San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ended training camp on Sunday by throwing several consecutive touchdown passes during red-zone drills. That was a sharp contrast to his performance four days earlier when he threw several interceptions during practice.
When that happened last year, it drew national discussion, analysis, and even some criticism. This year, there was some discussion, but not to the scale of 2019's overreaction.
"You never want to do that. That's a starting point," Garoppolo said on Friday. "Any interception, it's a bad interception. But in training camp, it's a little different. You're mixing and matching guys. You're working with guys who you haven't worked with before. So, you want to take some chances, see what guys can do, see what I could do. There's a ton of variables that go into it, but if it was a real game, I'd feel a little differently about it."
Garoppolo's coach, Kyle Shanahan, didn't sound too worried either. He's more concerned with Garoppolo's in-game performances. Shanahan admits, though, that there is at least one benefit to looking good in any practice at which there are media onlookers.
"I get excited because your article will be better," Shanahan said with a smile on Monday while speaking with reporters via Zoom. "So, that's better for the players and their family. It takes the pressure off them a little bit more.
"Whether it's good or bad, I think, in practice, you can always learn from it. We've had some of the best Friday practices ever followed by the worst Sunday game imaginable. Then we've been horrible on Friday, where I don't even think we can line up on Sunday, and then we throw for 400 yards on offense.
"I'm really, usually pretty much upset, usually, in practice most of the days, and even when good things happen, I don't always totally notice those stats. I thought we executed much better in the red zone than we have throughout these practices. I thought Jimmy played very well. I also thought he had some better looks, which helps makes it less hard on him.
"I try not to get too caught up in that stuff because I have before, and I see how quickly that can change the next day. So, I really just try to prepare as much as I can and only try to judge it off of Sunday."
Jerick McKinnon seemed to be building a rapport with Garoppolo in 2018 before the running back's injury. That seemed to be the case during this year's training camp too.
McKinnon has even noticed a difference in Garoppolo while comparing this training camp to the one from a couple of years ago.
"He's been in the system for a minute now, so he knows how everything goes," McKinnon said. "He knows exactly how he wants certain routes. So, if he's giving me a tip on how he wants me to sit down on choice and stuff like that, just making sure we're on the same page, running extra routes after practice, just getting that timing together and stuff like that. But you can definitely tell by the way he speaks, the conviction he has. His leadership skills are tremendous."
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said over the weekend that Garoppolo seems improved and more decisive as he exits his third offseason with San Francisco.
"Yeah, I agree with that," Shanahan said of his coordinator's assessment. "The more you're in a system, the more you go against the same defense over and over, the more things become second nature. So, you expect that from him. You expect that from a lot of guys who are going through camp and going versus some of the same players, the same coverages for a couple of years here.
"That's also what's good about trying to mix in some different stuff. Sometimes I've got to do some different stuff for the defense that we wouldn't do offensively. Sometimes they've got to do some stuff that they don't really want to do, but our quarterback or receivers or our O-Line, someone needs to see it.
"I think our whole team's pretty sharp at going against each other. We've had enough of that. We're ready for that to end. So, the quicker we can go against some other people, we'll see how it's panned off."
