Jimmy Garoppolo sure is taking on a lot of criticism heading into Super Bowl LIV. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback had a strong second half of the regular season, but that seems to have been mostly forgotten. The NFL is a what-have-you-done-lately league, and all people remember are your latest performances.
For Garoppolo, those latest games include two performances where he was underutilized in the eyes of some. Maybe that's true. That could be more because opposing defenses had so much trouble stopping the 49ers' run game, but Garoppolo doubters have directed the narrative toward a lack of trust in the quarterback.
Garoppolo said on Thursday that he hears the criticisms but what matters the most to the quarterback is winning football games, and the 49ers have done that. They are just one win away from winning a championship. How they get there shouldn't matter.
Garoppolo made just eight pass attempts in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers. He completed six for 77 yards while Raheem Mostert and San Francisco's rushing attack racked up 285 total yards on the ground. The 49ers won convincingly and advanced to Super Bowl LIV in Miami, where they will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
"It's wild that he takes criticism for that," tackle Joe Staley told reporters on Thursday. "I mean, we won the game. We were doing what we needed to do to win the game, and that's the main point of an NFL football game. I think he'd be pretty sad if he threw for 450 (yards), and we lost, so it doesn't really matter."
Garoppolo said he acts on criticism differently than others — for example, teammate Richard Sherman. The veteran cornerback recently got into a social-media spat with former NFL cornerback Darrelle Revis.
"I hear all the stuff and everything," Garoppolo said, "but you can't put that all out there all the time. You have to do with it what you will, and take it for what it is. At the end of the day, you've got to go out there and play football."
Garoppolo joked that maybe having older brothers influences how he reacts to criticism.
Staley hasn't noticed any of the outside noise affecting his quarterback.
"If he says he sees it, he doesn't show it," Staley continued. "He's been the same exact person since he's been in here. He prepares the exact same way. We have the utmost confidence in him to do whatever is needed to be done.
"Now, we've had plenty of games this season where we're really had to lean on him heavily to win the games for us, and he's come through every single time.
"I think that's a storyline because we didn't throw the ball, obviously, the last game. But we didn't need to, and I think that's also a strength of Kyle (Shanahan) is that he's going to do whatever it takes to win the game, and whatever he feels like is working the best is what we're going to do. So that doesn't fall on Jim's shoulders at all.
"It's a complete team effort, and I think that's another example of this team being very selfless in what we're doing is that you have a quarterback that could(n't) care less if he throws for 500 yards or if he throws for 10. He just wants to win the game, and it's the whole entire team like that."
Meanwhile, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders is getting tired of hearing questions about Garoppolo's doubters.
"I love Jimmy. I swear I love Jimmy," Sanders said Thursday. "But I'm tired of talking about Jimmy. Jimmy's a baller, and I've been saying it since day one. Could you imagine? Every week, it's Jimmy.
"I feel like, Jimmy and I, we do have a relationship. That's my boy, man, and Jimmy's a baller. I keep saying it over and over, and it's the same questions, but he's a baller, and I expect him to do what he got to do.
"Obviously, he threw the ball eight times last week, but at the same time, some people say, 'Oh yeah, you've got to stop the run.' There's been plenty of times they say you've got to stop the run, and then the next thing you know, we open up the passing game. I feel like we can do that, as well."
Staley was asked what makes Garoppolo such a great quarterback and leader for the 49ers.
"He's an unbelievable human being, A," Staley responded. "Guys just love being around him. He's a very genuine human being. He comes from unbelievable family — just a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy.
"But then B, here, his preparation. That's always what gets a lot of respect. Guys just preparing exactly how they're supposed to. He knows every single detail of this offense. He knows exactly what his role is for a certain play, what he's supposed to do on this pass play or run play, and he just plays with incredible passion for the football game. He makes you want to be better."