49ers’ Brock Purdy ends loss to Lions with elbow ‘on fire,’ awaits more tests (original) (raw)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy threw for a season-high 377 yards on Monday but left the 40-34 loss to the Detroit Lions late in the fourth quarter after he was hit on his right throwing elbow.

Purdy said the elbow, which was surgically repaired early in 2023, felt like it was “on fire” and that he had trouble attempting passes on the sideline.

“I got hit on the backside (of the elbow), and basically just my arm was on fire kind of thing,” he said. “I tried throwing a couple on the sideline, and I couldn’t at that point.”

Purdy said the sensation was similar to what he felt in Philadelphia in January 2023 when he tore the UCL ligament in his elbow, although he said initial tests Monday at Levi’s Stadium showed the ligament was intact. He said he would have an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the issue.

“I mean, it doesn’t feel the best,” he said. “But we’ll leave it at that. We’ll see tomorrow.”

In Philadelphia, Purdy was struck on the elbow as he was attempting a throw. Monday, he was sacked by one Lions defender with another coming down on the elbow with his helmet and face mask. Kyle Shanahan said the initial indication from team doctors was that it wasn’t a serious injury and that the angle on which Purdy’s arm was struck caused some “nerve stuff” in the elbow.

“I’m just speculating right now,” Shanahan said. “I know everyone, when they hear about Brock’s elbow and stuff, just like me, they think of the elbow injury from a couple years ago. But just talking to the doctors, he just got hit in the right spot, and when you get hit there, you’re just — your nerves go and you can’t feel much.”

Blitzing Brian Branch 😤#DETvsSF | 📺 ESPN/ABC pic.twitter.com/NxWBdgS0MX

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 31, 2024

After Purdy left the game, backup Joshua Dobbs entered and scored a rushing touchdown. Purdy greeted his teammates as they returned to the sideline but used his left hand to give them high fives and pat them on the back. His status for Sunday’s finale against the Arizona Cardinals is up in the air.

“It has nothing to do with tapping out of the game or anything like that,” Purdy said. “I love my teammates, and I’ll go to the very end for them and this fan base and everybody. That’s what hurts me — I couldn’t finish the game. But again, we’ll see tomorrow.”

The injury came in a game in which the 49ers not only were missing their regular starters at left tackle and left guard but also their top backups at those positions. Shanahan said it was the first time in his coaching career that his team signed a player off another team’s practice squad — tackle Charlie Heck, who was signed away from the Cardinals — then started him in the upcoming game.

Still, that line mostly held up against an equally battered Lions defense with Purdy getting sacked twice. Shanahan also wasn’t shy about throwing the ball, as the 49ers attempted 40 passes, tying the season high they set last week against the Miami Dolphins.

One of the beneficiaries was Purdy’s favorite target, George Kittle, who caught all eight passes that went his way and finished with 112 receiving yards. Kittle also passed 1,000 yards for the second straight season — he’s at 1,079 yards — and became the fifth tight end in NFL history with four or more 1,000-yard seasons.

Purdy’s top target Monday, however, was rookie Ricky Pearsall, with whom he has had chemistry issues this season. That wasn’t surprising. Pearsall missed most of training camp with hamstring and shoulder injuries, then had to sit out the first six games of the season while recovering from a gunshot wound to his chest.

To make up for the lost practice time, the two spent extra time after practices and discussed plays and routes in the locker room afterward. Pearsall said it helped that his locker is only a few feet from Purdy’s.

“For sure,” he said. “Yeah, we get to talk on a daily basis, having lockers that are next to each other. It also helps that we’re from the same area (in Arizona).”

Said Purdy: “He’s still so young and like a sponge when it comes to learning route trees in our offense and stuff. And so for me, it’s like he’s going to listen, he’s willing to be coached, and so we’ve had multiple days where we stayed after and I sort of explained to him what I’m thinking on a route, and then he tells me how he’s feeling. I’m really excited to have him and to continue to work with him.”

Over time, their on-field rapport has improved, which was underscored by Pearsall’s eight catches for a game-high 141 yards against a Lions defense that used plenty of press-man coverage Monday. One of Pearsall’s catches went for a 3-yard touchdown. Another was a juggling one-handed grab just before he went out of bounds.

Go ahead, rook!

📺: #DETvsSF on ESPN
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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 31, 2024

“That’s the game I’ve always expected him to have,” Kittle said. “Just watching him in practice in OTAs — every day he went off for like 100-plus yards. Just to get that (type of) game under his belt I think will raise his confidence a ton.”

Two of Purdy’s throws to Pearsall resulted in interceptions. In the third quarter, Purdy sailed a pass over the receiver’s outstretched arm and the ball was hauled in instead by safety Kerby Joseph. In the fourth quarter, Purdy thought Joseph was deeper than he actually was. When he let the pass go, the safety sprang forward for his second interception.

“I saw the linebacker had sunk in, and I thought I was going to have some space for Ricky,” Purdy said. “And then, sure enough, there was a safety there in a disguise coverage. So he just jumped it.”

Purdy said that if his elbow is OK, he wants to continue his and Pearsall’s Arizona guys’ connection in the state where they grew up.

“If we’ve got a game, a regular-season game, that we have an opportunity to suit up for and we’re healthy, yes,” he said. “For my guys, for this organization, I want to finish the season with our guys.”

(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

Matt Barrows is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the 49ers. He joined The Athletic in 2018 and has covered the 49ers since 2003. He was a reporter with The Sacramento Bee for 19 years, four of them as a Metro reporter. Before that he spent two years in South Carolina with The Hilton Head Island Packet. Follow Matt on Twitter @MattBarrows