After 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL while trying for extra yards on a run in Sunday’s game, Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston said Garoppolo has “to be smart” and get out of bounds rather than go for an inch that wouldn’t make a difference.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked on Monday about Garoppolo fighting for the extra yard. He said there are times when a quarterback makes “a hell of play and everyone’s glad they did it,” but that Garoppolo got an unwelcome reminder about why the safe route is usually the better one for quarterbacks to take.
“Those guys are competitive guys who want to do whatever they can to win the game,” Shanahan said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “You’re not assuming by staying in bounds you’re going to tear your knee up. ... But I think that’s something where Jimmy will probably look at differently going forward because I know he’ll remember this for the rest of his life. Nothing against him. This happens with everyone. You see it every Sunday. I just think it’s a reminder for everyone why that is the obvious coaching point and why you need to stick with it.”
It will be next year before Garoppolo has a chance to show that he’s taken that reminder to heart, which makes for a pretty bitter way to learn a lesson.