Niners Nation
When the band gets back together and faces a weaker opponent, the outcome is 41 points. The San Francisco 49ers looked like an upper-echelon offense with Brock Purdy under center. Things came easily for everyone involved, including George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. Kyle Shanahan had the offense on cruise control, despite only one reception from Ricky Pearsall.
Here are Week 11’s Winners and Losers.
Kittle caught all six of his targets for 67 yards and a touchdown. Twenty-seven of those came after the catch, and both of Kittle’s touchdowns were on downfield throws. It’s the second time Kittle has had multiple touchdowns of 10+ air yards in his career. Six targets for Kittle should be the floor moving forward. Kittle is a winner because he only had to pass block for three snaps.
The wild child, sandlot, grip, and rip quarterback was back in action, and everybody benefited because of it. Kittle’s ability to get passes down the field is a product of the quarterback. Purdy attempted four passes of at least 20 yards. Mac Jones went three games during the past couple of months without attempting any passes over 20 yards. The offense just feels different with Purdy under center, as it should.
The difference between quarterbacks is apparent on multiple fronts. Against the blitz, Purdy was 8-for-10 for 74 yards and two touchdowns. He also picked up five first downs. Brock is most comfortable at the intermediate level, and he thrived there against the Cardinals, completing all four of his passes for 44 yards.
Outside of a couple of head-scratching throws, Purdy looked like…Purdy. Half of his throws went for a first down. That’s a good sign for an offense that will need to get north of 30 to win games.
“The team does well when the best players exceed expectations. More at 11.”
It was another ho-hum outing for Christian McCaffrey, who had three 10+ rushes. Of his 81 yards on the ground, 56 came after contact. No running back had a higher rushing EPA this week than McCaffrey, who finished with a 69.5 percent success rate.
McCaffrey caught all five of his targets for 40 yards. He picked up three first downs and a touchdown, and also had a nice contested catch on a comeback. That’s a route the 49ers will need McCaffrey to win on against the better teams they face.
A big part of the reason why Purdy excelled against the blitz was that the offensive line picked up whatever the Cardinals sent their way. He was sacked once and only under pressure 25 percent of the time. In the other two starts this season, Purdy was under pressure on 32.5 and 60.5 percent of his dropbacks.
On the ten blitzes Purdy faced, he still had an average of 3.39 seconds to throw. Part of that is due to Purdy’s mobility, but there were plenty of plays where the...
