49ers - Brock Purdy - Still and Always #1
- Thread starter guitarchitect7
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Not that conservative. I mean I'm not going to say we took a ton of chances downfield with Brock but I don't know I'd say it was conservative. He had plenty of games where he threw for 300yds or close to it. He almost threw for 4000 yds his sophomore year, and we had feature backs every year he played.
Depends on who you're comparing Brock Purdy to. Is he athletic like Lamar Jackson or Michael Vick in his prime? Of course not. But is he unathletic like the traditional NFL QB is, like the Mannings, Tom Brady, etc? No as well. Anyone that complains that Purdy isn't athletic like those in the first category are either finding whatever they can to nitpick at Purdy's talents or have lost sight as to what the QB position needs to be. Because Purdy is plenty athletic to extend or even create plays, and he has proven that over and over again despite what anyone may say against it.
Seeing what Purdy and Breece are doing and the fact we had pretty good defenses, I think you could make a case that the special teams disasters of that time may have cost us a chance at multiple college football playoff runs. That and the fact that CMC could never get his teams rolling until October, which still boggles my mind.
What was wrong with your special teams while he was there?
I think one of the biggest reason why Purdy is "hitting open receivers" is his throws aren't putting his receivers into danger. Yes, his receivers are good at getting open, but Purdy also puts the ball where it needs to be, when it needs to be there. That also contributes to a receiver being wide open, because if the throw is off, suddenly the receiver has to adjust and the defense catches up to the play. I could swear one of the biggest compliments 49ers receivers say about him his throws don't get them blown up trying to make the catch. Not only does it lead to a healthier team not always putting your teammates into those positions, but because you're not always putting them in that position the receivers are more willing to take those hits when it's required of them, because they can't always be avoided.
How much time you got?
It's so cool to even imagine that Brock might one day lead a team to the SB, let alone win one. I think he can do it, and probably will!
Things have heated up in the NFC! I used to think that all the really good young QB's were in the AFC, still do to a point. But man, the NFC with Jalen Hurts and now Brock are looking very good!
It's easier to say what was good, which was kickoff returns because we had Kene Nwangwu who is now basically a return specialist for the Vikings. Every other phase of special teams was bad.
We do need to credit Campbell and ISU for the development of Brock though. Sure they (ISU staff) limited Brock at times, no doubt. It was a juggling act to play him conservatively and try to keep him healthy, jada, jada, vs. let him maybe run more by design, etc.
Also, we need to credit Brock for continuing to work on his craft. He is better now than he was 2 years ago, at ISU. And that was pretty good then. His arm is stronger now. He went to FL and worked with a QB coach there who has really helped with his throwing motion and velocity.
Maybe. Well, yes. SF is helping him. The SF system and coaching are helping him. But a good deal of Brock's improvement is on Brock.
He is extremely intelligent, and he has an rare gift of staying calm under pressure, reading the defense, quick and decisive decision making, and accurate throws. He has refined his throwing motion and improved his arm strength. That is mostly on Brock. I think he has a gift and will be around in the NFL a long time.
After that happened we basically stopped returning punts for 3 seasons.
If I'm remembering correctly, we also didn't have a special teams coach for a while. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Campbell decided to coach special teams himself and we consistently lost to Iowa when we'd beat them in the other phases of the game (out rush or out pass them and if you'd watch the game you'd think ISU would win) that entire time with Purdy which really limited the push for CFP contention. ISU would lose the game to Iowa due to Iowa's vast superiority on special teams, or a costly turnover. Case in point, Purdy's senior year when ISU was ranked no. 9 and Iowa no. 10, ISU lost 27 to 17 to Iowa, but outgained Iowa in yards 339 to 173 for the game. That's against a good to great Iowa defense, but we'd always just shoot ourselves in the foot with special teams and turnovers. That's not even the game clip against Iowa shown above.
I don't know about the top 15.
I was just going by my memory that I thought (last year) that the majority of next level younger NFL QB's were in the AFC.
I'd be interested in seeing a top 15 list of QB's in the NFL, right now. I'll let you or somebody else do the honors. I would think Brock is definitely on that list now. Heck, he's leading about every statistical category.
Yes, and we could come up with a bunch more, sadly.