Former San Francisco 49ers tight end Brent Jones stopped by KNBR's Tolbert and Copes show, sharing his displeasure with Jimmy Garoppolo's performance during his first start of the season against the Denver Broncos last weekend.
Jones, who has defended Garoppolo in the past, blasted the veteran quarterback, especially when referencing the bizarre safety he committed which gifted the Broncos two points.
"I am laying the blame, I don't do this very often, in fact I don't do it hardly at all. Jimmy Garoppolo was horrible. What the heck? When you're a professional football player and quarterback, you know where the back of the end zone is. That was so outrageous. You know how many times I've seen that from a veteran quarterback. 0.0 from a veteran quarterback, it's just the worst," Jones said.
"While I was yelling 'what are you thinking?' He's throwing a pick-six so I'm rooting for a safety. You know since we got Jimmy, I've been pretty supportive of Jimmy, and I've tried to say so along the way. And he's not perfect, he does one or two goofy things every game and we talked about this, even when Trey was the starter. I said 'just remember, the world isn't totally rosy with Jimmy in there.'"
However, Jones was even more frustrated by Garoppolo's postgame demeanor, citing Garoppolo's friendly interaction with Broncos offensive lineman Cameron Fleming following the game.
"That fumble he was pulling away from the center too early, the pick into double maybe triple coverage was just nasty, but I gotta say, and I don't think I've ever said this before, after you played horrible and you're the reason your team lost the game, you do not smile and go glad-handing the other team after the game," said Jones. "I've never seen that from any quarterback ever, that has ever been any good."
Jones compared Garoppolo's demeanor to other greats in the NFL, even stating that it seemed as if Garoppolo didn't even care.
"Steve Young? No way. Joe Montana? Hell no. Brett Favre? No chance in heck. You think Russell Wilson is laughing after he throws a pick, steps out of the end zone for a safety and fumbles a ball and plays horrible and his team's 1-2 and the reason they lost the game. It almost looked like he didn't even care. It was so frustrating, and maybe I was just mad because the game was so ugly. If that's me, I'm running for the locker room. I am not smiling, I am not talking to anybody for a week if you play like that."
"I just don't get his disposition, but that was really frustrating. Icing on the cake."
Going forward, Jones is looking for Garoppolo to showcase more emotion from the quarterback as a way of proving that he's all in for leading the 49ers to their goal of a Super Bowl.
"I want to see Jimmy grabbing a couple receivers and talking to them, I want to see him patting his linemen on the shoulder and saying 'I need some time'…I want him talking to a coach. I always just see him sitting there posing and nobody is taking GQ pics on the sideline. I want to see some emotion, I want to see some quarterbacking, but they always just show him sitting there looking stoic, posing. I wanna see some messed up hair, how about that?"
"I want my quarterback all in. I'm not saying he's not, but it sure comes across like 'ya know, oh well, too bad, I had to take a pay cut this year. It's not on me, I'm just here having fun. High five. Yeah we got smoked."
The 49ers will look to rebound from their poor Sunday Night performance against their division rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, at Levi's Stadium on Monday Night Football.
- Rohan Chakravarthi
-
Written by:Writer/Reporter for 49ers Webzone
