likes to do when he escapes a collapsing pocket. These are not things that guys had to think about when playing with Jimmy. Very few scramble drills, not many passes with extra juice on them and the OL pretty much knew how to block for him.

We're not a SB level team right now. Our defense has inconsistency on the DL outside of Bosa(wtf is happening there btw) our secondary got the one thing it couldn't afford which is losing our top corner ****ing week 1. Hard to overcome that when teams understand your strength is pass rush and your weakness is your corners.

We need to make sure the offense is as dangerous as possible. IMO while it may be more consistent with Garoppolo due to his experience, I think it's more dangerous with Trey.

Biggest issue right now for me is actually Kyle's playcalling. I hope he uses the bye week to self scout and to wake the hell up. Part of his playcalling may be due to injuries and lack of trust to the RBs we had available but all the up the gut runs with Trey…not a fan. I REALLY hate the Juice sneak on 4th down vs Arizona since we just did it the week before but it was pointed out that something may have been f*cked up on that play because Trent Williams was out blocking on the outside on that play so the call may have been for Juice to take the snap then pitch to Trey who would've had blocking for the easy first down and possible TD. Just a case where initial look shows terrible playcall but we'll never know what should've been.


Long story short: Start Trey Lance and let him grow and see what happens cuz the team isn't what we expected.

Yeah Kyle needs to get it together but letting him go would be absolutely insane. The NFL is so offense heavy right now letting go an offensive mind like Kyle's would be a major mistake. With Kyle as HC you're guaranteed a system that produces if the players execute and you don't have to be going through OC changes if you hire someone else.

As for Trey being like Kap, I've seen a few people make that comparison and I think it's not a great one. The biggest issue with Kap was his film study related stuff. He had all the talent in the world but struggled with on field processing and there were several reports or tidbits about him not doing enough film study. Trey definitely doesn't have that reputation. The mechanics will be a work in process but I'm confident he'll put in the time and effort.

Trey won't be starting for long if the play calling is like it has been. He's gonna be on IR soon enough.

This sucks… I put more blame on Kyle than anyone else. That first series on this game was great. But then that went away. He needs to be better period.


I am not going to get into the Trey and Jimmy debate. I just want the team in the best position to win. This is where Kyle and the coaches need to figure their stuff out. If that means finding a way no trade Jimmy now then do it. But sadly I do not have faith in the team to try to do that and/or find ways to bring in new players. We have talent but they are not being used.


Also I was supposed to be at this game. My daughter tested positive for covid last week so I have to give up my ticket. I am sad/happy I didn't go. For the last 6 years my dad, brother-in-law and nephew have gone to a game every year (minus last year, thanks covid). So it was going to be nice to get back to that, but I couldn't. It also rained hard all day yesterday and the game sucked. Glad I wasn't there in person for that…..

Short and sweet, this team is getting more frustrating by the day!
My only consolation was that by the time i tuned in the game(13-7) it was close and both teams were dropping the ball while slipping and sliding.
Then it got really ugly…… and i started cleaning the house, yeah we suck.

Very disappointing loss. I'm faulting Kyle more and more. I dont want him fired but he needs to improve in all aspects. 49ers came out on fire and then went completely away from what was working.

Things i don't like in general:

I dont like how Kyle zeros in on Deebo and Deebo only. Spread the ball around. Get other players involved.
I dont like how our secondary is getting coached on deep passes. We have lost at least 2 games on pass interference penalties alone. I think our secondary is playing ok in general but the deep pass penalties are an issue
I dont like how he zeros in on 1 back. Get Sermon involved. You know the guy you spent a high pick on. He seemed to be finally coming around and in a game where we should have been rushing more he got zero carries!!!
I think Kyle is his own worse enemy. Stop trying to be a genius and stick with what is working
Take advantage of the other team's weakness. The Colts secondary was banged up, go after them. Just take some deep shots.

At this point he might as well go with Trey Lance. I dont blame this loss on Jimmy but Jimmy isnt doing anything to win you the game either. If we gonna lose at least get Trey in there and get him some experience. Dont call QB power run 10 x either with him.

This team is a dumpster fire right now from the top down. No first round draft picks until 2024. A jittery starting QB that is injury prone and not worth **** in a trade, a back up QB that isn't even Kaepernick caliber (who we paid 3 first round picks for), a banged up secondary that gets torched every game and a banged up running game with 3rd stringers. Oh then there is the coach who blew two leads in the superbowl and certainly hasn't learned from it.

Blow it all up at this point.

100% on Shanahan. Pretty sick of him and lynch throwing Aiyuk under the bus. Pretty obvious they think he’s a bad practice player, but when you get him the ball in games he makes plays and makes the offense dangerous.

Jimmy G is done, confidence is shot and has the worst footwork in the league.

This accurately sums up my thoughts. What a ****ing waste of a talented roster. Back to obscurity for the next 5-6 years

Aren't you worried about doing to Lance what the Bears are currently doing to Fields though? i.e. ruining him

I'd say stick with Jimmy and just call this season a throw-away, rather than risk killing your investment's career before it begins.

The Bears certainly are not the regime to model one's organization after……..

He has to start at some point. What's the difference between starting now and starting next year, except losing the potential for experience?

I think you are overreacting. If we were getting man handled and blown out i'd share your opinion but we aren't. They have been in every game thus far. With some better coaching and few less pass interference penalties they could easily be 6-0 right now.,

The only way they can ruin Trey is by calling QB power runs 10+ times a game. Let him play and get experience at this point. The Bills didnt ruin Josh Allen when they let him play his first year. I still think this team has a decent roster to not ruin a QB. I just think Kyle needs to get his head out of his butt and put Trey in a position to make some plays. Bootlegs out of butt and stuff like that. No QB power runs.

Did you watch Fields' last start against the Bucs? That did absolutely NOTHING positive for his development IMO.

If you think you can start Lance and keep games fairly competitive–go for it. But if it is gonna be nothing but strip sacks and bad INTs (like Fields vs Tampa)–Lance is better off on the bench. Just saying.

True, but they also had nothing behind him (Nathan Peterman, Derek Anderson that year). That said, Allen still had a seriously rough rookie season (losing record, 67 rating, more INTs than TD passes, missed 4 games due to injury, etc.) Props to the kid to for being able to pull the nose up and become elite now though.

We suck (again)

Well this season has been a major let down to say the least. I do think some people are overreacting though.

For me a few things are crystal clear.

1. Jimmy G should not start for this team unless Trey Lance is still hurt. I had hoped with the talent we have this year and Trey pushing him we'd see Jimmy G from 2017 out there.

The result we got is arguably the worst Jimmy we've seen. He hasn't been all bad but what made him good - his play on 3rd down is a major weak point this year. So if he's not helping us win football games and he's not playing his best on 3rd down to keep our drives going or he's missing reads…basically making rookie mistakes while being an 8 year NFL vet. Can't have that.


2. Kyle Shanahan needs an ego check. I hear people talking about firing the guy, that would be a really stupid move. But Shanahan needs to change things about how he does things. The whole "doghouse" **** needs to go or at least needs to stay out of the media. If you're having issues with a player doing what you think he should be then keep it in house and play the media game when asked about it vs calling out guys specifically. It didn't work with Pettis, I sure as hell hope it doesn't ruin Aiyuk as well.

I also think Kyle is playcalling like he doesn't trust the players…which I understand why he may think like that but in doing so you're handicapping your team. Have to give them a chance to execute plays. Don't make things easier for the defense.

3. We're not legit SB contenders and at this point I don't even know if we can sneak into the playoffs with the injuries and bad play we've had so far.


That's why we need to start Lance. I've seen people concerned about how Fields has looked but our situation is different despite the record. Kyle just needs to stop the run Lance offense. He needs to call the game similar to how he would for Jimmy. Sure sprinkle in some run option plays or designed QB runs on short down distance but let the kid throw the ball and learn on the fly.

Our OL is way better than Chicago's. Our receivers are decent even with Aiyuk struggling. He needs the reps and the team needs reps with him. Need it to happen.

17-10 loss to a team that's now 7-0 at their house is a lot closer and more impressive than a 30-18 loss at home to a team that's now 3-4.