49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo downplays viral video, denies friction with Kyle Shanahan

On Thursday, Kyle Shanahan addressed the video clip of his quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, that went viral this week. The San Francisco 49ers head coach couldn't believe he was talking about something that he felt was a non-story.

Some amateur lip-readers on social media believed that Garoppolo was saying, "All your plays suck, man," while heading off the field after a failed play against the Denver Broncos, indicating that the quarterback was not fond of his head coach's play calls.

"First of all, the clip, to me, is a joke," Shanahan said. "I can't believe we're talking about it. I'm pretty sure that's not what he said."

Garoppolo spoke with reporters after Friday's practice, and the first thing he was asked about was that clip.

"I've heard about this (clip)," Garoppolo responded. "Actually, yeah, we were talking about it yesterday. I don't know. I can't read lips. I'm sure I've said a lot worse things on the field than that, so I'm glad they caught that rather than something else. I'm not sure exactly what I was saying, but it is what is."

That clip led to speculation that there might be cracks in the relationship between Garoppolo and Shanahan. Is there friction between the quarterback and his coach?

"No," Garoppolo answered. "You say a lot of things in the heat of battle that I hope people don't hear. But no, me and Kyle are cool. We really are. We've been through a lot of different types of seasons, this being no different. But we're early on in the season still.

"So we've got to, as a team, find our identity, me and Kyle obviously just (have to) keep working and getting on the same page more and more. But we've been through this before, and it's a long process."

Shanahan accepted the blame for what appeared to be a Garoppolo blunder on Sunday night, when the quarterback stepped out of the back of the end zone, awarding the Broncos two points.

"I give Kyle a lot of credit for being man enough to do that, but I do the same to him, too," Garoppolo commented. "If I mess something up, I'm willing to say it was on me. And I think that makes for a good relationship and leads to a good team. I think it starts with us two and carries its way down to the rest of the guys."

Kirk Larrabee contributed to this article.