San Francisco 49ers fans hope to watch quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo bounce back on Saturday from the disappointing outing he had against the Denver Broncos. You know, that 0.0 passer rating performance that made a headline or two this week.
The plan is to play Garoppolo for an entire half, head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week and then again on Friday morning during a KNBR interview. The larger sample size of plays should allow Garoppolo to get into some kind of rhythm during the team's road game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I think just go out there and execute," Garoppolo said on Thursday. "As an offense, like I said, get us into a good rhythm, get the ball moving down the field, just kind of string good plays together, one after another. I think that's what it's ultimately all about as an offense, is just consistently going out there and executing."
The increased snaps will also hopefully allow Garoppolo to overcome the mental hurdle of playing at Arrowhead Stadium for the first time since suffering a torn ACL there 11 months ago.
But Shanahan won't be too concerned even if Garoppolo doesn't have a stellar — or even mediocre — game on Saturday. He is viewing the preseason outing as another opportunity for this quarterback to knock off some rust and get more comfortable with the speed of a live NFL game.
"Everybody wants to say, 'Hey, let's see what happens tomorrow,'" Shanahan said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "I'm not too concerned what happens tomorrow. I'm excited to go practice real football, and that is very hard to simulate. We're going to practice real football tomorrow. Hopefully, they get at least 30 plays. I'd like them to get 30 plays.
"Yeah, I hope it goes perfect. It probably won't. I hope it goes better than Denver, but it's another practice for us. The good thing is that it's a practice that you can go full speed, which helps some of our players mentally get ready for Week 1 at Tampa.
"It is very pivotal for a guy who's had a torn ACL and hasn't been hit in over a year. I'm not going to let him get hit in practice. That's why you want these opportunities. Whether it's good or whether it's bad, I look at it all as a positive because you're going to learn from it and it's going to help him get ready for Week 1."
The 49ers and Chiefs kick off from Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. CT).
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.