SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have plenty of playmakers on offense, for sure. But where would they be without quarterback Brock Purdy?
The answer: Not nearly as productive.
“I’m a part of a special group,” Purdy said following the 49ers’ 28-16 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
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“Any one of our guys, any one of our eligibles, you get the ball in their hands and then they can go do the rest, break tackles, obviously have pull-away, breakaway speed," Purdy added.
“We see it every game. So to throw a 5-yard pass or even a deep ball, it doesn't matter. We’ve got playmakers.””
Purdy has shown he can do it all. He throws short, intermediate and deep balls with precision accuracy and top-notch results.
He leads the NFL with a 116.9 passer rating, a completion percentage of 70.2 and a 9.9-yard average per attempt.
San Francisco 49ers
Purdy is also second in the NFL with 3,553 yards passing (273.3 average per game) and 25 touchdown passes.
The 23-year-old threw for a career-high 368 yards on Sunday against the Seahawks after accounting for only 33 yards passing after one quarter.
When things got rolling, he put the ball into the hands of Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle at the right places and the right times.
The design of most pass plays within coach Kyle Shanahan’s system allows for passes at just about any depth. The coverage dictates where the ball goes.
Purdy has proven he can make any throw on the field, completing passes with aerials that consistently hit his target in stride.
“If the defense gives us a look, we take it,” Purdy said. “Was I afraid to go deep or anything like that last year? I don't think so. This year I feel just more aware of what our offense is and where guys are supposed to be, and if a defense gives us a look I'm more ready for it and aware of it. So I have taken deep shots this year.”
Still, with all of the success he had Sunday, including a couple of well-thrown deep balls to Samuel and Kittle, the one that stood out for Shanahan was what looked like a routine toss.
“He just went to a check down, which was the right answer, and Deebo was the 5-yard check down and he got 30 on it,” Shanahan said. “So that happens on a lot of our stuff. Then the more they come up, then you can kind of get those easy big plays.”
Purdy quickly went through his progression and ended up going to one of his final options on the play. And, of course, putting the ball in Samuel’s hands never is a bad fall-back plan.
“We talked about that all week,” Purdy said. “If the defense gives us the longer, deeper throw, great. But we have to be disciplined and have to play with conviction to be able to go through my progressions and be willing to take check downs like that.
“And, obviously, when you have Deebo Samuel as your check down, it's pretty good.”
Purdy did a remarkable job of finding the open receiver, and everyone got open at certain points against Seattle in Week 13.
Samuel had seven receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown. Aiyuk had six catches for 126 yards, and Kittle had three receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.