Brock Purdy is the only starting quarterback in the NFL who hasn't been sacked this season, and while Fox Sports' Steven Ruiz says Purdy deserves a lot of the credit, the surrounding San Francisco 49ers cast deserves a lot as well.
In his QB Notebook, Ruiz starts with San Francisco's offensive line. Next Gen Stats has Purdy pressured on a league-low 22% of his dropbacks and facing only nine quick pressures, tying Kirk Cousins for the fewest in the league.
Purdy's quick release matters, too. Per Next Gen Stats, his average time to throw of 2.91 seconds is a top-five figure. Over the last two weeks, his hurry probability three seconds into a dropback is 15.8%, compared with a league average of 33.2%. Ruiz says that makes other quarterbacks twice
as likely to be pressured at that point, and he writes that Purdy is "essentially playing 7-on-7."
Ruiz describes the recipe as a line playing at a high level, a play-caller who uses pre-snap motion and play-action to blunt pass rushes, and a quarterback who finds a way to get rid of the ball just before pressure arrives.
The production backs it up. Purdy is 60-of-83 for 789 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception this year.
Ruiz cautions that San Francisco hasn't faced a top pass rush yet. He notes the Rams were playing with a hobbled Myles Garrett, and that neither the Dolphins nor the Cardinals are strong defenses. Denver comes up Sunday, and how Purdy and the line handle it could shape his MVP case.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Why one analyst not yet impressed by Brock Purdy’s hot start
