SANTA CLARA — If they ever make a documentary about Brock Purdy’s improbable rise, they gotta call this chapter Purdy for 30.
As much as people love to talk about the 49ers defense – and for good reason – it’s the robust offense that has allowed the squad to reach new heights since Christian McCaffrey and Purdy took over. For the third straight game this young season, the Niners dropped exactly 30 points on their opponent, topping the New York Giants 30-12 on Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium.
“Three for three,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said with a smile. “We’re good for 30 points each week.”
The 3-0 Niners are officially streaking. The 49ers have won 13 straight regular season games and Purdy is yet to lose an NFL game he has finished, going 11-0 in such contests.
The big question for Purdy coming into the Week 3 matchup was whether or not he had a deep ball and he dropped an absolute dime in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice. With about 6 minutes left in the game, Purdy lofted a beautiful 27-yard touchdown to Deebo Samuel to bring the game to its final margin.
While Purdy had his fair share of struggles on Thursday, going 3-for-8 for 46 yards on the opening drive, but he finished 25-of-37 for a regular-season career-high of 310 yards with two touchdowns and no picks. Those expecting Purdy to fall back to Earth gotta keep on waiting.
“I don't really get wrapped up in the stats and stuff,” Purdy said. “There's some throws out there that I missed that could've obviously helped us get the lead earlier, quicker and faster. Those are the things that sort of are in my mouth that I have a bad taste from that I want to be better at. So watch the film, keep getting better and we just want to keep winning.”
Even though the 49ers punted three times and looked stagnant at times without Brandon Aiyuk, who sat out with a shoulder injury, San Francisco still put up a 30 spot. McCaffrey, the NFL’s leading rusher (353 yards), padded his stats with 18 carries, 85 yards and a score, along with five catches for 34 yards.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that McCaffrey got into the end zone, as he scored a touchdown for the 12th straight game, tying Jerry Rice’s franchise record.
“That’s a huge honor,” McCaffrey said. “Obviously scoring touchdowns is a team thing. O-line did a great job blocking, just had to hit the hole. But, yeah, it’s a huge honor being mentioned with somebody like that.”
After playing in 100 percent of his team's snaps in Week 2, McCaffrey got some breathers throughout the game, as Elijah Mitchell carried the ball 11 times for 42 yards. At one point during the McCaffrey touchdown drive, he rushed or 12 yards around the left side, before Mitchell scampered around the right side for 18 yards on back-to-back plays.
Purdy got help from the YAC boys, too. Deebo cannonballed his way through the Giants defense on a couple of occasions and finished with six catches for 129 yards. George Kittle became a bigger part of the Niners' air attack without Aiyuk, catching seven passes (on nine targets) for 90 yards.
Rookie Ronnie Bell also shined with his first NFL touchdown in the second quarter, along with a punt coverage tackle and an alert catch on a ball that Deebo batted up in the air.
Despite the display, the Niners know they left some points on the field.
“For us, we know what we can do,” McCaffrey said. “We expect to win every game. The fact that we’re 3-0. We know it’s a long season though. There’s so much football left. I love the mentality of our time right now. We’re happy, but we’re still hungry and we know we can get better at it. That’s a good place to be.”