SANTA CLARA — For Brock Purdy’s next heroic feat, he must overcome “being banged up” to win at the NFL’s ultimate amphitheater in Seattle, a historically cruel place for 49ers quarterbacks.
“This is probably the most hostile environment you could probably play in, either (Seattle) or Arrowhead (in Kansas City),” Purdy said Tuesday. “I’m excited for it. All these guys have played here a bunch of times, so I’m just hearing them out, what’s good and what’s not in terms of communication and operation.
“We’ll be ready to roll for it.”
Will he, though?
Purdy, because of oblique and rib injuries in winning his first start Sunday, will be a game-time decision Thursday night when the 49ers play at the Seahawks’ Lumen Field, coach Kyle Shanahan said before Tuesday’s practice.
A day after winning his first start 35-7 over Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, Purdy reported to the 49ers’ training room Monday feeling “just sore” but “it wasn’t excruciating pain.” Come Tuesday, he gaged his overall health as “pretty good,” with no problems jogging or doing movements in the team’s therapy pool.
Tuesday evening’s practice at Levi’s Stadium was to be the first time he’d thrown passes since Sunday, when he passed for 185 yards and two touchdowns (his first-half totals); he was 2-of-3 for no yards after halftime.
“It’ll be Thursday when it’s the best chance to be known,” Shanahan said of Purdy’s status. “It’s just, ‘Can he play with it?’ If he plays, he won’t be able to make it worse.”
If Purdy can not play, Josh Johnson would become the 49ers’ fourth starting quarterback this season, and, either way, Shanahan will have a fourth different quarterback in his six seasons coaching at Seattle.
“I’ve never been anywhere louder,” Shanahan said. “I know how the fans are and how the stadium is. You can’t expect to hear not just at the line of scrimmage but in the huddle, at times. It’s a big difference playing there.”
Offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said one difference is how the silent count making snaps a hair slower. Well, that and helmet echoes.
“The loudest it ever was obviously was ’19 when we both were playing for the division,” McGlinchey recalled of the 2019 finale the 49ers won 26-21. “There were certain third downs you sit in your stance and there’s a ringing in your ears, because it’s echoing through your helmet. It’s intense up there, for sure.”
The 49ers are 5-16 since that pseudo-opera house opened downtown in 2002. Heck, that’s only one more win than that venue has had names (Seahawks Stadium, Qwest Field, CenturyLink, Lumen).
These 49ers (9-4) enter on a six-game win streak, and a victory would clinch the NFC West, just as their 2019 visit produced. The fading Seahawks (7-6) have lost three of their past four.
“We’re definitely expecting an all-out war, probably similar to ’19,” Nick Bosa said, “Just really big stakes and two teams that know each other really well and don’t particularly like each other. Yeah, it should be fun.”
Purdy sees this quick turnaround as a rite of passage.
“A lof of the guys have said, ‘Welcome to the NFL,’ in terms of getting banged up a little bit, being ready to roll in four days, having to learn another (game plan) install, learning new plays, getting guys going around you,” Purdy said. “This is the best of the best and I look at it as a challenge that I can prove to myself I belong here, I can play here and I can do all these things, the challenges of being banged up and having to go out and perform, especially at a crucial part in the season, where it’s going to take what it takes.
“There’s no regrets I want to have down the road. I want to make sure I give everything I have right now.”
A win also would give Purdy as many as any other 49ers quarterback who’s ever started there: Jeff Garcia (1-1), Ken Dorsey (0-1), Alex Smith (1-5), J.T. O’Sullivan (1-0), Colin Kaepernick (0-4), Blaine Gabbert (0-2), Brian Hoyer (0-1), Nick Mullens (0-1) and Jimmy Garoppolo (1-2).
Those quarterbacks have combined to throw 14 touchdown passes in the 21 games — against 24 turnovers, with 14 interceptions and seven lost fumbles — at Seattle since it became NFC West in 2002. Smith and Mullens lost there as rookies, each with an interception in the process.
“That will be different and more hostile than he’s probably played in, even in college,” Richard Sherman, a former cornerback for the Seahawks and 49ers, said on a Tuesday media call, as part of Amazon Prime’s broadcast team. “That (Seattle noise) will have an effect on him. But he’s a playmaker. Everybody has to go through it. I’m sure he’ll find a way to manage.”
This will be Seattle’s 161st consecutive sellout crowd, dating to 2013. As loud and ground-shaking as it surely will be, the 68,000-plus fans won’t be the largest contingent Purdy’s encountered.
The most daunting environment he said he’s played in was at the University of Oklahoma as an Iowa State sophomore, when, in 2019, he threw five touchdown passes but still lost 42-41 before 83,541 fans “that were breathing down our necks.” He emerged as a freshman to win in relief before 52,995 at Oklahoma State, then struggled before 102,498 at Texas, where his 130 yards were the fewest of his four-year career.
Purdy won’t be the only newcomer to Seattle’s noise. As impressive as they’ve been this season, the 49ers’ interior linemen – center Jake Brendel and guards Aaron Banks and Spencer Burford — have yet to line up for silent snap counts in Seattle.
The 49ers won their home opener 27-7 against Seattle three months ago, overcoming Trey Lance’s first-quarter ankle fracture and inserting Garoppolo back into his old job, which he thrived in until a foot fracture prompted the 49ers to turn to Purdy for wins over Miami (33-17) and Tampa Bay (35-7).
Johnson is 1-8 all-time as a starter in a 15-year career as an NFL journeyman. He’s never played in Seattle, either, but he’s been there three times as a backup, including when the 49ers fell in a December 2014 visit. Last season, the 49ers won their final 7-of-9 games to make the playoffs, but they lost a Dec. 5 visit to Seattle, a 30-23 defeat in which Garoppolo and the offense got shut out after holding a 23-21 halftime lead.
The Seahawks have won 14 of the last 17 meetings. They’re 10-2 on Thursday nights and 23-5 at home in prime-time kickoffs since 2010 under Pete Carroll.
HEALTH CENTER
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s sprained left knee and ankle will shelve him for three weeks, Shanahan said of the projected timeline. That would allow Samuel to return before the regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals, though that outcome could be moot by then for the 49ers’ playoff path.
Samuel was not slated to practice Tuesday, nor were Garoppolo, defensive tackles Hassan Ridgeway (pectoral) and Kevin Givens (knee), cornerback Sam Womack III (concussion protocol) and safety Tarvarius Moore (knee).
Running back Christian McCaffrey (knee), cornerback Ambry Thomas (ankle) and defensive linemen Arik Armstead (foot, ankle) and Kerry Hyder Jr. (ankle) were to be limited.
DEFENSIVE LINE HELP
In the wake of Givens’ knee sprain, the 49ers added to their defensive line depth by signing Mike Dwumfour to the practice squad. Cornerback Dontae Johnson, in a corresponding roster move, went on injured reserve with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Dwumfour, a Michigan product, appeared in 10 games since 2021 with the Houston Texans, who waived him last week.
Source: www.mercurynews.com