By Greg Fuchs
OK. Raise your hand if you had ever heard of Brock Purdy before
Sunday’s 49ers/Dolphins’ game. If your hand is up, give yourself a pat
on the back as you would be in the minority.
If you had heard of Purdy, it was likely only because the Iowa St.
quarterback was the very last pick in the 2022 NFL draft. Otherwise
know as Mr. Irrelevant!
Purdy was anything but irrelevant in Sunday’s match between San
Francisco and Miami. He took over on the 49ers 2 nd drive after starting
QB Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot.
The Dolphins scored on the 1 st play of the game as quarterback Tua
Tagovailoa hit Trent Sherfield on a 75-yard pass play over middle. On
the ensuing 49ers drive Garoppolo led the team on a 9-play drive that
resulted in a field goal, with JimmyG injuring his foot on the last play of
the drive.
To reset the picture, 4 minutes and 18 seconds into the game, Miami
had scored a touchdown on its only offensive play and San Francisco
had lost its starting QB for the game (and for the season as it would
turn out).
And Miami coasts to victory, right?
Uh, not so fast. Enter Mr. Irrelevant or should I say Mr. Relevant.
For a rookie quarterback with only a handful of NFL passes under his
belt, Purdy seemed very relaxed and comfortable with the playbook.
And it was reflected in his performance. Mr. Relevant went 25-37 for
210 yards with 2 touchdown passes and 1 interception leading the
49ers to a 33-17 victory.
He led a 49ers offense that controlled the clock for 40:34 vs. just 19:26
for Miami. The Dolphins offense had their share of problems on Sunday
against the 49ers elite defense, but their biggest challenge was they
were rarely on the field. It’s tough to score when the other team always
has the ball. Part of the time of possession discrepancy did have to do
with Miami’s 2 touchdown drives only encompassing 5 plays and 1:56
as a result of the 75 yard and 45-yard scoring plays.
But you need to give Purdy his share of the credit as San Francisco had
5 scoring drives (2 touchdowns and 3 field goals) of 9 plays or more that
consumed the clock. The 49ers ran 79 plays versus only 45 for the Fins.
But as well as Purdy played, the 49ers defense and the Dolphins lack of
offensive execution had a lot to do with Miami’s foibles on the day.
Tua, the NFL’s most accurate passer, had an off day as he missed
several open receivers; often missing them high. Was it just an off day
by Tua? Was it a case of big game jitters? Or did the 49ers pass rush
give him the yips?
It was probably a bit of all 3, but Tua admitted after the game that it
was tough to look for receivers down field and keep an eye on the
49ers pass rush. Miami was playing without starting tackles Terron
Armstead and Austin Jackson and although it wasn’t a game long jail
break by the San Francisco D-line led by Nick Bosa, they more than
made their presence felt. Tua had 2 interceptions on the day plus he
had a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.
All tolled Miami had 10 drives of 4 plays or less, which led to the
massive time of possession difference. Credit to the 49ers defense to
be sure, but Tua has to accept a lot of the blame with his accuracy
issues.
Other key takeaways from the game were:
- Although Tua passed for 295 yards, he was only 18-33 (55%) with
2 touchdown passes to go with his 2 interceptions and 1 fumble. - Tyreek Hill was pretty much the Dolphins offense as he caught 9
passes for 146 yards including a 45-yard TD catch. - Miami rushed for 4.1 yards per carry. Unfortunately they only ran
the ball 8 times for 33 yards. - Jaylen Waddle only had 1 catch for 9 yards as he battled a leg
injury most of the game playing only 6 snaps in the 2 nd half. The
injury isn’t supposed to be serious, but missing half of the
dynamic duo didn’t help Miami’s chances on Sunday. - 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey totaled 146 yards with
most of the damage coming in the pass game as he caught 8 balls
for 80 yards. Miami’s defense held him to 66 yards rushing on 17
carries: 3.9 yards per carry.
Miami’s record fell to 8-4 with another challenging road game on
tap in week 14 vs. the LA Chargers. Hopefully the Dolphins
learned a few things from their loss to San Francisco, but more
importantly let’s hope week 14 brings better health to Armstead,
Jackson, and Waddle. Another loss would drop them to 8-5 with a
game in Buffalo looming in week 15.
We will learn a lot about the 2022 Dolphins over the next 2
weeks.
