San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy took another step forward in his development when he led his team to a come-from-behind win in Saturday’s divisional-round playoff win over the Green Bay Packers. He engineered their game-winning drive and went six of seven on pass attempts during that drive to send them to the NFC Championship Game for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Yet, Purdy still has lots of doubters in the national media. Those doubters continue to dismiss his production and success because of the weapons he has at his disposal and the fact that he’s being coached by a brilliant offensive mind in head coach Kyle Shanahan.
One of those doubters is Ryan Clark. He said that Purdy “doesn’t raise the level of play of anyone around him” and that he isn’t quite at the level of elite QBs such as Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
While it’s true that neither Purdy nor his team played well through three quarters on Saturday, it’s also true that they rose to the occasion in the fourth quarter.
NFL News & Rumors: Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers Updates
It was especially true when, with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter and the Niners down 21-17, he began to lead them downfield while facing the type of pressure he had never faced in the NFL before.
Facing three third downs during that drive, he maintained his poise and kept delivering dimes, including one on a third-and-five to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk through a very tight throwing window.
Then, just after the two-minute warning, Purdy couldn’t find an open receiver, so he ran to the edge on the left side and got to the six-yard line. That set up star running back Christian McCaffrey’s go-ahead touchdown.
The facts are that this season, which was Purdy’s first full one as San Francisco’s QB1, Aiyuk had over 300 more receiving yards than he did in 2022 despite playing in one fewer game, Deebo Samuel bumped up his receiving yards per game average by more than 10 yards a contest and tight end George Kittle went from 765 yards last year to 1,020 yards this year.
Purdy has been far more productive than Jimmy Garoppolo, his predecessor, ever was in Shanahan’s offense, and it appears Shanahan has opened up his playbook for Purdy in ways he never did for Garoppolo.
