Brock Purdy Sizes Up the Detroit Lions Defense

SANTA CLARA -- The Detroit Lions have an extremely aggressive defense that likes to blitz and bring extra pressure on the quarterback. On Friday, Brock Purdy sized up the defense he'll face in the NFC Championship Game.

Here's what Purdy said, courtesy of the 49ers P.R. department.

Q: When it comes to trying to diagnose when the Lions are going to bring pressure, what kind of distinguishes them and how they do it as opposed to some other teams you might face?

PURDY: “They do a good job of sort of holding it and disguising it. There's a lot of looks where it looks like it's just a base coverage and all of a sudden they're bringing guys from different directions. And when they do blitz, they have certain coverages that are behind their blitzes, but like I said, they do a good job with bringing different guys and sort of holding their water and not showing it. So, I think that's the difference. Across the year, other teams will sort of have some tips and clues and stuff, but I think these guys do a pretty good job of switching it up and making it hard for the quarterback to recognize it. So, it'll be a good challenge.”

ME: Why do you feel you and the offense have done well against the blitz this year?

Q: “I feel like we usually go into it having a good plan. And so the minute they do it, and if we're on it I think it's sort of like a high-risk, high-reward kind of thing for both sides. If we're ready and have a good plan for it, all it takes is a five-yard throw or something and we can turn it into a big gain. They're a couple guys short. So, we've gone into games where defenses that blitz a lot, we usually have a good plan for it, but that's just the receivers and myself being on top of it. And when they give us those opportunities, we have to be ready for it and if we're not ready for it, then we can get exposed.”