Prior to what has been a disappointing season for him and the San Francisco 49ers, few defenses had found a way to slow down Brock Purdy. Still, even after authoring an outstanding 2023 season, there were questions about Purdy’s ability to thrive amid adversity.
Purdy demonstrated that he could play from behind during the 49ers’ run to the Super Bowl, which included second-half comebacks against the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
Despite the fightback in the Divisional Round game with the Packers coming amid inclement weather, doubts over Purdy’s proficiency in the rain have persisted, and will only have grown after his performance in wet conditions in last week’s defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.
Purdy went 14 of 31 for 142 yards and a critical interception and a rating of 45.4 as the 49ers’ playoff hopes all but evaporated.
He was guilty of a bad miss to an open Ricky Pearsall that preceded Purdy’s interception on a potential game-winning drive. And, as an offseason in which he will reportedly ask for top of market money in contract extension talks with the Niners looms increasingly large on the horizon, it was no surprise he was asked about arguably the biggest knock against him in his press conference ahead of Sunday’s matchup with the Miami Dolphins.
“I think any person that’s throwing an object in the rain, it makes it wet, the grip isn’t as good. I think for me it’s been more about learning how to change the motion a little bit and throw differently in the rain,” Purdy said.
“You can’t just get back there and be as violent as you normally are and the ball can come out and all that kind of stuff. So, it’s like, it comes down to sort of learning how to handle those kinds of environments and finding a way to complete the ball, move the chains, stay on the field, put up points, those are all things that you’ve sort of just got to learn as you go.
“And so, for me and if I see bad weather for a possibility in a game, I don’t freak out or anything. It’s just like, all right, how can I be better and learn from games that I’ve played in those kind of situations or environments. So that’s how I look at it and for me I can play in it.”
In Purdy’s defense, his numbers from games in which the weather was rain at kickoff are better than talk of his issues in such conditions would have you believe.
He was four for four in the NFC Championship Game at the end of the 2022 season against the Philadelphia Eagles before suffering an elbow injury. He ended the playoff win over the Packers with 252 yards, a touchdown and a respectable rating of 86.7, and it has been forgotten that Purdy and the 49ers eviscerated the Seattle Seahawks in the Wild Card Round of the 2022 season in the rain.
In that game, Purdy threw for 332 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 131.5.
It is still a limited sample size, and the mixed results from his four official games in the rain indicate the narrative around Purdy’s problems with the rain is a tad overblown, even if he would have hoped to perform to a much higher standard against the Rams.
But with that game just a couple of weeks removed from Purdy producing an understandably below par performance in the snow in Buffalo, one magnified by Josh Allen’s heroics in the same conditions, it is a narrative that may stick for a while.
The 49ers face a rematch with the Lions either side of the game with the Dolphins and the regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals. Unless the Lions game is subject to a downpour, then Purdy will have to wait until next season to respond to lingering concerns about his talent in wet weather.
