SANTA CLARA — Despite a dominant defensive performance, Nick Bosa had a tough time moving past Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury in the 49ers' 33-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Levi's Stadium.
Bosa racked up a remarkable three quarterback sacks, four hits, two tackles for a loss and a forced fumble in the game but Garoppolo’s season-ending foot injury was all he could think about.
“I heard in the second quarter,” Bosa said after the game. “It wasn’t good. I couldn’t get it off of my mind. I just had to force myself to block it out and keep going.”
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SIGN UP HERE Garoppolo was arguably playing the best football of his NFL career, completing 205 of his 304 attempts for 2,381 yards, with 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions thrown through 10 games.
After battling back from both thumb and shoulder injuries during the offseason, Garoppolo had not only regained the role of starting quarterback, but one as a leader of the 49ers, even while not being one of the team’s six captains.
“It just stinks because I really felt him coming on even more so this year,” Bosa said. “He’s always been a great leader, but I felt him really, really caring about this team, and his part, and obviously his big role as the quarterback. I saw him at halftime and I was pretty emotional.”
Bosa knows all too well what it is like to suffer a season-ending injury having torn his ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 season. The star pass rusher noted that it can be an isolating experience, but also knows that Garoppolo has gone through it as well, with his own ACL tear in 2018.
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Garoppolo, who was setting himself up for a healthy free-agent contract in the offseason, now faces an uncertain future as he will be recovering from an injury prior to hitting the open market. Bosa has confidence that Garoppolo will bounce back as he always has.
"It’s football, stuff happens,” Bosa said. “He’s going to be fine. It’s going to take time.”