SANTA CLARA — In the wake of the 49ers' 11-10 loss to the Denver Broncos last Sunday, there has been a lot of scrutiny towards Jimmy Garoppolo, and Jeff Wilson Jr. doesn’t believe the quarterback deserves all of it.
Wilson Jr. knows that with all of the glory also comes all of the criticism. He also understands that it takes all 11 players on the field to facilitate an offense scoring and that is not what happened in Denver.
“Obviously as a team, every position could have helped him along in that game but he’s the quarterback,” Wilson Jr. told NBC Sports Bay Area. “He has to take all of it, but we know, just like he knows, even though he’s not going to say it, everything wasn’t on him.”
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Garoppolo, along with the entire 49ers' locker room, never points fingers. It is part of the reason they have been able to weather the storm when losses have come quickly and unexpectedly. The players know that in the ultimate team sport, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Dropped passes, missed blocks, inaccurate routes can all prevent a positive play, a first down or a score. With all of the scrutiny, Wilson Jr. said that Garoppolo was still calm as he always is.
“I felt like he was poised,” Wilson Jr. said. “Especially from everything that was going on. I feel like he held that job down, as he should. He’s been doing it since he’s been in the league. He’s a vet and he handled it well.”
Even with notable changes in the personnel in the running back room, Wilson is confident the group will be ready to help shoulder the load.
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Tevin Coleman, who spent two seasons with the 49ers in 2019 and 2020, was signed to the practice squad last week. He joins Marlon Mack and rookie Jordan (J.P.) Mason in the running backs room. Wilson Jr. believes each running back will be prepared if called upon.
“There’s no gap from one player to the next,” Wilson Jr. said. “We can never tell if we just picked someone up because everyone in our room can go. It’s us just needing to hone in on our assignments, being on top of our game, and being better than the person in front of us.”
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Wilson Jr. and the running backs will need to offer as much support as possible to Garoppolo on Monday night when they host division rival Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium.