Brock Purdy became the first 49ers rookie quarterback since at least 1970 to throw at least two touchdowns three games in a row in San Francisco’s 21-13 win over Seattle on Thursday.
There are many who still question if Purdy is for real. Afterall, he was the last player taken in the 2022 draft, he doesn’t have the size, or arm strength of a prototypical NFL starting quarterback.
For this week’s film review we look at a set of plays which show why Purdy should continue to succeed in the 49ers offense. We also take a look at the history of the play San Francisco used for their first touchdown against Seattle.
4 Strong
This is a play the 49ers have run several times over the last three weeks since Purdy came in to replace Jimmy Garoppolo.
The progression works from the backside slant, then go across the field to the short curl followed by the corner route and finally the checkdown in the flat.
Against the Dolphins Purdy completed passes to the slant, curl and checkdown in the flat. San Francisco came back the following week and ran this play on a couple of snaps as well.
Seattle appears to have an idea of what’s coming. At the snap the outside linebacker drops into the passing lane, taking away the slant to Brandon Aiyuk. Purdy diagnoses this and quickly snaps around to the short curl route being run by Jauan Jennings. Purdy sees congestion around the curl and the Seattle defender behind the curl start driving to get to Christian McCaffrey in the flat. This, along with the free safety driving down to cover the curl leaves George Kittle uncovered. Purdy recognizes the coverage bust and hits the tight end for a 55-yard touchdown.
This play is a terrific example of why opponents getting film on the Brock Purdy won’t be what slows him down. If the quarterback has patience and vision the options for a completion will present themselves.
Fake Double Screen
Kyle Shanahan dipped into his bag of tricks for the 49ers first touchdown against Seattle.
This play calls for the quarterback to fake throwing a screen to the receiver running orbit motion, spin and fake a screen to the other side with a pulling guard to sell it, and then throw over the middle to the tight end.
San Francisco runs both the screen off orbit motion often as well as the screen to the running back often, making this very difficult for defenses to not react quickly and lose track of their responsibilities.
The 49ers run this play only a couple of times each year. The video below shows them running it against Los Angeles during week 18 of last season along with the touchdown to George Kittle on Thursday night.
As is the case with most plays we see, the fake double screen is a play that has been around the 49ers for many years.
The tweet below shows Steve Young running the fake double screen and hitting John Frank over the middle for a touchdown against Atlanta for Bill Walsh during the 1987 season.
1987 Walsh vibes….. https://t.co/we0PN24Uwf
— Jeremy (@cubs2b23) December 16, 2022
Love the film, Jack. Great job. The first thing that strikes me is that Jimmy G’s play fakes really suck. Might be a component of his quick release but defenders need to see that arm rise up for a pass play fake to work. The Rams defensive alignment wasn’t conducive for that play to go for big yards but still, Jimmy’s fake pass didn’t fool anyone. Both Steve Young and Brock Purdy showed the defense the ball and got a reaction. I love that play. The other play I really like is the play action roll out to the left and then plant and hit the TE seam on the back side of the play. That’s my prediction for next weekend. Redskins are super aggressive in pursuit so they can be fooled for big plays on the back side.
Pat,
The pump fake is almost a lost art in todays football. Go back and look at film from the 60’s and 70’s QBs used it all of the time. One of the first things I noticed about Purdy was his pump fakes. It brought me back to the days of J. Brodie he used the pump fake all of the time especially late in his career with Gene Washington on the out and up.
In basketball the one player that did this was the great Michael Jordan.
He would use the pump fake on passes as well.
Not sure what Brock’s hands measurements are, but to do a good pump fake it helps to have large hands.
This is what I found on Purdy’s numbers.
Percentiles vs. Quarterbacks
Measurable Measurement %tile
Hand Size 9¼” 26
10 Yard Split 1.55s 95
40 Yard Dash 4.84s 45
Vertical Jump 27″ 10
Agree..Nicely done jack. I also do not think we have enough evidence about Purdy yet. He certainly is promising but we need to see him in the playoffs. That said, with a full camp and a preseason, he will be that much more ready next year. I fear Philly is unbeatable this year. The big mystery is how ready (or not) Trey will be next spring.
What’s most helpful for a qb is to go to a qb friendly team and right now SF has to be one of the best destinations for a QB.
Steve Young’s career took off with Bill Walsh.
Brock Purdy is thriving with KS so far and having that defense takes off pressure for everyone.
Brian Griese is proving to be a great addition to the team. Hopefully he will not already be doing head coaching interviews for needy copy cat teams this offseason.
Will,
I think Griese will have to fill the O coordinator position for a couple of years before anyone would hire him as a HC.
When people talk about how great Griese has been as the QB coach, my first reaction is – What the hell is Anthony Lynn doing? Seriously, what is his job? Is he contributing anything at all to this offense?
Something I keep walking past is that we now have CMC on our team and this has clearly made life 4 our QB better, whoever that may be as we move forward. Hopefully BCB is the next TB45
Nice work, Jack.
While Purdy has done a great job, I feel that Shanahan has put him in position to succeed.
On the last vid, I feel that JG and Trey could have made the pass to Kittle. And Kittle juked the defender for the TD.
I’m not denigrating what Brock has done, I’m just saying that Shanahan gets some kudos for his success.
AES,
The one thing that worries me about Pury is the Int in the TB game that was called back on a penalty and the dropped Int. in the Sea. game that might have gone for a pick 6. Both of those passes were terrible.
We’ll all be holding our collective breaths with Purdy over the next three games but especially the playoffs. Will he crash and burn or continue to succeed and flourish? Do hope it’s the latter but either way, will be fun to watch and discover the answer.
Purdy is poised, cool, visioned and quick on his feet.Just give him good protection and get the SB
I not only agree with your assessment, but I’ve practically used your same wording.
But, what Coach said about the couple of dropped Int’s could have been costly if caught.
One thing that I haven’t seen yet, is how Purdy will react/respond when he makes a mistake. How fast a QB can gather himself after a mistake is huge in my book.
My other concern is his smallish stature. Sustainability could be an issue at some point.
I certainly hope that Purdy’s fairy-tale success continues, but I will keep my fingers crossed.
I think your question on how he would react after throwing an interception was actually answered on the play that was called back do to the penalty because he completely thought it was gone and a few seconds later threw a heck of a touchdown pass!!! I have a feeling that this kid is going to give this team plenty along with the history setting defense to finally bring home that elusive sixth Lombardi trophy!!!
DG,
I certainly hope so as well. I would love for him to be the first rookie (Mr. Irrelevant, at that) to win a Super Bowl. Brock would set the bar high if he can accomplish this. And it could set a precedent that might stand for a very long time.
And he has CMC by his side
The San Francisco 49ers are a team on the rise, and they have certainly seen their fair share of success this season. With a new quarterback in Brock Purdy, the 49ers hope to continue their winning ways.
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Per David Lombardi,
Kalia Davis had his first practice on 12/20/22.
He will be wearing the 93 jersey number worn by former 49ers D.J Jones. Watching his YouTube college highlights reminds me of a lot of D.J Jones.
With Javon Kinlaw not far from finally getting on the field, the defense will get stronger and more stout.
It’s not possible to answer rather he is or isn’t the real deal after three games especially with Kyle calling the plays but the kid is following a path a lot like Tom Brady and he’s actually had a better first couple starts then Brady and he’s checking box after box while setting record after record although most of those records have more to do with the position he was taken in the draft then his actual accolades but with all the skill around him he very well could become the first rookie to ever win the Superbowl along with all the other firsts he’s already achieved!!! If nothing else works out for this kid past this year at the very least he’s writing one heck of a story!!!
I’ve been following football for over 50 yrs. And personally speaking, I have to temper my excitement when I see young QBs who make a splash.
It wasn’t long ago that fans were calling for Nick Mullen to take over for Garoppolo. People were saying that because Mullen broke Bret Favre’ passing records in college that he had all the abilities to be a starter.
Low and behold, to this day Mullen still isn’t a starter on his team.
Imho, putting Purdy’s name in the same sentence with Brady is a major reach. Heck, TB has 7 SB rings, how many does Brock have?
AES,
Do you remember how many on this blog were calling for Nate Davis to start over A. Smith?
Yes, I do Coach.
And I go as far back as the 70’s when fans felt that Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier should eventually overtake John Brodie. Hopefully the 49ers hit the bullseye with Purdy. I want him to succeed, because if he does the whole team succeeds.
Don’t forget Shaun Hill !!
Yes sir. He’s another one that stirred the fans as well.
Great article, Jack…I like what I see in Brock Purdy..my biggest concern is that he doesn’t turn out to be Kaepernick incarnate…i.e. defenses figure out how to stymie him, and he goes to hell
Jack,
I have a question for you. The 49ers have 2 moves left to move a player off of IR. Those moves seem to be saved for Kinlaw and Mitchell. Since Davis wasn’t placed on IR can they activate him without using one of their 2 moves?
Love Kalia. What a fun guy and a real talent! Washington is the best team we play before the playoffs. They are solid-5th best defense and one the best DLs. Trap game? I think Kyle knows Washington is motivated and talented and coming on strong. (By the way, Brock has lovely eyes. Vaguely mischievous and lively.)
And Ron Rivera (who played at UC Berkeley)
is making a home visit as well.
Also, the raiders won’t be a walk in the park. Although the raiders are far from Oakland, there is still a bit of a rivalry between them.
The next two games will shed a better light on Purdy growth.
Old Coach
Davis has been on the Non-Football Injury list since joining the team as a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft,
so the 9ers activating him off NFI doesn’t use up one of the two IR moves they still have. (He was never in IR).
Geep,
That is good news not that I think there is a very good chance they will activate him.
You’re right GEEP. It won’t count against the two IR positions.
We could get Mitchell and Kinlaw back in the playoffs.
It’s hard to believe that the 49ers could get any stronger, but getting these guys back will add to the 49ers strength.
AES
I would agree, if Kinlaws knee responds, but from all the problems he’s had It’s questionable if will hold up to
playing in the NFL. It’s a shame because the kid is a monster when healthy!
Super article, thanks Jack!
Super interesting to see that Kyle fakes the opponents using plays from last games – so he plans in that they prepare adequately.
And also the reminiscence to the 1987 play is s very interesting fact.
Like it!