Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
The San Francisco 49ers dominated the Arizona Cardinals in a 38-13 rout to clinch the NFC’s No. 2 seed, ending their season on a ten-game winning streak, split between two different starting quarterbacks.
Brock Purdy had an efficient performance, finishing 15/20 for 178 yards and a career-high three touchdowns after a slow start, helping the 49ers pull away in the second half with a nice opening drive.
However, everything wasn’t pretty, as Purdy took a 17-yard sack in the first quarter on a third down play when trying to escape the pocket, getting wrapped up by speedy linebacker Isaiah Simmons.
Purdy, who has escaped sacks before due to his sneaky athletics, instead made perhaps the worst decision of his short professional career.
Following the game, head coach Kyle Shanahan did not appear pleased with that specific decision, telling reporters that he immediately looked to correct the mistake with Purdy.
“As soon as he was on the ground, [I] was yelling in his ear [telling him that can’t happen].”
Instead, Shanahan would have preferred any other outcome to the sack, but the head coach also understood the pressure of the situation for Purdy, especially with the offensive line struggling with protection on that play.
“[I would’ve preferred that he] not take a 17-yard sack, throw it left-handed out of bounds, anything, but I’m also sitting there nice and comfortable and no one’s chasing me,” said Shanahan. “But yeah, that’s what we want to do. It was third down but yeah, let’s be in a better punting situation and I know the O-line never likes getting that if they don’t have to. It wasn’t good protection. He had to get flushed, he couldn’t hang in the pocket, but once he did get out of there. Let’s try not to take that sack if you can.”
Regardless, Purdy rebounded from the mistake, leading the 49ers to their tenth-straight victory and the second seed in the playoffs, where they will now face the Seattle Seahawks in the wild-card round.
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