Jimmy Garoppolo spent three-and-a-half seasons with the New England Patriots before a mid-season trade in 2017 sent the quarterback to the San Francisco 49ers. Garoppolo not only learned the ins and outs of the Patriots defense from future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and practices against it, but he studied under the tutelage of defensive mastermind Bill Belichick.
None of that may help the 49ers this weekend when they travel to Gillette Stadium to face the Patriots. Tight end George Kittle was asked on Thursday if he has sought any information from Garoppolo on what to expect on Sunday.
"Insider trading information?" Kittle asked. "A little bit. I mean, they've changed up a lot. They've got different personnel there. Other than the fact that there are probably going to be a lot of double teams, there's going to be a lot of different coverages. They're going to mix in a whole bunch of things, confuse us maybe. I think they're going to do a whole lot of things. You can (only) game plan so much, but honestly, I think it's going to be more of a reactionary thing out there.
"Jimmy was in the system for a long time, so I feel like he has the ins and outs. But like I said, I feel like they've changed, and they're not going to just plan to what Jimmy knows. I think we're just going to go out there and play Niner football. We're going to react to it, game plan accordingly, and just go play some smash-mouth football."
Is Garoppolo worried about how well Belichick knows him and facing the coach's respected defense?
"As far as the scheme, they come from the same tree, but that type of defensive scheme is so -- you've just got to be ready for anything," Garoppolo told reporters. "They could do what they're showing on film, they could not, so it's kind of just a game-plan defense, and you've just got to be ready for in-game adjustments."
Garoppolo believes one advantage he has over recent weeks is that his ankle is feeling better. He suffered a high-ankle sprain during Week 2, which forced the quarterback to miss two games.
"Well, my ankle is feeling a lot better than it was in the Miami week, so I think that will definitely help out a little bit," Garoppolo said.