Offtopic » I don’t know how much of a jump you

SANTA CLARA Trent Taylor Jersey White , Calif. (AP)Jimmy Garoppolo showed what he can do in coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense even before he fully understood it in an impressive five-game cameo at the end of last season.With an entire offseason to learn the foundation of the San Francisco 49ers‘ scheme and build chemistry with his receivers and offensive line, he should only be better in his first full season as an NFL starter in 2018.Whether that translates into even more prolific numbers is a different question.”I don’t know how much of a jump you’re going to see,” Shanahan said Wednesday before the team’s final minicamp practice of the offseason. ”When you talk about expectations, I don’t know how you’re going to live up to that. He did very good last year. If we had 400 yards a game, does that mean we need to have 600 the first five games to improve? I don’t know what the numbers will be, but we will be a better offense.”The numbers were quite good after Garoppolo took over as the Niners won their final five games of the season after a 1-10 start under Shanahan. San Francisco scored on an NFL-best 56.6 percent of their drives after Garoppolo took over as starter and ranked in the top five in the league in scoring offense (28.8 points per game), yards per play (6.1) and yards per game (409.6).That all came with Garoppolo being force fed a game plan each week in an offense he barely knew. This offseason he has been able to start from scratch and learn the whys behind the scheme, which should make him even better once the season starts.”I think I’ve come a long way, especially from last season when I was just cramming everything in,” Garoppolo said. ”But there’s still a long way to go developing that chemistry between me and the skill positions and the o-line. It’s a work in progress.”That was evident Tuesday when issues with a new cadence led to several false starts or players not getting off on time early in practice. That led Garoppolo to keep a lot of the offense on the field after practice for some extra work to make sure those issues don’t come up again.Shanahan said he was pleased to see his players take the initiative to fix those issues without any prodding from the coaches.”It wasn’t any fun,” Garoppolo said. ”When that goes wrong, it just screws up the rest of the play. First and foremost Arik Armstead Jersey White , we have to get that corrected.”While the cadence issue was a one-time issue, a major focus this offseason for Garoppolo and the offense has been on becoming more efficient in the red zone.San Francisco moved the ball with ease the last five weeks of the season but the offense too often had to settle for field goals. The Niners converted less than half of their chances inside the opponent’s 20-yard line into touchdowns.The team has excelled in that area in practice this offseason and Garoppolo hopes that carries over to the games.”Those are point plays,” Garoppolo said. ”Those are the ones that really matter. When you get those opportunities, it’s hard to complete a touchdown, especially in the red zone like that. The windows are tighter, there’s not as much room.”While Garoppolo is the headliner, there has been significant change in the one-plus year since Shanahan and general manager John Lynch took over a struggling franchise.Shanahan took over a two-win team that had gone through three coaches in the previous three years and now has it in position to be a legitimate contender in the power-packed NFC.”We’ve put a lot of work in a year, we’ve gone through a lot of things, we’ve changed the roster over a ton,” Shanahan said. ”We’ve been better as a coaching staff. We go through this every single day. What I’m happy about as I look over our players and our coaches is we’re better. We’re deeper. We’re faster. We move together, our 11 guys, better together. That should happen. We’ve done it longer. We’ve had more time to build the personnel.”NOTES: WR Marquise Goodwin won the Pro Football Writers of America George Halas Award Roger Craig Jersey , given to the person who overcomes the most adversity to succeed. Goodwin caught an 83-yard touchdown pass in a Week 10 win against the Giants just hours after he and his wife, Morgan, lost their infant son due to complications which led to a premature delivery. … Third-round LB Fred Warner signed his rookie contract. … Former 49ers LB Larry Grant has been named the team’s 2018 Nunn-Wooten Scouting Fellow.— MILWAUKEE (AP) — Turnovers just might be the most important statistic in football.Just ask the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers.The 49ers last week had a 33-10 edge in first downs against Arizona but still lost by 10 following five giveaways.The Packers (2-2-1) almost doubled the Lions in total offense (521-264) and still lost 31-23 after coughing up three turnovers.Guess what the Packers will be focusing on in practice as they prepare to host the 49ers at Lambeau Field on Monday night?“Sometimes that ball bounces your way and sometimes it doesn’t. But you have to create more opportunities,” coach Mike McCarthy said on Thursday. “We’ve created too many giveaway opportunities and we clearly don’t have enough takeaway opportunities.”A team considered one of the top contenders in the NFC is off to a choppy start. Other than a 22-0 win over Buffalo, the Packers have alternated one bad half with one good one.The first half has been the problem in three games, which has forced Green Bay to play catch-up. It worked in the season opener, when Aaron Rodgers tossed three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter for a 24-23 win over Chicago after falling behind 20-0.But slow starts have doomed the Packers in losses at Washington and Detroit. Against the Lions last week, the Packers fell behind 24-0 at the half before losing 31-23.“That’s not how you start games and expect to win, especially against a good opponent. We’ve got to start faster than that,” receiver Davante Adams said after the Detroit loss.The 49ers (1-4) were sloppier, overshadowing the gaudy stats they put up on offense. They also failed to force a turnover.“I think we’ve been close to winning. It’s not an excuse. We definitely should have won more games than we have,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We’ve got to find ways to not turn it over and get the ball in the end zone.”Some other notes and things to watch:BACKING KICKERMcCarthy offered a vote of confidence for Mason Crosby following the kicker’s awful game against Detroit Nick Mullens Jersey White , going 1 of 5 on field-goal attempts and missing his only extra-point try. Crosby was 10 of 11 on the year before last week, including two 52-yarders in Week 4 against Buffalo. He also missed an extra-point attempt in that game.“He’s a proven, highly successful kicker, I still believe in him,” McCarthy said. “But he knows it – he has to make those kicks. … So hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on.”NOT PRIMEThe 49ers were expected to be an intriguing team based on a five-game winning streak to end last year with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. That earned them five prime-time games, starting with the trip to Green Bay.But the Niners are a much less compelling draw with a losing record and Garoppolo out for the season with a knee injury. They already had a game on Oct. 21 against the Rams moved out of prime time and could lose another in December at Seattle as viewers are less interested in watching backup C.J. Beathard than Garoppolo.“When things are good, you’re on top of the world, people praise you,” Beathard said. “When things are bad, they’ll bash you and you’ve just got to take both of those the same way and not even acknowledge anything on the outside.”RODGERS’ KNEEThe two-time NFL MVP seems to be moving a little better each week after hurting his left knee in the first half of the season-opening win over the Bears. Rodgers, though, did say he took a shot to the knee early in the Lions game that might require him to keep wearing a brace.He also had to play last week without injured receivers Randall Cobb (hamstring) and Geronimo Allison (concussion/hamstring). Allison did at least clear the concussion protocol this week.The Packers will get a break after the 49ers game with a bye week.OPEN SCREENShorter is better for Beathard. The 49ers were able to exploit Arizona’s defense with screen passes http://www.49erslockerroom.com/authentic-patrick-willis-jersey , with Beathard going 11 for 14 for 130 yards and a TD on throws that didn’t cross the line of scrimmage. His 129.2 passer rating on those passes eclipsed his 60.3 rating on passes beyond the line of scrimmage.“Screens are always hit or miss,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes, you catch them in blitzes. If you can get it off and no one sees the guy you’re screening to, there’s a lot of room to run.”RUN DOWNAaron Jones might be the most explosive option out of the Packers’ crowded backfield, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. But he was limited to seven carries for 40 yards last week as Green Bay played catch-up against Detroit. Jamaal Williams starts the game and is good in pass protection, while Ty Montgomery is a receiving threat out of the backfield.If the Packers can play with an early lead, they might be able to give the ball more to Jones to run and balance the offense.