Much focus has been placed on Brock Purdy's arm and how the San Francisco 49ers quarterback is recovering from offseason surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow. That's understandable. After all, Purdy is expected to be the team's starting quarterback this season. There is a lot of focus on the second-year player.
Purdy suffered the injury in January during the NFC Championship Game. However, it wasn't his only injury last season.
On Thursday, December 15, we weren't sure who the 49ers' starting quarterback would be against the Seattle Seahawks. Kickoff was just hours away, and the 49ers weren't even certain. Would it be Purdy, who was coming off his first-ever NFL start, an impressive win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Or would it be Josh Johnson, who had been with the team for only nine days?
Purdy ended up playing against the Seahawks, guiding the 49ers to a 21-13 win. It wasn't easy for the quarterback. He was dealing with what the team described as "oblique and rib injuries." The injuries occurred against the Buccaneers. The then-rookie quarterback managed to play through that game despite the discomfort.
Maybe discomfort is not the proper word. It doesn't correctly describe what the first-year player was going through.
"Yeah, I had a broken rib," Purdy said Tuesday on KNBR's "Murph & Mac" show. "I actually broke my rib like the second or third drive in that Tampa game. So, that whole first half, man, I'm throwing, and I'm like, 'This isn't good.' We're doing so well, my rib's broken, still trying to make plays, and then when you end the game, that's when it really starts hurting. So we had four days to get ready from that game until Thursday night."
Purdy's status for the NFC West showdown was uncertain. That week, the quarterback claimed he felt "pretty good," but that wasn't true. He still expected to play against the Seahawks, declaring that he just felt sore. He was more than sore.
"And then you get to the game, and you just got tough it out," Purdy continued. "Obviously, they do everything they can in the training room to get you right. And then we're playing Thursday night, so all the adrenaline stuff kicked in, and I just gutted it out. We made it happen. We won."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Purdy below.