After just one game as Trey Lance’s backup, Jimmy Garoppolo found himself back in the QB1 role in the 49ers’ Week 2 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
When Lance exited the game with a season-ending broken ankle in the first quarter, Garoppolo was well prepared to take the field and eventually lead the team to victory.
But with Lance out and Garoppolo in, were the 49ers prepared for what would happen if Garoppolo, too, went down and the backup needed a backup?
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Too soon?
No, it’s not. And the guy who would’ve filled in as the third signal-caller of the game even addressed the unimaginable but not impossible situation after the game.
“I was definitely aware that I was the backup quarterback for the second half,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Postgame Live” after the win. “I told Jimmy in the locker room, I said ‘Hey man, don’t make me play quarterback today.’ And he promised he was going to do everything he could to not let that happen.”
Juszczyk was the emergency quarterback because of Brock Purdy’s inactive status.
And aside from all jokes, Juszczyk acknowledged how heartbroken he was with the news of Lance.
San Francisco 49ers
"It hit me hard because we're all rooting for Trey, that's our quarterback, man," Juszczyk said. "And we were so excited for his development and what we were going to do with him this year, so to see him go down like that, it hurt. It really did hurt on a personal level and on a teammate level.
"But, unfortunately, these are the reasons you buy insurance. And to have someone like Jimmy who can come in there and do what we've been doing for years, it was definitely a good thing. But I don't want to downplay how much we feel for Trey man, it's really unfortunate."
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Unfortunate for the 49ers and Lance, indeed. But given the circumstances, San Francisco walked away with a win that was led by Garoppolo, who, as Juszczyk joked, did enough to keep him from playing QB.
"It was huge," Juszczyk said of Garoppolo stepping in the way he did. "He really hasn't gotten a lot of reps. It's not like he's getting a lot of reps during the week. He's splitting reps on the scout team with Purdy. He just handled everything like a pro, he really has. That's big props for him for being prepared on what the gameplan was, even though he's anticipating that he's not even going to play. He came out there, no hesitation, does what he does and it was really good to see."