SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The throw of the night in the galactic return of Aaron Rodgers, on this Monday night affair at Levi’s Stadium, was nothing short of spectacular. From the left hashmark, at about the 23-yard line, to the back of the end zone, right pylon.
It was money. A talent flex of a throw. Teasingly out of the reach of the defensive back. Tactfully dropped into a spot so perfect a T-Rex could’ve caught it.
But Brandon Aiyuk didn’t.
“It was a dime,” Aiyuk said.
And so Brock Purdy’s highlight throw, one that would’ve changed the tenor of his evening, wound up padding kicker Jake Moody’s stats.
This is no pity party for Purdy. Not for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who is more embedded with talent than any other in the league. But the season-opening 32-19 win over the New York Jets — powered by the run game, with Jordan Mason as the battering ram, and a defense that left Rodgers’ Jets retreating to the darkness — featured an encouraging version of Purdy.
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He didn’t have his Avengers for this one. Christian McCaffrey was a late scratch. If you’ve watched the 49ers at all the last two years, you know playing without him must’ve felt precarious.
“Yeah, Christian does a lot,” Purdy said. “I think, in the pass game, dropping back and either going to him as a first option or knowing that he’s my last option and there’s a really good chance that he’s open.”
The other guy he usually relies on getting open was playing. But Aiyuk, the team’s truest receiver and favorite target of Purdy, clearly wasn’t himself after missing all of camp in a contract holdout. Neither was Trent Williams, who also missed camp in a holdout and wound up needing an IV midgame. He felt the effects of not playing football for months and stepping right into action. Not that he shared those effects with Purdy.
“I’m definitely not gon’ scare him like that,” Williams said with a smile.
Truth is, Purdy didn’t look scared at all. And we’ve seen him rattled before. His offensive line had some struggles and rust. And Purdy didn’t have all his weapons clicking. He was facing a unit touted as one of the best in the league, led by the all-world defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. And this was Rodgers’ much-anticipated debut after rupturing his Achilles four snaps into last season’s opener. Also known as the Jets’ Super Bowl. Yeah, this game was set up for Purdy’s demise.
And while he didn’t blow the doors off anyone — 19-for-29 passing, 231 yards — he certainly was the best quarterback on the field. While the run game anchored the attack, a luxury Rodgers certainly could’ve used, Purdy was adept at playing off it.
“He seemed very good,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “There were not many plays that he left out there. I thought he made some big-time plays. There towards the end, got a little conservative, just felt that we had the game and wanted to focus on winning the game, so we didn’t have him do a lot there at the end. He was very smart with the ball and made sure that there was no chance for them to get back in the game.”
He looked like a third-year quarterback who’s been in some big games. He looked like the intangibles his teammates have lauded weren’t just narrative-subverting hyperbole.
In this pivotal year for him, and with the daunting task of getting back to the Super Bowl before the team, the reputed poise of Purdy will be even more vital. He must produce on the field, for sure. But also with his presence in the locker room, in the huddle, in the rough patches of the season.
This was the first of many games where the 49ers might be vulnerable. They are clearly a Super Bowl contender, still so loaded as to have a legitimate shot at getting back to the big dance. But getting back is hard.
And this journey has begun with a heavy amount of drama, with contract holdouts and a rookie nearly being killed. It’s a window into the prevalence of distraction and the difficulty of remaining singularly focused.
While the 49ers have veterans up and down the roster, it matters when the quarterback leads. And Purdy, who’s now played in a Super Bowl and has been aged by heartbreak, is needed to do more than just lean on his vets. He is a vet.
Monday was one of those workman-like veteran displays. A get-the-job-done performance.
Purdy missed his first five passes and went 2-for-6 for 20 yards as the 49ers’ offense sputtered in its first three possessions. He missed a couple of throws, looked a bit anxious behind an offensive line finding its footing with a completely new right side (and tackle Colton McKivitz under attack).
“The thing about Brock to me today that stood out, he always had my back,” rookie right guard Dominick Puni said. “(Coming to me) on the sidelines like, ‘This how we do it, Puni! Keep it going, Puni!’ I’m a rookie. He didn’t have to go out of his way. That’s just the type of guy he is. … His maturity at a young age is through the roof.”
The 49ers scoring on eight straight drives but only two touchdowns shows just how much meat they left on the Jets’ bones. This could’ve been a slaughter. But they aren’t fully there yet, as could be expected. Until they get there, they’ll need the steadying Purdy displayed on Monday. They’ll also need his perfectionism complex so they aren’t relying so heavily on their kicker.
“I’m happy for Moody,” Purdy said. “But yeah, for us as an offense, it’s like, we want to score touchdowns. We’re hard on ourselves about, I think it was like a third-and-8 or third-and-10 and coming up short. There’s areas where we want to push each other and get a little better and that starts with me.”
Purdy was better than his stat line against the Jets. His stats don’t matter, though. His name being mentioned in the MVP race doesn’t matter. Getting the respect he deserves as a top-tier quarterback doesn’t matter. What matters is getting back to the Super Bowl. And he’ll need to be great when they get there, and at times along the way.
But they’ll also need him to be good when things aren’t great. Just like he was against the Jets.
(Top photo of Brock Purdy running off the field after Monday’s win: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
