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Eric Williams
NFL Reporter
When Brock Purdy was about to make his first NFL start two years ago — against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Matt Hasselbeck began a deep dive into the San Francisco 49ers quarterback.
Hasselbeck did what any good analyst would do — he talked to those who knew the QB best. One of those people was Seneca Wallace, his former teammate with the Seattle Seahawks, who, like Purdy, played at Iowa State.
Hasselbeck said he was surprised to receive a long text of accolades about San Francisco’s new starting quarterback.
“It started out with: ‘Moxie. Better than people realize. 41 starts to his career. Throws a catchable ball. Way better athlete than people realize,'” Hasselbeck told FOX Sports. “It was like all these positive things. Seneca is a great dude, but he also keeps it real. He doesn’t just throw compliments out. So, that stuck out to me right away.
“I’ve always thought Purdy’s a great player. It’s sort of amazing to me that everyone wants to make an excuse for his success because of the head coach or the talent around him. But I’m really not at all surprised.”
Like Purdy, Hasselbeck was a late-round draft pick who had to grind his way to a starting quarterback job in the NFL. Another late-round pick, one who ascended to become the greatest player in NFL history, will be calling the Cardinals-49ers game for FOX on Sunday. Hasselbeck sees some similarities between Purdy and Brady, pushing back on Purdy’s “game manager” tag.
“I don’t look at ‘game manager’ as a negative phrase, because I believe the best game manager of all time was Tom Brady,” Hasselbeck said. “And maybe I would use a different word. I would say game controller. I am in control of this game. I dictate how this game goes.
“There are some quarterbacks who play like a game manager, like, ‘Let’s see what the defense does’ and will kind of play it this way. And there are other quarterbacks that are…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/how-49ers-brock-purdy-emulates-ultimate-game-controller-tom-brady
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Publish date : 2024-10-04 15:11:10
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