Purdy finally struggles in upset road loss
CLEVELAND — Brock Purdy was walking alone, wheeling his suitcase through the bowels of Cleveland Browns Stadium on the way to the team buses early Sunday evening, when he came up from behind a hulking figure and placed his right hand on the man’s left shoulder.
The San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback was greeting Browns’ All-Pro pass rusher Myles Garrett, who turned around and gave Purdy a bro hug and a “good game.”
Those words, of course, were appropriate after each of Purdy’s first 10 NFL starts, all wins, which ranged from good, to great, to you’ve-got-tobe-kidding.
On Sunday, however, Purdy finally had his first objectively bad NFL game in a 19-17 loss to the Browns that punctured the aura of invincibility of the 23-year-old QB and his team, which arrived with a 5-0 record had won 15 straight regular-season games dating to Oct. 30 last year.
Purdy, the last pick of the 2022 draft who entered Sunday’s game ranked first in the NFL in passer rating, was no match for the NFL’s firstranked defense. His numbers: 12-for-27 for 125 yards with one touchdown and one interception (55.3 passer rating). Yes, bad.
And given his pre-Sunday professional resume, his performance prompted a tongue-in-cheek question to fullback Kyle Juszczyk: So Brock Purdy is human after all?
“We’re all human,” Juszczyk said. “We all make mistakes. … And I think making mistakes at some point is good. Because you learn more from mistakes than your successes.”
Purdy had been bereft of such learning material before arriving in Ohio. The 49ers had a 13-0 record in games in which he had played three quarters and he never had had a completion percentage lower than 62.9% or passer rating below 93.1 in the regular season.
On Sunday, his completion percentage (44.4%) was his lowest since he completed 10 of 23 passes as a freshman in Iowa State’s loss at Texas in 2018. His passing-yardage total was his lowest since … his days at Perry (Ariz.) High School? Purdy never had fewer than 130 passing yards in 46 college starts.
“There were definitely some throws and opportunities that I feel like got away from me and I missed on them,” Purdy said. “It’s something I’ve got to learn from. Definitely going to be real about it. We’ve all got to look ourselves in the mirror and see the flaws, and you’ve got to get better from it. But it starts with me.”
Purdy was the leader an offense that had 215 yards, the 49ers’ fewest since Dec. 4, 2016. And a throw he made in the third quarter
was a microcosm of his day.
Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk was open in the middle of the field, but Purdy’s throw was behind him and was grabbed by cornerback Martin Emerson. The pick, which didn’t lead to points, was Purdy’s first interception in his past 185 regular-season passes, the secondlongest streak in franchise history.
Purdy’s typical accuracy — he was ranked second in the NFL in completion percentage — prompted a question about whether there was a miscommunication with Aiyuk on the play.
“It was just a bad ball on my end,” Purdy said. “B.A. did a great job. He broke whoever was guarding him. He had all the separation in the world to be able to beat him and get a first down, so that was on me.”
The Browns were often on Purdy, who took three sacks and absorbed six hits. After the 49ers
opened a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter, they scored on only one of their final eight full drives. And that score — an 8-yard touchdown run by Jordan Mason — was a one-play drive set up by cornerback Deommodore Lenoir’s interception.“They just did a great job of flying to the ball,” right tackle Colton McKivitz said of the Browns. “They didn’t give us anything easy.”
The Browns certainly had plenty do with Purdy’s performance. But Purdy’s remaining skeptics, who have questioned how successful he would be without his elite supporting cast, will note that he struggled when injuries forced All-Pro wide receiver Deebo Samuel (shoulder) to exit in the first quarter and for AllPro running back Christian McCaffrey (oblique/ rib) to leave late in the third quarter.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated the 49ers had to switch the assignments of some of the fill-in who played more snaps with Samuel and McCaffrey sidelined and “we weren’t quite ready for that.” Purdy took responsibility for some of the issues.
“I have to do a better job of communicating to them in the huddle, giving them some sort of expectations of what’s to come in terms of plays and stuff,” Purdy said. “That’s something I have to get better at.”
Despite his struggles, Purdy was still in position to become the second QB in NFL history to win his first 11 career starts.
With the 49ers trailing 19-17 with 1:40 left, Purdy completed 3 of 4 passes on their final drive. He connected with Aiyuk on completions of 25 and 8 yards and had a 9-yard completion to wideout Jauan Jennings to set the stage for rookie Jake Moody’s field-goal attempt. Moody missed from 41 yards with six seconds left.
“He was just poised like he always is,” McKivitz said of Purdy. “The guy’s always the same. It doesn’t matter if we’re up 42-10 or where we were today.”
McKivitz was referencing the previous week’s 32-point beatdown of the Cowboys in which Purdy had career highs in touchdown passes (four) and passer rating (144.4).
And it appeared he would channel that performance Sunday when the 49ers took the opening kickoff and drove 84 yards on five plays, with Purdy capping the march with a 13-yard shovel-pass touchdown to McCaffrey.
The 49ers landed the first punch following a spirited pregame fracas. After safety Juan Thornhill pushed Aiyuk, Samuel flew in to shove Thornhill backward while Trent Williams flung wide receiver Elijah Moore to the side.
It was the type of bullying the 49ers had specialized in during their first five games while outscoring opponents by 19.8 points and trailing for 1 minute, 35 seconds.
By early Sunday evening, however, their locker room offered evidence of how the bullies had been battered: Samuel winced as he tried to remove his sweatshirt, McCaffrey stood for several minutes staring into his locker and Williams placed his sprained right ankle on a folding chair for a trainer to apply a wrap and an orthopedic boot.
The scene included Purdy, tucked away in a far corner, involved in a quiet conversation with quarterbacks coach Brian Griese. Moments later, Purdy entered an adjacent room to speak with reporters before his brief exchange with Garrett.
Good game? No, definitely not. But Purdy, the QB who had only known professional success, was determined to find something valuable from his first failure.