Brock Purdy produced his worst game of the season on Sunday as the San Francisco 49ers surrendered a 13-point lead against the Arizona Cardinals to succumb to a 24-23 defeat
Purdy struggled to execute in the red zone, the 49ers going one for six inside the 20, was intercepted twice and committed an egregious error in the third quarter when taking a nine-yard sack that knocked San Francisco out of field goal range for punter Mitch Wishnowsky with kicker Jake Moody out through injury.
One positive for Purdy, however, was a revitalized connection with All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Aiyuk had taken something of a backseat to Jauan Jennings across the first four games of the season after signing a four-year, $120 million extension with San Francisco at the end of a long contract impasse.
Indeed, Aiyuk’s high for receiving yards over the opening four weeks was 48 yards. On Sunday, it ballooned to 147, with a career-high 115 coming in the first half.
Aiyuk averaged 18.4 yards per reception and 3.87 yards per route run, per Pro Football Focus, with six of his eight catches going for first downs. Targets to Aiyuk averaged 0.82 Expected Points Added per play, the 2020 first-round pick displaying a return to the efficiency and reliability in creating big plays through his route-running ability that saw him named second-team All-Pro last year.
“I haven’t watched myself, but definitely felt better for myself today,” Aiyuk said about his performance in a concise postgame answer.
Purdy gave longer response on the topic, but made it clear there was no secret sauce behind Aiyuk’s best performance of the season, simply a reliance on the tools that have turned him into one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.
“He was just doing his thing. He wasn’t trying to do anything too out of the ordinary,” Purdy told a press conference.
“We just had some good plays and matchups dialed up for him. I thought he did a great job of getting in and out of cuts and obviously catching the ball, making plays.
‘It went his way today. So he’s been doing that I think all season long. It’s tough when the ball doesn’t go your way and defenses do some things differently. But he had some really good matchups today and we took advantage of it.”
The reminder of how effective Purdy’s rapport with Aiyuk can be served as some comfort on a chastening day for the 49ers. Now, it’s up to that duo to maintain it in a critical stretch of games that could save or sink San Francisco’s season.