Steve Young's admiration for Brock Purdy remains undeterred despite the San Francisco 49ers' recent two-game skid. With a storied career as a Hall of Fame quarterback, Young's insights on NFL signal-callers carry weight.
Young remains in Purdy's corner and isn't going to let back-to-back losses sway his opinion of the second-year quarterback. Until a couple of weeks ago, Purdy boasted an unblemished regular-season record as a starter. Now, with two losses on his NFL resume, some are questioning the 23-year-old's place in the league's quarterback hierarchy.
"Sometimes you have to just step back and say, 'This kid's not even played a whole season of games,'" Young told KNBR's Tom Tolbert on Thursday. "And he's showing up every week and playing really well. Just think about just efficiency. And the mistakes ... it's not a four-interception game. It's not like it's a disaster."
Purdy had his first multi-interception game on Monday night, throwing two picks in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings. However, quarterback play wasn't the sole factor in the 49ers' loss. There is enough blame to go around, from a poor defensive play call in the closing seconds of the first half to the lack of a pass rush. More on that in a minute.
In addition to the interceptions, Purdy finished the game 21 of 30 passing for 272 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 81.5. Young suggests that at least one of the interceptions resulted from poor timing with his receiver.
"The Jennings ball ... there's a timing thing," Young explained. "One thing about Brock: Brock does not wait. The ball is coming. And I love the ... I always say, 'anticipatory throwing.' The ball is coming out, and the guy hasn't broken yet. So every once in a while, when you're not on the same page and you don't get the break when you thought, you end up throwing it right to the safety."
Young added, "Whether Jauan was late or whether it was he went an extra step or something, you can say, when the ball came out, he thought he would meet the ball, and it didn't happen."
On the other side of the football, Young voiced his concerns about the lack of a pass rush. The 49ers have invested substantial resources into their defensive line, from draft capital to money, and in the case of defensive end Nick Bosa, both. The team even added Javon Hargrave, signing the defensive tackle to a lucrative contract this offseason.
Despite these efforts, the 49ers' defense is tied for 18th in the NFL with only 15 total sacks despite ranking eighth in quarterback pressures per dropback (26.1 percent).
What really troubles Young is that Kirk Cousins, typically viewed as a stationary target, was largely uncontested on Monday night while he dismantled what was supposed to be the strength of the 49ers, their defense. Cousins threw for a season-high 378 passing yards.
Recognizing the abundance of talent on the defensive front, Young is concerned that if the unit doesn't rank among the top three, it could spell trouble for the 49ers.
Young said, "And if the front is not going to kind of dominate like they did in '19, like they did last year, if they're not going to dominate every football game, which is kind of what they did, then we're in for this. ... Big picture, we're not getting the quarterback."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.