49ers offense with Purdy shines in the desert

There was no rust in the desert for Brock Purdy.

After suffering one of its worst losses of the season a week ago, Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers offense calmed the waters in heart of the Sonoran desert after defeating the Arizona Cardinals 41-22 on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium.

Purdy returned as the starting quarterback for San Francisco after missing the past six eight games with a turf toe injury. Purdy looked as every bit as his calm, cool and collected self against a Cardinals defense that looked discombobulated for the majority of the game. Purdy managed the game well and this was the first time since Week 1 that Purdy has had a full arsenal of weapons at his disposal (with the exception of wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk).

The Purdy-George Kittle connection was on display and highlighted the 49ers offense. Purdy connected six times for 67 yards and two touchdowns with his all-pro tight end. Kittle recorded his 50th career touchdown, the 23rd thrown by Purdy. The dynamic duo moved up to second place in franchise history as the most touchdowns by a quarterback-tight end combo surpassing Steve Young and Brent Jones who now sit in third place with 22.

Purdy finished 19 of 26 for 200 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He was only sacked once by Arizona's defense. When Purdy was pressured, he was able to scramble out of the pocket not showing any signs of his lingering toe injury. Other than a couple of forced throws he would like to have back, Purdy looked as comfortable as he could being back up on the saddle again.

“It felt good just to get into a rhythm for sure and hit the guys, and have some big gains," Purdy iterated after the game. "Then to hit that one, it was like, yeah we're playing. We're in an NFL game. (I) put a good throw onto George, and he completes it. It just felt good for my confidence. Outside of that, it's football. I've been here before and was just trying to settle back into who I am and how I play quarterback.”

49ers running back Christian McCaffery had an efficient game leading all rushers with 81 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. McCaffery was the other recipient of a Purdy touchdown pass as he had five catches for 40 yards including the nine-yard TD where he was left wide open on the play as he walked into the end zone. Credit goes out to head coach Kyle Shanahan who designed the play that had Kittle draw two defenders over the middle that left Run CMC all alone out in the flat on a wheel route.

San Francisco's special teams set the tone on the opening kickoff when Sky Moore returned it 98 yards to the Arizona one-yard line that set up McCaffery's one yard scamper on their first place from scrimmage. The 49ers never looked back and never allowed the Cardinals to make the game dramatic.

The 49ers defense was aided with an injury plagued Cardinals offense that was missing starting quarterback Kyler Murray, running back James Connor, who is out for the year with a season ending injury, and second year standout wide receiver Mavin Harrison Jr. Arizona also shot themselves in the foot several times not being able to stay out of penalty trouble. Arizona had their worst penalty game of the season as they finished with 17 for 130 yards. The biggest one that came back to haunt them was on their first possession of the second half, a holding penalty the negated a 60-yard rushing touchdown by running back Bam Knight that would've made it a one score game. Arizona never recovered from that. San Francisco forced three turnovers for the first time this season.

Cornerback Deommodore Lenior helped put the game away and ended any type of a comeback by the Cardinals when he jumped a route intended for Elijah Higgins and intercepted Brissett with a 64-yard return down to the Cardinals 14-yard line. Five plays later Kittle's second touchdown on the day sealed the fate for Arizona and gave San Francisco it's seventh win of the season, surpassing its win total in 2024.

“It was huge," Shanahan said referring to his team's defensive takeaways. "We've been waiting for that and I thought those guys were huge today. I think it was (S) alik (Mustapha) who started it off. 'Deemo' (Lenoir) (was) huge and had a really good return too. I thought Stout had an unbelievable play, ripping that ball out. I think it was (DL) Keion (White) who recovered it, but those guys with those three turnovers and the way the special teams played today, that kind of set the tone for the whole game.”

Brissett had a great day for fantasy football owners that may have started him with his stat line of 47 of 57 for 452 yards with two touchdowns. His 47 completions was an NFL record. However, the majority of those stats came in the second half with the outcome already determined. Brissett wasn't sacked but his two interceptions were costly on what was a long day for the backup quarterback.

Michael Wilson had an impressive day as he led all receivers with 15 catches for 185 yards. Wilson made a few highlight-worthy catches as he has emerged as Arizona's number one receiver. Tight end Trey McBride also did well on the stat line with 10 catches for 115 yards to go along with his one touchdown. However, McBride was guilty of a bonehead play after a 28-yard reception that set up his team at the 49ers 10-yard line during a drive in the second quarter. After the play McBride made a gesture, that is frowned upon by the NFL, that resulted in a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Arizona ended up settling for a field goal on the drive.

San Francisco was able to check off one of the teams it needed to beat during this "winnable" stretch of the schedule that has them playing two teams with rookie quarterbacks (Cleveland and Tennessee) and one with a young quarterback still trying to find his footing in the league (Bryce Young) when they host the Carolina Panthers next week on Monday night football.

For Purdy, the biggest challenge was the six weeks he had to deal with not being able to play for that extended period of time. It was something he had never dealt with before and learned how to deal with that type of adversity for the first time during his playing career.

“Obviously it's my first time missing that much time in a season. For me, it was new. How do I handle it? I'm the starter and we put in all this work from OTAs to camp, and then we go into Seattle (and get a) big win. Then I'm just dealing with this toe thing for all these weeks. It was frustrating. I had to learn how to deal with it and mentally just take it one day at a time, one week at a time," Purdy said.