As the 49ers took the field last Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they had exactly four eligible wide receivers for the game — Brandin Cooks, Jacob Cowing, Christian Kirk, and Jordan Watkins. Yes, they had George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey (albeit a Christian McCaffrey who missed most of the first half with a quadriceps injury), but the absences of Mike Evans (Achilles tendon), Deebo Samuel (hamstring), and Demarcus Robinson (ankle) were going to limit Brock Purdy’s
options, and it doesn’t take a football expert to figure that out.
In the 49ers’ first loss of the season — a frustrating 29-20 result after the 49ers had a 14-3 second-quarter lead — Purdy completed 27 of 40 passes for 288 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, an EPA per pass of -0.06, and a passer rating of 75.8.
Not what you want from a guy who was a legit NFL Most Valuable Player candidate in the first four weeks of the season, and this is not a throwaway one-week negative blip. The splits between Purdy’s first four games, and the last three, are pretty glaring.
Per SumerSports:
What’s the problem?
Purdy’s performance against the Seattle Seahawks in the 49ers’ 32-29 Week 5 win was its own animal — the Seahawks have the NFL’s best defense by DVOA for the second straight season, and Purdy has struggled more against this defense than any other. Purdy was good enough against the Washington Commanders’ 23rd-ranked defense in Week 6, but what happened against the Falcons’ 11tth-ranked defense raised some eyebrows.
Primary among the negative plays were Purdy’s two interceptions. Purdy has thrown two or more picks in a game just 11 times in his career, so that’s not something you expect, especially after the hot start.
The first interception came with 5:41 left in the third quarter, and featured an amazing sideline toe-tap catch by Falcons safety Jessie Bates III. The 49ers were in 11 personnel with Cooks, Cowing, and Kirk on the field, and the Falcons responded with Cover-1 — man coverage across with a single-high safety. Purdy didn’t like what he saw, and then, it got weird. The Falcons flipped their box and deep safeties after the snap, and while Purdy is usually great against coverage disguises, the disguise won this time.
“I thought maybe Christian Kirk on the scramble was going to be there,” Purdy said postgame of Kirk’s out-and-up route. “But then, towards the end of the throw, as I was going to throw, I was like, ’No, it’s not.‘ I went to just throw it away by the sideline and then Bates, all of a sudden, came across and made a play. I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ In that moment, I’ve got to completely throw the ball away if I’m not going to make an attempt to a receiver. I’ve got to learn from that in a tough way.”
The second interception, which came with 2:42 left in the game with the 49ers down 26-20, was the killer. Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich called a double-mug look in Cover-3 (zone with a single deep safety), with linebackers Kendal Daniels and Harold Perkins Jr. clogging up the middle of the offensive line. At the snap, both linebackers dropped into coverage — Perkins to hook/curl over the middle, and Daniels to the left flat. Purdy tried to get the ball to Watkins on a 15-yard in-cut, but Daniels both deflected and intercepted the pass.
“The linebacker was mugged up on the line of scrimmage and then thought we had an alley outside to, I think, it was Jordan Watkins,” Purdy said. “I was going to throw. It was there, and I thought it was going to be a drive-by kind of play. All of a sudden, I threw the ball and he came from the backside, tipped it up to himself; I didn’t see him or anything. So credit to him. He made a good play.
“In that moment, I’d like to say, ‘Yeah, I need to see [Daniels].’ But at the same time, it’s pretty tough to drop back and see a backer mugged up on the line, dropping from the opposite side and stuff. It was a good play calling [by] them and good execution by the linebacker.”
Normally, Purdy is as good as it gets when it comes to seeing the field, understanding what’s in front of him, and making the right throw at the right time with the proper anticipation. Physical and mental mistakes (failing to throw the ball all the way out of bounds, and missing a dropping linebacker) happen to every quarterback. This is not a five-alarm fire. But it is disconcerting to see two such plays in one half from any quarterback who generally knows better.
Communication breakdown?
So, how much of this is on Purdy, and how much is on the receivers with whom Purdy doesn’t have the necessary connection yet? Kyle Shanahan’s passing game is all about timing, rhythm, and anticipation, and it’s why Purdy is his ideal quarterback. But if Purdy’s targets aren’t on the same page, that’s obviously a problem. McCaffrey and George Kittle did their level best to mitigate the damage with a total of 14 catches on 17 targets for 149 yards, and Kyle Juszczyk caught Purdy’s lone touchdown pass… but the receivers managed seven catches on 14 targets for 107 yards. That was Cooks, Cowing, and Watson; Kirk didn’t have an official target.
“I mean, yeah, they’re new guys and stuff, so you’ve got to learn how they run routes and how they play for sure,” Purdy concluded when asked about the depleted receiver corps. “That’s a real thing. But I think just with our preparation and how Kyle goes about the week with getting us ready as an offense, I think it’s pretty… not easy, but he makes it pretty smooth for these guys to come in and learn what they need to do and be on time and all that kind of thing. I thought they did a great job today for what was handed to us. We need to limit the turnovers, yes, and we sort of shot ourselves in the foot with that. But we were out there [with] those new guys out there running routes for us and creating separation and making plays.
“I thought I saw a lot of really cool things from Jordan Watkins [and] Jacob Cowing. Obviously, I’m trying to get the rock to Brandin Cooks and Christian Kirk, too, and see what they can do. You know, that will all come. But I thought they did a good job. It’s our first game all together as a unit with the receivers that we had. We’ve just got to keep working and stuff. But I thought it was a positive performance on their end. We’ve just got to keep chipping away.”
Let’s get healthy!
It will help that after the 49ers’ Week 8 bye, there’s a very good chance that they’ll have a lot of reinforcements back from the injury pool — and not just at receiver.
“Yeah, I think all those guys from, you’ve got [DL] Nick [Bosa], [WR] Mike [Evans], [LB Luke] Gifford, Deebo, [S Marques] Sigle, [LB Garret] Wallow, D-Rob, [DL] C.J. West, all those guys have a chance after the bye week, but none are guaranteed,” Shanahan said on Monday. “So, big week of rehab for all of them, and we’ll see where they’re at next week.”
With Evans and Deebo back in particular, that Shanahan passing game should be back on track. And there’s the eventual return of rookie De’Zhaun Stribling — possibly in December.
Very good news for the team. Because we may have seen the line of demarcation from which not even Brock Purdy can escape.
