PHILADELPHIA — Brock Purdy acknowledged Sunday evening that he did think about what happened in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
“It was sort of in my mind, I got hurt here,” the quarterback said following the 49ers’ 42-19 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. “That was this year, late in January, but was it going to be the revenge game or anything like that? No.”
Purdy sustained a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow that required significant offseason surgery. He was injured on the sixth play of the game. And when he was forced back onto the field in the third quarter after backup quarterback Josh Johnsons sustained a concussion, Purdy could not throw.
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Purdy said the most important thing for himself and the 49ers on Sunday was not the past.
“For me, it was Week 13,” Purdy said. “We’re going into a new year. It’s a hostile environment. We needed this game. We need this game and, obviously, we have some really important games coming up too, so that’s where I was at with that.”
Purdy said he did not want to get distracted with what could have been from last season. His focus is on playing his best for the 49ers down the stretch of this season.
“This is 2023 and that’s where my mind was at,” he said.
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Purdy had a big game, completing 19 of 27 pass attempts for 314 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
With his performance, Purdy now has an NFL-best 116.1 passer rating with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions.
But things did not start out well for the 49ers on Sunday. The 49ers did had negative yardage and no first downs after their first two possessions of the game.
“No one was freaking out or anything,” Purdy said.
Once the 49ers got rolling, whatever coach Kyle Shanahan dialed up could not be stopped. The 49ers scored on consecutive touchdown drives of 85, 90, 75, 77, 75 and 47 yards.
“Especially for myself as a quarterback, I just needed to see myself completing a ball, get a completion, get things rolling, and we did that,” Purdy said. “Kyle called some plays to allow us to get the ball out of my hands pretty quick to get into a rhythm.
“Once we did that, we rolled from there, and we didn’t look back.”