The defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs was a brutal one for the San Francisco 49ers. It was a loss that even Kyle Shanahan couldn’t sugarcoat.
“We got our ass kicked today,” said Shanahan. “Lots of reasons for it, but those are things that they don’t need to sit and think about today.”
One of the reasons the 49ers were defeated badly was because of Brock Purdy. He was erratic from start to finish highlighted by his three interceptions. Throughout the game, he had throws that he was forcing, inaccurate, or batted at the line of scrimmage. Purdy is expected to be way better than that and couldn’t do it.
“We didn’t do anything really good on offense,” Shanahan said. “I know he’d love to have all three of those picks back. Brock’s been playing unbelievable this year. Done some good things on offense this year, but today wasn’t that day.”
Today certainly wasn’t a good day for him. Purdy was exposed against the Chiefs. It was the man-to-man coverage that gave him fits much like it did in the Super Bowl. That is the bread and butter of the Chiefs’ defense that coordinator Steve Spagnuolo calls. Purdy struggles mightily against it, especially when the cornerbacks are in press coverage.
When cornerbacks play press coverage, it means they are trying to disrupt the route of the receiver. Purdy is a great anticipation thrower and the way to ruin that is by throwing the timing of the routes off. Once that goes away, Purdy is forced to make decisions on the fly. This is where he starts to get frozen and scramble away.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Chiefs’ outside cornerbacks aligned in press coverage on a season-high 59.8 percent of their snaps. Purdy failed to complete any of his five passes targeting receivers against press coverage, including two of his three interceptions.
If defenses are smart, they will start to call more man-to-man coverage against the 49ers. Not all defenses have the same talent as a cornerback, but it is always their best bet. Even if a cornerback gets beat at the line of scrimmage, there is still a chance for them to make a play on the ball if it is a deep pass. That is because of another weakness Purdy has. It’s his lack of arm strength.
Purdy had two chances of becoming a hero against the Chiefs on Sunday. Those two chances were deep pass completions to George Kittle and rookie Jacob Cowing. The first chance was for Kittle in the second quarter with 1:24 remaining. He completed a 41-yard pass to Kittle, which is great initially until you see how much separation Kittle had from his defender.
Purdy underthrew the pass to Kittle which limited the play to a 41-yard gain instead of a touchdown play. It forced Kittle to slow down to adjust for the catch and allowed the defender to make the tackle on him. The same thing occurred in the fourth quarter when Purdy completed a pass to Cowing. It was another 41-yard completion that forced Cowing to turn around as if he was fielding a punt.
That should’ve been a touchdown. Instead, Purdy throws a pick moments later into the end zone. The opportunities were there for him. Despite playing below average he still had chances to salvage the game and possibly win it for the 49ers. He just couldn’t beat man-to-man coverage consistently and couldn’t throw well enough down the field to lead his receivers for a touchdown.
“I think I’ve just got to play better for sure just with my throws and some decisions,” said Purdy. “That’s pretty simple. I’ve obviously got to watch the film and stuff, but my instant reaction is I’ve got to play better.”
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