49ers win turnover-crazed game, beat Panthers 20-9 despite three Brock Purdy pics, rise to 8-4 (paywall)
“Ahead of his second interception, he faced a multiple-choice question. Purdy stepped up in the pocket to evade pressure; two possible answers presented themselves. He could have scrambled for a first down and more with a lot of green grass in front of him. Tight end George Kittle was also open on an intermediate route across the middle. It seemed there was no wrong answer, but Purdy found one. A floater behind wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, tightly covered by cornerback Mike Jackson on a post route to the end zone, landed in the hands of Jackson.
Purdy tossed his third interception of the game, and second to Horn, against zone coverage. Horn read the QB’s eyes as he stared down Pearsall on an in-breaker. Unbeknownst to Purdy, Horn ranged past the hashes from his third of the field to make the play.“
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Niners bolstered their playoff hopes from 86% to 91.3% and put the Panthers’ chances in peril, as they dropped from 22.7% to 18%.“
Get stupid, go dumb… Oh god, not like that (paywall)
“Everything he did wrong in the first half was everything that most critics expect to see from him. He was unnecessarily aggressive, and worst of all, late. He is a quarterback whose success is predicated upon seeing the game clearly, and throwing with anticipation. He looked like he was seeing this game through a kaleidoscope.
I haven’t seen him play this badly since that Christmas nightmare against the Baltimore Ravens, and that was against an elite defense, and elite scheme from Mike Macdonald.“
“They’re all three good decisions,” Shanahan said. “Just a hair late on them. And when you’re a hair late on stuff, you can’t throw behind (receivers). We threw it behind them and all three guys made him pay.”….“I never say anything after the first one,” Kittle said. “The second one, I just said to just take a deep breath: ‘Man, you know, you’ve been here, you’re good. Just breathe. Let it out. Move on to the next play.’ He’s a professional. He knows what he’s doing.”
Kittle stopped there. Didn’t he have any words for Purdy after his third interception?
“No,” Kittle said, “I think Kyle had some.”