Jimmy Garoppolo pulled a Dan Orlovsky on Sunday night.
Unfortunately, the highlight of Orlovsky’s seven-year NFL career was actually a lowlight. Back in 2008 with the Detroit Lions, he got scared and scampered out of the back of the end zone for a safety trying to avoid Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen.
In Sunday’s abhorrent 11-10 loss to the Denver Broncos, Jimmy G pulled a similar maneuver. Orlovsky, now a commentator for ESPN, was clearly excited to see someone else pull the gaffe in a primetime game for a national TV audience. He sent out a great reaction tweet that quickly went viral with more than 100,000 likes before the game ended.
Afterwards, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan took the blame for Garoppolo’s safety.
"That was a tough situation I put him in, with that unblocked guy coming,” Shanahan said. “Wish we'd had time for the big play and coulda ditched it."
Shanahan called a play-action with the 49ers backed up in their own end zone. Broncos outside linebacker Randy Gregory shoved off a chip block from 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, while defensive tackle Mike Purcell beat 49ers rookie guard Spencer Burford and tackle Mike McGlinchey. Garoppolo stepped out of bounds before he threw what could have been a pick six, so he might have done himself a favor.
Garoppolo also said it was a “tough situation.”
“I was just running the play and trying to buy some for it,” Garoppolo said. “It was a longer-developing play. Just a tough situation, the whole thing.”
For a guy who is 2-10 in his career as an NFL starter, this is a big ‘W’ for Orlovsky.
Orlovsky took it a *step* further later in the night when he posted this hilarious photoshop of him and Jimmy G based on the Will Ferrell-John C.Reilly portrait from the movie Stepbrothers.
49ers fans were probably soulless by the end of Sunday’s game, as Garoppolo also threw a late pick, was sacked near the goal line and Jeff Wilson Jr. fumbled. Hopefully the 49ers Faithful got a quick laugh from the Orlovsky tweets. Misery loves company.
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