bradberry has a 60.4 pff grade this season … for context oliver who the 49ers benched has a 61.8 pff grade

this past game vs the bills he was targeted 13 times

for the season he’s been targeted 69 times … given up 37 rec for 436 yards and 7 td with a passing rating against of 100.9 in 11 games

so could deebo have been more politically correct about it, yeah, but make no mistake the eagles CBs haven’t played well for most of this 2023 NFL season and if the 49ers can protect purdy i think both deebo & aiyuk could have real productive games this sunday

last two seasons prescott was coming off great stretches at the end of the season or in the playoffs but came crashing to earth when he played the 49ers

2021

last 3 regular season games : 70% comp, 851 yards, 12 td/0 int, 133.1 QB rating

53% comp, 254 yards, 1 td/1 int, 69.3 QB rating vs 49ers in wild card round including a brain fart at the end of the game that resulted in the game clock running out

2022

beat a mediocre bucs team in wild card round and his stats were great … 76% comp, 305 yards, 4 td/0 int, 143.3 QB rating

but vs 49ers in the divisional round … 23/37, 206 yards, 1 td/2 INT, 63.6 QB rating

color me unimpressed with what prescott does in the regular season or until he plays well vs a good team in the playoffs

49ers RB/WR/TE >>> eagles LB/CB/S

eagles DL >>> 49ers OL

it’s up to shanahan to scheme purdy not to get killed or pressured consistently behind this average at best pass blocking OL and i maybe generous with that label if you look at some of the stats to show how they’re holding up … besides williams at LT who is still a stud

if that happens i think the 49ers offensive skilled positional players if purdy is given the time could tear apart that eagles pass defense in particular the back 7 on a consistent basis on sunday

i mean statistically the steelers, cowboys, jaguars, and bucs defense were ranked higher by DVOA from where the eagles rank right now when the 49ers played them & the 49ers offense tore those 4 defenses apart earlier this season averaging over 33 points per game

purdy has played the seahawks 3 times since becoming the 49ers starting QB, 2 regular season and 1 playoff game

his stats in those 3 games

56/86, 65% completion, 758 yards 6 td/1 int, 111.5 qb rating ; 11 carries, 15 yards, 1 rush td

3-0 record

after all the pain and torture the seahawks had the 49ers franchise, players, & fans go thru from 2012-2021 … it’s finally nice to see the tide turning with the 49ers having won 4 straight since 2022

and it’s not like they’re just barely beating the seahawks, the 49ers are dominating these games now

27-7, 21-13, 41-23, 31-13 … average score of these four straight 49ers wins is 30-14

i’m sure this game was mentioned a lot before the NFC title game earlier this year but this game was from november 2019 when oklahoma beat iowa st 42-41

the two QB that day were purdy and hurts

stats for both QB that game :

purdy - 19/30 282 yards 5 td/0 int …15 carries 55 yards 1 td

hurts - 18/26 273 yards 3 td/1 int … 22 carries 68 yards 2 td

vegas just released peters … would 49ers have any interest in him as a veteran backup to thomas who has played very well the last 3 games since being inserted into the starting lineup … just in case he struggles down the stretch

probably very unlikely as it seems 49ers like their CB depth right now with ward, thomas, lenior, oliver although it seems as if he was benched, womack … and they also have luther who was their who was their 5th round pick from the 2023 draft

well if you ask eagles fans they say they have better and or more offensive fire power at their skilled positions over than the 49ers

just looking at this statistically the top 4 QB contenders for MVP are probably

purdy (11 games)

70% comp, 2871 yards passing, 19 td/6 int, 112.3 QB rating, 75.7 QBR

33 carries, 122 yards rushing, 2 td

hurts (10 games)

69% comp, 2497 yards passing, 15 td/9 int, 94.8 QB rating, 64.3 QB

100 carries, 345 yards, rushing 9 td

jackson (11 games)

70% comp, 2441 yards passing, 12 td/5 int, 100.1 QB rating, 61.7 QBR

101 carries. 535 yards rushing, 5 td

prescott (11 games)

70% comp, 2935 yards passing 23 td/6 int, 107.4 QB rating, 75.4 QBR

34 carries 151 yards rushing 2 td

purdy’s passing stats are a lot better than both jackson and hurts and to he also currently ranks 1st in both QB rating and QBR for all NFL QB

honestly you could make the case that the jets should’ve just kept darnold after the 2020 season but that wasn’t going to happen after the team went 2-14 that year and most of their fans were pining for a new franchise QB in what was thought to be a loaded and stacked 2021 NFL draft class at the QB position

but most QB with the 2020 jets wouldn’t look good with gase as your head coach and with a 37 year old gore as your best offense weapon considering the other skilled position talent consisted of crowder, berrois, perriman, herndon, and mims

i believe if darnold was the jets starting QB in 2023 that the jets would have a winning record right now

and lets be real the jets screwed themselves with the QB situation as they were locked into the #1 pick for the 2021 draft 13 games into the 2020 season having gone winless but then won 2 of their last 3 games … granted it didn’t help that the jaguars also were headed for a historically bad season going 1-15 and with how strength of schedule factors into the NFL draft order the only way the jets had a chance at the first pick in the 2021 draft was to go 0-16

that’s the big question for the jets org and jets fan … do you take the indignity of a winless season like the 2008 lions and 2017 browns but get the #1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft that lets remember had lawrence as the no doubt projected #1 pick who was thought to be the consensus top pick in 2021 ever since the end of his freshman season in college the past 2 years ever since late 2018 and one of the best and most hyped up QB prospects being ranked up there with the likes of elway in 1983, manning in 1998, and luck in 2012

now personally as a 49ers fan not having been in that type of situation although i was actually hoping the 49ers would lose the rest of 2016 as i desperately wanted to be in a position to get the #1 pick in 2017 to draft garrett who at the time was seen as one of the best edge pass rushers to come out of college maybe in decades but if lets say lawrence was coming out in 2017 then yeah i’d “root” for the 49ers to tank and get that potential franchise QB

never mind the jets have had a miserable QB history unlike the 49ers having been spurned in 1996 when they had the #1 pick that year in a year that manning had he come out after his junior season would’ve gone #1 but instead traded down multiple times in the top 10 and ended up drafting farrior at #8 … though looking back they passed up on the chance to draft two future HOF left tackles with pace at #1 overall and traded down again from #6 where another HOF was drafted in jones

pennington in 2000, sanchez in 2009, darnold in 2018, wilson in 2021 … jets just stink with drafting QB granted pennington was pretty good for them

but to be honest i don’t feel bad for jets fans especially early in 2022 when the rumors were swirling that the jets were the most likely landing spot for deebo who most thought was going to be traded and jets fans were so arrogant saying how the 49ers and 49ers fans were asking for too much and their GM was so great and blah blah blah … and when the trade fell thru because the jets demanded a 2nd rd pick in return along with deebo for the #10 pick in 2022 when the thinking was the jets would be the team who would need to add an extra pick in the deal to go thru … again i remember going to see the reaction of jets fans and they were defending their GM at the time saying how he looked like a genius during that whole situation and the 49ers were being idiots and delusional about asking for “too much” for the #10 pick

now less than 2 years later these same jets fans for the most part have done a 180 and want their GM fired and the 49ers continue to be one of the most well run franchises in the NFL

arm strength is a bit overrated when evaluating QB

no way am i comparing purdy to both brady and montana but for most those two are the 2 best QB in NFL history and neither had a strong arm for their time … heck just over the last 20+ years a QB like brees also didn’t have a strong arm either especially the latter portion of his career yet he still put up monster passing stats and can be considered a top 4-5 QB of this era

i bet for a coach like shanahan he’d rather have a QB who can process and can anticipate well while in the pocket and throw accurate footballs to the skilled position players that shanahan schemes open in his offense

hey if you have a strong arm and are mobile then even better … although it’s been noted in the last few weeks that purdy has gone off script on some of the positive plays he does make which shanahan isn’t a huge fan of but so far what purdy does outweighs any of the negatives when he does something off script in this scheme

i mean there is a reason shanahan back in 2012 is rumored to have preferred cousins over griffin even though the latter was the #2 overall pick and had all the physical tools that scouts drool over … once griffin sustained all those injuries he just wasn’t a good enough pure passing QB to compensate for his physical skills diminishing

young has 9 QB pressures and 1.5 sacks in two games so far with the 49ers … more importantly he has clearly opened up and unlocked the 49ers pass rush these past couple of games as just this past sunday vs the bucs the 49ers defense had 38 QB pressures with the starting 4 of bosa, hargrave, armstead, & young combining for 30 by themselves and vs the jags the week before the 49ers starting 4 DL had a combined 13 QB pressures

i really hoping if he can play consistently and maybe more importantly stay healthy he shows enough that the 49ers can somehow re-sign young

but don’t know how realistic that is considering they have huge big money contracts with all 3 of their other starting DL in armstead, bosa, and hargrave … the latter two who just signed huge contracts this past offseason for a combined 254 million

armstead is a free agent after 2024 and not sure 49ers not only re-sign but even if they don’t bring him back at 32 years old, because of the 49ers restructuring his contract recently to free up cap space, armstead still would have a 15.5 million cap hit in 2025 for the 49ers

but with ferrell and jackson not living up to the same standard that omenihu and ebukam played at the last few seasons as there is a reason why the 49ers traded for young in the first place on trade deadline day … 49ers really need that viable #2 edge behind bosa and the rest of the DL … young even he nevers lives up to the hype and expectations he had coming out of ohio st in 2020 as the 2nd overall pick i still think he could be a really good edge going forward especially playing on this 49ers defense and defensive line

2023 eagles having a 2022 like vikings run in close games as they’re 5-1 in games decided by 1 possession

49ers point differential is twice as much as the eagles thru the first 10 games, 122 to 61, and the eagles defense isn’t what it was in 2022

eagles DVOA is #9 overall ranking 7th in offense and 18th in defense

49ers in comparison rank #2 overall in DVOA with the 1st ranked offense and 8th ranked defense

neither the eagles or 49ers according to DVOA rank as highly as they did in 2022 when imo they were the two clear head and shoulders best teams in the NFC

in 2022 the eagles ranked #2 overall in DVOA and #3 overall in both offense and defense and 49ers ranked #3 overall with the #5 offense and #1 defense … but at least the 49ers are still ranked in the top 10 in all categories … although if you take in account special teams that’s where the 49ers are lacking ranking 25th while the eagles rank 6th … and we know the 49ers have been snake bitten where a 1 or 2 special teams blunders in a playoff game can fatally cost you

even with that with the game on the road it’s still going to be tough regardless

though realistically i don’t see a path the 49ers get the #1 seed in the NFC entering the playoffs … two games behind the eagles and then you got a lions team who granted almost and should’ve lost to a bad bears team on sunday but their schedule the rest of the way is a lot easier compared to the other NFC contenders

with that i still think even if the 49ers have to play and win a road game or two in this upcoming postseason that they’re as equipped to do so as any other NFL team right now

which current 49ers player has gotten better playing with purdy?

i don’t know how about ask both kittle and aiyuk

kittle had 24 td in 76 games before purdy and has 12 td in 16 games with him as his starting QB

aiyuk in his first 3 seasons per 17 game average of 71 rec 946 yards 7 td per without purdy

aiyuk since purdy became starting QB is on pace for 79 rec 1353 yards 7 td

aiyuk this 2023 season alone is on pace for 81 rec 1570 yards 7 td

how great has purdy been the last two weeks … saw this on CBS

since the 1970 merger between the NFL and AFL on a minimum of 40 pass attempts during a 2 game sample size

purdy combined 157.3 QB rating vs the jags & bucs ranks #1 all time now

here’s the list :

purdy (2023) - 157.3

foles (2013) - 155.3

warner (1999) - 155.3

young (1997) - 155.2

roethlisberger (2006) - 154.6

Nick Wagoner@nwagoner

49ers QB Brock Purdy on throws of 20+ air yards this season:

19-of-30 - 63.3% (1st in the NFL, only CJ Stroud is within 5%)

633 yards (3rd)

21.1 yards/attempt (2nd)

4 TDs (T-9th) 23.3% off target percentage (lowest in NFL)

13.2% CPOE (6th)

https://twitter.com/nwagoner/status/1726478591142330613

again for those critics that think that all he’s doing is just being just a dink or dunk system QB or doesn’t throw the football deep well or at all

i still wonder if the 49ers had any thoughts about keeping mccaffrey after the 1994 season

rice was still great and was amazing in 1995 setting a career high in receiving yards but taylor was showing signs of slowing down even in the 1994 super bowl season and he only played 1 more season in 1995

guess that’s why 49ers chose to trade up using two 1st for stokes but mccaffrey was a similar big bodied possession WR who ended up having the much better career being a key piece to the broncos two super bowl titles in the late 1997 and 1998

imagine if 49ers had rice, mccaffrey and still drafted owens in the 3rd round in 1996 … while not wasting two 1st round picks in the trade up in the 1995 draft to address the 49ers roster … how different would those 4 seasons after the 1994 super bowl season been from 1995-1998

post young

i think the best regular season QB was garcia as he still holds the single season passing yards record for the 49ers … also along with montana & young they are the only 49ers QB in the franchise’s history to throw for 30+ TD passes in a single season with montana doing it only once while garcia & young threw for 30+ TD twice in their careers with the 49ers

best playoff QB is kaepernick … alex had that great performance vs the saints in the 2012 divisional round and purdy was great vs the seahawks in the 2023 wild card game … but kaepernick had statistically more than one very good to great playoff performance notably vs the packers and ravens in the 2012/13 postseason along with 11 total TDs and nearly 1900 combined passing & rushing yards in 6 career playoff games as the 49ers QB

i think 49ers have one of the top t2-3 top to bottom overall rosters in the NFL currently

course there are weaknesses in the starting lineups, notably the OT and CB depth but all contending teams IMO have question marks now and heading into the playoffs

i mean if you at DVOA right now the 49ers rank #2 and only the handful of teams who have both a top 10 ranked offense and defense

#1 - BAL - #5 (offense), #2 (defense)

#2 - SF #1 (offense), #10 (defense) … i’d expect the defense to play better the second half of the season too with young addition and the change in scheme they played on sunday

#3 - KC #6 (offense), #3 (defense)

#4 DET - #4 (offense), #9 (defense)

#5 DAL - #10 (offense), #4 (defense)

#6 CLE - #28 (offense), #1 (defense)

#7 MIA - #2 (offense), #22 (defense)

#8 BUF - #3 (offense), #21 (defense)

#9 PHI - #7 (offense), #17 (defense)

15. CIN (#13 offense), #16 (defense)

i’d list those teams as “true contenders” at this time who could potentially make a deep playoff run … none imo are all time elite teams who look unbeatable and i’d say i wouldn’t be shocked if the 49ers are healthy and playing at near their peak that they couldn’t beat any or most of those teams by 7-10 points if they were to meet in the playoffs or even super bowl

this is why i’ll never buy a 49ers jersey unless it’s a player who is on their second contract, the last jersey i bought was a willis one

it’s not one thing to spend that much money on even a throwback jersey of a 49ers great who isn’t playing … it’s another thing to spent that much to buy a jersey of a player who maybe will be on the team for another season or two at the most and either is traded or signs with another team as a free agent

even if you turn into a great player your first few seasons in the league there is still no guarantee that you’ll be on the team long term

i mean i’d bet a lot of 49ers fans bought a deebo jersey back in 2021 during his breakout season but how close was it that deebo was going to get traded that next offseason if the NYJ weren’t so crazy with their trade proposal which if i remember right was deebo and a 2nd for the #10 overall pick