49ers’ Brock Purdy quiets critics with bevy of deep balls vs. Seahawks

Purdy threw for a career-high 368 yards while completing 19-of-27 passes in the 49ers’ 28-16 win over the Seahawks, but perhaps most impressive was Purdy’s performance on deep balls, completing all six passes that went 16 yards or further beyond the line of scrimmage.

Purdy’s touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel in the second quarter went 48.8 yards in the air, which NFL’s Next Gen Stats lists as his longest throw in the air of his career. Given a perfectly clean pocket on the play, Purdy launched the pass from the San Francisco 37-yard line to Samuel, who caught it at the Seattle 13-yard line and raced in for a 54-yard touchdown from there.

But Purdy showed his mobility when he made his second deep strike of the game, sliding over to the left and finding Brandon Aiyuk for a 45-yard play midway through the third quarter.

Purdy would add another long strike in the fourth, dropping a deep ball into a wide open George Kittle for a 45-yard touchdown. 

Much has been made about Purdy’s arm strength, going back to when he was the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and especially after his elbow surgery this offseason. Purdy wasn’t connecting on those passes earlier this season, and ESPN analyst Troy Aikman said that Purdy admitted his arm “wasn’t 100%” before the 49ers’ game against the Vikings. There were people calling him a “problem” after the Niners lost their third straight game.

Clearly, plenty of Purdy’s teammates and supporters have heard the chatter. Both George Kittle and Trent Williams pushed back at the narrative on Sunday, with Kittle sarcastically saying, “I thought he couldn’t throw the ball. Wow, that’s crazy.”

Williams didn’t use sarcasm but instead heard a comparison between Purdy and former NFL star Kurt Warner to push back at the idea of Purdy doing anything special on Sunday, saying it’s “what he’s been doing” and identifying why he thinks Purdy is undervalued.

“I don’t get why people say he’s a system quarterback or [he’s] gotta show you more,” Williams said. “No system quarterback makes tight-window throws before they’re there, throwing people open, putting the ball into a window and trusting his receiver to get there. Layering balls over linebackers who are in good position and still getting the ball over their heads, getting it to the playmaker. [He’s] so accurate. You watch a lot of his throws, the accuracy gives the guys to run after the catch. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.

“For him being Mr. Irrelevant, everybody is slow to give him his flowers because what does that say about a lot of scouting departments, you let this guy slip to Mr. Irrelevant pick? I think people are slow to give him his props just because of his draft status. If he was Zach Wilson, we’d probably be, ‘Unanimous MVP, next coming of Aaron Rodgers,’ but since he’s Mr. Irrelevant pick…”

Williams continued: “This is almost two years of him putting just unbelievable quarterback play on film, and there is still guys saying, ‘I think it’s Deebo, or, ‘I think it’s Trent.’ Yeah, that’s not realistic.”

Purdy’s college also got in on the action. The official Iowa State football account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted, “That looks like a lot of yards through the air” with a shrug emoji.

It’s clear, then, that Purdy will be in the thick of the NFL MVP race, something FOX pointed out with an unusual graphic on Sunday that highlighted how Purdy ranked as the top quarterback in completion percentage, passing yards per attempt, touchdown percentage and passer rating. For the graphic, FOX had Purdy’s upper body sticking out of the top of a cable car, which was “trolling along Lombard Street,” as FOX play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt put it. 

(Of course, any Bay Area resident could tell FOX that a cable car couldn’t go down Lombard Street, though one rolls up Hyde Street right to the top of the famously-curvy stretch of Lombard.)

Now, that’s not to say he has a cannon – according to Next Gen Stats, 28 quarterbacks have completed a pass with a longer air distance than Purdy this year. But Purdy’s average completed air yards is 7.1, second in the NFL for all quarterbacks this season (only Texans rookie C.J. Stroud is higher at 7.7). Completing a single deep ball is great, but consistently getting the ball downfield in the air is a massive difference maker for Kyle Shanahan’s office.

Purdy and the 49ers are now 10-3, with at least one more chance at a massive national spotlight game when they host the Ravens on “Monday Night Football” on Christmas Day in two weeks. And between now and then, the “Purdy for MVP” chatter will only grow louder  – even if he may not even be the MVP of his own team.