Brock Purdy posts perfect passer rating in 49ers win

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – About 30 minutes after becoming the first San Francisco 49ers quarterback in history to attempt 20 or more passes and post a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the same game, Brock Purdy had several thoughts.

First, Purdy was proud to put his name in the record books and have him mentioned alongside Joe Montana, who is the only other Niners starter to have a perfect score in a game with at least 10 attempts , a feat he accomplished in 1989. Second, Purdy pointed out that just because passer ratings aren’t increasing doesn’t mean he thinks it was a “perfect” game.

Third, Purdy deflected credit from his teammates and coaches for their contributions to his performance in San Francisco’s 27-14 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“What an honor,” Purdy said. “But at the same time, I feel like there’s still games and stuff that I would have liked to have back. So, I’m not completely happy with that, but I thought it was great game with the guys around me, the coaching and the play calls, all that. I think that’s really a testament to the team.

Five minutes later, Purdy was asked if passer evaluation was a tool he and his fellow quarterbacks used to judge their play.

“I still don’t really know what that means,” Purdy said, a smile spreading across his face.

What that meant for the Niners on Sunday was a second straight win that took them further away from the three-game losing streak that ruined their October and lifted them to 7-3 with a one-game lead in the NFC West division. For Purdy, this might have been his best game in a season where that statement has already been made many times.

Making his 18th career start nearly a year after making his first NFL start against these same Bucs, Purdy and the offense got off to a slow start in their first practice. But they rarely missed the rest of the way as Purdy finished 21 of 25 for 333 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions en route to the immaculate mark of 158.3.

His damage came in almost equal doses between the halves, albeit in different ways. In the first half, Purdy was 14 of 17 for 164 yards and a score. In the second, he went 7 of 8 for 169 yards and two scores, including a 77-yard strike to receiver Brandon Aiyuk for a touchdown early in the third quarter.

Most of Purdy’s production came against the Bucs’ man coverage as he threw for a career-high 210 yards and passed for all three touchdowns against that defensive look. Purdy now has 16 passing touchdowns against a man, the most in the NFL this season.

Despite all these gaudy numbers, teammates have become accustomed to Purdy’s performances.

“A perfect game? Wow,” defensive end Nick Bosa said. “I’m never surprised by him again. He’s as good as it gets.”

Over the past two games, Purdy has looked more like the quarterback who helped the Niners get off to a 5-0 start than the one who had six turnovers (including his five interceptions) during a three-game stretch. consecutive losses to the Cleveland Browns. Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals. Purdy only really struggled against Cleveland in those three games, but the turnovers had some outside skeptics wondering how he would respond.

Between last week against Jacksonville and Sunday against Tampa Bay, Purdy went 40 of 51 for an average of 314.5 passing yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions while averaging 12.3 yards per attempt.

“There’s always going to be criticism,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “He knows it. Everyone here knows it, and I like it when he plays a little angry with a chip on his shoulder. I kind of hope the criticism keeps coming because it annoys him and ‘he plays very well.”

For Purdy, there was no magic cure for what happened during the Niners’ three-game losing streak. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Purdy played “incredibly” during the footage and there was no need to panic or make any major adjustments.

But Purdy believed it was important for him to be hard on himself, to play with a chip on his shoulder and to remember that the league is always quick to remind that a pat on the back and a shot of foot in the behind are not far from being a good match. another.

“It’s the NFL, anything can happen on any given Sunday and that’s like the chip I was talking about,” Purdy said. “So, kind of going back to that and proving in every practice, every play that I can be the guy on this team and I have to earn it every week in practice, in meetings, wherever. is the mindset of what I was talking about definitely being more in tune and being detailed over the last couple of weeks and finding that chip again.”

After ten games this season, everything Purdy has used to motivate himself seems to be working. In Sunday’s games, he is first in the NFL in QBR (76.6), passer rating (109.9), yards per attempt (9.7), third in completion percentage (70.2%), tied for fifth in touchdown passes (18) and sixth in passing. yards per game (266.2). His five interceptions are tied for second among starters.

Purdy’s 9.7 yards per attempt are second-most in 10 games in NFL history among players with a minimum of 250 attempts. He keeps company with Boomer Esiason in 1988 (9.8), Dan Marino in 1984 (9.7) and Aaron Rodgers in 2011 (9.6) at this rate. Esiason, Marino and Rodgers all won the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

As Purdy continues to answer all the questions about himself, perhaps the better question might be what he can’t do.

“I don’t know if he can drive a 4.3 [second 40-yard dash]” Shanahan said. “But everything we asked him to do, he did it at a very high level.”