San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is a man of few words. His quiet confidence led to a record-breaking career at Iowa State before being Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Now as the QB1 for a Super Bowl contender, Purdy has been on the receiving end of some smack talk.
Most recently, Pittsburgh Steelers star cornerback and future Hall of Famer Patrick Peterson guaranteed that he’d pick off Purdy in the season opener on Sunday.
“There is some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we’re gonna get from those guys in certain situations,” Peterson said in the lead up to the game. “When I get my pick Sunday, we’ll talk about it.”
About that?
Making just his sixth career NFL start in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Purdy completed 19-of-29 passes for 220 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Both touchdowns went to Brandon Aiyuk in the 30-7 49ers blowout win. The last of which was on none other than Patrick Peterson himself.
In his typical quiet manner, Purdy took time out of his press conference after Sunday’s thrashing of the Steelers to call out Peterson in his own way.
“The second touchdown on the right side, the deep ball, was that on Patrick Peterson?”
Brock Purdy to reporters after 49ers’ 30-7 win
Peterson and Purdy do have a background. The latter grew up in Arizona and idolized the veteran cornerback when he was a member of the Cardinals. In fact, they met up back in 2017 after Purdy was named the top high school player in the state.
“I don’t really know what to say about that,” Purdy said ahead of the Week 1 game. “He’s a good player. Patrick Peterson’s a great player, I grew up watching him and everything. I was obviously from Arizona, he played for the Cardinals and stuff. It’s the competitive nature of football, so we’ll see.”
Brock Purdy setting marks early in San Francisco 49ers career
Outside of the friendly banter with Peterson, it’s becoming clear that the QB1 job in San Francisco is not something Purdy can’t handle.
By virtue of Sunday’s blowout win over Pittsburgh, the former seventh-round pick from Iowa State has won his first six regular-season starts.
Purdy is the first QB in NFL history to win each of his first six starts while throwing at least two touchdowns in each game. He’s also the first player in league history with a passer rating of 95-plus in each of his first six starts.
- Brock Purdy stats: 67% completion, 1,594 yards, 15 TD, 4 INT, 107.9 QB rating
Over the course of his first six regular season starts (all wins), Purdy has led the 49ers to an average of 33 points per game. It helps that he has the likes of Christian McCaffrey doing his bidding on offense.
Even then, it’s hard to discount what he’s done early in his career. Whether this continues remains to be seen, but opponents should start taking the youngster a bit more seriously moving forward.