Well, another start, another win for no-longer-Mr.-Irrelevant Brock Purdy. The last pick of this year’s NFL Draft is undefeated in his first four career starts after taking over as the San Francisco 49ers‘ QB1.
Even if the Niners are the most stacked team in the league, and they had a playoff berth pretty much in the bag already,Purdy has looked poised and in control through the first games of his young career.
And, given how shaky and inconsistent the Niners’ QB play has been over the past couple of years, it’s not surprising to see Head Coach Kyle Shanahan raving about his character and recent performances.
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“I think that was great for him,” Shanahan said of Purdy. “We had to come from behind, especially there at the end. Also he made a ton of plays today, but there’s a number that he missed too. And that’s the coolest part. There were some he’d love to have back. It was never one way too much or the other where he was struggling or doing well, but there were some mixed plays. To keep coming back and keep attacking, he never got gun-shy, made some real good decisions too and fought it out throughout the whole game and found a way to win.”
The rookie knows it’s not about him, though. The team has been playing solid football altogether, and he’s not even thinking about next season or whether he’ll take over Trey Lance at some point:
“We’ve all talked about it, moving forward with one game left in the regular season and the playoffs starting up,” Purdy said. “To come in in and environment like this, you feel it. At the end of the game, the crowd’s going crazy and you have to go out and perform do your job. For what’s to come, I feel like that was great in terms of prepping our offense, defense, special teams — just the unit as a whole. It was great just prepping us and getting us right for what’s about to come. So we know that. All the older guys have obviously told me and told the younger guys in terms of what to expect. They’ve done a great job in prepping us, so it was a great experience for all of us to get that.”
The Niners look like the team to beat in the NFC this season, and they could still secure the first seed if they win and the Eagles lose in Week 18. Notably, that’s not out of the question with Mr. Relevant under center.
