Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer January 24, 2024, 10:43 p.m. ET
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- Nick Waggoner is an NFL reporter for ESPN. Nick has been covering the San Francisco 49ers and the NFL at ESPN since 2016, after previously covering the St. Louis Rams for 12 years, including three years (2013-2015) at ESPN. In his 10 years with the company, Nick led ESPN's coverage of the Niners' 2019 Super Bowl run, the Colin Kaepernick protest, the Rams making Michael Sam the first openly gay player drafted in the NFL , Sam's subsequent quest for a squad spot and the team relocation and stadium saga. You can follow Nick on Twitter @nwagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy came back and watched his performance in Saturday night's playoff win over the Green Bay Packers, he wanted to understand why he was struggling. However, he did not want to elaborate.
With the Detroit Lions coming to town for a showdown in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, Purdy isn't too worried about what happened in the recent – or distant – past.
“It doesn’t matter if you played well or bad, I don’t really take anything from it into next week,” Purdy said. “It's a new game. It's a new scheme. It's a new environment. Everything about it is new. It's almost like you have to clear the slate, learn from your mistakes and build on the good things you've done.” … I think that's where the greats really stand out from the rest.”
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This week, Purdy is preparing for his second start in the NFC Championship Game. He does this following a rained-out performance against the Packers in which he struggled for most of the game before scoring his first winning touchdown drive of the season in the fourth quarter.
Purdy said Wednesday that he made some decisions early in the game that made him a little hesitant as the game progressed. Most notably, his second pass was thrown directly to Packers safety Darnell Savage. Savage didn't make it, however, and the Niners avoided an interception that could have led to a touchdown.
The takeaway for Purdy going forward is to be more intentional about executing checkdowns when the big game isn't here yet. He admitted Wednesday that he probably looked for the big play too often against Green Bay.
“I wouldn’t put it all on Brock,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Brock did some really good things and without him it would have been impossible to win the game.”
In fact, it wasn't until the Niners' winning streak that things clicked for Purdy. Despite an erratic performance in the rain in the first three quarters, Purdy finished 6 of 7 for 47 yards and had two runs for 11 yards to set up running back Christian McCaffrey's game-winning 6-yard touchdown run.
“I have to get better at that,” Purdy said. “I had to do that at the end of the game. I feel like we've gotten to this point. I started doing this better. We were able to move the ball. So that’s something I learned for sure.”
Purdy's late-game surge wasn't enough to escape another wave of criticism that lashed out at him. Still, the Niners are supporting their starting quarterback, as they have been doing all season.
“I don’t really talk about or focus on his critics,” receiver Brandon Aiyuk said. “I love playing football with him and he is the reason I sit here today and feel like I have the opportunity to play my best football because of a quarterback like him.”
For Purdy, this week is something of a mulligan for the most difficult day of his young career. In last year's NFC Championship Game, Purdy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right (throwing) elbow in the first quarter of a 31-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The injury knocked Purdy out of the game and combined with quarterback Josh Johnson's concussion, the 49ers were without a healthy quarterback for most of the game. Purdy had elbow surgery in March and returned to training camp before the start of the first 16 games of the season. He was a healthy backup player in Week 18 as the Niners had already secured the NFC's No. 1 seed.
Now Purdy and the Niners are back on the NFC title game stage for the third time in as many years and fourth time in the last five seasons. According to Purdy, breaking through to the Super Bowl after losing the last two NFC Championships is more important than trying to make up for last year's poor performance.
“This is obviously where we wanted to be as a team,” Purdy said. “Of course I’m happy that we’re here. Last year is last year. That was its own game. There was nothing that went into this year or this game. It's the 49ers vs. the Lions now.” ..I don't think about last year or anything…Obviously I got hurt last year and it sucked. That was part of the game. Going into this game I'm healthy and feeling good. I think for all of us, for us, “We're obviously hungry and want to get to the next game. We have to take care of business, take it one game at a time and allow everything to happen for a reason.”