As much as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy saved the day for his team against the Philadelphia Eagles, it nearly went awry before that.
Purdy threw a pair of interceptions during the second half of Sunday’s Wild Card win over the Eagles, 23-19, but he also threw the game-winning touchdown pass to running back Christian McCaffrey. For Purdy, the mistakes didn’t go to his head with the game on the line in a hostile environment with the defending Super Bowl champions on the other side of the ball.
“Definitely, because there’s been times in my career and growing up there’s moments where it’s like, ‘Man, you got to go win it here,'” Purdy told reporters afterward. “In that moment, you can start thinking to yourself all the worst possible scenarios. So just learning from those kinds of things.”
“So, when there’s a moment like this, it’s like, ‘No, there’s a moment right there for you to go take.’ So being aggressive but being smart and playing one play at a time and obviously just believing in yourself,” Purdy added. “For me, I’m a faithful man, so at the end of the day, I leave that all up to God, so I’m going to go out there and give it my all and see what happens after that. So that’s how I view it.”
Both of Purdy’s touchdown drives notably came after his interceptions in the second half.
Kyle Shanahan: ‘He Kept Letting It Rip’
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan expressed his pleasure over Purdy not letting his mistakes define him.
“So impressed. There were two mistakes he’d love to take back, but to play like he did on the last drive, especially after two throws like that, he was unbelievable,” Shanahan told reporters afterward. “I mean, he kept letting it rip. The guy was not scared to fail at all, which you can’t be to make some of those plays.”
“And they weren’t easy plays either,” Shanahan added. “It wasn’t like it was always to number one or anything like that. He was going through some progressions with a really good pass rush, and I thought the touchdown to Christian at the end was probably the most impressive.”
Brock Purdy’s Mobility Pays Off
Purdy’s mobility added to the 49ers offense on Sunday with his 24 yards on the ground, and that included his longest run of eight yards. He also only took one sack with a 5-yard loss.
“It’s always important,” Shanahan said about Purdy’s running ability. “I mean, when your rush isn’t good or the play isn’t good, he always gives you some opportunities by extending stuff and being able to keep us out there. And he didn’t get a lot of opportunities with his legs today, but when he did, he was effective.”
A Distant Memory
Purdy’s first game in Philly didn’t go well in January 2023 when he tore his UCL, and the 49ers lost the NFC Championship Game. Fortunately, the 49ers had a regular season trip to Philly in the 2023 season to put the game in the rearview mirror well before Sunday’s game.
“That was a tough game on us because we felt we were ready, and it was just a weird game because we lost all our quarterbacks in the first half,” Shanahan said. “But that’s when the last time we came here in 2023 when they were 10-1 and we were 8-3, that was an emotional game about that. This, no.”
49ers’ Brock Purdy Makes Admission on Interceptions vs. Eagles