QB Brock Purdy Press Conference

QB Brock Purdy

Press Conference – September 26, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Were you able to pinpoint when you hurt your back? Was it one play or just cumulative?

“No, it was probably cumulative. Just in terms of the whole game, all the stuff that sort of went on as a physical game. So, sort of after the game is when I started feeling some stuff and whatnot. But the last couple days have been good, just getting some rest and obviously treatment and stuff. So, I feel good now.”

WR Ronnie Bell had a tough drop and you talked to him after the game. What did you say to try to lift up a teammate in that spot?

“Yeah, I told him this is a team sport dude, so for you to hang your hat on, it was all my fault kind of thing. I just sat down next to him, I’m like, ‘bro, it takes everybody for four quarters. Everybody has their moments and plays and that’s why it’s a team sport, man. You’ve got 10 other guys on the field with you.’ And more than anything, he is a brother of all of ours and we’ve got his back. We go through some stuff like this and it’s a long season. So, you’re going to need everybody. It takes everybody. So, keep your head up, learn from it. I’m not saying that’s okay. Like, we have a standard here to be great and excellent, and that goes for myself. So, learn from it. We’ve got your back and keep your head up. It’s a long season. He’s a good kid. We love going to war with him and he’s going to be just fine.”

Usually when a quarterback is having rough times, a lot of times it’s because teams are bringing so much pressure at him, he doesn’t have time to throw. The Rams game it seemed like there was a handful of times where they only sent three and you had a lot of time. What is that like? I know it’s fairly unusual, right, to have that much time to throw and to be able to pick one guy out. What are the challenges of that?

“Yeah, throughout the week when we’re game planning and stuff, we’re going through our progressions, per coverage, this is our answer and this is how we have to get to it. And then there’s times where we’re like in this situation they might drop eight and only blitz three and then in one case they only blitz two. So those are the kinds of cases that we’re talking. We’re like, if that kind of stuff happens, then go through your progression, but be ready to go off-schedule. So my antenna’s up once I feel that kind of stuff happening. And knowing that I’m probably going to have to move around here and find some open space, either use my legs or hit someone off-schedule. So, it’s something that we talk about, and we’ve seen it from time to time here and there. I’ve just got to be ready in those moments to use my legs.”

I think you’ve seen three or fewer rushers almost twice as many drop backs as the next quarterback. Any reason that you think that teams might be doing that to you guys?

“I’m not really sure. I guess you could say because of the amount of playmakers that we have when you’re rushing four, to five, to six, and you’re blitzing and if we complete a pass, it’s one or two broken tackles away from a really big gain. So when you have playmakers like we do, that’s the chance that you take as a defensive coordinator of calling those kinds of blitzes and stuff. But at the same time you have to be on top of it. I mean, that could be a reason. Outside of that, maybe it’s just trying to make me play quarterback and go through reads and progressions because when you’re only rushing three, then you can drop a lot of guys in different directions and coverages. So, I’m not really sure why, but it’s something that’s popped up for sure time and time again the last couple games game.”

In the game the Rams busted a coverage and WR Brandon Aiyuk was open deep. You looked at him and didn’t throw it. When you watched the film, what do you assess? What do you see on that play?

“I’m going through my read. Obviously, there was a route that I thought he was going to run but he felt grass and went and took it. And when we’re watching it after, it’s like, yes, that’s the right thing to do in that moment. For me, I’m going through my read and progression, and I’m concerned about a safety and then I see him go deep and I feel like he’s open and I’m like something’s not right in my mind per what we had drawn up. That’s something that we both have to be on the same page moving forward with. If he has stuff like that, that happens and it’s not being dumb and just running deep every time, but actually there’s a reason for why you’re going deep. There’s some communication stuff that we’ve talked about where we can take that opportunity. He did the right thing. I have to pull the trigger in that moment and be ready for it. Something that we had to learn. In the heat of the moment, that time of the game, situational football, I’m trying to protect the ball, be smart with it, but also be aggressive. And then that happens and it’s like I don’t know exactly where the safety’s at. So, all of those put together, that’s what happened in the moment.”

Communication, being on the same page, is that something that’s lost a little bit when the offseason isn’t there?

“No, that’s not what I mean. If that was [WR] Jauan Jennings and that would’ve happened, I don’t know if I’m throwing that ball either. I’m just saying like in the heat of the moment when you have a route on, you end up taking some grass and going deep for the right reasons, how are we on the same page so that I can let that go? That was a new situation for myself and all the receivers and everybody in the room.”

Speaking of Jauan, what goes through your mind when you see him with a 50/50 ball, you put it up and you see him go over a DB and make that kind of catch?

“Yeah, he’s a playmaker. He’s obviously got the big frame and really good hands. So for me in that kind of situation, the last thing that I think is I just need to give him a shot and give him a chance and then he can bring it down. And he’s shown that time and time again the last couple seasons. For me in that moment, it was obviously the trust factor of trying to give it over the defender and give my receiver a chance, but also knowing that Jauan is a baller and he’s going to do what it takes. And so, hopefully down the road we can get some more shots and opportunities with him down the field. It’s nice as a quarterback knowing that with his size and his mentality that he’s going to do what it takes. He’s shown that time and time again.”

There were three throws to Brandon. There was a slant that was a little behind in first quarter and then there were two short sideline throws where I don’t know what happened, just looked off and they were completions. Is that because you didn’t have training camp or is it just kind of a fluke and happened to be thrown to him each time?

“I would say more like the fluke side of things. I think that slant, I should have been more aggressive and just led him. I think it was just a bad ball. It was behind him. And then there was another short game one, I didn’t see the safety rotation and I’m trying to force it outside and I should have progressed to [FB Kyle Juszczyk] Juice. So, in those two scenarios that I can think of, that’s on me. That has nothing to do with Brandon or our timing or anything like that. Obviously we’re still continuing to build that kind of thing. And I am with all my receivers, it’s not just him. Those couple examples right there, those are areas for me to grow and be better. And so it just happened to be Brandon in the situation.”

With your conversation with Ronnie, is that something that you do frequently with guys especially on offense that you think maybe need a little extra talking up, etcetera? Did you do one-on-ones with him?

“Yeah, I just think when it’s the right time and the right moment with whoever, especially young players, just because I know how it felt and how they feel because I still go through stuff right now like when I don’t play my best or I could have done better or I missed a couple plays and you’re just you just wanting it back. And it’s nice having a guy come up to you and a teammate that goes to war with you being able to say, ‘Hey man, it’s okay. Let’s learn from it, but I’ve got your back, bro. It takes so much to win in this league and it takes everybody.’ And so, when I was a rookie it was really nice having [LB] Fred [Warner] or [DL Nick] Bosa or [LB] Dre Greenlaw, like these guys that come up to me and just tell me that they’ve got my back and I’m like, dang. It just gives you a perspective of I don’t have to go out there and do it all on my own. I’ve got other guys around me and I’ve got a team around me to help be successful. So it’s just sort of reinforcing that time and time again when I see it with some guys.”

What is the challenge this week with the Patriots defense? A pretty sound defense, but what does it look like on film? What do you notice?

“Exactly that. They’re sound in what they do. I think they’ve been running this type of defense for a long time, obviously going back to like [former NFL head coach Bill] Belichick and everything. And so, these guys know the scheme really well and just their leverages and forcing the ball to go in certain spots. I don’t think it’s easy as a quarterback when you drop back and they can do a lot of different things too. But they make you be smart as a quarterback, go through your progressions and be accurate. It’s that kind of game. And so, the guys up front are going to bring it and then the guys in the secondary are all tied together and they play tight, really good coverage if you ask me. And it’s sound. That’s the challenge this week. But more than anything, we’ve just got to focus on what our scheme is and what we’re trying to do and take what the defense gives us.”

In today’s practice and you’re seeing teammates carted off, what emotions course through you and the team with that reality?

“Yeah, it sucks anytime you see a teammate go down or anything like that. I’m just trying to practice, get ready for this game and everything, and then you look over and you see like a cart on the field. So it’s like, ‘alright, dang it, who is that? What happened?’ And then we’ve got to keep going and finish practice. But it sucks because these are the brothers that you come to work with every single day, you’re going to war with every Sunday and just going through all of this together. So when you see a guy go down, obviously it sucks and you want nothing but the best for that person. We’ve got to have the perspective of you’ve got to be grateful for when you’re healthy and take advantage of your opportunity. But more than anything, the culture that we have here, whoever goes down, we’ve always got their back and we will be there for them and continue to build them up and try to get them back as fast as possible.”

You lost three in a row last year, had a Bye week, righted the ship, got it turned around. It’s way earlier this time, but how would you describe the feeling when you guys aren’t performing to your own standards? Not necessarily what people on the outside think, but what you guys think?

“Honestly, there’s been games like that even when we win. There are games where we haven’t played our best and we come in here with the chip on our shoulder again. Like, yeah, we might’ve won that game, but we know we need to play at this level. And so obviously, it gets more brought to light when you lose, because then you’re real with yourself and you’re like, ‘Man, that’s the reason why we lost or whatever, and we need to be better.’ But more than anything, I think it just gives us a reality check of every game matters, every play matters, every drive matters. And you can’t take it for granted because especially at the end, trying to get into the playoffs and everything you wish you could have had those couple plays back to win that game, to then have that game towards the end. All of it matters and it ties together. But more than anything, we have a standard here and that’s what we’re focused on every single day. We hold each other to that standard and we’re hard on ourselves, but that’s, I think, why this is a successful organization.”

You never played without RB Christian McCaffrey and WR Deebo Samuel Sr. and TE George Kittle at once. I’m sure you’re not freaking out like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?’ But was there an element of just curiosity of how this might, how might this offense look different or do you have any thoughts like that going into that game without that much talent?

“Sometimes there’s some plays where we’re trying to draw stuff up for Christian out of the backfield or George to get a certain matchup. Same with Deebo. And so, when you have those guys out, I think we go back to who we are as an offense, what are our base plays and what we’re really good at and let’s run those plays. We have good guys to step up in those moments and execute well. Use [RB] Jordan Mason, use Jauan, obviously B.A. So we have guys that are dogs and are willing to step up in those spots and perform really well. So, it was a question for me, like, ‘Alright, what’s our game plan going to look like?’ Because every week it’s a little different. Try to get Deebo the ball a little bit more here because of this matchup, try to get Christian the ball here. So last week, not having three of those guys that you listed, it’s sort of just kept things a little bit more simple game-plan wise, but we’re still going to get the ball to our playmakers, J.J., B.A., Jordan Mason, and go about it that way. That’s how I looked at it and thought about it.”