Brock Purdy led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in just his second season in the NFL and is one win away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
He’ll have to take down the Kansas City Chiefs defense first, though, and go up against a team that thwarted 2023 MVP favorite Lamar Jackson in the AFC title game.
So while Purdy’s credentials as a quality quarterback have been questioned, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo refused to underestimate the young 49er.
“All [people] have to do is put the tape on,” Spagnuolo said, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “It’s not a quarterback that’s managing.”
#Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo on Brock Purdy: “All (people) have to do is put the tape on. It’s not a quarterback that’s managing.”
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 2, 2024
Purdy helped orchestrate the 49ers’ rise to the top of the NFC in an offense designed to be good with quality skill position players at every level.
That reality lent itself to criticism from across the football-watching world and created a narrative around Purdy as nothing more than a game manager.
But even if that’s true, Spagnuolo and the Chiefs don’t seem interested in feeding into that narrative by treating Purdy like a game manager.
Instead, it sounds as though they’ll throw everything they have at Purdy to keep him and the 49ers off the scoreboard in the biggest game of his career.
Whether or not they’re successful in stopping Purdy is all on the quarterback and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
This is a big game for Purdy who put to bed the concerns about his ability, while a bad defeat could only strengthen the calls for the 49ers to find a better and more experienced passer.
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