It sure sounds as if San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will miss his fifth consecutive start as he recovers from the turf-toe injury suffered way back in Week 1 and then reaggravated during his second start of the year, Week 4, which has held him out ever since.
Purdy has been able to practice in recent weeks, but the weekly gameday injury reports since Week 4 have regularly listed QB1 as out, giving way to Mac Jones under center.
In the wake of what was one of Jones' poorer outings in Week 7 against the Houston Texans, there was hope Purdy would finally be able to return to action when the Niners again took to the road to face the scuffling New York Giants.
Unfortunately, at least for those wishing to see Purdy under center again, all the signs are suggesting otherwise.
Brock Purdy looks unlikely to play for 49ers vs. Giants
Purdy practicing in limited fashion in the week leading up to Sunday's tilt against Big Blue seemed promising enough, but that's been the case nearly every week since he went inactive.
On his regular Thursday radio appearance on KNBR 680, general manager John Lynch sounded a bit more pessimistic about the franchise quarterback's chances of taking the field for the first time since San Francisco's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"We'll see," Lynch said of Purdy's chances to play. "Mac's done such a great job and continues to do so. Brock, as I mentioned, continues to progress. Kyle spoke of it yesterday. A lot of this, at this point, is going to be on trusting Brock and where he's at—and he continues to feel better.
"He continues to ramp up what he's doing out on the field, and that was the case yesterday, and we'll see by the end of this week, we'll all make a good decision on who that guy's going to be."
Speaking of what head coach Kyle Shanahan had to say the day prior, the sentiments also echoed more caution than optimism.
"It’s hard to know what’s going on with the toe and they’re really iffy things," Shanahan said ahead of Wednesday's practice. "Last time we felt like he was feeling pretty good, looked pretty good in practice, and then in the game, one hit and set him back four weeks. So, it’s kind of a sensitive situation and hopefully getting some reps in practice and stuff will give him that confidence that it’s better than it was last time."
For what it's worth, Jones spoke to reporters on Thursday and not Purdy, and this slot is usually reserved for the quarterback expected to start the following weekend.
Reading into all those elements, it sure appears as if Purdy will miss yet another game, leaving him with just two games played over the first nine on the 49ers' schedule thus far.