Jimmy Garoppolo addresses ‘baby’ comment, prepares to face Super Bowl quarterbacks

Big-name quarterbacks often face big-time scrutiny. It doesn’t always stem from what happens during games.

Jimmy Garoppolo learned that again recently when his postgame interview with Erin Andrews went viral after the 49ers quarterback told the Fox sideline reporter, “It feels good, baby,” regarding the victory that pushed San Francisco’s record to 8-0 after beating the Arizona Cardinals on Halloween.

The clip made its rounds because many believed Garoppolo, he of movie-star looks, was being flirtatious. He clarified Thursday that “baby” is in his usual vernacular and he didn’t mean to make an inappropriate comment to Andrews, who is married.

“I didn’t expect it to blow up like that,” Garoppolo said. “It-is-what-it-is type of thing. Yeah, I was excited. 8-0, baby. ... I say baby like 500 times throughout a game just to my teammates and stuff. It wasn’t like that.”

Garoppolo was Andrews’ interview subject because he just had the best game of his brief career as a starter. He tossed four touchdown passes for the first time in the NFL, racked up a season-best 317 yards and had no interceptions for the second time this season. His 136.9 passer rating was the best of his career through 18 starts.

Garoppolo improved to a robust 16-2 as a starter over four seasons. He was already a high-profile quarterback when in 2017 he joined coach Kyle Shanahan’s team in San Francisco. But, for the first time this season, he’ll be going against quarterbacks that have been to where Garoppolo is trying to go: the Super Bowl.

That starts in a pivotal “Monday Night Football” game against the Seattle Seahawks and MVP candidate Russell Wilson, who is looking to reach the NFL’s title game for a third time. Looming on Nov. 24 is a home game against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, and a Dec. 8 trip to New Orleans to play Drew Brees and the Saints.

Garoppolo will have a chance to see where he stacks up against some of the league’s elite signal callers.

“Russ, he’s a phenomenal quarterback, athlete, everything,” Garoppolo said Thursday. “He does everything for that team and puts them in a good spot to win every week. It’ll be a great challenge, but I’ve said it before, I’m not playing against the other quarterback. I’m going against the defense, but it’ll be a good challenge for our defense.”

The Seahawks’ defense is a far cry from the “Legion of Boom” that terrorized the 49ers earlier this decade. Cornerback Richard Sherman is with the 49ers now while free safety Earl Thomas signed with the Baltimore Ravens in the offseason and strong safety Kam Chancellor has retired.

Seattle’s historically imposing defense that ranked first in opponents’ scoring from 2012 to 2015 is down to 22nd this season, allowing 25.6 points per game. And the Garoppolo-led 49ers will provide the Seahawks their first road opponent with a winning record.

Garoppolo is fourth in the NFL in completion rate (70.8), ninth in quarterback rating (100.6) and seventh in net yards per attempt (7.3) that factors in sacks. Garoppolo is 21st in yards per game (225.8), which is largely a product of the 49ers calling the NFL’s highest rate of rushing plays.

“I think he’s doing great,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in a conference call. “To complete over 70 percent of your passes is really a challenge. To do that in complement with such a committed running game, it makes them a really efficient offense. They’re really hard to deal with.

“Obviously, when you’ve been in the system for a few years, you get better and you can do more. And Kyle’s got such a great makeup in his offense and his background and all the things that he’s done with all the different style of players they’ve had. He’s got a big reservoir of things and they’re pulling on it. And that’s why they’re so difficult to deal with.”

The 49ers last December snapped a 10-game skid to their division rivals. They’re looking to win back-to-back games against Seattle for the first time since December 2011 and September 2012.

San Francisco relied heavily on the league’s second-ranked rushing offense and its No. 1 defense over the first seven games. Last week in Arizona marked the first time Garoppolo won a game with his arm while the defense and running game struggled. His 37 attempts were his most this season.

“I was very impressed. I thought he played his best game of the year,” Shanahan said. “He made a lot of really good throws in rhythm and made a lot of off-schedule throws where he had to move in the pocket and generate some plays on his own. It was a very impressive game and it would have been very tough to win that game if he didn’t play that way.”

Shanahan said earlier this season the strength of his defense changed how he called plays on offense. The 49ers have played more conservatively while possessing the ball at the second-highest rate in the league.

That could also be a product of Garoppolo being in the early stages of his comeback from last season’s ACL tear, which could mean the offense opens up more as the season progresses, particularly with an established No. 1 receiver in Emmanuel Sanders, who was added before the trading deadline.

The addition paid immediate dividends during his first two games with San Francisco. He caught touchdown passes in each game, and last week became the 49ers’ first receiver this season with more than 100 yards in a game.

Sanders and Garoppolo have stayed on the field after practice to hone their timing and chemistry. Their connections last week, when Sanders led the team with seven catches for 112 yards, made it appear like they had been playing together for years.

“I’m not surprised,” Sanders said when asked about his chemistry with Garoppolo. “I really didn’t give it any thought. My job was just to come in and make plays and be at the appropriate spot. His job is to deliver the football. So we were able to attain that on Thursday night.”

A repeat performance from Garoppolo would likely lead to another post-game interview on the field in front of a national audience. Whether he drops another “baby” remains to be seen.