San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy beat the Seattle Seahawks 41-23 on Saturday thanks to a masterful effort in the second half. Purdy finished with 332 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown and won his sixth straight start.
Purdy, who was the final pick in the 2022 NFL draft, entered the starting lineup to replace an injured Jimmy Garopolo and looked like a veteran from Day One. Why is that? To compare to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, is Purdy more talented? Objectively speaking, no. Are the Niners skill-position players demonstrably enough better than the Steelers skill players to account for that gap in talent? Again, I would argue no.
So why is Purdy playing like a first-round pick? It really comes down to coaching. Taking the comparison between Purdy and Pickett further, Purdy is the perfect example of how a smart, innovative coaching staff is willing to build an offense to suit the quarterback and the Steelers have a staff who are trying to put Pickett into a system that might not maximize his skills.
And this all comes down to offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The fact the team has been silent about Canada’s future as teams are shuffling coaches tells me the team plans to stick with Canada for better or worse. Pickett has such a high ceiling but Purdy’s performance in the playoffs just screams as to the value of how to smartly coach a young quarterback and the Steelers aren’t listening.
