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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy received his chance to clap back at former MVP Cam Newton‘s “game manager” comments on Thursday, December 14.
Newton said the 49ers are “not winning because of him” during a recent podcast. The 2015 MVP lumped a group of winning quarterbacks this season together as “game managers” and “not difference makers” on the field.
Speaking to reporters on December 14, Purdy was asked about Newton’s thoughts.
“I don’t know. I don’t want to comment on that. Like I said, I’m playing quarterback, trying to win games and we’ll see at the end of all of it.
Purdy completes 70.2% of his passes, and he has 3,553 yards and 25 touchdowns versus 7 interceptions this season.
Some argue that Purdy benefits from a stacked offense with running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle and wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.
Newton has since followed up his initial comments with a 10-minute video rebuttal on December 15, in which he clarifies that he wasn’t taking a shot at Purdy (and others).
“Game manager is not a negative connotation. … My definition of that managing player is a player who has the ability to make the right play at the right time, protecting the football at all costs,” Newton said.
Brock Purdy Gaining Confidence in 49ers’ System
Regardless of the talent around him, Purdy sees ways to improve though the game slowed down for him. The final pick of the 2022 NFL draft, Purdy took over as the starter late last year after an injury to former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
“I mean, a little bit, yeah. Just playing within this offense and in this system with the guys up front blocking and then trusting and the guys running the concepts that we’ve run over games and since camp and stuff,” Purdy said.
“All that has helped me and it has sort of has helped me just process things, help slow things down a little bit,” Purdy added. “But the game is still fast and it’s not like I’ve mastered it at all.”
“I feel like it’ll always be a challenge every game, every snap, but I’ve gotten more familiar with what we’re trying to do, so it has helped,” Purdy concluded.
Brock Purdy Embraces the Dirty Work
Purdy wants to sign the 49ers’ yellow hard hat in reference to his sprint downfield amid McCaffery’s 72-yard run against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 14.
“Yeah, a hundred percent. I want to be a part of that club,” Purdy said.
That club is helping make blocks, which Purdy looked to do on that play. Purdy didn’t make a block on time, but he was the first to McCaffrey after the tackle and pulled him up.
“Yeah, I saw him sort of just make his cut early on and I only saw a couple guys downfield and [Aiyuk] B.A. running,” Purdy said. “So I was like ‘all right, I’m going to just try to get down there and if Christian ends up cutting back, I want to hopefully be able to get in front of a guy or make a block for him.’”
“So Christian started pulling away and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to get there,'” Purdy continued. “Then he made his cut back and I was like, ‘dang it, I should have done it. I should’ve just kept going.’ So that was my mindset. I saw B.A. doing his thing, blocking for him and if he had made any kind of cutback, I just wanted to be there for him, so.”
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