San Francisco 49ers: Top 3 takeaways from Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By Justin Fried
1. Jimmy Garoppolo looks shaky, but gets the job done
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo certainly didn’t play at his best on Sunday, and his play this summer has led to an abundance of criticism. But he did just enough in Week 1 to secure a victory for the team.
Yes, it was really the defense that catapulted the team to its Week 1 win in the end, but Garoppolo did his part down the stretch to ensure that his team came out on top.
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Perhaps his most impressive drive came just following halftime as he capped off an impressive seven-play, 75-yard drive with a beautiful 39-yard strike to the speedy Richie James.
When the 49ers needed him to come through, he did. But Garoppolo was far from perfect in his first regular-season game back from injury.
His worst throw came on an easily-telegraphed hitch route that was jumped by cornerback Vernon Hargreaves and taken the other way for a touchdown. Mistakes like that need to be limited if Garoppolo is going to find success as a starter in this league.
On top of that, the 27-year-old missed a few open receivers as he overall did a poor job of leading an uninspiring 49ers offense.
He wasn’t helped out by a lackluster running game, poor offensive line play, and questionable playcalling, but it’s safe to say that Garoppolo didn’t have a particularly good game.
However, he did enough to earn a victory. And that’s all you could ask for from your quarterback in any given week.