San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will make his first start in front of the fans at Levi's Stadium. The Niner Faithful got a small preview during a Week 12 contest against the Seattle Seahawks, but Sunday's game against the Tennessee Titans will be his first significant playing time in front of the 49ers' home crowd.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan is appreciative of the fans' support this season but hopes The Faithful will come out in good numbers against the Titans. His team feeds on the fan energy, as he explained Friday morning on KNBR.
"I know that we've got good fans out here and I know there's been a huge tradition," Shanahan said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "I think the better we play and the more wins we can put together, I'm not too concerned about that. I know that's just a matter of time. Just hearing, it sounds like people are excited about Jimmy, especially us putting some of these wins together.
"It would be nice if more people came out and people were a little more fired up. We always enjoy that. I know the defense does when they're loud, especially on third down. But our fans, I think are great. I think they've been great for us this year and I'm looking forward to us giving them a little bit more to be excited about."
Speaking of Garoppolo, how is the quarterback doing digesting Shanahan's playbook? Rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard had an entire offseason to study it whereas Garoppolo's crash course began shortly after his October 30 trade from the New England Patriots.
Shanahan wanted to clarify that Garoppolo knows what he needs to know going into each game. He knows that week's game plan and the plays associated with it. With each game, Garoppolo becomes more comfortable running the 49ers offense.
"When you talk about the playbook, that's just understanding the overall terminology and the whole packages of what you guys do philosophy-wise and all the situations and the different combinations you can do on plays," Shanahan said. "That's the stuff that you really just build a foundation on throughout the entire offseason, and that's really what the big playbook looks like.
"Besides that, once you start the season, it's a different playbook each week, so you try to put a game plan together to attack a certain defense and what you think your players can do that week. Each week has been a playbook for Jimmy. He goes into a game, and he fully understands that.
"Now, I think each game he's played in, I think he was a lot more used to it and more automatic against Houston than he was versus Chicago. What I mean by automatic, in terms of when he hears the call, he knows it walking up to the line. The more he does that, the more he can think about it quicker and start to recognize other things.
"It's just about going through it each day and the more you do it, things become quicker and a little bit easier. And I think he felt that a little bit more versus Houston than he did versus Chicago. Hopefully, it will get a little bit easier this week, and he can continue throughout these next three games and lead us going ahead in the offseason."
You can listen to the entire interview with Shanahan below.