Niners Nation
49ers WR Deebo Samuel believed QB Brock Purdy was too hard on himself after a Week 10 win.
When you play quarterback in the NFL, you get too much credit when the team wins and too much of the blame when your team loses.
Statistically, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is having a “down” year compared to what he did in 2023. His completion percentage is down four points, his yards per attempt is down nearly a yard, Purdy has nearly thrown as many interceptions as he did last year, and his quarterback rating is down 15 points while on pace to throw for fewer touchdowns.
Purdy’s stats aren’t identical to last year because the players on the field aren’t.
Some have wondered if Purdy is putting extra pressure on himself with his contract extension looming this offseason. During his weekly podcast, Deebo Samuel shared a postgame conversation between him and Brock.
Here’s what Deebo said:
“We were just on the way back from Tampa, and I walked past him, and he looked a little frustrated a little bit, and I’m just like, ‘Bro, what’s going on? You almost just threw for 400 yards. We almost won the game.’
And he said, ‘Bro, I just gotta be better.’ That’s always his mentality. He was just sitting there kinda beating himself up, like, ‘I gotta make this throw.’ It’s just the little things about Brock, and that’s what you guys get to see for sure.
The leadership skills about Brock are what’s through the roof. Even though he almost threw for 400 yards, the guy was like, ‘I gotta be better for you guys and make this play, make that play.”
Purdy made our winners section from Week 10 despite his head coach saying, “He did miss a few throws in the first half, and it cost us on a couple ones.” Still, Kyle Shanahan acknowledged Purdy’s second half and even Deebo brought up Purdy’s scrambling ability.
You know the bar is set high for a quarterback who threw for over 350 yards, with a 69 percent completion percentage and the fourth-highest yards per attempt of the week, and he knows it wasn’t up to his standards.
Purdy told reporters after the game last Sunday that he gave himself a pep talk at halftime, that there would be no more hesitating, and that he’d “let it rip” without holding back in the second half. I’d say mission accomplished.
To Deebo’s point, when teammates see the quarterback wanting more out of himself, it only raises expectations for everybody in the locker room. Ideally, that mentality is what helps carry this team to a deep postseason run.
