SANTA CLARA — 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has gotten into a groove lately, but his improved play is not the reason Trey Lance has not seen the field recently.
As long as Lance is healthy enough to be active on game day, coach Kyle Shanahan will have offensive packages ready for the rookie. Shanahan explained that there are multiple reasons the young quarterback has not played a snap since Week 5, but Garoppolo's efficient play is not one of them.
“I take into account when he’s going to play in those packages,” Shanahan said Thursday. “That’s how I feel about it, helping the offense at the time. Chicago game, I didn’t really plan on doing much of that because he was just coming off an injury.
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“We had it in in both, but didn’t plan on doing it unless needed, and going into the Arizona game I thought we would do some, but the way the game went, we just never got into a rhythm offensively. You guys could see that. I didn’t feel like the time to mix him in and change more stuff up.”
In the last two games, Garoppolo has completed 45 of his 68 attempts for 648 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The veteran quarterback also rushed for two additional scores.
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Garoppolo recorded the highest quarterback rating of his season in Week1, but the veteran signal-caller has had his second-best rating (100.6) in Weeks 2, 8 and 9. Garoppolo feels like he and the offense are finally in a rhythm again after he missed time with a calf injury.
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Whether Lance gets inserted into the game during certain situations is the last thing on Garoppolo’s mind. The 30-year old is only focused on keeping the offense rolling.
“I really haven’t put too much thought into it,” Garoppolo said Thursday. “Every week if Trey comes in or he doesn’t come in, it really doesn’t change what I’m doing out there. But yeah, I think you could say we’re in a groove.
“I think there’s a lot of room for improvement with us. I think we have some things that we could shore up just in the past game, especially just with crisper, getting onto the details, and things like that. I think it will make us that much better.”