Brock Purdy touts his wheels and blitzes the ball as the 49ers’ stabilizing force against the Patriots

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Brock Purdy is no braggart.

But after Sunday’s 30-13 win over the New England Patriots, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback said his 10-yard split coming out of college was faster than Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey.

“I think“, he emphasized. “You need to check my facts. I think I have just enough (speed) to get out of the pocket, make a play and gain five, seven yards here or there. I’m not Lamar Jackson at all.”

A more accurate statement might be that his time was comparable to his teammates. Purdy’s 10-yard split of 1.55 seconds in 2022 was actually a few fractions of a second slower than Samuel (1.48) and McCaffrey (1.52) entering the draft.

Still, everyone understands his point of view, especially his recent opponents.

For the second straight game, Purdy resorted to his legs when the passing game stalled. He gained 7 yards in the first third of the 49ers’ first possession. In the second, he scored another five – and a first down – in a drive that spanned 15 plays and ended with a 22-yard field goal by Jake Moody. There were also a few slick throws where Purdy looked like Fran Tarkenton, ducking out of trouble, scrambling to the sideline and making improbable passes before being hit. He finished 15 of 27 for 288 yards.

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It was far from a perfect game for Purdy. San Francisco had a chance to put the Patriots away for good early in the fourth quarter when Purdy’s pass intended for Brandon Aiyuk in the end zone was instead intercepted by safety Jabrill Peppers. Kyle Shanahan said afterward that he thought Purdy should have thrown the pass earlier, while Purdy said he didn’t see Peppers at first.

“It’s something I have to push forward in my progress and not be greedy,” he said. “I think I reached out to him two or three times, which is just not good as a quarterback. You go through your progress based on your problems and read with your feet, and that’s when I got greedy.”

After four games, the passing game is no longer as smooth and automatic as it was at the start of last season, when the 49ers got off to a 5-0 start. For one thing, teams are focused on taking away Purdy’s crucial throws, including the intermediate and deep transitions to Aiyuk that were so reliable last season.

Last week, for example, the Los Angeles Rams sometimes dropped eight players into coverage and only released three, resulting in a play in which Purdy held the ball for more than 12 seconds. Purdy noted that on another play they dropped nine players and only passed two.

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On Sunday, he said the Patriots’ safeties did a good job of anticipating and taking advantage of the 49ers’ favorite routes. But as the game progressed, Purdy and the passing attack began to take advantage of those adjustments. As New England’s safeties kept stepping forward and clogging up the middle, he began to go deep. His three furthest throws:

• A 53-yarder over the top for Deebo Samuel Sr. in the third quarter. Samuel, who started the game at tailback, had three catches for 58 yards after missing last week’s game with a calf injury.

Deebo took us 55 yards.

📺 #NEvsSF on FOX
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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 29, 2024

• A 45-yard strike to Jauan Jennings early in the fourth quarter. Jennings led the team in receiving yards for the second straight season, finishing the game with three catches for 88 yards.

JJ is down there somewhere

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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 29, 2024

• A 38-yard pass to Aiyuk on Purdy’s first throw of the game. Aiyuk finished with modest receiving numbers for the fourth straight game – two catches for 48 yards – but his second reception, a diving fingertip grab on third down, was the kind of high-difficulty hook he didn’t pull off earlier in the season.

Even one of Purdy’s shorter throws, a 12-yard touchdown to George Kittle in the second quarter, flew wide through the air.

This is our TE @gkittle46

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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 29, 2024

Kittle said the play called for him to run an out-and-up and that it should be done from further back, around the 40-yard line. He thought this particular play was “a little aggressive” so close to the goal line.

“I didn’t really trust the play call,” he admitted afterwards. “Because that was something we originally called from further out. And when we made the call from the 12-yard line, I had to check with Brock again to make sure we called the right play. And I was like, ‘Okay, man, just throw it.'”

Purdy did, putting the ball where only Kittle could catch it, and the 6-foot-2 tight end delivered the pass between three under-6-foot Patriots defensive backs.

That touchdown gave the 49ers a 20-0 lead, and they led by at least two points the rest of the way.

Still, it was a muddy win against a Patriots team that lacked offensive talent and was plagued by injuries. The 49ers suffered a number of injuries of their own – including defensive starters Fred Warner (ankle) and Jordan Elliott (knee) – and had another costly special teams fumble, a third-quarter kick-return fumble by Isaac Guerendo that led to New England’s only touchdown.

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The 49ers continued to struggle in the red zone. They had six trips inside the Patriots’ 25-yard line on Sunday, but only two touchdowns, that of Kittle and a 4-yard run by Jordan Mason in the third quarter. Otherwise they were content with three Moody field goals and one interception. Last season, they led the league in red zone efficiency, scoring touchdowns 67 percent of the time.

“We have to clean that up, especially when we’re playing very dominant teams that have really good offenses,” said Kittle, who seemed to recognize that the Patriots were a decidedly forgiving opponent before he caught himself. “Not to say the Patriots don’t do that, but our defense played very well against them.”

(Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)