Brock Purdy was at his best for the San Francisco 49ers in their 37-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, even if he hated part of the play that turned out to be one of his most entertaining highlights.

Purdy finished with 295 yards and three touchdowns on 23-of-30 passing against the Titans with seven carries for 44 yards. One of those carries was for a career-long 26 yards and produced a moment that he thought was "stupid," despite it being good for a laugh.


Purdy escaped the pocket on his run, delivered a pump fake, then took off down the sidelines before giving a half-hearted fake pitch that seemed like a taunt in the direction of Titans linebacker Cody Barton. Purdy admitted after the game that in hindsight, his last move on that run came off a bit silly.


"Honestly, I thought it was dumb," Purdy told reporters after the game. "The whole ball fake at the end, I was like, 'Bro, what did I just do?' But in terms of just running down the sideline and scrambling and making a play, obviously it felt good."

Purdy apologized to Barton at the end of the play, after which the two seemed to laugh it off.


"I played against Cody Barton multiple times, and I respect him, and he's a great player," Purdy said. "So, for me to do that, I was like, 'Bro, I'm sorry, that was stupid.' In the moment, I don't know why I did that, but I did."

The play turned out to be an important one for the 49ers, who started that particular drive at their own 5-yard line. Purdy's run helped dig the 49ers out of that hole and sparked what would become a 95-yard touchdown drive that gave the 49ers a 31-10 lead. Both head coach Kyle Shanahan and tight end George Kittle expressed approval after the game about Purdy's decision to take off running, in their own ways.


"I was totally cool with him going. I mean, you're protected right there," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "You get as much as you can, and he looked like he did a basketball pump fake move or something like that. I don't see it until the last second. I'm looking downfield and trying to see where the ball should go, and then I look back, and he's running down the sidelines, and I think he ended up getting about 30 yards, or close to 30 yards on it. So, I think that was a drive we went 95 yards on. They pinned us back there, and that was a huge explosive to get us going."

Kittle, on the other hand, said, "He's a Jesus Christ lizard running on water, just no ball security, fake pitch at the end of a 40-yard run. Absolutely just diabolical behavior by our QB1. But I love it. As long as he's running out of bounds, I don't care. Just don't take a hit, I just don't need that in my life."

Getting an assist on the play was running back Christian McCaffrey, who pulled some fakery of his own that helped keep defenders off Purdy.

"That was the unsung hero of the play," Purdy said. "Christian acted like he was going to get the ball so that he would continue in coverage, and basically, he was blocking the guy and allowed me to run down the sideline. So, props to Christian."

McCaffrey said, "I had a high school coach who said a great fake is worth two blocks. And I try to take a lot of pride in my faking... But, you know, I don't know what sparked that. I think it's because it would have been, you know, he was already in between me and the ball carrier, so if I'd tried to block him, he would have known that he was scrambling."


If there was a worse moment on the day for Purdy than the Barton fake, it came when he committed the lone 49ers turnover on a strip sack by defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons. But aside from that, Purdy was in control on Sunday and was the biggest reason why the 49ers racked up 430 yards and nine third-down conversions in their one-sided win.

"I thought Brock did a good job, made a lot of plays," Shanahan said. "Made a number of off-schedule plays too and protected the ball. The one turnover was unfortunate, but I thought he did a good job with the ball today."

"Yeah, Brock was awesome today," McCaffrey said. "Did a great job commanding the huddle, made some plays with his feet, which were great, threw the ball downfield well, and guys made plays. Brock was Brock."

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