SANTA CLARA — Jimmy Garoppolo is set to go into Sunday Night’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers with a complete arsenal of weapons on the offense.
It will be the first contest that the quarterback will have Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Elijah Mitchell, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk all available Garoppolo is excited about the group’s potential.
“When you’ve got the whole regime out there it’s pretty fun,” Garoppolo said on Thursday. “We’ve had two good days of practice here and it’s just a matchup nightmare for defenses. It’s a pick-your-poison kind of thing.”
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Kyle Shanahan’s group is looking to take advantage of a weakened Chargers rushing defense that has allowed an average of 5.7 yards per carry and 145.5 rushing yards per game.
Garoppolo understands his role in facilitating his star players’ ability to gain yards after the catch.
“YAC comes from an accurate ball and then what those guys can do after it,” Garoppolo said. “The more accurate you are, the easier it is for them to go run with it. It’s my job to get those guys the ball in space, let them go run, and be the special players they are. But yeah, it’s been fun so far.”
After sitting out of OTAs and training camp, Garoppolo is feeling more like he did pre-shoulder surgery and he sees the offense making the same progress. The quarterback shared that his strength and stamina are nearly back to normal but that it still is a constant work in progress.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Garoppolo said. “It [was] more about the strengthening and driving the ball, those kind of throws, but the release, there was a time where I was scared for a second that I lost it. Thankfully it’s still there.
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“I feel like our offense as a whole, every week gets better and better and we just got to keep that trend going right now.”
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Garoppolo has completed 140 of his 210 attempts for 1,691 yards and 11 touchdowns through seven games. The veteran had his best game of the season in San Francisco's Week 8 victory over the Los Angeles Rams where he racked up 21 completions on 25 attempts for 235 yards and two touchdowns.
Garoppolo’s 84 percent completion rate at SoFi Stadium was his best of the season which is connected not only to the confidence he has in his receivers, but also to his own physical ability to make the throws.
Now, as Garoppolo said, the 49ers' offense needs to keep the trend going.