BROCK PURDY IS THE TRUE ROCK AS THE 49ERS DABBLE IN DOM AND DUMB
After more dominance in a Philadelphia rout, Purdy is even better as a real MVP candidate, showcasing poise and commitment while a wild teammate throws a punch at the Eagles’ chief security officer
You wouldn’t find Dom DiSandro in any other American municipality. He is the chief security officer for the Eagles, based in Philadelphia, and as sure as Geno’s and Pat’s serve cheesesteaks under neon lights, who would be at the front edge of the sideline Sunday when Dre Greenlaw catapulted DeVonta Smith and slammed him to the ground?
In his 25th season, Dom takes care of a rowdy football team. He should not have been in the vicinity — with his girth, in his glasses, pointing his finger — when the San Francisco 49ers’ linebacker threw a punch at him with his left fist. The NFL rulebook says so: “Non-player personnel of a club (e.g., management personnel, coaches, trainers, equipment personnel) are prohibited from making unnecessary physical contact with or directing abusive, threatening, or insulting language or gestures at opponents, game officials, or representatives of the League.”
Which is why 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, knowing both men would be ejected, tried not to lose his grip on life. “That's why I tried my hardest not to lose my mind and not embarrass myself too bad,” he said. “When I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff ... I just can't believe someone not involved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guy's face and from what I was told, Dre did it back to him and (I) was told that he kind of mashed him in the face a little bit so he got ejected. But it was a very frustrating play.”
And who is the leader of a team that criss-crossed the nation and trumped the Eagles, 42-19, in what might be the forerunner moment of the NFC championship race? His name is Brock Purdy, who was seen afterward in a simple white t-shirt and track pants, befitting a contract that pays him $930,000 per season. Nothing bothers Purdy, who is thrilled to return after elbow surgery and is heading places that only Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have been since 2007. Four games this season, just as they once rolled, he has at least three touchdown passes and a 140-plus passer rating. This is not only the most unlikely superstar in NFL history — having been drafted 262nd and last as the mocked Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 draft — but an MVP candidate that blows away everyone since Kurt Warner and The Greatest Show on Turf.
Beyond Tyreek Hill, who will gain consideration as a Miami speed collector, no one is more relevant in pro football than Purdy. He continued to explode after the Greenlaw-Dom mashup, finding Deebo Samuel when the receiver scored three touchdowns via 198 all-purpose yards. And when Eagles fans were told by players to razz Samuel, who referred to James Bradberry as “trash” and said the 49ers would have won the conference title easily if Purdy were healthy, it didn’t bug the quarterback who still looks like an underclassman on a college team. As it is, the 49ers’ way of discovering him at a low salary created $40 million in cap space that allows them to buy up monstrous targets on offense and defense. Yet who knew he could perform so well, maneuver so admirably on his feet, without concern about interceptions, keep finding Samuel and Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk with a team established as the league’s most entertaining and fun? They enlighten him. He isn’t bothered by the trashery.
“I hear stuff just in terms of, Deebo said this, or whoever said that, and I get a laugh out of it and stuff,” Purdy said. “It’s funny, but for myself, it’s another game for me where I have to be prepared to play football and consistently make the right decisions, handle the operation of the offense. That’s where my mind has to be, not on all the other stuff, so I obviously don’t get caught up on it.”
And when Samuel is dogging opponents at his grimiest? “Deebo’s Deebo,” Purdy said. “That’s who he is. He can do that. He’s good enough to do that.” Whether it’s McCaffrey being compared to a robot when a manager tightens screws on his chin strap … or Kittle arousing crowds with electric catches … or Aiyuk finding a way to score … or Nick Bosa dominating on the defensive line … the 49ers are quieting the retired quarterback who rooted for them as a kid at Candlestick Park. “I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL,” Tom Brady said. “I don’t see the excellence I saw in the past.”
There’s no mediocrity or excellence lapses in Purdyville, where the 49ers have destroyed other top conference contenders — Philadelphia, Dallas — by a combined 84-29. With the woes of the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterbacking injury issues throughout the league, should we be shocked if San Francisco romps the rest of the way? Was Samuel right, that his team would have won it all with Purdy last winter? That’s what we’re all wondering. Except Purdy.
“It was sort of on my mind, yeah,” Purdy said. “But we needed this game. I didn’t want to get distracted by, ‘I’ve got to go back and show everybody what could have happened or what could have been.’ ’’
What, did you think stardom has changed him? “Every game, when I go to the stadium, I take a moment to just be thankful for where I’m at. So none of that changes,” he said. “But am I going to go in and get all sentimental? It’s not really like that. Am I going into the game saying I want revenge? It’s not like that. I’m just going to try to do my job and be the best Brock that I can be for this team.”
The best Brock is perfect for a team that has a history of celebrated men behind center, such as Joe Montana and Steve Young. His temperament is sweet for rock-and-rollers who like to josh and romp. Never, ever say he’s a system QB.
“Yeah, that’s a horrendous statement,” McCaffrey said. “That’s never been the case. You could make that argument with any quarterback. I can show you the tape. If we really sit down and watch all the amazing throws, amazing plays, off-schedule plays, and the checks that he’s getting to. It starts with him.”
“I just think Brock did what he does always every week. He just plays the game,” Shanahan said. “He tries to play it the right way, and one of the best things he did when we were down was he didn’t try to make too much stuff up and try to overcompensate when you are down. He just kept with the plan and kept doing his job and did a hell of a job with it.”
“System quarterback, right?” Kittle said. “Brock’s fantastic in the way he shows up every single day. Someone asked him about his mindset, like how he can be so aggressive and protect the football. He talked about being a surgeon. He talked about having zero fear and just that quote from him shows his maturity level, how he understands the game and what it means to play quarterback at a high level while being aggressive at taking care of the football.”
At some point, the 49ers will take care of Purdy’s pocketbook. He’ll be paid more than $50 million annually, which will help his impending March wedding to Jenna Brandt. For now, he’s a kid from Arizona who went to school at Iowa State and had thundered down the irrelevance of it all. He didn’t have to seek revenge against the Eagles. At a quiet point, he can study the stats and see the league’s best passer rating (116.1) and completion percentage (70.2), the fourth-most scoring passes and seventh-most passing yards. He told a real writer at Sports Illustrated, without artificial intelligence, “I’m definitely thankful for it all, man. I don’t come into the building one day and think I’m the man, that I’ve done this or that. I have such a great supporting cast and a great system, great coaching, very thankful for all of it. I look around and I see other quarterbacks and their situations. To be here at this time with these guys, it’s very special.”
Brady was drafted No. 199. Brock Purdy was drafted 63 picks lower.
When he was spiraling Sunday, Dom DiSandro wouldn’t even look at him. Why bother? You can’t get to him.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.