Eight passes. Jimmy Garoppolo joked that he threw more during pre-game warmups. The quarterback is headed to Super Bowl LIV, and all he had to do was throw eight times. He completed six of those attempts for 77 yards, but most of the work on offense came from running back Raheem Mostert.
Mostert, by the way, carried the football 29 times for 220 yards and four touchdowns.
Garoppolo did not pass much because he didn't need to do so. Still, had the Green Bay Packers found a way to slow the 49ers' rushing attack, the quarterback stood ready to air it out.
That need never came.
That led ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith to once again complain about Garoppolo on First Take as a perplexed Max Kellerman, a long-time Garoppolo supporter, listened. Smith refuses to give Garoppolo too much credit for the 49ers' success, even when he carries the team, as he did during Week 14 against the New Orleans Saints.
So, of course, 77 passing yards were going to get Smith going, once again.
Hall of Fame wide receiver and 49ers legend, Jerry Rice, feels differently. He believes Garoppolo is doing exactly what head coach Kyle Shanahan and company wanted him to do when they sent a second-round draft pick to the New England Patriots in 2017 for the quarterback.
"I'm totally into what the San Francisco 49ers are doing," Rice said during his weekly 95.7 The Game interview on the Joe, Lo and Dibs show. "I told Stephen A. Smith all year long that they were going to go to the Super Bowl, and here we are. And Stephen A. Smith is still -- he doesn't want to give the 49ers credit. He's still [saying] Jimmy G is not a legit quarterback.
"Hey, Jimmy G is doing exactly what we wanted him to do. We paid him [$137.5 million], and he's doing what we want him to do. I think he's really elevated everyone on that team, elevated their play, and he's only going to get better."
You can listen to the entire interview with Rice below.
