NFL: Garoppolo gives 49ers hope, head hit on Savage sparks confusion
HOUSTON— The San Francisco 49ers may have found their quarterback of the future in Jimmy Garoppolo.
But even after leading the team to its second win in a row, 26-16, against the Houston Texans on Sunday, the former backup to Tom Brady wasn’t convinced the job is his to keep.
“We’ll see what happens this week. That’s on (coach) Kyle (Shanahan),” he said when asked about starting next week. “I don’t know.”
It’s pretty safe to say that Garoppolo will be under centre for the rest of the season after throwing for a career-high 334 yards and a touchdown as the 49ers (3-10) won their second game in a row.
Garoppolo was 20 of 33 in his second start for a team that hasn’t had consistent play at quarterback since Colin Kaepernick’s great 2013 season. Acquired before the trade deadline from New England, Garoppolo threw for 293 yards in his debut with the team last week to help the 49ers to a 15-14 win at Chicago.
“You’ve got to have guys who are fearless, can hang in there and keep their eyes down the field. He does that very, very well,” Shanahan said. “But he also has the foot quickness and agility to get out of there and extend some plays.”
T.J. Yates threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns after Tom Savage left with a brain injury in the second quarter. Texans (4-9) lost their third straight and sixth in seven games.
Savage was injured when he was driven to the ground on a hit by Elvis Dumervil with about nine minutes left in the second. Replays showed Savage looking dazed after his head hit the ground with both of his arms lifted upward shaking.
He was taken to the medical tent, where he stayed for less than three minutes before returning to the bench and going back in for the next series. He threw two incompletions on that drive, and Houston’s team doctor approached him after he returned to the sideline after that possession.
Savage tried repeatedly to enter the game on the next series. But a team official kept grabbing Savage’s jersey and finally his arm and pulled him away from the field.
Coach Bill O’Brien said Savage was evaluated for a concussion after the hit and cleared to return, but that he was evaluated again after he returned because “because of what they saw,” without providing details of what that was.
“They try to make the best decision for the player,” O’Brien said. “Whatever they see and the testing that they do they try to make the best decision with the player and they weren’t satisfied with the results of the second test so they decided to pull him, and that’s when he went into the locker room.”