WCF Film Room: Uncharacteristically off day for Brock Purdy vs the Chiefs
Today we look at the non-interception missed opportunities for Brock Purdy.
Brock Purdy finished the Kansas City game throwing for 212 yards on 17 completions and 31 attempts. He had zero touchdown passes, scored two on rushing touchdowns at the goal line, and threw three interceptions. It was probably his worst game as a pro quarterback and it was unusually uncharacteristic but I don’t believe this game is a part of a larger issue.
But where did Purdy miss? Several reads and throws throughout the game. He didn’t do a good job of taking what the defense gave him. Several times throughout the game, Purdy just missed seeing what the Chiefs were actually giving him in favor of hunting the big play. Normally that works for him. But in this game it did not.
Here, on the first play of the drive, facing 2nd-and-21, Purdy missed seeing Kittle underneath, or saw him and felt like maybe he still had a scramble path to get out of the pocket and get more yards. It was not a good decision.
They’re running the 3x1 dagger concept on the far right and far left of the formations in the diagram above. It’s the perfect play call versus the Chiefs Tampa-2 coverage rotation. Chris Conley has a bust running his route though.
As the inside deep through route, he MUST inside release on the overhang defender and pull him inside. Instead, he gets rerouted outside and nearly runs into Aiyuk and the Chiefs back end coverage is able to eliminate those two reads.
If Conley runs inside of that defender, then Aiyuk would be open over the middle for a deep middle completion. Brock processes this, hits the top of his drop, and wisely comes off of it. But that’s it. He stares down Kittle, 3rd in the progression, open underneath for what could at least be a 7-or 8-yard gain to set up a manageable third down.
He pulled it down to run and didn’t have a great feel for where Karlaftis was though and as soon as he broke the pocket Karlaftis was on him. Take what the defense gives you. Instead of potentially 3rd-and-11, it’s 3rd-and-19. Trust what you see and take the free yards.
Later in the first quarter, Purdy just misread the coverage on a throw to Aiyuk on a choice route. He misread the leverage and threw a ball in the dirt at Aiyuk’s feet that could’ve been another interception.
Aiyuk sees the coverage sitting in the shallow hook/curl zone so he breaks his choice route to the middle of the field and Brock should hit him here in the second window.
This isn’t a miscommunication or lack of chemistry. If the quarterback read the leverage on the route, he had time to wait half a second longer for Aiyuk to break open in the second window where he had nothing but space to run.
These next two plays are the same concept where Brock suffers from the same poor judgment and decision-making. The throws were actually good throws but they weren’t the right throws.
The play is a Y-cross concept that’s a full field read for Purdy going from the 5-yard “tony” route, to the deep crossing route to the back side 5-yard “under” route. On both plays, Purdy had his first read open and didn’t take the throw.
In the first video, he had a pre-snap indicator that Kittle would be open with the defender covering him having inside leverage. Kittle would run and settle away from the defender for a nice gain on first down but Purdy pre-determined the throw and went right to Ricky Pearsall. Pearsall was not ready for the throw and did not get his head around in time. It was a good throw they missed on because Purdy didn’t take his first read.
In the second clip, it was the same issue, he took the deep ball to Conley on the alert instead of taking the free yards Kittle had as the first read. Conley is lined up against an all-pro cornerback, Trent McDuffie. This is not a good or the right decision. Take the free yards. And again like the play above it, the throw was pretty on-target but fell incomplete.
Underthrown passes lead to only a field goal and interception
At the end of the half, Purdy hit Kittle for 41 yards down the left sideline but it was an under-thrown pass after Purdy found space in a clean pocket to get the throw off.
Shanahan got Kittle matched on a safety and it was the look they wanted with Kittle running the “Tesla Pivot” in the diagram above. Purdy did an excellent job navigating the pocket but fell short on the throw. And it was as clean as an NFL pocket is ever going to be.
Moving up in it what all NFL quarterbacks would be expected to do. This play has to be a touchdown. And they were not able to capitalize on it before the half.
On Brock’s third interception, which I covered in a separate post, the offense faced 3rd and 5 from the 5-yard line. This was partially the result of underthrowing Jacob Cowing down the right sideline a few plays earlier. Cowing was wide open on a double move down the right sideline called “curl pump.”
If he had hit him in stride then they likely would have scored and this interception never would have occurred.
Kittle mentioned in his post game press conference that “it’s the play before the play,” referring to how players could have done something better with the opportunities that Brock gave them but it also applies to Brock here. Lead your receiver for a touchdown and this play never happens.
I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with Brock Purdy right now and I think as far as this game is concerned, he just had an off day. The offense was missing some of its best players and quarterbacks need help but at the same time, that should’t absolve Brock from playing poor in general and missing reads and throws.
There are going to be several more opportunities for him to show this was just a blip on the radar with games on the national stage against Dallas, Seattle again, and the Packers and Bills on the road. Those will be the games that prove that Brock Purdy and the 49ers are the real deal and this was nothing more than a hiccup.