Brock Purdy didn’t shy away from Patrick Peterson. In fact, the second-year quarterback looked like he was hunting the veteran cornerback and potential Hall of Famer.
Peterson tried to poke the bear earlier this week, as he declared on a podcast that he’d intercept Purdy and didn’t sound too threatened by the 23-year-old. Purdy took the high road and smiled when relayed Peterson’s comments.
“We’ll see,” Purdy said grinning.
The final tally? The Niners beat the Steelers, 30-7, and Purdy beat Peterson, 2-0.
“Purdy shut some haters up,” Nick Bosa said after the game.
On Sunday, Purdy’s pair of first-half touchdowns to Brandon Aiyuk came against Peterson in coverage. First, Aiyuk absolutely shook Peterson and made him fall to the end zone with a hard cut to the inside, as the Niners receiver was all by his lonesome for an 8-yard score to cap the impressive opening drive.
In the second quarter, Purdy put full faith in Aiyuk, as the duo connected on a perfectly-executed back shoulder throw. Peterson said he wanted to make Purdy prove he was a “professional quarterback.”
Welp, that looked pretty professional.
Purdy insisted he wasn’t trying to target Peterson, but admitted that the second TD throw was satisfying.
“I wasn’t thinking about any of that,” Purdy said of the midweek trash talk. “B.A. was open (for the first TD), he did a great job on the route. Got him the ball and he scored a touchdown. The second touchdown on the right side – was that on Patrick Peterson? – that one, I was like, ‘That felt good.’
“It was good. He’s a competitor. I have nothing but respect for Patrick Peterson and everything that he does.”
That might be the closest thing to a jab that we’ll get through Purdy from a microphone, but that subtle swag continues to shine through for the young quarterback, who was just in middle school in Arizona while Peterson was a perennial Pro Bowler for the Cardinals.
Later in the second quarter, Aiyuk also beat Peterson on a 3rd-and-7, catching a 16-yard pass to keep the drive alive for a 32-yard Jake Moody field goal.
Aiyuk and Peterson have a little bit of history, as they were divisional foes in 2020 when the cornerback was still with the Cardinals. The two also faced off in 2021 when Peterson was with the Vikings and it sounds like they’ve done their fair share of jawing back and forth.
“We’ve had a couple of encounters,” Aiyuk said. “Been talking to him for a while now, but always fun to go against him."
As for the "tells" that Peterson saw that tipped off the 49ers plays? The veteran said he could still see them, he just wasn't able to make the play.
“No, those were there,” Peterson told reporters. “I had an opportunity to grab two picks, I just didn’t grab it in. You know, but credit to those guys and they did a great job of sticking to their gameplan and really getting into their identity which is running the ball, misdirections, hit the bang eights, hit those bang stops. That’s just what they do. We weren’t in a good enough position to make those plays.”
Exactly six months after undergoing elbow surgery to repair the UCL in his right arm, Purdy looked sharp, finishing 19-of-29 for 220 yards. Aiyuk also had a monster day, catching all eight of his targets for a career-high 129 yards and the two scores.
Peterson is probably a Brock Believer now, as he didn’t get close to a pick on Sunday.