The San Francisco 49ers are 10-1. That's tied for the best record in all of football through the first 12 weeks of the season (the New England Patriots are also 10-1).
Not only that, but they are coming off a major statement win in Week 12, blowing out the Green Bay Packers (8-3) by a final score of 37-8.
This has apparently made Stephen A. Smith a believer in the team. However, he is not a believer of their quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo just yet.
There’s no denying this: the @49ers are great. But Jimmy G? That remains to be seen pic.twitter.com/bk5bGBSeBe
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 29, 2019
Smith brings up some good points. And to be fair, he also points out that he believes Garoppolo's contract is fine.
However, he points out that Garoppolo has actually thrown for under 200 yards more times (four) than he's thrown for over 300 this year (two). Oh, and those two 300-plus yard performances were both against the miserable Arizona Cardinals defense.
Even with that though, Garoppolo's 2,731 passing yards puts him on pace for just under 4,000 yards. That's still really strong.
He also has 20 touchdown passes, putting him on pace for 29 by the end of the year. However, his 10 interceptions and eight fumbles are a little worrisome. So is the fact that he's had some real stinkers that the defense has managed to convert into wins.
You could also argue the running game plays a larger role in the offense as well. This takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback, and seems to play into Smith's point.
The bottom line is simple — Smith not being completely on the Garoppolo train yet definitely has some merit to it. However, he's been playing better recently and doing enough to help his team win.
If the quarterback continues on this path, it will be hard for Smith or even Garoppolo's biggest “haters” to deny him much longer.
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