Jimmy Garoppolo has had to block out a lot of outside noise. You have to imagine that can be tough at times. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback is often criticized by the media and a vocal portion of the fanbase.
Garoppolo spoke with reporters before Wednesday's practice and said he refuses to get lost in the noise. He knows no good will come from listening to it. Instead, he stays focused on the task ahead. Last week, it was upsetting the top-seeded Green Bay Packers. This week, it is beating the Los Angeles Rams for the third time this season and advancing to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.
"I think it's just about knowing yourself as a player, as a person," Garoppolo said. "And as long as these guys in this locker room have faith in me and belief in me, that's all I really care about."
Garoppolo's play can be erratic. He'll make a big play, and then later make a costly mistake. However, the one thing you can't ignore is that the 49ers win more often with Garoppolo under center than without him. That has been enough to maintain the trust of his teammates, even when Garoppolo's production falters.
"Well, we're able to maintain trust in him because we keep winning," star linebacker Fred Warner said on Wednesday. "A quarterback, if you went down the list of the order of importance of positions on the team, quarterback's number one. A team's success is very heavily dependent on the quarterback position. So the fact that we're winning games is not just a surprise.
"Jimmy's playing great football, and it's a team game. It's not just all heavily dependent upon if Jimmy does well, then we're gonna win. No, he does exactly what we need him to, and he comes into work every single day, and it is the exact same person.
"He's not on social media looking at what everybody's tweeting about him. Who knows what he does outside of the building. I don't know. But I know, as soon as he comes inside this building, he's literally the same exact person every day, no matter what. I think that's what we all kind of respect the most. He always comes to work and is always trying to get better."