San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy endured the worst performance of his career in his team’s Christmas Day loss to the Baltimore Ravens, and after leaving the game with a stinger, he was seen having a sideline conversation with head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Afterward, Purdy revealed what his discussion with Shanahan was all about.
“I mean, we had talked about just the scenario of the game, where we were at, just got a stinger and my arm was coming back, feeling normal and whatnot,” Purdy told reporters. “And so, he was just like where we’re at in the game, Sam [Darnold] had gone in and scored, and he goes, ‘for right now we’re just going to go with Sam just by how things are going.’”
Purdy went 18-for-32 with 255 yards and four interceptions in the 33-19 loss. Three of the picks came during the first half when the game was still competitive (the Ravens led 16-12 at halftime).
The 24-year-old assured that we shouldn’t read too much into his late benching and that it was only due to his injury.
“And we didn’t want anything else popping up with the stinger and all that kind of stuff, but it was just where we were at situationally,” Purdy added. “So Sam was doing good, and we rolled with him.”
Going into the Baltimore matchup, Purdy was considered a frontrunner for the NFL MVP award, but his brutal outing almost surely knocked him down a peg or two.
On the season overall, Purdy has thrown for 4,050 yards, 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while completing 68.8 percent of his passes and posting a league-high passer rating of 112.2.
Purdy is now in his second year after being taken by the 49ers with the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft. He was pressed into starting duty last season after season-ending injuries to Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance, but he played so well that he ultimately earned the starting quarterback job for good.
San Francisco is 11-4 and will take on the Washington Commanders this Sunday before wrapping up the regular season against the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 7.
Want the latest NFL analysis, breaking news, and insider information? Click here. Interested in reading storylines and analysis about the NBA? Check out our partner NBA Analysis Network.
