Former San Francisco 49ers tight end Brent Jones was offended by everything Jimmy Garoppolo did in the 49ers’ 11-10 loss to the Broncos on Sunday: not just his “horrible” play, but even his smile and hair.
During an appearance on KNBR’s Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland podcast, Jones ripped Garoppolo after the quarterback’s first start since Trey Lance was ruled out for the season with an ankle injury.
“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,” Jones said on Tuesday. “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. While I was yelling, ‘What are you thinking?’ He’s throwing a pick-six, so I’m rooting for safety.”
In his first start since Lance underwent season-ending surgery for a broken ankle, Garoppolo stepped out of the back of his own end zone for a safety, among other glaring mistakes on offense.
The quarterback also threw an interception and lost a fumble as the 49ers’ offense punted the football away seven times and committed three turnovers.
“You know since we got Jimmy, I’ve been pretty supportive of Jimmy, and I’ve tried to say so along the way,” said Jones, who is a three-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers. “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.'”
After the game, Garoppolo was seen smiling during an exchange with Broncos offensive lineman Cam Fleming, who was his teammate for three seasons with the Patriots.
Jones expressed his displeasure for Garoppolo’s happy demeanor after such an ugly loss.
“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. I’ve never seen that from any quarterback ever, that has ever been any good,” Jones said, before naming quarterback legends, including some of whom he played with.
“Steve Young? No way. Joe Montana? Hell no. Brett Favre? No chance in heck. You think [Broncos quarterback] 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,” Jones said.
Jones, who spent his entire 11-year NFL career with the 49ers, played with Montana and Young. The retired All-Pro tight end explained what he expects to see out of Garoppolo moving forward.
“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,’” Jones said. “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 host their division rivals, the Rams, on “Monday Night Football” this week.