Brock Purdy reveals the secret behind Christian McCaffrey's biggest play on his 49ers return
There was a lot of frustration for Christian McCaffrey on his long-awaited return from the bilateral Achilles tendinitis that cost him the first eight games of the season. McCaffrey, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, was largely bottled up on the ground, rushing for just 39 yards in the San Francisco 49ers' dramatic 23-20 […]
There was a lot of frustration for Christian McCaffrey on his long-awaited return from the bilateral Achilles tendinitis that cost him the first eight games of the season.
McCaffrey, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year, was largely bottled up on the ground, rushing for just 39 yards in the San Francisco 49ers' dramatic 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose stout run defense held up very well.
However, he was a huge asset for quarterback Brock Purdy in the passing game, providing the 49ers quarterback with a checkdown outlet out of the backfield he had sorely missed in his absence.
Targets to McCaffrey had an extraordinary success rate of 86 percent, per rbsdm.com, and no passing play involving him was more successful than the beautiful blitz beater down the right sideline from Purdy in the fourth quarter.
It came with the 49ers on their own 47-yard line looking to retake the lead after falling behind 17-13. The Buccaneers sent a five-man pressure, with defensive lineman William Gholston coming free up the middle. Purdy, seeing Gholston bearing down on him, arced a beautiful ball high into the air off his backfoot well before McCaffrey had reached the point in his route where he would start looking for the ball.
The trajectory on the ball allowed McCaffrey to track it perfectly into his grasp, creating a 30-yard gain and putting the 49ers in position to eventually end the drive with a similarly spectacular touchdown pass to George Kittle.
Asked about that play in his Thursday press conference ahead of Sunday's Week 11 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, Purdy made it clear that its success was a product of attention to detail.
Said Purdy:
"We've ran that route so many times from camp to games in the past and obviously it just goes to a testament to his detail. I know where he's gonna be because every time he runs it at practice on air against a defender, he gives me an indicator. There's subtle movements because he does it constantly. And so for me in that moment, it was just all about trust because I knew where he was supposed to be and how he runs the route. And that's the kind of guy he is. So he has set those kinds of plays up for me. So if it is off schedule or anything, I know where he's supposed to be. And so that's just the chemistry and trust that we've built and hopefully we can continue to have that going forward."
While the run game struggled, there was no sign of any drop-off in chemistry between Purdy and McCaffrey, with that play illustrating that their rapport is just as strong as ever following the latter's long lay-off.
With the 49ers facing an unexpected dogfight to win their division following an unconvincing first half of the season, they will likely need Purdy and McCaffrey to continue to reap the rewards of their understanding if they are to be in a position to have another shot at the ultimate goal in the postseason.
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