Purdy Benched: Shanahan Cites Precautionary Move for 49ers’ QB
The San Francisco 49ers fell to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day in perhaps the biggest game of the season. Interestingly, 49ers star quarterback Brock Purdy found himself pulling veteran quarterback Sam Darnold in the fourth quarter, which head coach Kyle Shanahan explained after the game.
Purdy came into the game as one of the clear candidates to win the 2023 MVP award after this season, and he has been excellent so far. Unfortunately for 49ers fans, Purdy saw a lot of success in that game.
He threw several expensive interceptions that played a big role in the loss of the 49ers. Purdy finished the day with four shutouts, the most of his two-year career. Purdy was removed from the game after Darnold’s knife injury. However, he was cleared to return to the game and was sidelined.
Kyle Shanahan spoke about the decision not to put Purdy back in the game, explaining in the postgame press conference that the decision was a precaution to prevent further injury and not because of his poor performance in the game. “Our whole team battled out there in the second half, so it wasn’t just him,” Shanahan said during the NFL’s social media press conference on CBS.
“I know he was disappointed when he couldn’t finish it there. But to get that spike again, I wanted to keep him away and prepare for the next week. I know he had a bad shot and we had three o-linemen out at the time. I don’t want him not ready for next week.
” It certainly appears that despite Monday night’s poor performance, Purdy is the 49ers guy moving forward as the team’s starter. That makes sense, of course, considering this game is mostly a blowout for Purdy, who has been great this year with the exception of a few games like this one.
The 49ers and Purdy will look to get back on track in Week 17 when they head to Washington to face the Washington Commanders.
Leave a Reply