49ers Film Room: 3 Ways Brock Purdy excels in Kyle Shanahan's scheme

Brock Purdy and the 49ers got off to a fast start in week 1 primarily due to 3 things that Brock does better than his predecessors.

The 49ers thoroughly dismantled the Pittsburgh Steelers on both sides of the ball  in week 1 on the road 30-7. Purdy finished 19/29, 220 yards, and two touchdowns and didn’t look like he had just recovered from a major injury to his throwing arm. It was a major step in the right direction for his development and the franchise as a whole, and he picked up right where he left off pre elbow injury by quarterbacking an offense that once again put up 30 points in a win.

The defense turned out its own impressive performance under first year defensive coordinator (for the 49ers) Steve Wilks, who replaced DeMeco Ryans last offseason and brings his own flavor and veteran coaching experience to a talented side of the ball. At some point I’ll cover the defense more in depth but today we’re going to focus on 4 plays that show that, in fact, Brock Purdy probably is the real deal.

During training camp, head coach Kyle Shanahan made headlines when he called Purdy “the real deal.” During a post practice press media availability in early August, Shanahan stated that “But we’re not worried about Brock. Brock’s the real deal. He knows how to play and we’ve just got to have our team keep getting better and he’ll keep getting better as we go.”

This seemed to inflame 49ers Twitter and the rest was history. Content creators were beside themselves with incredulity. The fact Shanahan seemed so willing to stake his reputation on this and subsequently trading Trey Lance on the day of the final preseason game still doesn’t sit right with some. But this game in week 1 should quiet that chorus for now. Even I was skeptical of what it would look like post recovery and if he’d even be ready for week 1.

But Brock did what he does best. Played with a confidence and swagger that only he has. And it showed up in a big way on Sunday. Last season, Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy finished nearly identical on the stat sheet by the end of the season. I argued in an article over the summer that the primary catalyst for the offensive explosion was Christian McCaffrey. I still think that’s true.

But there were three areas where Purdy excelled that Garoppolo just couldn’t and it is three areas that they are going to need Purdy to stay consistent with. The three areas where Purdy excelled over his predecessors: 1) Extending plays, 2) making plays outside the pocket, and 3) pushing the ball downfield. Four plays from this week 1 game show Purdy excelling in these three areas and at least one play with all three elements.

Purdy was 10-for-12 on throws 10+ yards downfield with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. As early as last season, Shanahan identified him as a quarterback who’s always hunting for the downfield throw and will pass up the easy lay-ups for the chunk play. This play exemplifies that.

The play call is a 7-step straight drop back pass concept of a deep in route from Deebo and a go route from Ronnie Bell on the other side with flat routes and a checkdown over the middle from tight end George Kittle.

The defense rotates to Tampa-2 coverage and brings a nickel pressure off the edge from while T.J. Watt zone drops away from the rush. Purdy is an intelligent player and it’s very evident from this play.

He uses good eye manipulation to widen the hook zone defender to his left and that subtle move with his eyes creates a throwing lane for Deebo 20 yards downfield (You can see his eye manipulation better in the end zone angle). Deebo makes a nice adjustment on the pass. Most quarterbacks would take the underneath throw to Kittle because the dig route takes too long to develop but Purdy is patient and lets it develop. 

Two plays after the one above, Purdy connected with Brandon Aiyuk for their second touchdown connection of the half on a well-placed, well-timed throw with Patrick Peterson in coverage again. Purdy likely identified the alert route on this play due to the middle of the field safety aligned too far away from the sideline.

The left side of the formation is running a smash-7 variant with a return and a corner route and the right side has McCaffrey on a choice route from the backfield (likely where he’d want to go) but the safety is in the middle of the field and Aiyuk is just outside the numbers. Versus single high coverage, there’s virtually no way for safety to get over the top of this throw.

Purdy is on time and rhythm in a 3-step drop from shotgun. He plants, throws, and beats the coverage. The throw hits Aiyuk on his back shoulder away from Peterson’s outstretched arm.

The right side of the offensive line had several misses in pass protection on Sunday and Purdy was able to alleviate some of that with his ability to move around the pocket while avoiding defenders who broke through the blocking. The biggest culprits in pass protection were Spencer Burford and Colton McKivitz, the right guard and right tackle combination this season.

The play is a flood/levels concept to the middle of the field with Aiyuk running the deeper dig route and McCaffrey running a shorter in-breaking route underneath him.

The defense ends up playing cover-1 robber from a 2-high pre-snap shell.

The ironic thing about this play is that if Purdy had a clean pocket, I’m not sure he would have gotten a positive play out of this because the Steelers had it well-covered. But up front, Burford got beat inside and the pressure forced Purdy off his spot and forced him to climb the pocket. The robber safety comes down to the intermediate zone and takes away McCaffrey as Purdy is climbing through the pocket.

Aiyuk keeps running his route across the field as Purdy sees him and delivers a strike on the move with Patrick Peterson chasing him across. Purdy never panics and throws the pass as he approaches the line of scrimmage. Aiyuk does the rest.

Out of structure, Brock has been very good, especially at making defenders miss. In 2022, Purdy was top 10 in EPA/play when outside the pocket and would have been second in the NFL in EPA/play with plays lasting over 2.5 seconds. Garoppolo had negative EPA/play in both categories and was bottom of the NFL. On Sunday, Purdy continued his exceptional play-making ability outside of the pocket.

The 49ers are in empty here with Kittle and Deebo aligned to the left and a route combination where they look to be putting a high-low conflict on the defense with Kittle up the seam and Deebo on a whip route back inside.

The defense sends a 5-man pressure and plays a 3-deep/3-under zone behind it. Minkah Fitzpatrick walks up late but Purdy knows he’s likely coming because the pass protection has a 3-man half slide to the right so there will likely be an unblocked blitzer off the edge.

Purdy takes the snap and feels the rush from Fitzpatrick and spins out of this path at the last possible second. He keeps his eyes downfield and instead of tucking to run for a minimal gain, he extends the play and finds Deebo open enough for a throw back across that side of the field to him and Deebo catches it for a first down.

Overall Purdy play an excellent game and kept the chains and the offense moving. It was a good first step on the way to quieting any doubters in his long term recovery as he doesn’t appear to be in discomfort and appears to have most of his arm mobility back. As long as he stays consistent or better (accuracy was an issue at times) then the 49ers might coast through this season with ease.