49ers rookie QB Purdy is sharp again to win playoff debut
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Brock Purdy got flushed out of the pocket, spun back the other direction and found a wide-open Elijah Mitchell for the score that put the San Francisco 49ers in control for good.
Purdy answered another test and delivered another sterling performance in a remarkable rookie season that began as the final pick in the NFL draft. “Mr. Irrelevant” was anything but that on the football field Saturday.
Purdy threw three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth score in his playoff debut, leading the 49ers to a 41-23 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC wild-card game between West Division rivals.
“Once the game started, it was just 11 on 11, I have to do my job, get it to the guys in space and go from there,” Purdy said. “We didn’t make it more than what it was. … It wasn’t, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s the playoffs and we’ve got to get all tense.’ We just have to play our game.”
Purdy picked up where he left off in the regular season for the 49ers, who went 13-4 on their way to the division title and the conference’s No. 2 seed, and showed few signs of playoff jitters by winning his sixth straight start since replacing an injured Jimmy Garoppolo early in a win over the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 4.
The 49ers advanced to the divisional round, where they will host either the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings or Tampa Bay Buccaneers next weekend.
Purdy connected on a 3-yard pass to Christian McCaffrey in the first quarter, converted a 1-yard sneak in the third and hit Mitchell on a 7-yard pass early in the fourth to make it 31-17. San Francisco broke it open when Deebo Samuel took a short pass from Purdy and raced in for a 74-yard score with help from a downfield block by Brandon Aiyuk.
Purdy threw for 332 yards — the second most for a rookie in the playoffs to Russell Wilson’s 385 in a Seattle Seahawk loss to the Atlanta Falcons 10 years ago — and he became the first rookie quarterback ever to account for four touchdowns in a playoff game.
Purdy has lived up to the confidence his coaches and teammates have shown in him ever since he took over.
“I felt that way from the beginning once he got in that game against Miami,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We didn’t have the luxury to sit there and worry about stuff the way the game was going. We just had to win the game, and he’s done a hell of a job. He’s done it every time since. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
The Seahawks, who went 9-8 in the regular season with two losses to the 49ers, kept it close for most of three quarters before a strip sack by Charles Omenihu late in the third spoiled a possession that had pushed into the red zone.
Purdy then hit Jauan Jennings on a 33-yard pass to set up the touchdown pass to Mitchell. The quarterback tied an NFL record for rookies set by the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert three seasons ago with his seventh straight game with multiple touchdown passes.
“He has showed us over and over again who he is and the type of player he is,” 49ers linebacker Fred Warner said. “So I’m not surprised.”