There was a moment in the third quarter on Sunday that, for Jimmy Garoppolo, kind of signified where he is now—in his eighth NFL season and fifth playing for Kyle Shanahan.
The significance of the play itself really wasn’t much. It came on a second-and-9 with 3:40 on the clock and the 49ers up 38–17. The call was a drift route concept off play-action, and Garoppolo hit Deebo Samuel, his best receiver on this afternoon, for 16 yards and a first down. And sure, it moved the Niners out of the depths of their own territory, and to the Lions’ 37.