Hello, Faithful. Have you been feeling dizzy? Is your throat dry from screaming with joy? Do you wake up on Sundays hopeful and on Mondays happy? Do you wish it was September 2018 right this very second? Well, Dr. Fangirl is here to diagnose you with a serious case of…JIMMY FEVER!
That’s right my Faithful friends! It’s Talking Touchdowns time and don’t look for a vaccine, just enjoy the fever! Santa Garoppolo has arrived in Santa Clara just in time for Christmas. Boom!
San Francisco 49ers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Next up, the fever stays at Levi’s Stadium as it prepares to take out the 10-4, AFC South-leading, playoff bound, Jacksonville Jaguars. This will be hard. Let’s take a look.
- Jimmy G has completely changed the future of the 49ers, and I’m not being dramatic.
- Garoppolo finished Sunday’s win over the Titans 31-of-43 for 381 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He had a passer rating of 106.8 and a QBR of 90.3.
- More than that, he engineered a game-winning drive in the last 1:07 of the game, in which he completed passes to Trent Taylor, George Kittle, and his favorite receiver, Marquise Goodwin, who had another spectacular Jimmy day with 10 receptions for 114 yards. Kendrick Bourne proved to be a solid target with four receptions for 85 yards.
- Against the Titans, the Niner O-line provided decent protection with Garoppolo getting hit four times and sacked three. Considering no Trent Brown and that the Titans blitzed on 56.5% of his drop backs (per PFF), the protection wasn’t bad. And Jimmy said he liked all the blitzing. Guess so. He had a 98.8 passer rating when blitzed. Damn Jimmy.
- That being said, the Garoppolo offense will face its toughest opponent in the Jaguars’ top 5 ranked defense. The unit delivered four sacks in their win over the Texans and held Houston to 215 yards of total offense. They also could be the first NFL defense to lead the league in takeaways, scoring defense and sacks.
- The 49ers’ defense will be facing a lights out Blake Bortles and it looks like the return of running back Leonard Fournette. Bortles has been playing out of his mind, which is very unlike Blake Bortles. He was 21/29 for 326 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions on Sunday. His passer ratings the last three weeks have been 119.8, 123.7 and 143.7.
- If the 49ers have a chance of cooling down this offense, the D is going to have to clean up the penalties – I’m looking at you Dontae Johnson – while the punisher Adrian Colbert will have to continue punishing be recovering turnovers.
- The Niner D got one sack and five hits on Marcus Mariota the other day. DeForest Buckner and Reuben Foster are going to have bring the pressure to Bortles, because stopping Fournette may be impossible.
Game Prediction
So I know Jimmy can do no wrong and this team is all of a sudden gone from rebuilding to maybe just maybe getting there. That being said, the Jags are TOUGH. I’m hoping for a competitive game with Jimmy G Magic. Beyond that, fingers crossed. Go Niners!
[NFL-49ers-footer]Music Credit:
- Opening Music: www.bensound.com
Photo Credits:
- 49ers on Wikimedia Commonsby Sports Logos.Net
- Jackson Jaguars on Wikimedia by SportsLogos.net
- Jimmy Garoppolo on field photographed by Tracy Sandler
- Tennessee Titans on wikimedia by Tennessee Titans
- Jimmy Garoppolo at Press Conference photographed by Tracy Sandler
- Trent Taylor on Wikimedia Commons by Keith Allison
- George Kittle photographed by Tracy Sandler
- Marquise Goodwin photographed by Tracy Sandler
- Blake Bortles on flickr by Keith Allison
- Adrian Colbert photographed by Tracy Sandler
- Marcus Mariota on flickr by Erik Drost
- DeForest Buckner on Wikimedia Commons by Jeffrey Beall
- Reuben Foster photographed by Tracy Sandler
