Kyle Shanahan Explains How the Browns Shut Down Brock Purdy

On Monday after the game, I asked Kyle Shanahan on a conference call what exactly Schwartz did to limit Purdy's effectiveness. Here's what Shanahan said.

The Browns just showed the rest of the league how to defend Brock Purdy.

Before Purdy lost to Cleveland, he had never lost a regular season game. Defenses seemed completely confused as to how to defend him.

The Browns were not confused. Their defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, knew exactly what to do.

On Monday after the game, I asked Kyle Shanahan on a conference call what exactly Schwartz did to limit Purdy's effectiveness. Here's what Shanahan said:

"They played aggressive man coverage. We knew that going into it. They had a couple pressures that got us. We had a couple mistakes that got us in some really negative situations. We have two drives in that game that didn't have a negative play -- that was the first drive when we scored a touchdown, and it was the last drive when we ended up missing that field goal. We got into some negative situations where we had second and long and third and long. With that pass rush and the tight coverages, it makes it really tough on a quarterback. As a team, getting in some of those bad situations made Brock's job a lot tougher."

Let's focus on the first thing Shanahan said about aggressive man coverage. That's the key. Most teams play zone coverage because they don't have three cornerbacks who are good enough to play aggressive man coverage. And Purdy is good enough to pick zone coverages apart. He can diagnose them before the snap and know exactly where to go with the football.

Against man coverage, a receiver has to win and get open, and there's no way for Purdy can predict which receiver will win. Suddenly, the game becomes much more difficult for him.

Watch teams play much more man coverage against the 49ers in the future.