Well, you knew this was coming. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo gave Stephen A. Smith plenty of ammo after his team fell to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime on Monday night, and the ESPN personality seems to be relishing the moment.
In Smith's mind, everything he has always said about Garoppolo was proven correct during the 27-24 home loss. The quarterback finished the game completing just 52.2 percent of his passes for 248 yards with a touchdown and an interception ... and came very close to having more picks.
"I take away from [the game] that Jimmy Garoppolo, the $137 million man, he happens to be the weak link for this particular team because their defense is real, it's big-time, it's legit," Smith said on Tuesday morning. "Offensively, they have some question marks. I don't think it's at the receiver spot. I don't think it's at the tight end spot. I don't think it's at the running back spot. I think it's at the quarterback spot."
On the bright side, Smith didn't call Garoppolo "Porn Star Jimmy" during the segment, so that's a win for all listeners.
Max Kellerman had a very different take on last night's game.
"Last night's game proved that the San Francisco 49ers are the best team in the world," Kellerman argued, much to the confusion of a listening Smith and Marcus Spears. "That's what it proved in the loss."
Kellerman said he predicted the 49ers would lose this game — a game he felt could have gone either way. He knew San Francisco wasn't going to remain undefeated forever, and MVP-candidate Russell Wilson might be the best quarterback they face this season.
Kellerman also notes that the 49ers were without Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle, lost wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders during the game, and receivers weren't doing Garoppolo any favors by dropping passes.
"The Niners, without their best pass-catcher, without their second-best pass-catcher, with guys dropping balls all over the place, still should have won the game," Kellerman argued. "The field-goal kicker should have hit that field goal. That's a very makable -- and he didn't even come close, never had a real shot at it, as it turns out.
"Even with all that, it takes Russell Wilson heroics in overtime to beat them. What that tells me is that the Niner defense is ferocious. We know it.
"Garoppolo played well enough to win most games, just not against the MVP, down weapons, in overtime? If you're going to lose a home game, that's how you lose it, to one of the hottest teams in the NFL, led by an MVP, with, let's face it, a bunch of bad breaks."
