Brock Purdy was prepared for Sunday, which showed once he stepped foot on the football field against the Miami Dolphins. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback was calm and collected, making enough plays to ensure that his team emerged with the victory despite having to reach down to QB3 on the depth chart.
"He just went in there and played," head coach Kyle Shanahan said Thursday on KNBR's Tolbert & Copes show. "They were coming after him too. It was as aggressive of a game to throw him in at that time than any one we've had this year. And he had to come in and give all the answers, and he did.
"He hung in there, took some big hits, made some big-time throws, wasn't scared to pull the trigger, ran around, made a couple of off-schedule plays, and I was really impressed with him. When it was all said and done on offense, I think he was probably the player of the game."
Purdy has impressed his teammates with his preparation, even as a backup. The quarterback always entered the week with the mentality that he would start, and it paid off against the Dolphins when the 49ers called his number to replace an injured Jimmy Garoppolo.
Shanahan shared that Purdy arrived on Tuesday, ready to prepare for his first week of practice as QB1. The quarterback approached the coach, asking if there was anything more he should do as part of his preparation.
"I'm like, 'Well, what do you normally do?'" Shanahan said. "He's like, 'Well, I don't watch all this.' Then I was like, 'Well, let's keep that the same, man.'"
Shanahan laughed. He wanted his quarterback to get ready for practice and not overthink things too much now that he was the starter. That's the job of the coaches, after all.
Purdy played 48 games at Iowa State, making 1,467 pass attempts. That's a lot of collegiate experience for an NFL rookie. By comparison, Trey Lance, last year's No. 3 overall pick, threw the football a total of 318 times at North Dakota State.
"The guy's been through it, and you could see that in training camp," Shanahan said of Purdy. "We wouldn't give him much reps at all in OTAs. Those were pretty much dedicated all to Trey and Nate [Sudfeld]. Then we'd give him a couple a day, maybe four, and what he did with those four were just extremely decisive. He'd go out there, not mess around. And the next day, we'd give him six, and it was kind of the same thing."
Things only got better in training camp when Shanahan and the 49ers let Purdy compete with Sudfeld for the No. 2 quarterback job behind Lance. Then when Lance suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2, Purdy got more work on the scout team as Garoppolo's backup.
Now, he will try to become the first quarterback to beat Tom Brady in his first-ever NFL start.
The Funniest 49ers Player Award goes to...
Who is the funniest 49ers player in Shanahan's opinion? The coach revealed the answer on Thursday. It is none other than defensive end Nick Bosa.
Linebacker Fred Warner admitted this week that he finds the pass-rushing phenom's deadpan humor to be hilarious. Shanahan obviously agrees.
"He is the funniest person in the world to me," the coach shared. "He is so hilarious. Every word is—he's never rushed to finish his sentence, a thought. Every word is selected and perfect, and it just is always the same. And he's such an animal on the field, but that's how [his humor] always is. It does not change, and it's very entertaining to me.
"But also, what he says is smart. It's always usually right. But he doesn't mince words, either. He's a man of few words, and that's why people like listening to him, too. He talks more and more, which is not to be confused with a lot, but that's why our guys listen to him, because when he says something, each word, he does mean."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
