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Through the first five games of the 2024 NFL season, no one has held the ball longer than San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy.
Averaging 3.15 seconds to throw on his 157 passing attempts on the season, Purdy has been much less effective in 2024 than in the past, with his completion percentage at a career-low, his success rate down from 2023, and his touchdowns percentage nearly halved.
What gives? Is Purdy just throwing the ball more, and thus, his efficiency is down? Or could it be that, with multiple players out of any given game, Purdy has had to work harder to get things going? Asked this question by reporters during his weekly media session, Purdy explained why he's been holding the ball more often, which has more to do with scrambling than indecision.
“I feel like there's just been some plays where I'm scrambling and stuff just because what the defense is doing in terms of dropping eight and giving us some different looks in that regard. For me, it's more been about keeping a play alive. It's been good. There's also been some plays, obviously, where we've had minus-10 or whatever from trying to scramble around and stuff. I think those kinds of plays that pop up so that's maybe how that's affected the stats with that,” Purdy told reporters.
“But for me, I still go about my progressions and everything, just like I have the last couple years with our offense and our system. I'm not going into a game going, ‘Alright, I'm going to hold onto the ball longer here and try to make something happen.' It's how can I be efficient, help out the O-Line, get the ball out of my hands and do my job? The teams that we've played, the schemes that we've played, I guess they've done some of that where they're dropping more back in the zone and making me go through my progression and turns out I'm holding onto the ball.”
Should Shanahan go back to scheming up quick passing plays to get the offense going? Yes, in 2023, that was practically his specialty, but hey, there's still time to make that happen, and Purdy appears very aware of the problem, too, which is half the battle.
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Brock Purdy believes the 49ers need to play complementary football
Asked about his complementary football comments, Purdy explained what he wants to see from his offense moving forward, and how it can work in tandem with the defense instead of fighting against it.
“Yeah, it's a team sport. So, for four quarters, when the defense gets a stop for us as an offense, it's like, ‘Alright, let's pick it up and go put points on the board.' And vice versa, when we're rolling, defense gets a stop, special teams do their thing, that's complementary football. That's how you win in this league,” Purdy explained. “And if defense is getting all these stops and the offense is cold, it's pretty obvious to everybody that it's going to be tough to get into a rhythm and pull away from a team, and then you allow a team to stay in the game and those kinds of things. But the last couple years when we've won pretty well, it's been about complementary football, defense gets stops and turnovers, offense puts up points on the board, and we pull away. So, we both believe in that, and everyone here knows that's the truth.”
When the 49ers go three-and-out or worse, cough up the ball with a turnover, they put extra stress on the defense. If Shanahan's team is going to right the ship and get back on track on Thursday Night Football, they will need to win the time of possession battle and force the Seattle Seahawks to play their game, not the other way around.
