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Accurately Grading Brock Purdy's Rough Performance against the Jaguars

How bad was he?
Conor Wayland|
Sep 28, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) passes the ball during the first half against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Sep 28, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) passes the ball during the first half against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

On Sunday, the 49ers lost in shocking fashion to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Plenty of pundits and analysts had this game marked down as an easy win, but with struggles from Brock Purdy and issues with receivers, the game fell apart early on. I rewatched every Purdy throw to determine the flaws he had from the game.

To truly comprehend this game, I broke it down by quarters, with each given quarter ending with a grade. Each grade is given based on the quality of throws, the pressure received during throws, and smart decision-making. I won't break down every play; I'll primarily go through the key moments, so with all of that, let's start with the first quarter.

1st Quarter

Purdy started his passing game with a ball to Kyle Juszczyk after he motioned to the left side of the field, and Juszczyk was wide open. Purdy underthrew the ball, which led to Juice needing to fall over to catch the ball. His next pass went to Kendrick Bourne, who dropped an easy pass a few yards past the line of scrimmage. Could Purdy have thrown the ball better? Yes, it was a little up and right, but Bourne should've had that one.

His last pass of this drive was a redzone target to Christian McCaffrey.

The pocket began to collapse, and Purdy threw it off one leg, which flew out of bounds and wasn't close to being on target. Who could've guessed a one-legged throw wouldn't be close?

This was Purdy's best quarter of the entire game. He threw 7 passes and completed 5 of them. Only one of them was clearly on him, the redzone pass to McCaffrey. Even though some of those balls were either over or underthrown, it seems ridiculous to critique a QB when he only missed one pass in the quarter

GRADE: A-

2nd Quarter

Purdy continues that drive at the start of the 2nd, and it ends quickly. Purdy finds tight end Jake Tonges open in short yardage in the middle of the field as the pocket is collapsing. He throws a perfect ball to Tonges, he gets hit by two defenders, and fumbles the football that the Jaguars recover. Not a strong start to the quarter, but not Purdy's fault.

Purdy's next throw came on 3rd & 4, where he found Ricky Pearsall on a 31-yard pass. I love a deep pass, but this one was not it. Pearsall burned Tyson Campbell on a go route and could've easily been a touchdown.

Purdy underthrew the ball greatly. Pearsall had to slow down and go back to get the ball; that is not what you want when your receiver has burned their man. Now things go from bad to worse. Purdy's next pass went to McCaffrey in the middle of the field, which was bobbled and intercepted. Purdy did face a rusher coming at him and slightly overthrew the ball. That isn't 100% on Purdy, but he should've had a better pass to McCaffrey. Or at the very least, go for the better option in Jennings, who had created enough separation on a deeper in that Purdy could've hit him in stride for a greater gain.

The rest of the quarter was pretty simple. A lot of short and intermediate passes to the outside, a couple of passes down the middle that were either over or underthrown, and another bad drop by Kendrick Bourne. Overall, this was a weak quarter for Purdy. He went 6/14 on passes, had an interception, and countless bad balls.

Grade: D

3rd Quarter

Purdy started the 3rd quarter strong. He had a picture-perfect pass to Tonges off a play-action pass. It was the right read, perfect throw, and arguably the best way to start coming out of halftime.

The next big pass went to Jennings as he ran a 15-yard in route. Purdy's pass placement was a little high, but when you have a receiver with great hands such as Jennings, he'll come down with it. After that, the drive continued with two bad penalties by the Jaguars that put the Niners deep in the red zone. A simple shovel pass to CMC finished the drive off with a Touchdown. The Niners opted to go for the 2-point conversion, which led to an interesting sequence.

This one brought some heavy questions from me. Purdy's eyes stay locked on Skyy Moore and Tonges, and he misses Jennings wide open in the middle of the field. With Pearsall hurt, I can't comprehend why Purdy wouldn't be looking for Jennings earlier in the play.

But the questions don't end there. The offensive line is holding the pocket clean, only for Purdy to escape early. Had he sat there another second, he would've had Jennings open again after he spun off the defender. He doesn't do that and instead scrambles out of the pocket to make a pressured throw to Jennings, who gets sandwiched by two defenders. Did it work out? Yes. Was it way harder than it had to be? Without a doubt.

The Niners finally scored a touchdown and got some momentum heading their way. This next drive will easily be another touchdown at this rate.

Oh, that's not good. Purdy did not see Devin Lloyd at all, and Lloyd made him pay. The rest of the quarter is a lot of the same. A few completions, the main one being a 20-yard pass to Robinson, but a lot of misses, too. Purdy ended this quarter going 6/10 on completions, a touchdown, and an interception. This quarter wasn't as bad as the 2nd from a completion percentage standard, but the interception here is clearly Purdy's fault.

Grade: C-

4th Quarter

The 4th quarter was the last real chance the Niners had to make a comeback. The drive started in the 3rd and ended on an overthrown ball to Demarcus Robinson once again, ending their drive on downs. Then the Niners got the ball back and needed to score to stay in the game.

Knowing this, Purdy started this drive by targeting McCaffrey twice, leading to 36 yards. A couple more passes went to Bourne and Juice, and a few runs to Brian Robinson Jr. got them to the Jaguars' 21-yard line. A quick screen pass to Tonges secured the Touchdown.

This play brought the Niners within 5 points, allowing them to win on the next drive. The defense stood strong and gave Purdy the chance to win the game. On the 2nd play of said drive, the game was closed.

Missing Tonges and fumbling the football ended it for the Niners. Purdy didn't see him in time, and that is how you lose a football game in clutch time—not finding the man quickly enough and losing the football.

That play alone had to drop his performance in this quarter. Besides that play, it wasn't a terrible quarter for Purdy. He completed 6 of 8 passes, with a touchdown and a fumble that ended the game.

Grade: C-

Overall, this was a tough game for Purdy. He had plenty of missed passes that were either over or underthrown, and some bad decisions. Something clearly seemed off, likely his turf toe still nagging him, and although the team wanted to act as if there was no issue, there had to be something wrong. Hopefully, Purdy can make a speedy recovery to get back into the fold and win some games.

Final Grade: C

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Conor Wayland
CONOR WAYLAND

Conor Wayland is a 22-year-old sports writer from Oakland, now covering the 49ers for San Francisco 49ers On SI since 2023. A dedicated student at Merritt College, Conor combines a lifelong passion for football with in-depth coverage and breakdowns of San Francisco's most exciting team. With a more opinionated and informal style, Conor delivers detailed and informative writing for every type of fan. When he isn’t sucked into the football world, Conor can be found playing basketball or rooting on the Bay Area sports scene.

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