Brock Purdy and the 49ers' offense are off to an efficient start

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers' offense couldn't be off to a much more efficient start to the season.

The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first five possessions for the first time in at least 45 years, and Purdy had a near-perfect performance on Sunday in a 35-13 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Purdy went 20 for 22 for 287 yards with two touchdown passes, one TD run and a 149.1 passer rating. The 49ers (2-0) have opened the season with back-to-back wins by at least 20 points for the first time in franchise history.

“It was real good. He was almost flawless,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday. “His last play was probably his only miss on the intentional grounding. Besides that he was pretty perfect. He had an unbelievable game.”

Purdy completed his first two passes of the game before his third was dropped by Deebo Samuel. What followed was 18 straight completions — with a couple coming on impressive improvisations — as San Francisco opened the game with five straight touchdown drives.

The only other incomplete pass came on his final dropback of the game when he threw the ball away following an unblocked pressure for an intentional grounding penalty.

“He’s special. I think that’d be the word I’d use for it,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. “I think when him and Kyle get on a roll like that, it’s so fun to watch. ... I don’t feel like he threw an incompletion the whole day. I don’t know what the stats are, but it’s unbelievable to watch that and how decisive he is, how good he is at throwing on time, and then also creating when he has to. When he’s at the helm, we feel good.”

Purdy ended two of those drives with TD passes to George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk, and ran in another score on his own as he was in complete control from start to finish against Miami.

“He looked like he was just at practice out there, wheeling and dealing,” left tackle Trent Williams said. “We’re starting to witness Brock’s prime and I think it’s going to be a sight to behold. To me, I’ve always loved Brock, but I think he’s starting to get his respect now.”

What’s working

Downfield passes. Purdy completed all 10 of his passes thrown at least 10 yards downfield for 211 yards and a TD, according to NextGen Stats. The Niners had open receivers much of the day with a league-high 4.84 yards of separation per target, with nearly one-third of the passes designated as “wide open” with at least 5 yards of separation.

What needs help

The running game. San Francisco had 22 carries for 67 yards from non-quarterbacks as the offensive line struggled to create running room. McCaffrey had 23 yards on 10 carries and has only 91 yards rushing on the season.

Stock up

Purdy. This was the second time in Purdy's career that he completed at least 90% of his passes while throwing for at least 250 yards. He also did it against Arizona on Oct. 1, 2023. The only other quarterback to do that twice in a career was Derek Carr.

Stock down

Defensive tackles. The Niners have struggled to stop the run when the games have been close so far this season as the defensive tackles have gotten moved off the ball. The Dolphins had 20 carries for 84 yards in the first half to help Miami control the ball and keep San Francisco's potent offense off the field.

Injuries

The Niners lost another receiver with Demarcus Robinson going down with a high ankle sprain. San Francisco already lost Ricky Pearsall to season-ending knee surgery and rookie De'Zhaun Stribling to an ankle injury that is expected to sideline him for two months. ... DT James Thompson Jr. also suffered a high ankle sprain. Both players could go on injured reserve. ... WR Mike Evans (hip) will be managed this week at practice. ... DE Romello Height will have surgery on a broken hand but could play this week.

Key number

11 — Through two games, the 49ers have thrown just 11 incomplete passes and had 10 scoring drives. San Francisco is one of 209 teams since 2000 with at least 10 scoring drives in the first two games and only two did it with fewer incompletions: the 2005 Steelers with nine and the 2024 Saints with 10.

Next steps

The 49ers host Arizona on Sunday in search of their 10th 3-0 start in the Super Bowl era. They made the playoffs the last eight times they did it, including four seasons when they went to the Super Bowl.

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