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New starter, same winning ways - the San Francisco 49ers are off to an excellent start in Brock Purdy's first-ever season opener.
On Sunday, the 49ers routed the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium 30-7. Purdy played a huge part in the victory, completing 19 of 29 attempts for 232 yards and two touchdowns, both to Brandon Aiyuk.
The touchdowns can be seen below:
Brock Purdy mentions Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson when discussing Brandon Aiyuk's touchdowns
After the game, the 2022 Mr. Irrelevant spoke with reporters. When asked about the second of said touchdowns, he made sure to mention Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson, who had Aiyuk deeply covered during the attempt:
"The second touchdown on the right side, the deep ball - was that on Patrick Peterson? Yeah, that one. I was there. That felt good. But it was good, man. He's a competitor. I have nothing but respect for Patrick Peterson and everything that he does."
Teammates, head coach react to Brock Purdy's excellent performance vs Steelers
The Sunday afternoon game marked Brock Purdy's first since he injured his shoulder during the NFC Championship Game, which the 49ers lost 7-31 at the Philadelphia Eagles. After he underwent shoulder surgery, there were concerns over whether his magical run was a fluke.
But speaking to reporters after the game, defensive end Nick Bosa gave an emphatic statement:
“Purdy shut some haters up. I think whenever a guy comes back from an injury, people kind of don’t expect them to make another leap in the second year. I’m just happy for him. He’s exactly who we thought he was.”
Left tackle Trent Williams, who was responsible for keeping Purdy clean during the offensive onslaught, said:
"You see why we voted him team captain. Obviously, seeing how he played today, you can’t tell he was hurt. We’re proud of Brock, man. He just took everything in stride. He’s become our leader; he’s become a quarterback who we can lean on.
"I’m just so proud of him, man, just to watch his journey coming in, last year to right now — he’s a dream. A dream to work with."
Head coach Mike Shanahan also weighed in on the performance:
"Made some big plays ... I thought Brock had a hell of a game."
Purdy is now the first-ever quarterback in NFL history to win and post a passer rating of at least 95.0 in his first six career regular-season starts. He has also thrown at least two touchdown passes in all of them - also a league-first and quite the litany of achievements for a last pick.
