One of the keys for Brock Purdy during his tenure as the 49ers’ starting quarterback was going to be gaining the trust of head coach Kyle Shanahan. In order for Shanahan to be maximally effective as a play caller, he has to have faith in his QB to execute. Purdy needed fewer than 11 quarters to gain that trust.
Shanahan on Friday in a conference all with reporters talked about a play call in Thursday night’s game where he had the rookie seventh-round pick throw on first down from the 49ers’ own 1. The throw was batted down at the line, but the process matters more than the result. That play call was borne from Shanahan’s confidence in Purdy.
“My confidence in Brock just allows me to call what I think is right,” Shanahan said. “You trust him to make the right play. And so, you call things that you think are right at the time. In that situation, every play to me is risky. It’s when you’re on the half-yard line running the ball is risky, sometimes more risky than throwing it. You can get rid of it at least when you throw it. But sometimes when you run it’s just one guy has to take one wrong step, one little stunt and a three technique meets the back in the back field and there’s not much you can do about it. So that is why people sneak it a lot in that situation just to avoid that. But with Brock’s situation and his health going into that game sneak wasn’t much of an option.”
Had Shanahan not trusted Purdy, they might’ve run into a catastrophe at their own goal line by trying to hand it off in that spot. Alas, he was comfortable letting the rookie spin it. The pass was batted down, but the confidence is what matters here.
There’s no expectation that Purdy is going to be Patrick Mahomes in his first year in the NFL. All he has to do is execute the offense at a high level, and the fact Shanahan is already sure he’ll make the correct play is a great sign for the 49ers as they try and get a rookie QB to the Super Bowl for the first time ever.
It’s still just 11 quarters though and there’s a long way to go before the postseason. Then the postseason is an entirely different beast. However, the foundations for success are being laid. Shanahan trusts his QB and calls him the most poised rookie QB he’s been around.
With Shanahan calling plays on one side of the ball and the NFL’s No. 1 defense on the other, San Francisco may have a real chance if Purdy keeps playing the way he has these last three games.
