San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo couldn't play in the second half of today's game against the Seattle Seahawks. He had to watch from the sideline as his team suffered a second-half collapse and fell 28-21 without him. It was San Francisco's second consecutive loss.
The 49ers think it is a calf injury. Garoppolo and the team will learn more tomorrow. Rookie Trey Lance started the second half, and for now, it sounds like the 21-year-old quarterback might get his first start next weekend against the Arizona Cardinals.
After the game, Garoppolo was asked what it was like having to tell his coaches that he couldn't go in the second half.
"It sucked," Garoppolo told reporters. "In between series, I could feel it tightening up and everything. I thought I could gut it out. I tried to for the first half, but it's just tough. I don't know. I've been in this situation too many times. It's getting real old. It's just one of those things that's part of the business, though."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn't sure when the injury happened but told reporters that his veteran quarterback tried to play through it.
"It happened in the first series," Garoppolo explained. "I don't know exactly what happened. Tweaked the calf. It hurt initially. I thought I could keep trying to go, and it just kept getting worse and worse, trailing down into the Achilles a little bit. But we'll get more information tomorrow with the MRI and everything. Hoping for the best right now."
After landing on injured reserve in two of the last three seasons, Garoppolo is optimistic that his latest injury isn't too serious. Still, he didn't sound confident about his chances of playing next weekend.
"I don't think [it's an Achilles injury]," Garoppolo said. "I really hope not. It feels like just the calf right now, but I'm hopeful it will just be a couple of weeks or something like that."
The quarterback stated that he couldn't step into throws after the injury, which forced him to compensate by using more of his upper body strength.
"My calf is kind of where I get all my power from, so it definitely affected some [of my throws]," he said.
Garoppolo awaits more information tomorrow but added: "Hopefully, it's just a small hiccup in the road for now."
