Brock Purdy's opening touchdown pass vs. Jaguars had Kyle Shanahan shaking his head
The San Francisco 49ers made a red hot start to their Week 10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and never looked back, but head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn't exactly thrilled with the manner in which they got things going on offense. After forcing Jacksonville into a quick three-and-out, the 49ers went 57 yards in four […]
The San Francisco 49ers made a red hot start to their Week 10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars and never looked back, but head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn't exactly thrilled with the manner in which they got things going on offense.
After forcing Jacksonville into a quick three-and-out, the 49ers went 57 yards in four plays, but the final one of the drive left Shanahan shaking his head.
On first down from the Jacksonville 13-yard line, Purdy rolled to his left on a quarterback bootleg, but finding primary receiver George Kittle covered, he threw the ball back across his body into double coverage, with Brandon Aiyuk saving his skin by leaping above the defender for the touchdown.
Asked if that was a 'no, no, yes' play, Shanahan shook his head and responded: "That was honestly one of, I can say this because he played well, that was one of his worst decisions he's made since he's been here.
"It took me a while to get over it, I thanked him for the touchdown.
"That was not a good decision. He was fortunate with it, he made a lot of really good plays and if you are going to make a bad decision and it's still a touchdown, in the grand scheme of things he can tell me it was a really good decision. He knows what he did wrong but Aiyuk made him right."
Purdy had thrown six turnovers over the course of the 49ers' three-game losing streak but played a clean game in Jacksonville, completing 19 of 26 pass attempts for 296 and three touchdowns.
Shanahan, for as much as he was irritated by the first touchdown throw, clearly felt criticism of Purdy for his displays during the skid was overblown.
"I think he's been playing the same way all this time," added Shanahan.
"I know he's had some turnovers in our losses but you ask anyone whose watched all those games, he was one of the best players in the field in those games, you're always responsible for those turnovers but you're not sitting there saying he's making too many bad decisions.
"That [the first TD] was one definitely, it's going to happen with guys but I love having a guy who is trying to make the right decisions, letting it rip and he'll live with the consequences and try to get better when it's not."
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A difficult one to buy.
