Remember when Brock Purdy was an MVP candidate? Yeah, feels like a lifetime ago. After their latest frustrating 29-20 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, where the Niners somehow blew a 14-3 second-quarter lead, Purdy’s numbers are looking absolutely rough. He went 27 of 40 for 288 yards, one touchdown, and two back-breaking interceptions, all adding up to a dismal 75.8 passer rating and a negative EPA per pass of -0.06. This isn’t just a bad game, folks. This is a full-blown tailspin, and it’s been building for weeks.
The Cold, Hard Numbers Don’t Lie
This isn’t some one-off fluke. The splits between Purdy’s early-season tear and his recent struggles are glaring. In Weeks 1-4, when he looked like the real deal, Purdy threw for 1,007 yards with 11 touchdowns and just one interception, rocking a crazy 126.2 passer rating and a +0.505 EPA per dropback. He was hitting 8.91 yards per attempt and completing nearly 70% of his passes. Legit MVP stuff, right?
Then Week 5 hit, and the wheels started coming off. In Weeks 5-7, his numbers have cratered. He’s got 741 yards, but only 4 touchdowns to go with 3 interceptions. His passer rating has plummeted to 91.4, and his EPA per dropback is now a negative -0.087. His yards per attempt dropped to 7.56, and his completion percentage slightly dipped to 68.4%. That’s a massive drop-off from a guy who was a legitimate MVP contender.
Guess Who Started It? Our Hawks!
So, what happened? You can connect a lot of this slide right back to Week 5, when Purdy went up against *our* Seattle Seahawks defense. The Niners won that game 32-29, sure, but Purdy’s performance against us was, as the experts put it, “its own animal.” And why? Because the Seahawks have the NFL’s best defense by DVOA for the second straight season, and Purdy has struggled more against *our* defense than any other. It’s no surprise, really.
Fast forward to the Falcons game, and those struggles continued. Atlanta’s defense ranks 11th, which isn’t our league-best unit, but it was still enough to expose Purdy. He threw two picks against them, something he’s only done 11 times in his entire career. That first interception, man, it was a killer. The 49ers were in 11 personnel, with Cooks, Cowing, and Kirk on the field. The Falcons were in Cover-1, then completely messed with him by flipping their box and deep safeties right after the snap. Purdy is usually good against those kinds of coverage disguises, but this time? The disguise won.
Purdy himself admitted he tried to throw it away. “I thought maybe Christian Kirk on the scramble was going to be there… But then, towards the end of the throw, as I was going to throw, I was like, ’No, it’s not.‘ I went to just throw it away by the sideline and then Bates, all of a sudden, came across and made a play.” That’s not what you want from your franchise quarterback, scrambling to throw it away and getting picked anyway. Yeah, the Niners were without Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and Demarcus Robinson due to injuries, and Christian McCaffrey missed most of the first half with a quadriceps injury, but Purdy has to be better.
What’s at stake for Purdy and the Niners now? If he keeps dropping from MVP-level to these kind of numbers, their season could quickly go sideways. The pressure is on, and he’s not handling it like the early-season MVP candidate we saw. But hey, at least we know who to thank for knocking him off his pedestal. Our Seahawks defense, proving yet again why they’re the best in the league and making the rest of the NFC West nervous.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Niners Nation.
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