San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo spoke with reporters after the team's 27-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Talk about your block.
"I'm not in that situation very often. I saw an opportunity. He was a little off balance. Had to get a pancake on the stat sheet. I was pretty happy about it."
I think you only threw the ball six times in the second half. You mentioned earlier in the week passing stats and all that stuff doesn't really matter to you. But to be able to sit back and watch your team take control of a game, you're fine with that, right?
"Yeah, it was awesome. There was one drive where we literally didn't pass the ball, came off to the sideline, it was as excited as we've ever been offensively. When you can do that to a team, it makes it tough on defenses, when they have to bring more guys into the box, start bringing safeties down. We ran the hell out of the ball. Those guys up front battled their asses off. It was fun."
The CB Richard Sherman pick, do you feel like it was a pivotal point in the game?
"That was huge. I didn't actually get to see it. He made the play. It's that complementary football, I've said it before up here. That one, coming off the special teams one with [RB] Raheem [Mostert] when he got that one, too. When all those things are tied together, all three units are playing together like that, it makes us tough to beat."
What happened on the Vikings LB Eric Kendrick's interception? Good play by him, bad read by you?
"Yeah, just left it a little short. I had the hole over the top of him. Just left it short. He made a good play on it. Tip your hat to him."
For the defense to hold them to 3 points after that. To have it not tied, to have it be 14-10...
"That was huge. That's the complementary football I'm talking about. When something like that happens, and the defense can hold them to three-and-out, and make them kick the field goal it picks up offensively after that."
Given the way the first drive went, did you feel differently making a start in a playoff game?
"The fans felt different. It was rocking out there today. Those fans, they were screaming, they were loud. I mean, it was a fun atmosphere. Yeah, as far as just everything, I don't know, got to treat it just like another game. You go out there, the field is still a hundred yards long. Just got to go play football."
What did that first drive do for you? I think you were 5 for 6. And you guys marched down and scored. Did that set the tone for the offense a bit?
"Yeah, I think we ran the ball well, too, on that drive. I think guys were talking on the sidelines that we had opportunities to run it. [Head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] did a great job of getting us into the right calls and everything. Guys up front did the rest. The running backs ran hard. All those guys, even the receivers. It takes all the guys offensively to run the ball. We did a good job of it today."
Did you sense there's a different sort of feeling or emotion from the offensive line when you are put in a situation to play complementary football like that when the defense is playing at that kind of level?
"Oh, yeah, those guys get fired up, man. You can see it in the huddle. As you're calling the play, and it's a run play, their eyes light up. They get excited. I love it when those guys are just teeing off like that. It's fun. Makes my job very easy."
Did you see frustration from the Vikings and their defensive line? Did you sense that at all?
"Yeah. There was a point in the second half, you could definitely feel it. There was a little bit of arguing by them. They weren't getting aligned very quickly. You could definitely feel that. We just tried to take advantage of it."
Are you able to see what this defense does during this game, other games this season?
"You know, I hear it a lot better than I see it. I won't actually see it happen. Just by the fans' reaction, everything like that, you know something happened. Try to look up and see who got the sack. I think it seemed like our entire D-Line had a sack today. Just fun. It's fun when things are clicking like that."
You talked about the fans' reaction. What was the moment like when DL Nick Bosa was down, fans were chanting his name, he got up?
"(Smiling) I hope Nick is all right. It was tough, but he's a tough guy, hopefully he'll be okay. Yeah, it was just one of those moments, makes you kind of laugh a little bit on the sideline. Fans chanting Bosa and everything, it was a crazy atmosphere. I loved it."
Just to be clear, he was milking it, right?
"You'll have to ask him that."
On the block that you had, you laid someone out there, how did that feel?
"Yeah, it felt good. Just sometimes you have to remember that you're not just a quarterback, you're a football player, too, sometimes. Yeah, just tried to do my job on it."
Is that why you dove in the pile on the fumble?
"Yeah, kind of an instinct. I felt it at my feet. I don't know, I didn't really even have a shot at it. Thought I should throw a hand in there or something."