49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo received his share of criticism for some of his mistakes in his team's 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night, but he felt there were some positives in his performance as well.
Garoppolo finished 26-of-35 against the Titans with 322 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Both of his interceptions were costly -- one in the first half that killed a possible scoring drive and another in the second that led to a Titans touchdown -- along with other mistakes he made in the game, such as the first-half overthrow of fullback Kyle Juszczyk that may have resulted in a touchdown if it were completed. On the plus side, he helped lead a 95-yard scoring drive late in the game to tie the score at 17.
Garoppolo gave the following assessment of his performance when asked after the game.
"Some good, some bad," Garoppolo said. "I'm trying to go through it in my head. We had a chance. In a game like t hat, you get off to a hot start like that and we were rolling early on and kind of just got a little sluggish in the middle there. But I don't know. It's tough when you let one like this slip away."
Garoppolo also went into detail on some of his mistakes. His first-half interception was intended for tight end George Kittle in the end zone, but Garoppolo said he and Kittle were not in lockstep on the play.
"We had it. It was tough. Just me and George not being on the same page," Garoppolo said. "Just gotta get it right and get that one completed. It should have been a touchdown."
The pass was intercepted by cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who Garoppolo credited with being in the right place on the play.
"The corner played it pretty well," Garoppolo said. "Tip your hat to Janoris, I think it was. He played it pretty well. But we should have had a touchdown there. We had an opportunity at it. Whenever you get a one-on-one with George one-on-one with the red zone, I'll take that every day of the week, and I'm not going to stop going to him."
Another play Garoppolo talked about was his overthrow of Juszcyzk. Garoppolo told reporters he simply got too excited with what he saw while also misjudging the coverage on the play.
"Just got a little excited," Garoppolo said. "I thought the corner -- or not the corner, whoever that was -- thought they were playing it a little better and just let it get a little too far outside."
A third moment that Garoppolo was asked about was a failed fourth-down conversion that resulted in an incomplete pass to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. It was tough to tell live if Garoppolo missed the throw or Aiyuk stopped running on the play.
"If he keeps going, that's what I thought, and he thought he was going to sit, so it was a tough one," Garoppolo said.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said there was some blame to go around on both ends on the fourth-down play.
"When you run a shallow cross and you run it versus man or zone, everyone has the same thing," Shanahan said. "You just want to be decisive, whether you're sitting down or not. He was a little in-between and Jimmy was a little in-between on the throw. Those two have got to make it together."
Garoppolo has had a topsy-turvy season that has included low points leading to fans wanting for him to be benched and high points that made some in the media wonder if the 49ers might want to bring him back next year despite the presence of Trey Lance. Thursday night was one of those low points, although Shanahan wasn't too critical of his quarterback after the game.
"Two turnovers costs you, but they're not all just on him. That's on everybody out there," Shanahan said.
