The play of the game, maybe of the season, the one that embodies why the San Francisco 49ers are still alive, why they can still end up just fine, was a sack.
Rookie running back Isaac Guerendo whiffed on the block of Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarvion Overshown coming off the edge. On Purdy’s blind side, giving Overshown a clean shot at the 49ers quarterback. It took him one second to get to Purdy, who had barely completed his drop before getting blasted.
This was supposed to be a turnover. Purdy was supposed to fumble the ball. If the Cowboys recovered it, they’d get the ball at about the 49ers’ 30-yard line with just over three minutes left in the game. They’d be set up for the winning touchdown to steal the game, break the 49ers’ hearts, and likely ruin their season.
But Purdy didn’t fumble. He took Overshown’s surprise hit and held on. Disaster was averted.
“He had Ricky (Pearsall) all wide open,” coach Kyle Shanahan said at the postgame podium, “but the guy on the line of scrimmage hit it so hard and (Purdy) couldn’t get it off. So it was really an unbelievable play by Brock, not fumbling.”
The 49ers punted. The defense stopped Dak Prescott and the Cowboys in the clutch. San Francisco won 30-24.
In the biggest game of the 49ers’ year, largely because of their wounds — self-inflicted and otherwise — Purdy was not an accessory to their greatness. He was an embodiment of their grit. And this play, the turnover he didn’t allow, was an illustration of the best of Purdy’s toughness.
The 49ers, once again, head into a bye week in need of a second-half surge. It’s reasonable, perhaps even probable, because their most important player is capable of being who they need him to be.
The 49ers could get healthy, find their stride and again overwhelm opponents with their talent. The remaining schedule doesn’t have much more give. Tough road games at Tampa Bay, Green Bay and Buffalo still remain. As do home games against good NFC teams in Chicago and Detroit. The “easy” games are the three remaining against division rivals, two of whom already beat the 49ers, and a cross-country trip to Miami.
This is going to take some moxy to get through this, win the NFC West, and make another playoff push. Getting back to the NFC Championship Game, which is shaping up to be on the road, looks daunting from this side of the bye week.
But Sunday was another example of the gamer that is Purdy, and he pulled it out when the 49ers needed it. To win at the level the 49ers need, so much rides on the quarterback. Where Jimmy Garoppolo couldn’t succeed — in the moments where all of the 49ers’ talent and scheme and depth weren’t enough — Purdy has the ability. But it’s a skill to be honed, a confidence to be groomed.
It showed up in a big way in the biggest game of the year against Dallas.
It wasn’t the gaudy performance he’s been known to put up during his meteoric rise. For sure, he was effective: 18-for-26 for 260 yards and a touchdown is a good day by any standard. And though it was well shy of the MVP stats of last season, his impact was even greater because it transcended the numbers.
And what’s better for the long-term health of this season and this franchise is knowing Purdy can win these types of games. He’ll only get better at them as he gains experience feeling those moments and juggling his instincts with his good-soldier disposition.
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Purdy started slow on Sunday, missed a couple of throws. Such is a normal part of a difficult game, but in this season, things have tended to spiral. But Purdy wasn’t having that. Not this night. Not against the Cowboys. Not with so much at stake.
“I was just being real with myself and knew that I had to be better,” Purdy told reporters after the game, speaking of his second-half mentality. “Especially for our team. Defense was doing a great job in that first half, and for us, I feel like we just stalled on third downs and a lot of that was on me. Went in at halftime, just talked about our plan for the second half and from my mindset, it was like, ‘I’ve got to get back to basics and just keep things simple in my mind and still playing with conviction but being aggressive and just trusting in my guys.’ And so, that was the mindset.”
If you ever want to know if Purdy understands the significance of the moment, and is putting the team on his back, look at how much he uses his legs.
Purdy running is when Purdy’s instincts are taking over. It’s when he decides he’s not allowing Shanahan’s play call or his teammates’ execution, or even his own reads, to be the end of the matter.
Whether he’s taking off in the pocket, relocating to get a better look, it’s all a sign of this dude’s will to win. It doesn’t look as ferocious as Fred Warner, or as brute as George Kittle, or as smooth as Deebo Samuel. But Purdy has it and the 49ers need it.
Purdy rushed for 57 yards on seven runs, discounting the knee he took at the end of the game. It’s not a coincidence that he didn’t start using his legs until late in the second quarter, when the 49ers were down 10-6 and desperately trying to score before the half.
He ran for 44 yards and three of his four first downs in the second half. And another run proved to be the game-winning touchdown — a 2-yard quarterback dive that stamped a 21-point third quarter.
Ope just gonna sneak right past ya.
📺 #DALvsSF on NBC
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/K107N1WgvD— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 28, 2024
“It just adds another tool,” Shanahan told reporters about Purdy’s running ability. “It’s really tough, the heat of battle, just with all those plays and situations that you get sometimes where if the guys aren’t opening things, that the play is over. Or just when someone misses in the pocket and someone gets there, it usually ends fast. But Brock’s got the quickness to get away from people, he’s got a kind of feel on when to hit it.”
He managed to light a fire under the 49ers’ offense, building a 17-point lead. Fittingly for this season, though, it wasn’t going to be a cruise from there. The 49ers did what they do now — blow a lead, transform comfort into anxiety. So they found themselves ahead by six, needing a score to put the game away. Which they couldn’t do against Los Angeles. Or against Arizona.
And then Guerendo missed a block, setting up what would have been the perfect punctuation to the first half of the 49ers season — a sack-fumble leading to a Cowboys touchdown and snatching defeat from the clutches of victory.
But Purdy held onto the ball.
(Top photo of Brock Purdy celebrating his third-quarter touchdown: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
