After Kyle Juszczyk mistimed his downfield, over-the-middle route Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers fullback found himself just three yards behind wide receiver Mike Evans as Brock Purdy‘s pass sailed toward them.
Juszczyk, arms outstretched, figured his quarterback had airmailed him as the throw went well beyond his fingertips.
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“I thought Brock just overthrew me,” Juszczyk said.
Really? The Harvard graduate smiled. That was dumb.
“I should never expect that,” Juszczyk said, “because apparently Brock doesn’t throw incompletions anymore.”
Purdy’s pass hit Evans in the sternum for a 17-yard completion in a 35-13 win over the Dolphins. Of course it did.
Ten days after he was really good in a season-opening stomping of the Rams in Australia, Purdy was pretty close to perfect – he accounted for more touchdowns (three) than he threw incompletions (two).
On Sunday, Purdy threw his first incompletion on his third pass attempt. And it came with an asterisk: It was dropped by wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Then Purdy threw 18 straight completions before his final attempt, an under-pressure throwaway, fell incomplete.
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Add it up and Purdy completed 20 of 22 passes for 287 yards, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another while juking defenders with pump fakes and hip swivels, and basically looking like he saw this coming when he said last month that he’d reached another level entering his fifth season in head coach Kyle Shanahan‘s offense.
“We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime,” left tackle Trent Williams said, “and I think it’s going to be a sight to behold.”
Before kickoff, Purdy met Hall of Fame Dolphins’ quarterback Dan Marino, his dad’s boyhood hero and the reason Purdy wears No. 13.
And then Purdy channeled Marino. Actually, in some ways he was better than Marino ever was. Purdy’s completion percentage (90.9%) ranked second in franchise history: Marino never completed more than 81.3% of his attempts in a game in his 17-season, 240-start career.
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But it wasn’t just Marino that Purdy topped statistically Sunday. It was all NFL QBs. Ever. Purdy became the first player in league history to have a completion percentage of at least 90% while throwing for 285-plus yards with at least two passing touchdowns and a rushing score.
“The game is so slow to him now,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “So he’s out there kind of just manipulating things.”
Said running back Christian McCaffrey: “It’s unbelievable to watch that.”
After Purdy dinked and dunked the Rams to death in Week 1, he diced up the Dolphins with downfield shots, making them pay for loading the box to successfully stop McCaffrey (10 carries, 23 yards).
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Purdy went 10 for 10 on passes of 10 or more air yards, according to Next Gen Stats. They went for 211 yards and a touchdown. It was the most downfield passes without an incompletion by a QB since October 2021.
“It’s one of the most accurate games I’ve seen from a quarterback,” second-year QB Kurtis Rourke said.
A reporter asked Rourke if Purdy had “mastered” Shanahan’s offense before apologizing for the hyperbole. Rourke didn’t blink.
“He looked pretty masterful today,” he said.
Afterwards, Purdy explained how he has improved. He said he and quarterback coach Mike Lombardi pored over film in the offseason and identified ways in which Purdy could be more surgical. Efficient. Purdy said he too often hung tight in the pocket, hunting for a big play.
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“It’s like, if I’m hanging on a guy in a progression — how can I find an outlet (pass) or check down and stay ahead of the chains?” Purdy said. “It’s OK to be in third-and-medium rather than forcing a ball and being in third-and-long.”
It sounds a bit boring when spoken from a podium. But it was anything but on the field Sunday.
In the first quarter, on 3rd-and-5 from the Dolphins’ 32-yard line, Purdy looked dead shortly after the snap: Unblocked defensive end Zeek Biggers was bearing down on his blindside. But Purdy lost Biggers with a pirouette to the sideline, did a rope-a-dope to elude linebacker Jordyn Brooks and planted his feet to fire a 10-yard strike to Evans to extend the first of five straight game-opening touchdown drives.
“His processing ability, and the ability to create and escape,” Warner said. “All those little things that make a great quarterback in this league. He does all those at a high level.”
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In the third quarter, on first down from Miami’s 28, more magic. This time, Purdy rolled left under pressure, lost incoming linebacker Willie Ray with a pump-fake pass that sent Ray airborne and layered a 27-yard, on-the-run dart to a well-covered Evans over the outstretched grasp of safety Dante Trader.
“Quarterbacks who don’t have confidence aren’t going to make that pass,” tight end George Kittle said. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, Mike Evans is down there. He has a step on the guy. I can make that throw.’ He’s doing it all day.”
Of course, Purdy has been doing this for a moment. Consider: He entered the season with the second-highest passer rating in the NFL since 2022. And he’d even been more accurate than he was Sunday; he also owns the franchise record for single-game completion percentage (95.2%) after completing 20 of 21 attempts against the Cardinals in October 2023.
When Shanahan has been asked about Purdy’s improvement throughout his 47-start career, he often notes that Purdy began at an advanced level. In his first meaningful NFL action, after Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot, he entered as a seventh-round rookie and dominated the Dolphins in a 33-17 win on Dec. 4, 2022.
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On Sunday, 1,386 days later, however, he was clearly better with Miami visiting Levi’s for the first time since Purdy was an unknown. How much better is Purdy in 2026? McCaffrey offered a weary smile.
“I feel like I answer that question all the time,” he said. “At some point, he’s an incredible, great quarterback. Like he’s somebody that is — he’s unbelievable. So can he take it to another level? I mean, yeah.
“But I’ve been answering that question for years now. ‘Are you shocked how good he is’ in the next week? ‘Are you shocked how good he is’ in the next year. Now I’m not shocked. He’s special.”
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This article originally published at Why Brock Purdy has his 49ers teammates in awe: ‘We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime’.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
