Injured Garoppolo vs Healthy Lance; Why is this a question?

Kyle Shanahan lost his composure on Friday.

During his end of week press conference with Bay Area media, a reporter had the audacity to ask the head coach a question about the injury to Jimmy Garoppolo.

“As this has been explained to you, since he (Jimmy Garoppolo) has a torn ligament in his thumb, does time give him better range of motion and less pain? Do you know in what ways Jimmy can improve and be able to throw given rest,” the reporter asked?

Shanahan was clearly agitated with the question and gave a curt reply.

“Yeah. I’m getting really close to never talking about injuries again. Very close, but I’ve told you guys everything I know. I’ll try to say it the same way again. The ligaments torn. The more you can heal, the better it has a chance to re-latch. The quicker you go back, the more it doesn’t re-latch, That’s the word I understand. That’s about all I know. I’m sure you’ll get one more though.”

Of the ten questions asked on Friday, this was the first which tried to seek the thought process of the team with regards to the injury and a very fair question.

Shanahan may be frustrated. Tough. He has brought these questions upon himself by leaving the door open for Jimmy Garoppolo to play on Sunday.

His response begs a follow up question, “Kyle, do you believe Jimmy Garoppolo gives your team a better chance of winning than Trey Lance even though he hasn’t been able to practice all week?”

That’s the sense Shanahan and the 49ers are giving off with their handling of the situation, and the idea that this could somehow be true should set off sirens like a five-alarm fire.

Consider this, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch used three first round picks to draft Trey Lance. Since then, Shanahan and his coaching staff have been working with Lance throughout the offseason and through the first sixteen weeks of the regular season to develop his skills and get him ready to play. This week Lance has taken all the first team reps in practice.

All of this and San Francisco is still holding out hope that Jimmy Garoppolo will play?

This article has 8 Comments

  1. Shanahan has played this game a lot with regards to injuries. If he commits to one QB, that’s easier for the opponent to prepare, especially when the style between the two is so different. He already knows the answer but he wants to make it a little harder on Houston.

    1. I agree. I don’t see a problem with a head coach playing a chess game with another coach. The mental aspect of football goes with the chalkboard.

      If it’s in Shanahan’ purview not to disclose info to the press, especially after giving them information during the week on the same subject, I’m absolutely cool with that.
      Here’s a thought, why doesn’t the press just wait until tomorrow to see who starts at QB the way we have to?

  2. Yeah, this is not fooling Houston one iota. Kyle almost sounds desperate that JG plays instead of TL. Why? It’s almost as if Shannie is seeing something he really dislikes about TL’s development . Timidity in leading the scout team and other aspects of practice? Fred Warners much reported on “conversation” with TL sounds more like building frustration and ultimately having to call him out during scrimmages.

    “I’ll say there was a time when he maybe wanted to not make mistakes out there against us,” Warner explained. “He would hold onto the football, and he just likes to run and stuff. So I had to kind of pull him to the side and be like, ‘Hey, Trey, listen. This is your time to make mistakes and to try to fit balls into tight areas, kind of just make it hard for yourself, go out there and just see what you can do. Because out here [on the practice field], it doesn’t matter. You’re not trying to win a game. You’re trying to get better as a player.'”

    “Yeah, we’ve had that conversation a couple times,” Lance told reporters. “Sometimes maybe more heated than others. I don’t necessarily want to say heated, but I’m a competitor. Fred’s obviously one of the best competitors I’ve ever been around. And for him to care, not only about the look they’re getting, but also my development, him kind of pulling me off to the side or maybe us shouting across the line of scrimmage, whatever it was.

    https://www.49erswebzone.com/articles/154301-lance-discusses-heated-conversations-warner-49ers-rookies-improvement/

    Whatever it was. Yet Warner and other players now publicly give TL a vote of confidence. Shannie not quite so sure?

  3. Cuz you guys keep asking it. Shanny uses it like a tool. Not so much for the Texans, but the Rams and beyond.

    1. Dee, Niners brought Nate Sudfeld up from the practice squad yesterday. If he’s called into action lets hope he does better than he did around this time last year with the Eagles:

      In the Eagles’ Week 17 finale against Washington, with the end of a miserable four win season in sight, Philadelphia trailed by just three points in a 17-14 contest when Eagles head coach Doug Pederson pulled starting quarterback Jalen Hurts in favor of Sudfeld to begin the fourth quarter. It was an alarming decision in a winnable game, and Sudfeld did not perform well: he completed just 5 of 12 passes for 32 yards, taking two sacks, throwing an interception, and losing a fumble as Philadelphia went on to lose 20-14.

      https://247sports.com/Article/San-Francisco-49ers-activate-QB-Nate-Sudfeld-off-practice-squad-179522120/

  4. Of course he would want Jimmy over Trey. Despite some peoples opinions, Jimmy is a good quarterback with lots of experience. Trey is a young rookie with little experience. He is probably not ready to start yet and maybe not even next year. My guess is they knew Trey would take extra time and it’s no indictment on him that he’s not ready. One year of playing at a small school isn’t much. They’ve made a huge investment in him and they are going to do the right things with him and not throw him to the wolves before he is ready.
    As for Kyle being irritated at the injury question, I’m surprised he handles all the stupid questions as well as he does. Same for the players.

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