Social media had something to say after 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy threw three interceptions Monday in the team’s first padded practice and then threw four a day later.
Purdy had something to say about stat-tracking that some media and fans do at open practices.
“It’s a fine line,” Purdy said on KNBR, via 49erswebzone.com. “You want to go out. You want to be efficient. You want to go through reads and obviously protect the ball and whatnot. But right now is the time for us to go out and—you always hear the quarterback say experiment—but that’s really what it is. Can I fit it in this window on this hitch? Can I look off Fred [Warner] or [Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles[ or [De’Vondre Campbell] in a certain way and then make that throw backside? You’ve got to try it out.
“In the game and in the season, it comes down to protecting the ball every snap, every play, so you can’t necessarily try those things out. Right now, we can, and so my mindset right now is protect the ball, but let’s be aggressive. Let’s try this out. Let’s figure it out. And so, obviously, I want to go through my reads, check the ball down, and work on that as well because that’s real, that’s football. But there’s a time and a place where I’m like, ‘Hey, you know what? This is practice, and I’m going to drop back and try this out.’ And then you figure out [whether] it could be a part of your game or not for the season.”
Purdy is right: This is the time quarterbacks should be working on things, figuring out what does and doesn’t work, testing their limits. He threw only four interceptions in nine game appearances as a rookie 11 last season.
Purdy knows how to protect the football when it’s time to protect the football.
Now isn’t the time.
