San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is coming off the worst game of his NFL career, as the second-year signal-caller threw four interceptions and posted a mere 42.6 passer rating in San Francisco’s Week 16 loss at home to the Baltimore Ravens.
Among the notable critics of Purdy? Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons. The star linebacker asserted in a series of posts on “X,” formerly known as “Twitter,” that Purdy not taking deep shots with the 49ers down 21 points was a knock on his ability. Meanwhile, two weeks ago, former NFL quarterback and 2015 MVP Cam Newton — who’s currently out of the sport — referenced Purdy, among other quarterbacks, as a “game manager” and presumably felt his opinion was confirmed by Purdy’s outing against Baltimore — which he expressed on Twitter.
49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel is sick of the Purdy slander, especially given who it’s coming from.
“First of all, Cam Newton, stop texting my phone bro. You was a fan like two weeks ago. That’s made crazy. You wanted me on your podcast after talking about my quarterback, which is funny to me,” Samuel said on Wednesday’s edition of “Up & Adams.” “But back to this Micah Parsons story, like bro, we beat you 42-10 a long time ago. I don’t get why he’s so bothered by what we got going on over here or whatever the case may be. I don’t understand you saying you can be a quarterback in this offense, I don’t understand where you’re going with that … and he’s lost two straight.”
San Francisco pummeled Dallas earlier in the year, 42-10, and eliminated the latter from the playoffs in 2021 and 2022.
Plot twist on the Newton front: Newton claimed later on Wednesday that he doesn’t have Samuel’s phone number.
The 49ers are 11-4, loosely maintaining the No. 1 seed in the NFC. On the whole, Purdy is putting together a campaign that has him at least in the running to be an MVP finalist. He has totaled 4,050 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions and an NFL-best 112.2 passer rating, while completing 68.8% of his passes. Purdy has also rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns.
All that said, Purdy’s impact on the 49ers’ success has been debated due to the abundance of star talent around him in Samuel, running back Christian McCaffrey — who has rushed for a league-high 1,385 yards this season — four-time Pro Bowler and tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk — who’s averaging a league-best 18.5 yards per reception.
As for Samuel, the wideout has totaled 53 receptions for 834 yards (15.7 yards per reception) and six touchdowns, while also rushing for 179 yards and five touchdowns. On the whole, San Francisco is averaging 265.7 passing yards (second in NFL), 138.7 rushing yards (fourth), 404.3 total yards (second) and 29.6 points (third) per game.
The 49ers have a road bout with the Washington Commanders (4-11) this coming Sunday (1 p.m. ET and can be viewed on FOX and the FOX Sports app) and then a home game against the Los Angeles Rams (8-7) to close out the regular season.
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