Jacksonville Jaguars vs. San Francisco 49ers: Keep Your Enemies Close – 4 Questions with Golden Gate Sports

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a chance to lock up the AFC South with a win over the San Francisco 49ers, so we reached out to Golden Gate Sports to discuss the game.

Historically, the Jacksonville Jaguars have not traveled well to the west coast.

Luckily, this isn’t your average Jaguars team.

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Heading to San Francisco with a 10-4 record and a playoff spot locked up, the Jacksonville Jaguars are facing the 49ers with not just an unprecedented level of confidence, but with more talent than this franchise has had since the late 90s.

Still, the Jaguars should be careful and not take this 49ers team lightly just because they are 4-10. Outside of Blake Bortles, the best quarterback in December has been Jimmy Garoppolo.

We wanted to get some intel on our opponent so we reached out to Sanjesh Singh over at Golden Gate Sports. Here’s what he had to say:

1. Outside of the playoff races, the talk of the town in the NFL right now is Jimmy Garoppolo. Has he really been as good as the hype would indicate over his first three starts?

"Other than Titans defensive back Brice McCain who doesn’t believe the hype, the hype is very real for Jimmy Garoppolo. Even with a terrible offensive line that has been bothered by non-stop injuries and a depleted receiving core, he still managed to throw over 300 yards in two consecutive games while winning all three of his starts. He’s doing more with less compared to other 49ers quarterbacks this season as he is making multiple players look like stars. Marquise Goodwin, Kyle Juszczyk, Kendrick Bourne, Trent Taylor, George Kittle and Garrett Celek have all improved massively while Garoppolo became the starter and that is no coincidence. Most quarterbacks would be set up to fail in this situation but Garoppolo is something else. His vision, footwork, and really everything proves that the hype is real and it should get better next season."

My take:

Garoppolo has been pretty darn good over his first three starts and he may be the answer to the 49ers’ long term quarterback problem.

But I’ll go ahead and revert to the weak criticism I’ve seen analysts lobbing at Blake Bortles during his recent hot streak – look at who he’s played.

Jimmy G has played the Titans, Texans, and Bears – two of the worst teams in the league and a squad that looks like it’s spiraling out of playoff contention. Garoppolo has also gotten away with a handful of interceptable passes and that won’t fly this week against the best secondary in the NFL.