San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo suffered what appears to be a season-ending knee injury when his knee buckled as he tried to cut back inside rather than stepping out of bounds late in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs. Kansas City linebacker Justin Houston says Garoppolo has no one to blame but himself.
“That was his fault,” Houston said. “I pray he’s not hurt, nothing serious, but as a quarterback you should step out of bounds. It was only an inch. That inch wouldn’t have made a difference. You got the yardage you need, you step out of bounds. You got to be smart.”
Houston is right: Garoppolo was surrounded by Chiefs defenders and wasn’t going to gain any significant additional yardage by staying inbounds. He was at the sideline and easily could have stepped out and avoided any contact.
Instead he decided to fight for maybe one extra yard, and that decision probably ended any hopes the 49ers have of making the playoffs. That was not smart.