The offense struggled in the San Francisco 49ers' regular-season opener on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Luckily, the defense brought its A-game, forcing four takeaways and scoring off of two interceptions in the process.
All eyes were on Jimmy Garoppolo in his first regular-season action since suffering a torn ACL nearly a year ago. The quarterback went 18-of-27 for 166 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and a passer rating of 80.2 in the 49ers' 31-17 victory. It was his second-worst passer rating with San Francisco (worst was 45.1 in Week 1 vs. the Minnesota Vikings last year).
"I think there were some ups and downs," Garoppolo said after the game. "Obviously, some things to learn from but it's always good to start the season 1-and-0."
Garoppolo shouldn't shoulder all of the blame. After the game, head coach Kyle Shanahan was quick to point out that the entire offense, not just the quarterback, showed in Tampa that there is still work to do.
"I think the whole offense was shaky," Shanahan told reporters. "I think he made a couple of good throws but Jimmy and everyone else, including myself, needs to get a lot more consistent. There were some things out there that we missed, which made it a much tighter game than it needed to be.
"Fortunately, our defense got us some turnovers. They got four of them. It's hard to win when you have two turnovers on offense, but when you get four on the other side, especially when they scored on two of them, that makes it a little easier to overcome some sloppy play that we had on [offense]."
There were times when the receivers didn't do Garoppolo any favors. The wideouts on the team finished the game with a combined seven catches for 79 receiving yards and a touchdown but also had a few key drops.
"If the receivers touch it, we expect them to catch it," Shanahan said. "We want the receivers to catch it any time they can touch it. We always will challenge the quarterback to make it easier on them, also."
The 49ers' Pro Bowl tight end does not doubt that the team will be successful with Garoppolo under center.
"Jimmy's the reason we're going to win any games that we win," George Kittle said. "If he's playing good, the whole offense is going to play good. That's all it is. Jimmy's the leader of this team, and when he's playing well, I think we're going to do really well."
And what about Garoppolo's interception returned for a touchdown by Buccaneers cornerback Vernon Hargreaves in the second quarter?
"Just a dumb decision," Garoppolo said. "You've got to see the corner flat-footing out there, move on."
Shanahan was asked if there are any coaching points he will provide Garoppolo following the interception.
"Don't throw it," the coach replied.
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