The 49ers’ story line coming out of each of their first four games in 2023 has largely been the same. They’ve controlled their four games, scored 30 points, played good defense, and in general have just been the better team in each of their four games.
Luckily each one has provided a little something different from a micro sense that allows us to take away some new things from each one despite a largely similar outcome for each.
Here’s what we took away from San Francisco’s 35-16 win over the Cardinals in Week 4:
Brock Purdy is good
It’s getting tougher and tougher to simply point to peripheral things as the reason for Purdy’s success. Consider this from ESPN’s Next Gen Stats:
Brock Purdy's completion percentage over expected today against the Cardinals (+28.0%) is the highest mark by a quarterback with at least 20 pass attempts in a game over the last 7+ seasons.
Purdy's previous career-high was +5.1%.#AZvsSF | #FTTB pic.twitter.com/K9NcoAOP78
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 1, 2023
He entered Sunday 19-for-21 on intermediate throws (10-19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage). He went seven-for-seven Sunday and connected on all three of his throws 20-plus yards downfield. It was clear in Week 4 (if it wasn’t already) that Purdy is playing at a level the 49ers haven’t gotten from a QB under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
CMC's clearest impact
Christian McCaffrey’s impact on the 49ers offense has always been apparent, but Sunday it showed on the stat sheet. He racked up a whopping 177 scrimmage yards and four total touchdowns. Typically there are ways he helps the offense by not having the ball. Sunday he got the ball a ton and turned in a monster performance to help lead the team’s 14th consecutive regular season win.
Brandon Aiyuk going deep
During the 49ers’ Week 3 win it was really clear they missed Aiyuk. Their downfield passing game was basically non-existent. His return opened that back up though and Purdy connected with him three times on deep throws. In total Aiyuk caught all six of his targets for a career-high 148 yards. San Francisco can survive offensively without Aiyuk, but it’s clear they have a dramatically more dynamic passing attack with him.
2nd-half shutdown
The Cardinals found a little success offensively at the end of the first half and posted a touchdown to make it a 21-10 game at the break. They only punched in one more TD the rest of the way and missed the two-point try, marking the third consecutive game San Francisco has allowed only six second-half points. They’ve allowed 18 total second-half points all season. They’re very good at making adjustments at halftime and tightening up late in games.
Red zone dominance
The 49ers in Week 3 had a little trouble in the red zone and scored just two touchdowns in five trips. That changed in Week 4 when they converted on all five of their red zone tries. Four of those TDs went to McCaffrey. Another went to Purdy on a run, and the 49ers were able to keep the Cardinals from sticking around by turning their red zone trips into TDs instead of field goals. They’re now 12-for-18 in the red area this season.
What's a third-down?
San Francisco ran 53 plays and had only five (5) third downs. They converted three of them and punted only once. That’s a remarkable level of first and second-down success to only line up for five third downs in an entire game.
One bad Purdy thing
Okay this has mostly been sunshine and rainbows, so here’s something bad that happened.
The sack Purdy took in the third quarter was really, really bad. San Francisco was driving and had a first-and-10 at the Arizona 32. They were in field goal range. Then Deebo Samuel lost two yards on a run. On second-and-12 Purdy took a horrendous sack where he lost 12 yards and knocked the team out of field goal range. It didn’t hurt them Sunday, but that’s the kind of decision that could lose them a game against a better team.
