If you're frustrated with the discourse surrounding Brock Purdy after the 49ers' 24-21 playoff win over the Green Bay Packers, get used to it.
None of the questions surrounding him hit the nail on the head.
Did Brock Purdy prove his doubters wrong by securing a come-from-behind win when it mattered most? Was his shaky performance evidence that the 49ers aren't capable of winning a Super Bowl?
Are we living in a simulation? (maybe)
Is any of this real? *shrugs*
Here's the thing about Saturday and Purdy. His limited athletic ability and size are normally not an issue, despite how often it comes up as a point of conversation. But when the conditions are subpar, in combination with poor pass protection and a quality pass rush, those drawbacks become glaring.
This isn't saying Purdy should be excused because it rained. This is a criticism. When the conditions are poor, it appears to affect him more than some physically-gifted quarterbacks.
Because Purdy is reliant on his processing and anticipation more than most, the weather quite literally muddies the game for him. The interior of the 49ers' offensive line had a tough time containing Kenny Clark, as did Colton McKivitz against Rashan Gary, which magnified those issues further.
Performances like those feed narratives. And because Purdy swims in the chasmic gulf between best and bad of NFL quarterbacking hierarchy, he might as well be the best or the worst.
People don't know what to do with things they don't fully understand.
We seem to be uncomfortable with things living in that massive gray space between the binary bookends of yes and no.
Because he was drafted last, without elite physical traits, there is an innate bias against him that dissuades some analysts from assessing Purdy's excellent performances objectively.
By that same token, the erroneous criticism can manifest in hyperbolic reactions from supporters. Some might go as far to compare him to Joe Montana after arguably his worst performance, which, it must be stated, contained his clutchest performance.
But just because Purdy is not understood, does not make him an enigma.
He is an elite processor in a system that values processing above all else. Processing, in this case, refers to the ability to diagnose coverages, go through progressions, and deliver the ball or make the right decision rapidly.
Purdy is a hand-in-glove fit on an offense which surrounds him with more weapons than probably anywhere else in the league.
Where he went wrong against Green Bay was in failing to trust the same things that made him excellent this season. His processing was sub par. He didn't seem to have full confidence in anything, least of all whether to wear a glove or not.
He threw what should've been a pick-six to Darnell Savage over the middle because he blindly threw to an in-breaking Brandon Aiyuk against Quarters (Cover-4) coverage. Purdy admitted his hesitation Wednesday.
“I feel like early on there were some decisions that I made that sort of made me feel a little tentative after,” Purdy said. “Obviously that one that could have been intercepted. It's like, go through your reads and take the check downs when the defense presents itself the way it does and build off that.
"Rather than trying to search for the play and look for the big play and then when it's not there, not having confidence in our check downs and stuff. So that's something that I have to be better at. That's what I needed to do at the end of the game. I feel like we got to that point. I started doing that better. We were able to move the ball. So, that's something that I learned for sure.”
That performance was an anomaly, not the rule. And as much as resilience can be a corny, overstated quality, Purdy has a demonstrated ability to respond to poor performances.
Much of that should be credited to the fact that he came into the NFL prepared. He played 48 games in four years at Iowa State, in Bowl Games versus Washington State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Clemson, and a Big-12 title game win on the road in Norman, Oklahoma.
He said Friday those experiences shaped him. He uses his failures and successes in key moments as a reference point for correction and amendment.
Purdy was ready for all this. He had to carry an iffy Iowa State offense for four years, then came into a ready-made offense with four All-Pro targets and one of the NFL's elite offensive minds.
While he did not enter with huge athletic upside (though his 90th percentile 10-yard split continues to show up in his ability to avoid pressure), he came in with experience and high-IQ traits.
Ask yourself, what was Tom Brady's best quality, especially as he got later in his career? He had substantially more arm talent and size than Purdy has, but it was his processing that set him apart. He knew exactly where to put the ball, how to organize an offense, and how to read coverages better than anyone else, ever.
There’s a reason — besides all of them — that the only quarterback Shanahan was interested in this offseason not named Purdy, was Brady. Shanahan told Purdy he was the only one who could usurp him, per ESPN.
Purdy is, if not the perfect quarterback for Shanahan's offense, quite close to it. Do not interpret that as "Brock Purdy is the perfect quarterback."
But what San Francisco has with Purdy is what it was missing for a half decade with Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo was very effective at throwing short timing passes over the middle. His mobility, deep accuracy, and lack of ability to make off-schedule plays were major, limiting factors. Even with those limitations, and a damning injury history, the 49ers made a Super Bowl and conference championship with him.
Purdy hits on all those Shanahan staples while providing the ability to scramble, make off-schedule plays and hit deep shots in a way that has never been present consistently in this offense.
His in-game awareness shows up elsewhere, too. Before Christian McCaffrey's first touchdown run against Green Bay, Charlie Woerner was supposed to make a "return" motion. Purdy told him to stay where he was, got the snap off just before the play clock expired, and McCaffrey rumbled for a score.
Nowhere has the difference in Purdy’s elevation of the offense been clearer than in how Shanahan calls the game, and talks about him.
Shanahan's main critique of Trey Lance was that he doesn’t “rip it,” a term he used constantly this preseason. He explicitly credited Purdy for doing just that, and frequently marvels at the passes Purdy has no business throwing, yet completes anyway.
That trust shows up in the numbers. Purdy finished the year 14th in intended average air yards at 8.3 air yards attempted per throw.
Last year? Purdy was sixth-lowest, at 6.7 air yards per attempt, and Garoppolo was just ahead of him, at 6.8 air yards per attempt. Garoppolo was at 7.4 air yards per attempt in 2021.
In the playoffs, Purdy had 11.4 air yards per attempt (second to Josh Allen) in the Wild Card Round, and 7.8 air yards per attempt (again, second to Allen) in the Divisional Round.
For Garoppolo, who threw 58 total passes over three games in the 2019 playoffs, it was never close to that figure, least of all in the postseason:
- 2021 Wild Card: 6.3 air yards per attempt, 5.1 completed air yards/attempt
- 2021 Divisional: 6.1 air yards per attempt, 3.7 completed air yards/attempt
- 2021 Divisional: 5.3 air yards per attempt, 5.6 completed air yards/attempt
You saw Shanahan's trust in Purdy grow as the season progressed, and he admitted this offseason that he trusts Purdy more than any other quarterback this offense has had.
The offense changed. Shanahan calls the game he wants to call.
Part of the frustration with his approach Saturday was that the 49ers ran the ball just 17 times with Christian McCaffrey. The logic was that without Deebo Samuel and the Packers running heavy boxes, the looks weren't preferable for the 49ers.
But McCaffrey still ran for 98 yards, and the conditions were bad for Purdy to keep throwing it.
It's hard to imagine Shanahan being that aggressive with Garoppolo at the helm, even as Purdy missed chance after chance. And while that decision-making against Green Bay was questionable, that QB-head coach trust could be the intangible that lets the 49ers "rip it" in the Super Bowl rather than pulling punches.
Purdy will never have the physical capacity of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, or Lamar Jackson.
Yes, that fundamentally limits his upside.
No, that doesn't mean he can't win a championship with the 49ers, especially this season.