Newly-minted Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is working to ingratiate himself with the organization and the fanbase. Judging by his recent comments, he’s already off to a terrific start.
In a recent video shared by the Raiders, Garoppolo is on a tour of the team’s facility when he stops at an image of Tom Brady in the infamous Tuck Rule play. As Garoppolo looks at the photo of his former teammate and laughs, he said the four words that all Raiders fans love to hear.
“It was a fumble. It was a fumble,” Garoppolo declared as he looks at the image from that fateful game.
Raiders fans were more than happy to see Garoppolo agree with what they’ve been saying for decades. Non-Raiders fans found it odd that the Raiders had that particular image up in their facility in the first-place:
https://t.co/vaN8RsII6f pic.twitter.com/P1cFK1e9fC
— Phil (@UnclePh1l) March 23, 2023
Pandering is always welcome. https://t.co/VwoLmlQ2lA
— James (@OaklandAboveAll) March 23, 2023
Having that photo up is kinda embarrassing but fairs https://t.co/vw1lLqySz2
— ty (@GorillaMna) March 23, 2023
Hold on… the Raiders having a mural of the tuck rule is INSANITY 😂 https://t.co/KqWrjbYljm
— 🤙 (@JakeRose_4) March 23, 2023
The Tuck Rule Game ended the first Jon Gruden era in New England and kickstarted the Tom Brady dynasty in New England. To this day, it’s still debated whether ruling Brady’s apparent fumble at the hands of Hall of Famer Charles Woodson was truly a fumble or an incompletion.
Despite making the Super Bowl the following year, the Raiders then spiraled into a misery cycle that saw them go 13 straight years without a winning season. They have only two winning seasons in the last 20 years.
Perhaps Garoppolo will change that now that he’s their starting quarterback.