Philadelphia Eagles defensive co-ordinator Sean Desai is wary of “slippery” San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy ahead of this weekend’s crunch clash between the two NFC divisional leaders.
Purdy has been a stand-out performer for the 8-3 49ers, and currently leads the NFL in completion percentage (70.2), passing yards per attempt (9.4) and passer rating (112.3).
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It’s Desai’s job to formulate a plan to keep him quiet on Sunday, a task he admits is difficult.
He said: “Brock’s playing at a high level. Really efficient with the ball.
“Getting the ball out with rhythm and timing to his receivers. I think they do a good job mixing the run and pass. And Brock really runs that offense really well. And he’s feeling really comfortable doing that.”
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Purdy started last season’s NFC Championship Game between the sides but made just three passes before suffering an elbow injury that forced his early exit.
He has arguably improved since that point and Desai is aware of his qualities, adding: “He’s slippery. He’s a little bit quick and can be evasive in the pocket.
“And he keeps his eyes up field and is able to target some explosives downfield that way too. We will have to have a good plan corralling him and getting tight to some of these routes so we can contest some of the throws that they throw.”
Asked how much time they’d spend on studying that NFC Championship game – won by the Eagles 31-7 – given how Purdy’s injury affected the outcome, Desai said it was still a key part of the preparation.
“We look at everything,” he said. “And that’s our job as coaches to make sure we’re prepared for everything and try to do our research and digging and trying to find everything.
“They still have to play some offense and they’re still trying to go win that game. We do, we look at everything.”
