Why Brock Purdy's 49ers Playoff Debut is his Most Impressive Performance
Brock Purdy was under a microscope going into his 49ers playoff debut. His performance since entering the Miami game had been incredible to watch, but would he be able to sustain that level in the playoffs?
Pressure gets turned on tremendously in a playoff game, especially for a rookie. It was going to be incredibly revealing to see how Purdy would look. Well, it didn't start off great. In fact, Purdy looked terrible after the opening two series against the Seahawks in the Wild Card matchup. Most of the first half was abysmal by him. He looked exactly like a rookie getting his first playoff experience. It wasn't the Purdy the 49ers were accustomed to seeing.
He was sailing balls like crazy, throwing to covered receivers instead of the wide open ones, and was bailing out of clean pockets. There was a sense of panic and jitters from him. You would've swore that it was Jimmy Garoppolo in disguise out there. That playoff game was poised to go down as the worst start from Purdy.
But in the end, Purdy's 49ers playoff debut actually ended up to be his most impressive performance.
The poor half of football that Purdy had against Seattle, especially in a playoff game, could have derailed him. He could've panicked going into halftime with the 49ers down 17-16. He could've easily played atrociously the rest of the game knowing he was costing his team. No one would've blamed him since it is his first time in the playoffs. Again, the pressure of the playoffs is a different beast. It just hits differently even if it is a home game. A regular season baller can turn into a playoff faller easily because of the pressure that only grows from several bad plays.
Purdy didn't let that happen. It didn't fester in his head and ended up snowballing the rest of the game. He came out of the second half with the fearless mentality that he's always shown and bounced back to finish the game on a high note. To be able to do that with the weight of the offense on his shoulders in a playoff game in inclement weather was outright impressive.
"There were a couple of open guys that he just missed," said Kyle Shanahan on Purdy's first half performance. "And so I know when that happens, it sticks out as not playing well because there were plays that he shouldn't have made, but all the other plays, he did play well, so when you just have a couple misses you really don't want to panic.
"Brock's an accurate thrower, he has been doing that all year and playing well. He missed a few and I don't think there was really much of an explanation for it. We had to settle down a little bit and give him a few more opportunities and he got those in the second half and was pretty lethal with them.”
An erratic first half saw Purdy complete 9-of-19 passes for 147 yards and one touchdown. There were so many plays left on the table by Purdy. And yet, he came out in the second half to help lead a resurgence. Purdy finished with 348 total yards (332 passing, 16 rushing) and four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing). In his lone playoff game for the 49ers, Purdy just has one less playoff touchdown thrown than Garoppolo. Just an incredible performance from Purdy to bounce back in a playoff game to score 24 points in the second half.
By far, it is his most impressive performance to date.
