Jimmy Garoppolo makes himself at home in Niners' win over former team

With his triumphant return to Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Jimmy Garoppolo improved to 38-12 as an NFL starter.

That .760 win percentage leaves him just a blink off the legend and his New England mentor, Tom Brady (.763, 254-79).

Meanwhile, across the way? Mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together, and the dead of rising from the grave come to mind. Yes, it was that kind of Sunday for Jimmy G's counterpart, Cam Newton.

This one can’t feel good for followers of Bill Belichick’s club.

Patriots fans may have been left with little more than wondering what might have been early Sunday evening.

Garoppolo and his 4-3 49ers aren’t interested.

Jimmy G giggled and swaggered his way through an I-told-you-so postgame zoom session after clicking with a 20 of 25, 270-yard effort in San Francisco’s 33-6 drubbing of the 2-4 hosts.

Playing in the toughest division with an injury list as long as the Golden Gate, San Francisco has thoughts of a return to the big one in February.

Garoppolo is a huge reason why. He is their guy, and even the newbies in the Bay Area know it.

His mates came to play on Sunday … for Jimmy G.

“(He has) complete poise,” said rookie receiver Brandon Aiyuk, a blur through the New England secondary with six catches for 115 yards. “You could feel the excitement, feel the energy. We could all feel it out there.”

He was one overthrow of Manny Sanders -- some say the receiver stopped running -- from winning the Super Bowl last year. And Garoppolo continues to ride under the radar, especially in his division where Seattle’s Russell Wilson dominates the early MVP talk and Arizona’s Kyler Murray wears the moniker of the “next great one.”

But Jimmy just wins.

Garoppolo hadn’t been on the turf at Gillette since the middle of the 2017 season.

Aside from one overthrow down the middle of George Kittle that Devin McCourty snatched, Jimmy G looked comfortable and quite at home.

“It was a cool week,” said Garoppolo. “A lot of emotion, a lot of memories. It was a fun night. It was an exciting night with a lot of emotions. I couldn’t imagine it going any better than this.”

When Garoppolo outmuscled Ja’Whaun Bentley on a 3rd-and-3 scramble in the initial possession of the game, willing his way to the 35-yard line and a first down, you had the feeling the Patriots were in trouble.

“We got them down, and you want to keep them down. You don’t want to give them a chance to breathe,” said Garoppolo. “We did that tonight.”

Garoppolo has shown little issue with being a complementary piece in San Francisco.

After the victory on Sunday, he handed the 49ers famed “Victory Chain” away.

“I give the Victory Chain to the running backs. Those guys earned it, all of them,” he said. “They were playing their asses off, running hard, setting the tone, getting those dirty yards that are kind of a staple for our team.”

Garoppolo also understands how fortunate he really is right now, playing in Kyle Shanahan’s complex offense with a slew of weapons around him, like Aiyuk, his outside receiving mate Deebo Samuel and one of the game’s best tight ends, George Kittle.

Having missed three games with a tender ankle, he and the Niners looked like prime candidates for the notorious Super Bowl loser’s hangover.

Dominating the Patriots in Foxborough on Sunday, that tune has changed drastically.

“I wanted to come here and get a win,” said Garoppolo. “It didn’t matter if it was by 1 or by 100, just go and get the win.”

Mission accomplished for Belichick’s prodigal son.