The San Francisco 49ers thumped the New York Giants by a score of 30-12 on Thursday night, improving to 3-0 on the season in the process.
Perhaps the most notable part of the 49ers’ win was the performance of young quarterback Brock Purdy, who went 25-for-37 with 310 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was diplomatic in his assessment of Purdy’s outing, but he clearly saw some things that he liked.
“It definitely wasn’t his best game, but I think Brock played well, definitely wasn’t perfect, missed a couple throws, but he also made a couple plays that I didn’t think were there,” said Shanahan, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “So I was definitely happy with him.”
Shanahan said that Purdy’s receivers bailed him out with a couple of great catches. However, he added that the Giants defense was a real challenge for Purdy given the formations they used.
“Yeah, he missed a couple today and guys made a couple of real good catches also,” he said. “I thought it was just a huge challenge. One of the biggest ones Brock’s been in just the short week to prepare for a scheme like that. Just how much they do, they had six guys on the line of scrimmage throughout the game, half the time they’re coming, half the time they’re not. There’s not a comfortable play throughout a game from a play call standpoint and from the quarterback just because there’s a lot of plays that don’t work versus that. So, you got to constantly be looking at it and sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, which is a huge challenge for a quarterback. I thought he settled down throughout it as the game went and ended up playing good enough for us to win.”
Purdy is in his first full season as San Francisco’s starter. He played in nine games and made five starts during the 49ers’ quarterback carousel last year, and during that time, he was impressive, throwing 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions while posting a passer rating of 107.3.
Through three contests in 2023, the 23-year-old has thrown for 736 yards and four touchdowns with no picks. He is completing 67 percent of his passes and boasts a passer rating of 106.3.
The Niners will host the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4. Expect to see another strong performance from Brock Purdy.
