Amid the Brock Purdy benching talk, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback revealed his sideline conversation with head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Purdy sustained a stinger-type injury in the fourth quarter of a dismal 33-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Night. He didn’t return to the game though he looked ready to after backup quarterback Sam Darnold led a touchdown drive.
“I mean, we had talked about just the scenario of the game, where we were at, just got a stinger and my arm was coming back, feeling normal and whatnot,” Purdy told reporters on Sunday regarding the conversation with Shanahan. “And so, he was just like where we’re at in the game, Sam had gone in and scored, and he goes, ‘for right now we’re just going to go with Sam just by how things are going.'”
“And we didn’t want anything else popping up with the stinger and all that kind of stuff, but it was just where we were at situationally,” Purdy added. “So Sam was doing good, and we rolled with him.”
Darnold out-performed Purdy overall with a 67.9 quarterback rating versus Purdy’s 42.6 amid four interceptions. A former No. 3 draft pick, Darnold signed with the 49ers but got beat out by Purdy for the starting job.
Brock Purdy: ‘This is the Reality of the NFL’
Its plays like this that remind you why Brock Purdy is the MVP. Been struggling all game and is still able to execute this handoff when they needed it most
Purdy looked like an MVP candidate before Week 16 otherwise amid an 11-3 start, and he believes he can get back on track.
“For me, it’s like I have to ask myself, ‘alright, who are you? What do you stand for? Who are you when things are good? Who are you when things don’t go your way?’ It’s easy to be riding the high and thinking you’re the man when things are going well,” Purdy said.
“This is the reality of the NFL. And so, for myself, I obviously have to look myself in the mirror, watch the plays where I need to get better, make some cleaner decisions, help my team put up points and score and protect the ball better,” Purdy added.
Brock Purdy Not Concerned About Either Stinger
Purdy received a stinger in Week 15 against the Arizona Cardinals but never left the game. His latest stinger raised questions on how quickly he will come back from this one.
“I mean, I played the whole game fine, not thinking about it or anything,” Purdy said about the stinger against the Cardinals. “It wasn’t even a thing. And just the way I got tackled on that play, it sort of just lit up again just like last week. So I had to go through the whole protocol process in the tent again and everything like that. That’s just sort of just how it went down.”
Purdy doubled down that this latest one won’t stop him from playing in Week 17 against the Washington Commanders on New Year’s Eve. He has been durable all season, playing 93% of the team’s snaps.
“Eventually over time it had gone away and at first it was just on fire,” Purdy said about Monday’s stinger. “But over time, just like last week, came back.”
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Brock Purdy Reveals What He Discussed With Kyle Shanahan in Loss vs. Ravens