“Everyone has to step it up” - Juice on moving forward from the loss of Jimmy G

Juszczyk details how the team can’t linger on the injury and will move forward with confidence in C.J. Beathard.

The 49ers were dealt a serious blow with the loss of Jimmy Garoppolo to a season ending ACL tear. Kyle Juszczyk spoke about how the team must move forward and not dwell on the injury and give C.J. Beathard their full support:

“It’s huge. That’s your franchise quarterback but there’s no reason to harp on it to be totally honest with you, we gotta move forward. We know C.J. can get the job done, C.J. is extremely talented and guys are going to rally behind him.

“It sounds easy but that’s football man, it’s such a tough sport on everybody and these things happen, but honestly dwelling on it doesn’t help, so we’re going to support him, we love Jimmy but we also love C.J. so we’re going to give him everything we’ve got.

“He’s [Garoppolo] in good spirits. He’s a positive guy. I apologized to him, it’s unfortunate that kind of stuff happens but it’s the sport we play.”

Juszczyk was also very complimentary of the coaching staff, who he believes are some of the best in the business at making adjustments. They already had to account for the loss of Jerick McKinnon, and now their work is cut out for them moving on from Garoppolo for the season. Fortunately Beathard already has a lot of time in Shanahan’s complex system and knows the playbook in and out.

Of the 68 offensive snaps in Kansas City, Juszczyk was on the field for 53 of them. Alfred Morris was in for 23 snaps and Matt Breida was in for 29 leaving Juszczyk the lone back on the field for 16 plays. He caught two of his four targets for 38 yards, one of which was the longest reception of the day at 35 yards.

As far as the offense’s overall performance facing the Chiefs, Juszczyk believes that the slow start was due to the the team hurting themselves. Too many missed blocks and missed assignments led to not getting the first 1st down in a drive and causing them to sputter. Juszczyk was not surprised how the team pulled together and rallied back in the second half despite all of the injuries. He knew that’s what the team had in them saying “The first half is not us.”

Of course the most frustrating part of the game for the offense, and Juszczyk himself, was the questionable offensive pass interference call on him in the end zone that negated George Kittle’s touchdown in the fourth quarter. Juszczyk did the politically correct thing, saying that there was nothing he could do about it at that point, but his pause, laugh and facial expression says it all. I think we all feel the same. It not only negated a touchdown, but also the chance for the 49ers to maybe pull the upset in a game where the losses weren’t only on the scoreboard.

//
from Niners Nation - All Posts https://ift.tt/2OPAYln