We need to talk about Brock Purdy and his Linsanity moment.
Brock Purdy has been good, I’ll give you that. But like Clyde Carson says– Slow Down.
The reason for the hype is simple. Brock Purdy is playing expectation-free football. Every other quarterback in this year’s playoffs outside of Skylar Thompson, and maybe Geno Smith, is locked into the struggle of trying to justify their draft position, paycheck, desired paycheck, or status amongst the NFL’s elite.
If any other quarterback in this year’s playoffs had a zero touchdown game in a divisional round win, we’d be talking about them like they’re the weak link.
Brock Purdy was the last pick in last year’s draft. No one expected him to rattle off 8 wins in a row. No one expected him to have seven consecutive multiple touchdown weeks heading into the divisional round. And when I say no one, I mean literally no one except for Brock Purdy himself.
Just after being drafted as the NFL’s “Mr. Irrelevant,” he told an interviewer “I’ll embrace the role and have some fun with it, but at the end of the day you know I’m trying to go and help a team win a Super Bowl, so that’s where my mindset is at with it.”
Well, Brock. Here you are. You’ve done enough to make sure you have a chance to make a Super Bowl. And you and I both know that eight games is enough for one of these defensive coordinators to figure you out. And you and I both know that not every ball that hits a defender’s hands is going to magically fall to the turf.
I suspect that’s what was on your mind when Erin Andrews and George Kittle celebrated a divisional round victory and spoke glowingly of you, while you stared straight ahead, emotionless.
I like that you get the gravity of the moment. I like that you’re not just here to have fun and enjoy the ride.
Because that ride is about to get bumpy. And no one throws a wet blanket on a feel good story quite like the people of Philadelphia. Let me put it this way, you won’t be the first beloved character wearing red and white to find a hostile wintertime crowd waiting for you in the city of Brotherly Love.
And since we’re comparing Brock Purdy to St. Nick; let me offer some advice. Kyle Shanahan’s offense is the sleigh that got you here. The running game is the reindeer that gets that sleigh off the ground. All you have to do is worry about getting that package into the hands of the players that are on every fantasy football player’s “Nice” list, and out of the hands of those grinches in green.
And if you do that, Mr. Irrelevant, you’ll get your post-draft wish. A chance to help your team win a Super Bowl, in front of your friends and family back in Arizona, at just 23 years old.
And that’s a feel good story.
Let that sink in.
