Which quarterback the Atlanta Falcons defense will be facing when they take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football is still very much up in the air. Brock Purdy, who will be limited in practice this week according to coach Kyle Shanahan, is dealing with turf toe that he suffered back in Week 1, and Mac Jones is dealing with knee and oblique injuries.
"Brock is more limited than Mac," Shanahan said yesterday, but Purdy is practicing, so there’s still a chance that Mr. Irrelevant from the 2022 NFL Draft starts on Sunday. Earlier today The Morning Shift talked about which quarterback they’d rather see Atlanta’s defense face and Mike Johnson thinks right now there’s really no right answer.
“It’s a double edged sword, right, because you do feel like Mac Jones probably can get the ball down the field better from the pocket like you said, and I look at Brock Purdy and I go man well if we’re going to blitz as heavily as we have, which I hope we do, there’s always the chance that he can beat you with his legs, he hasn’t been very good with his arm against the blitz, but he’s been one of those guys that can duck out of things, hit the corner, pick up a first down.”
“On the flip side, he has some issue with turf toe, and I’m looking at him going well maybe if he comes back he’s not that Brock Purdy that’s going to spin out of some kind of tackle and get down the field, so it’s a little bit of double edged sword either way, I don’t know that there’s a right answer there.” Mike said
Brock Purdy has been pressured a league low 15 percent on his passes, but when he does face pressure he’s struggled throwing three interceptions when being blitzed and only completing 50 percent of his passes, and with this Falcons defense under Jeff Ulbrich having one of the highest blitz rates in the NFL maybe Purdy would be the best option for the Falcons defense.
However, after sacking the reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen four times and forcing two interceptions if the Falcons defense plays up to their potential they’ll have success facing either Brock Purdy or Mac Jones on Sunday night.