For whatever reason, doubting Jimmy Garoppolo has been one of the themes of the San Francisco 49ers' season, at least as far as the mainstream media is concerned. One would think that taking a 1-10 team and going 5-0 with it, as he did in 2017; out-dueling Drew Brees in a shoot-out in New Orleans earlier this season; or even a simple glance at his passing statistics this year would quiet some of the doubters. But some pundits seem to have chosen "doubting Jimmy Garoppolo" as their hill to die on; like Ryan Clark, who as recently as this past Sunday on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt after the Packers game said that Kyle Shanahan should be commended for, at times, winning "in spite of" Garoppolo.
49ers right tackle Mike McGlinchey has staunchly defended Garoppolo both on and off the field this season, and as recently as last week, before the Packers game. But with a new week upon us, and after a second straight playoff game where the 49ers depended mostly upon the running game to dismantle their opponent, McGlinchey was asked, in his interview on the Damon, Ratto, and Kolsky show on 95.7 The Game, about doubters of Garoppolo and "why" he believes in his QB.
"One, he's the best guy ever," McGlinchey began with laugh, "and he prepares unbelievably; he's cool, calm, and collected in those big moments."
Despite the relatively little use Garoppolo's gotten in the 49ers' two playoff wins, McGlinchey went on to note his quarterback's impressive performances in several games this season.
"If you go back over to our 16-game regular season, Jimmy Garoppolo shows up all over that tape, and he's won us huge, playoff-like games in New Orleans and Seattle; beaten Arizona with his arm, twice, because of the way the game worked out—the game fell on his shoulders completely in those two games—and in other ways, multiple other times throughout the year as well. So, we have the utmost confidence in Jimmy.
"I don't know why everybody keeps—you know, bashing him or not believing in him, because he's done it time and time again, but that doesn't matter; we're going to take what we have and what we know we have, a great quarterback in Jimmy, down there to Miami and hopefully get our jobs done."
For the rest of McGlinchey's answers, including how he's handling the Super Bowl pressure, and the confidence he has in Kyle Shanahan's play-calling, the rest of the interview is below.
