After winning three in a row, the San Francisco 49ers will see their Jimmy Garoppolo-led resurgence face its toughest test against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After leading the San Francisco 49ers to a third successive win, the mystique surrounding quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo could hardly be higher. Garoppolo led the second game-winning drive of his brief 49ers career in Week 15, calmly guiding San Francisco down the field in the dying embers of the fourth quarter to seal a 25-23 win over the Tennessee Titans.
The start of Garoppolo’s time with the Niners has been an unqualified success. The 49ers have gone from a team team that lost five games by three points or less to one that seemingly feels certain of victory every time they step on the field.
Garoppolo has led this transformation with a series of extremely impressive displays, demonstrating excellent arm strength, poise, intelligence in the pocket and an ability to make anticipatory throws consistently even with pressure in his face.
But the new-found confidence the 49ers have developed since he assumed the starting role will be put to the test more than it has at any point so far during his time under center when they take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16.
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The 49ers are underdogs against a Jaguars team that secured their first playoff berth since 2007 on Sunday but, after Garoppolo’s first three performances, their will be plenty of belief San Francisco can pull off an upset, particularly at home. But, while a Titans defense that 20 sacks in its previous three games going into Week 15 was seen as a test for Garoppolo, facing the Jaguars is an entirely more intimidating challenge.
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Jacksonville leads the league in sacks with 51 and is second in the league in takeaways with 31. Put simply, this is the most dominant defense in the NFL. The Jaguars’ defensive line is bursting with talent in the form of Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue, Dante Fowler, Marcell Dareus and Malik Jackson, while the secondary boasts arguably the best cornerback duo in the NFL in Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye.
The Jaguars’ uber-talented defensive front is more than capable of punishing an offensive line that has struggled on the interior for much of the year and is missing right tackle Trent Brown, while the secondary will have little problem capitalising should Garoppolo produce more heave and hope balls, which have served as very occasional blots on his start to life with the Niners.
And, with Blake Bortles playing the best football of his career, developing chemistry with a receiving core made up relative unknowns in Dede Westbrook, Keelan Cole and Jaydon Mickens, the Jaguars offense is well-placed to pounce on any mistakes the 49ers made, regardless of whether Leonard Fournette is healthy.
Garoppolo, though, does have the benefit of a lightning quick release that has enabled him to negate much of the pressure he has faced, and has risen to every challenge put before him in his pro career — from filling in for Tom Brady to turning around a previously bottom-feeding team.
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The smart money is on him and the Niners falling back down to earth in Week 16. Jacksonville has done little to suggest the Jaguars are due for a letdown but Garoppolo has done little to indicate he is about to underperform. Should he rise to and overcome this challenge, then there will be no chance of the buzz surrounding Garoppolo and the 49ers dying down until the start of next season.