San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo spoke with reporters after Thursday's practice as the team prepares to play the Seattle Seahawks. Here is everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Usually when you go up to Seattle, dealing with the noise is such a big factor, a big part of it. Are you looking forward to a game up there where you won't have to use silent count, be able to actually communicate with your guys in the huddle and things like that?
"Yeah. Yeah, I definitely am. I'll miss the atmosphere up there. It's one of the coolest places to play just with the fans and everything, but yeah, definitely with the cadence, the procedure and all that stuff it will definitely make it easier for us. So, looking forward to that."
The Seattle defense hasn't been having a great season so far. They've been giving a lot of numbers, they've given a lot of yards and scores. Now that you've looked at the film a little bit, what do you see from them? Are there soft spots that you can take advantage of?
"There's some soft spots. You know, they make you work for it though. There's no gimmes, I guess this type of defense, you've got to earn it, work your way down the field. They're very sound, but it's unfortunate that they've been giving up the yardage they have been, but it's a solid defense overall."
Going back to last year's playoffs, those first two playoff games, you didn't have to pass much. And people were joking whether your arm was getting tired or not. And now the last couple of games, you've obviously had a lot of success in the short passing game. So, what I'm getting at is if it comes down to a shootout between you and Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, I mean, how sharp are you in terms of throwing the ball deep down the field and where's your confidence level with that right now?
"I'm always confident in that. I think that's one thing that we do real well. You know, whether it's running, passing, whatever it is with this offense it's kind of pick your poison. So, we've done it a number of ways last season, this season. So, it's really just about seeing what the defense is doing and just being able to adjust during the game."
Given head coach Kyle Shanahan likes to install so many different plays on a weekly basis, what's it like for you as a quarterback to come in on Wednesday and see all the changes and what's that process like in terms of trying to cram and make sure you know it all for the week of practice?
"Well, you get more and more used to it, I would say. I haven't been in this offense for a while now. It's kind of just what you expect. Each week's a little different. Some weeks are harder than the other. But, for the most part, I think we have a great group of guys who are willing to learn that stuff. And it's not easy. It takes time and guys have to take it home with them and study it and get in their playbook and get on the film. But, with the veterans that we have on the team, especially offensively just how we can do all those things that we do, it makes it a lot easier and it makes us more dangerous."
It was probably around this time last year when you guys were thinking, 'Hey, maybe we have something special, we have a Super Bowl team.' This year it's been a lot of ups and downs. You do have some key guys who aren't going to be coming back. Do you have a sense of, you know, this team's potential? Obviously, everyone wants to win the Super Bowl, but do you have a sense maybe what you can accomplish?
"Man, with the season and everything, it's such a long season that you try not to look that far ahead, you know, just at the end result. But, the process that we've been going through, I think, will serve us well down the road. You know, it's not just a smooth sailing like it was last year win after win. We've had, like you said, the ups and downs, and I think that's kind of made us battle tested just as a team with guys getting hurt, having to bring guys up, whether it's practice squad or just, you know, second stringers, it just makes your team overall that much better and that much more prepared later down the road because it's a long season and you don't know what's going to happen, who's going to be playing at the end of the year. So, the more experience guys could get, I think it's only going to serve as well."
Going back to the last game in Seattle and that final play, do you remember what was going through your head in that moment?
"Yeah. I don't even, yeah, I really didn't even watch it. It was just such a, you do everything you can and then, like you said, it comes down to that one moment, that one play and, [LB] Dre [Greenlaw] made a phenomenal play and I didn't even watch it I'm pretty sure to be honest with you. But, then just the emotions that came in after that, it was something else."
I want to go off-script here. The biggest sports story of the day today was about your Chicago White Sox hiring Tony La Russa as manager. What is your reaction to a Tony La Russa taking over your Sox?
"I actually just saw that. My brothers, we're all in a group text. So, they shot that out. Yeah, I'm happy about it. it's exciting. Really didn't get to keep up with them much this year, just with the crazy season and everything, but yeah, White Sox all day, baby."