Jimmy Garoppolo tried to tough it out and play through his injury. However, by the end of halftime, it became apparent that the San Francisco 49ers quarterback might be a liability on the playing field. He couldn't put enough pressure on his right leg, which meant not being able to add power to his throws.
"My calf is kind of where I get all my power from, so it definitely affected some [of my throws in the first half]," Garoppolo said.
Rookie Trey Lance started the second half. However, some offensive stalls and special teams miscues put the 49ers in a hole after entering halftime tied with the Seattle Seahawks. San Francisco lost 28-21, fell to 2-2, and now sit in last place in the NFC West.
It's not the start the playoff-hopeful 49ers anticipated.
Today's game was Lance's most extensive NFL playing time, and the rookie quarterback struggled early. Garoppolo spoke to his understudy beforehand and offered some advice.
"Just bring confidence to the guys," Garoppolo told Lance. "He was going in there, just bring confidence to the huddle, get those guys going. We were still in it. It was a good game. Credit Seattle. They played a good game, but we were battling with them in the first half there. Just a frustrating game."
Garoppolo wasn't the only one who offered words of wisdom to the 21-year-old quarterback. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel could be seen speaking to Lance after his first couple of throws.
"I kind of know what it feels [like] to be thrown out there in the fire because that's kind of what happened to me when I was a rookie," Samuel said. "You've just got to go out there. Like I told him, I said, 'Alright, you got the first drive out of the way now. Let's go out here and be yourself, and you know we've got your back.'
That's just what happened. As you can see, he made a couple of plays for us and gave us a chance to come back in the game."
Another 49ers veteran offered Lance some advice after that first drive of the second half.
"Just play your game," Kittle told his young quarterback. "He's a good quarterback. He's going to figure it out. I'm not really worried about that. Like I said, he makes plays all the time in practice and stuff; he looks great. When he was out there, he got his feet underneath him, and I thought he started playing at a higher level, and we're going to need that the next week."
The 49ers won't know the severity of Garoppolo's injury until after the quarterback undergoes an MRI tomorrow. Garoppolo anticipates missing at least "a couple of weeks or something like that." That would mean Lance's first start next weekend against the now-division-leading and unbeaten Arizona Cardinals.
"I'm excited to learn as much from this one, and then turn the page after these 24 hours, and get started on Arizona," Lance said.