Getty Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers.
Though quarterback Brock Purdy technically finished out the San Francisco 49ers‘ playoff finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, largely handing off the ball to to All-Pro playmakers Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel, his game effectively ended early in the first quarter when a particularly brutal hit from Haason Reddick left him unable to throw the ball with his usual distance and velocity.
“I’d been throwing after the hit occurred on the sideline — just to see where I was at — but even those throws, it was painful, so I couldn’t throw anything probably over 10, maybe 5, yards,” Purdy said to reporters after the game. “So that’s why we just had some screens, and those were really our only options when I went back in.”
Even though removing Purdy from the game limited the 49ers significantly, head coach Kyle Shanahan did right by Purdy and kept him from getting hit.
Brock Purdy Details His Initial Injury & the Fallout
Purdy described how he got hurt and how the effects lingered after the game.
“Yeah, just in the first quarter, you know, my arm just felt like it stretched out and just felt like really a lot of shocks all over from my elbow down to my wrist, front and back,” Purdy said. “Just pain really all over.”
Purdy acknowledged that he wouldn’t know the extent of his injury until he gets an MRI.
“I don’t know. I have no idea,” Purdy said. “I’m getting an MRI tomorrow. You know, it is a little swollen in the forearm area near the elbow, and all I know is I’m still in pain, obviously, but I’ve just got to get the MRI tomorrow.”
Niners fans will wait with bated breath to learn about Purdy’s readiness for training camp. If he won’t be recovered until mid-summer or even later, it could have a serious impact on the team’s decision-making surrounding their other quarterbacks, Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance.
Brock Purdy Wanted to Win for the San Francisco 49ers’ Older Players
Even though he was effectively ruled out of the most important game of his professional career mere minutes into the contest Purdy said he wasn’t too concerned with what the loss meant for him. Instead, he said, he felt bad for his older teammates who may not make it that close to a Super Bowl again in their careers.
“It just hurts, I’m just so sad for the older guys — you know, Fred [Warner], Trent [Williams], George [Kittle], Arik Armstead, all of the guys who went through this,” Purdy said. “You know, obviously they’ve been to the Super Bowl in 2019. And then last year in the NFC championship and then for this to happen on the first drive, really, it’s like, man, this is the kind of game we have to play after the first drive. And I’m just frustrated, but it’s more sad for those guys than anything because they deserve to win the whole thing. So when that happened man, I’m just more frustrated for that and sad for them.”
Warner, the Niners’ middle linebacker and captain, credited Purdy with saving their season.
“He ain’t got nothing to be sad about,” Warner said. “He’s the reason we even got to this game. When Jimmy went down against the Dolphins, like, we didn’t know what our season was going to be, but he came in and did a heck of a job, and he’s the reason we’re here right now.”