On Thursday night the San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-13 on the road, to win the NFC West.
It answered a question that many wondered. Can rookie quarterback Brock Purdy perform well in a hostile environment? When he took over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo against the Miami Dolphins and started his first against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that was at home. Seattle though is arguably one of the loudest and most difficult environments to win on the road in.
Making it even more difficult was that Purdy was not 100 percent with a rib and oblique injury. This showed in the first half against the Seahawks as Purdy seemed to have a hard time throwing the football past 10 yards. With that being said he made some pretty impressive plays including on the 49ers first touchdown of the game, a double pump fake to find a wide open George Kittle.
Still what is impressive about Purdy, is that he never seems rattled. He seems cool, calmed, and collected and he is able to make the plays he needs to. Case in point late in the fourth quarter on a third and one with a little under three minutes left in the game, he picked up a first down with his legs. He did slide on the play, yet he made sure to reach with the football to go beyond the marker for the obvious first down that was confirmed after a challenge.
That meant Seattle was also out of timeouts, all Purdy and the 49ers offense needed to do was run the clock out.
There is no doubt about it at this point in the season the 49ers have a Super Bowl caliber defense. With how Purdy has played, led, and stabilized the offense, there is no question at this point the 49ers are now the favorites out of the NFC.