SANTA CLARA – Backup-for-now 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was the only player in uniform who did not get into the action on Sunday to experience the 49ers’ 31-21 victory over the New York Giants at Levi's Stadium.
Afterward, coach Kyle Shanahan disputed any suggestion that the 49ers have already decided to move Garoppolo into the starting lineup when the club next plays, after the bye week, on Nov. 26 against the Seattle Seahawks.
“That’s not my plan,” Shanahan said. “I don’t have a plan, yet.”
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Shanahan said he will take a lot of factors into consideration to determine whether rookie C.J. Beathard will remain as the starter. Beathard has taken every snap at quarterback since replacing veteran Brian Hoyer in the second quarter of the 49ers’ Oct. 15 game at Washington. Garoppolo has been in uniform for both games since the 49ers acquired him from the New England Patriots in a trade for a second-round draft pick.
“I’m going to continue to work with Jimmy over the bye week, here and there,” Shanahan said. “We’ve got some rotations of some coaches doing that to catch him up. We’ll get a bonus practice next Monday (Nov. 20), and that will be to get everyone loose and get them back from their time off and we’ll see where it goes from there.
“Then we’ll start the evaluation Wednesday (Nov. 22), Thursday, Friday. But it’s not just about C.J. It’s not just about Jimmy. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”
Beathard sustained an injury the thumb on his throwing hand at the end of his 11-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. But Beathard said nothing was going to prevent him from taking the final snaps in Sunday’s win.
San Francisco 49ers
“I just wanted to stick it out there with those guys and finish,” Beathard said. “I wanted to finish the game in a victory formation and be able to kneel the ball and that’s what we did. It was the first one of the year and it was just an awesome feeling.”
Beathard, a third-round draft pick from Iowa, had his best game as a pro, completing 19 of 25 passes for 288 yards with two touchdowns, one interception and a passer rating of 123.4. In addition to his touchdown run, Beathard also ran out the final 1 minute, 2 seconds of the game with three kneeldowns.