Welcome to Brocktober.
This is a month fans of Iowa State Cyclones became familiar with during Brock Purdy’s time in Ames, Iowa. For whatever reason, Purdy showed an ability to elevate his game in the month of October.
The phenomenon began with Purdy’s first start against Oklahoma State. In his first start Purdy led a 1-3 Cyclone team to a 48-42 upset win on the road. The following week he led them to a 30-14 win over sixth ranked West Virginia. From that point forward a tradition took hold.
During Purdy’s time at Iowa State he went 12-3 in October. Over the course of his college career he threw for 3,966 yards, ran for 465 more, racked up 38 touchdowns and Iowa State averaged 36.9 points per game.
The only time Purdy came up short were one-score losses to Oklahoma State in 2019 and 2020, and West Virginia in 2021.
For Purdy, this didn’t start in college. It began during his time at Gilbert Perry High School in Arizona.
As a junior and senior, Purdy won six of eight games while putting up big numbers on the stat sheet and the scoreboard. When you combine Purdy’s time in high school and college he threw for 6,590 yards, ran for another 1,075 yards, scored 74 total touchdowns with only 16 interceptions and posted an 18-5 record in the month of October.
Purdy’s October magic has carried over to his first two starts in the month for the 49ers. In wins over Arizona and Dallas he has completed 37 of 45 pass attempts for 535 yards and five touchdowns.
In his first October start for the 49ers against the Cardinals, Purdy completed 20 of his 21 attempts for 283 yards and a touchdown. His 95.2 completion percentage breaking a franchise record set by Steve Young in 1991. He followed that up with a career-high four touchdown passes against the Cowboys on Sunday night.
Since taking over last season when Jimmy Garoppolo went down after the first series against Miami, Purdy has completed 208 of his 297 pass attempts for 2,579 yards with 22 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. In his ten starts Purdy has a passer rating of 121.1, better than the 112.7 posted by Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes over the same stretch. In fact, Purdy’s mark is the best in NFL history.
Based on his high school and college information alone, and not his great NFL performances so far, it’s very surprising Purdy was the last pick of the draft. Just goes to show that a player’s mental ability to play QB should not take a back seat to the current obsession with physical characteristics for QBs. Purdy’s NFL performance is not just because of KS or the great skill players – just ask Aaron Rodgers.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/10/03/aaron-rodgers-brock-purdy-praise-49ers-hot-start-big-fan
I felt Brock had great leadership, confidence, and skills when he first stepped on the practice field. Just a feeling. Sometimes a person can tell a great deal from the very first snap. Kreug says Jimmy G did not love the game like Brock does. He studies endlessly. His character is exemplary. His deep faith also shows through. Welcome to our franchise QB.
Jack
I enjoyed reading the BP Oct. history lesson, it bodes well for week five 9er game against Dallas.
QUESTIONS:
* IYO, Will Dallas miss Trevon Diggs and can his replacement, DaRon Bland, cover Aiyuk and Deebo?
* Do you have any info on Dallas LB Micah Pearson ankle injury? And will he play against the 9ers week 5?
Brocktober, Very clever is it yours or did you steal it? These next two games along with the Eagles game could define the 49ers season. If things turn out as bad as possible 14-3 could still get them home field advantage and maybe by January Wilks can put the D together.
Someone mentioned it to me on my streams before and after the game Sunday.
All Iowa State fans know.
Teams that passed on Purdy are kicking themselves in the you know what. Brock has proven that he should have been drafted higher. I think the reason he went so low is because in this pass happy league Brock lacks the cannon arm strength for really deep passes. But he has everything else, including mental toughness, which is equally as important as physicality. He is unfazed and not intimidated by how tough a defense is. So win or lose, the Cowboys know this.
K,
I think his size also had to do with him going so late. After his Junior year (the year the 9ers drafted Lance) before the draft I was looking at QBs that the 9ers might draft later after drafting one in the 1st round. I looked at Purdy he was being slotted in the early 5th round. He then announced that he was going to stay in school one more year. When I looked at him before the next years draft he was being looked at as a late 7th round or a UDFA. So something happened during his senior year that drove down his draft value.
Great write up, Jack.
I’m very happy about Purdy’s remarkable ascension. He is as Jeff Garcia said, “the guy.”
But, I’ll admit, that I’m somewhat of a hard man to please.
Call it old age, or call it spoiled or likely both.
But as a 49ers fan since the days of Ken Willard, John Brodie and Dave Wilcox and others, the Joe Montana era changed everything for me.
The skinny kid from Notre Dame owned the BayArea landscape for almost 20 years. His playing skill and 4 perfect SB wins, has become my standard for 49ers QBs. So, yes I’m spoiled.
Maybe I’m putting way to much on Purdy to reach the Montana sphere. But one SB win could definitely put Brock on that path.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the great. Hopefully most people can enjoy what we have and the success we have and are likely to have for a long time. I say celebrate Walsh and Montana for all their great successes but it makes little sense to compare Montana to Purdy. It’s a different era, different coach, different team, etc
Felix says: October 3, 2023 at 7:41 pm
“I was referring to a fan being unhappy and looking to critique every little perceived fault. Fans should enjoy the game.” That has nothing to do with how a coach manages players. “I NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL but I played basketball.” I would not have stood for being bullied and treated the way your coach did. * I WOULD GUESS YOUR TEAM WASN’T VERY GOOD!
* Remember the old adage about ASS* SUE *MING Felix? The same applies to GUESSING…..That is, unless you
enjoy making a fool of yourself?
I say it’s a good thing the new 49er owner was NOT HAPPY!
* From 1976-78, new 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo fired 3 different HCs – each after just 1 season! His next hire immediately following that stretch was Bill Walsh.
Given what was going on with the 49ers, this was really fascinating! And we all know what DeBartolo not
being “HAPPY,” then hiring Bill Walch led to……
Geep,
I’m not sure if Eddie D. was ever happy. Maybe the day of and day after the SBs. Carmen Policy said that ED had decided to fire Walsh at least 4 times before Policy talked him down from the ledge. ED demanded perfection and anything less was seen as total failure. That personality trait was why we fans had it so good for so long. I’m not sure ED would have survived todays cap era football, EDs answer to any perceived weakness was to throw money at it. You can’t do that anymore.
Well did you have a good team? I stated this because hard ass coaches often turn off more people than they turn on.
Old Coach, I think Bill Walsh would have loved Brock Purdy and would have been impressed by him. It’s even possible Brock would have reminded Bill of Joe Montana in certain ways.
The road to Super Bowl will be bumpy without pass rush. 49ers secondary was picked apart by the backup Cardinals QB. John Lynch might want to check JJ Watt conditioning, and have prelim conversation with him about un-retiring and playing the opposite side of Bosa. Other contenders might be doing the same.
Wasn’t Watt an interior lineman? Great player but he did fade quite a bit at the end.
Pat,
18 TFLs and 12.5 sacks
Damn. Thats solid. Don’t the Cardinals still have his rights?
Pat,
I’m not sure how that works with players who retire. I would think they retain his rights
Brocktober is the defining difference between Brock Purdy and Trey Lance…no whining about ‘Kyle can’t develop QBs’…’Trey hasn’t been given a fair shot, or treated fairly’…Purdy was developed, and NFL ready, when he came to SF…Lance was immature, inexperienced, should have stayed at ND State and needed/needs to be with a personal coach…..I wasn’t supportive of the trade so the team could draft him, and hopefully the 9ers organization learned a real hard lesson