Running back Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers had a fantastic day as usual on Sunday as they easily defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28–16. McCaffrey’s best performance since Week 1 against the Steelers, when he had 152 yards rushing, came in the game with 145 yards. Perhaps McCaffrey’s finest moment of the day came when he evaluated quarterback Brock Purdy following the game.
McCaffrey described Purdy as a “silent assassin.” We’ve come to the proper place if he just stays himself.
What better way to characterize the baby-faced, frequently-underappreciated, second-year quarterback who was the last pick in the NFL draft of 2022? Purdy is an assassin that teams don’t seem to know how to stop, as he once again demonstrated on Sunday.
He only completed 368 yards, two touchdowns, and had a 122.1 quarterback rating versus Seattle. That is the fourth time in the last five weeks that Purdy’s QB rating has been above 120. In addition, he became one of just four quarterbacks in history to complete 70% of his passes over seven consecutive weeks with a completion percentage of 70.4%.
Brock Purdy Completed 4 Deep Balls vs. Seattle
The thing that impressed me the most about Brock Purdy’s 49ers performance was his exceptional skill with the deep ball during the victory. All told, he completed four deep throws for gains of more than 20 yards: two to George Kittle and two to Brandon Aiyuk.
Kittle responded cynically to the frequently made complaint of Purdy—that he can only throw checkdowns and cannot throw the ball deep—when this was brought up to him following the game.
He couldn’t toss the ball, in my opinion. Wow, that’s insane,” a smiling Kirkland remarked following the game.
But he went on seriously: “It just affects how the defense has to play when you have deep threats, when you hit Deebo (Samuel) over the top, when you hit Aiyuk deep downfield, and when you hit me deep downfield. Christian’s run game is somewhat enhanced because, well, good luck attempting to tackle that guy if you give him a lane. He gave it his all today. The more extravagant things we can accomplish, the more opportunities arise.
49ers “It Has Nothing to Do With the System,” says Trent Williams
In most cases, the 49ers were genuinely playing quite deep in coverage by the Seahawks, which allowed for the underneath checkdowns that Brock Purdy is said to adore. That was also the case in the teams’ initial meeting, which took place around Thanksgiving and ended with San Francisco winning in Seattle.
Purdy was still at ease taking on the Seattle secondary.
“It seems like we’ve always had plays with shots inside of them. We accept it if the defense offers us a look. Was I scared to dive in or do anything similar the previous year? Not in my opinion. I simply feel like I know our offense better this year, where the guys are supposed to be, and I’m more prepared and aware of it if a defense looks at us. I have so taken some big chances this year,” he declared.
While his teammates were dissecting Brock Purdy’s critique on his lack of deep throwing ability, left tackle Trent Williams addressed the idea that Purdy is just a “system” quarterback who thrives due to Kyle Shanahan’s game plans.
“You can tell this is the most important game in his life every Sunday as it approaches, and he approaches every week as such. Thus, Williams’ success is not a secret and it most definitely has nothing to do with the system, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
Veteran sports writer Sean Deveney works for Heavy.com, covering the NBA and NFL. With over 20 years of NBA coverage experience, including 17 years as the lead NBA correspondent for Sporting News, he has been writing for Heavy since 2019. A writer of seven nonfiction books, Deveney is the author of “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.”Additional details regarding Sean Deveney
