Before the 49ers' Christmas night showdown against the Baltimore Ravens, Brock Purdy led the NFL in most metrics for quarterbacks this season and was a top candidate for the NFL MVP award.
But Baltimore's dominant defense forced the usually composed signal caller into the worst game of his young career Monday at Levi's Stadium, including throwing four interceptions in a 33-19 loss to San Francisco.
After the game, Ravens players and coaches explained how they were able to throw Purdy off his game in the highly anticipated matchup.
“The rush and the coverage work together and we all understood that. We understood that we had to stop the run and we could make plays,” Ravens linebacker Patrick Quinn said. “We took advantage of the plays we were able to make and we took off from there. We saw a few times where the rush didn't work with the coverage. They ran a few plays here and there. [where] We didn't tackle, or missed work in coverage.
“Seeing players like my interception or Kyle working together [Hamilton]The interception, all the plays they made, it made both our front row and back rows work together.
The 49ers won six games in a major “Monday Night Football” matchup, previously beating the Arizona Cardinals 45-29, the Seattle Seahawks 28-16, the Philadelphia Eagles 42-19, the Seahawks 31-13, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-13 -14 and the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-14. 3.
Quinn shared his opinion on why the 49ers were able to beat other teams by such large margins and why their matchup was a different story.
“We play a brand of football that people don't want to play,” Rani said. “Everybody wants to be here [being] Beautiful, playing basketball on the grass and stuff, and us [are not] With all that. You can do everything. Honestly every play we're going to hit you in the mouth. We can't get enough of all the cute and gimmicky things you do. You still have to line up and play football. You still want to touch, that's our mentality. That's how we like to come out and punch people in the mouth.
“They definitely do,” Queen added, when asked if he believes the 49ers will play basketball on grass, “but they have an aggressive mentality. I can honestly say they're probably the most aggressive team we have.” [have] played so far.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh believes it's a collective effort to pull out the win.
“Defensively, it was three levels,” Harbaugh said. “We had pressure. We controlled the run game, [and] It helped us a lot. But we had pressure. I think our coverage was really nice, we covered long distances so we made them catch the ball, forced them into some bad throws and we kept our hands on the balls.
“We threw balls, we had balls in the air and guys caught them, and that helps. It was a complete team effort to get those interceptions.”
Baltimore defensive end JDVeon Clowney credited Purdy's defense of the unit's success to pass rush and coverage working together, and defensive coordinator Mike McDonald credited them for “going out there in good situations and making plays.”
Entering the night, Birdie had seven interceptions in 14 games. He scored four runs in Monday's game.
Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey admitted they understand the challenge Purdy presents and want to do what they can to contain him before eventually doing more.
“We tried. He reads everything right,” Humphrey said. “It was very difficult to flesh him out [out]. We felt that if we could take the lead, that would be our best chance. We were able to get the lead and attempt to flesh him out, but the guy was hard to stop. He makes everything read correctly. Even though he made a mistake tonight, he usually doesn't make many mistakes.
“[We were] Really flies to the ball. Kyle is one [Hamilton]s [interceptions], he went to rush the quarterback and then got a pick – things like that, running to the ball. 'B-Steve' [Brandon Stephens] tip it. A lot of things jumped our way tonight, but it was a total team effort, running to the ball, hustling, trying to catch fire. That team… I think everyone is a little sore. There are a lot of teams that like to be physical. That team is a real deal, physical team [and] A good group, so it's great for us to come out and put on a show.
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