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49ers QB Brock Purdy Explains How He Attacks Coverages

On Friday, I asked Purdy to describe how he processes and attacks each coverage differently. Here's what he said.
Grant Cohn|
49ers QB Brock Purdy Explains How He Attacks Coverages
49ers QB Brock Purdy Explains How He Attacks Coverages

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- Brock Purdy had his worst game as a pro last week, and he mostly faced man-to-man coverage.

Coincidence?

Most defenses primarily play zone coverage in today's NFL. The Browns are different. They play tight man coverage and they play it extremely well.

On Friday, I asked Purdy to describe how he processes and attacks each coverage differently. Here's what he said:

PURDY: "I'd say man-to-man coverage as a quarterback, I think it's a little nicer just because you know where your answers are supposed to be. Zone coverage, it could be a little bit more of a tricky area just because you’ve got a progression, you’ve got to move on from guys and guys could be dropping underneath guys. In man, it's like, alright, you know one guy is covering this guy and I have a chance when he breaks, knowing that no one is going to undercut it or whatever. So that's the biggest difference. But like, (the Vikings defense) is good because they'll show a whole, everyone coming and then they bluff out and it's like, man, I’ve got to know what side of the field I have to be on and be right. Whereas any other game, it's almost like you go through a whole progression. This game, it's like, you’ve got to be on the right side. So that's where we're at with it." 

It's interesting that Purdy says man coverage is easier to attack than zone coverage, considering the Browns played man against him and gave him trouble. But the Browns are an elite defense. And the numbers say Purdy attacks man coverage extremely well.

Purdy is much more accurate and efficient versus zone, but also has thrown three times as many touchdown passes versus man.

It seems he's just plain good versus any coverage.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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