Why 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy took so many deep shots against the Patriots

The San Francisco 49ers earned a commanding 30-13 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday, improving their season record to 2-2 and remaining undefeated at home.

This game had a much different tone than the 49ers' Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, as San Francisco thrived on both sides of the ball and had a strong all-around performance.

One change over the weekend appeared to be the number of deep throws the 49ers offered, as Brock Purdy averaged 10.7 yards per attempt and a whopping 19.2 yards per completion on the day, en route to the win , who rushed for 288 yards.

Purdy had five passes of more than 20 yards (one was called back due to a penalty) while hitting all three of his top receivers on deep balls during a successful day in the air for the 49ers. Overall, he averaged 14.5 intended air yards per pass, easily leading the NFL in Week 4.

While the efficiency (15/27 passes) may not have been that high on the day, it was clear that San Francisco prioritized downfield attack in the 30-13 win and ended up with five shots on goal on offense.

What led to the number of deep shots Purdy took that day?

“We caught them a couple times in the quarter on both plays and their safeties were tight and that's where the ball has to go,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of the deep throws to Jennings and Samuel. “And Brock (Purdy) made two good throws and both guys handled the game. Had a third chance that was incomplete and Corner did a good job staying on top. But I think it was compared to the same coverage.”

Purdy had a similar message, pointing out that New England's man-heavy coverage gave San Francisco the look they wanted to be aggressive.

“That's the case every game because when they provide some coverage, we have a shot or an opportunity ready and we just have to convert it and take advantage of it,” Purdy said. “And so there were a couple plays in that game where their safeties were low and we had guys going deep with Deebo (Samuel Sr.) and JJ (Jauan Jennings).”

“I was talking about it on the sideline and I was kind of aggressive when I saw that, let it come to me and trusted the guys to come through and make plays, and that's exactly what they did.”It was nice to be able to connect on those deeper routes and things like that, get that on tape and give us all some confidence moving forward with the deep ball.”

Now not everything was positive, as Purdy had an interception on a deep ball intended for Brandon Aiyuk, where he was late with the read after a failed coverage that the quarterback confirmed after the play.

“Interception, BA (Brandon Aiyuk) in the middle of the field. I saw it early and then went to walk him, but I didn’t see Jabrill Peppers,” Purdy said. “He kind of fell down and got it. So it's something I have to push forward in my progress and not be greedy. I think I reached out to him two or three times, which is just not good as a quarterback. You go through your progress based on your problems and read with your feet, and I got greedy on this one. I saw him in the middle and Jabrill made a good play.”

Still, there were a lot of positives that day: Purdy used his aggressiveness to hit the ball on several big throws.

Those downfield shots over the top have become more important as teams begin to take away many of the intermediate throws that San Francisco thrived on early in the Shanahan regime. So it's up to the quarterback to recognize the right values ​​while maintaining aggressiveness.

“I feel like we've kind of been known for that the last couple of seasons, but people have outspoken us and they're doing a good job of just applying pressure and taking away certain routes,” Purdy said after the game. “It’s a good opportunity for us to adapt and also work on different things. Every team is different. They're a new challenge and so on, but there's been a lot about men this week. They did a good job of directing everything back to the middle of the field. They did a good job with that.”

While the 49ers overall need to be better at putting the ball in the end zone, Purdy has started the season strong statistically, as he leads the NFL in passing yards (1,130) while completing 68.9 percent of his passes and one Averaged 9.3 yards per attempt.

He'll continue to look to be aggressive in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals, who just gave up 42 points to the Washington Commanders, while the 49ers look to pick up their first conference win of the year next weekend.