SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy got grass stains on the back of his red 49ers jersey and lived to talk about into the regular season.
Everything else is trivial when it comes to the rest of Sunday night’s preseason game against the New Orleans Saints.
Purdy survived his first-quarter cameo, but not before two hits by Saints defenders forced Purdy to land on his throwing shoulder after launching incomplete passes.
Stashed safely out of their preseason-opening loss at Tennessee, Purdy got his first “game” reps since overtime of the 49ers’ Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Not many other regular starters got thrust into action with him against the Saints.
That supporting cast of backups didn’t offer Purdy many shots at glamour or highlight-reel plays. That did allow fill-in punter Pressley Harvin III to emerge as the 49ers’ early-game MVP, with each of his first three punts landed inside the 10-yard line.
Purdy completed 2-of-6 passes for 11 yards, and he repeatedly tried to make a play when one didn’t exist. So he attempted a few last-ditch passes, two of which led to hits on Purdy’s left shoulder (by the Saints’ Nathan Shepherd and Carl Granderson) and him landing on his right shoulder.
The first time Purdy tried that, tight end Eric Saubert helped prevent that cross-field pass from being intercepted. Later in that second series, Purdy rolled right on third-and-8 and headed out of bounds for a 2-yard sack, after tight end Brayden Willis didn’t break open, nor did Purdy like his options with Chris Conley, Trent Taylor and Cody Schrader.
Not suited up for Purdy to target: Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Jauan Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall. So, judge things accordingly.
Purdy finished off his third and final series by uncorking a third-down incompletion deep toward Taylor, although right tackle Colton McKivitz did buy Purdy time in pass protection. Purdy was replaced in the second quarter by Josh Dobbs, who scored a rushing touchdown for the second straight game; Dobbs was the No. 2 quarterback behind Brandon Allen in last Saturday’s 17-13 loss at Tennessee.
That could be the last the 49ers put Purdy into action until the Sept. 9, regular-season opener against the New York Jets. The 49ers wrap up the preseason Friday against the Raiders for a return engagement in Las Vegas, which is where last season infamously ended in Super Bowl defeat.
Dobbs’ running ability repeatedly came in handy, including a pair of scrambles for first downs as well as a 1-yard, fourth-and-goal plunge a second before halftime. He also delivered a pin-point, 38-yard completion to Jacob Cowing at the 4-yard line to set up that touchdown and 13-7 halftime lead.
Dobbs’ opening series Sunday led to a 47-yard field goal from Jake Moody to pull the 49ers within 7-3. Then came the 49ers’ first defensive highlight, with Alex Barrett and T.Y. McGill crunching Spencer Rattler for a fumble-forcing sack. Dobbs then delivered another scoring drive that culminated in a Moody field goal (24 yards) and was highlighted by Dobbs’ 13-yard scramble and an 11-yard completion to Jake Tonges.
The last time the 49ers played at home they rallied past the Detroit Lions to win the NFC Championship. Helping spark that comeback was Purdy’s deep, third-quarter completion to Brandon Aiyuk, whose contract stalemate has kept him out of all 17 training camp practices and now two preseason games.
Other offensive starters held out of Sunday night’s action either as a precaution or because of health issues: wide receiver Samuel; tight end Kittle; fullback Kyle Juszczyk; running backs McCaffrey (calf), Elijah Mitchell (hamstring), Isaac Guerendo (hamstring) and Patrick Taylor Jr. (foot); left guard Aaron Banks (pinky surgery); and, right guards Jon Feliciano (knee) and Spencer Burford (hand).
Left tackle Trent Williams still has not reported to training camp, and he’s now accused over $3 million in fines, with $1.1 million apiece for skipping each preseason game.
Defensively, the 49ers’ only regular starter to play was safety Ji’Ayir Brown for the second straight preseason game. That meant a night off for defensive linemen Nick Bosa, Leonard Floyd, Maliek Collins, Javon Hargrave; linebackers Fred Warner and Dee Winters; and, cornerbacks Charvarius Ward, Deommodore Lenoir, and Isaac Yiadom (ankle).
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Keeping players healthy remains preseason’s No. 1 goal, but the 49ers aren’t totally succeeding there. Defensive tackle Nick Williams, who signed last week, left in the first quarter with a left knee injury. Defensive tackle Kalia Davis (knee) and cornerback Ambry Thomas (forearm) are expected to miss at least the next couple of months because of surgeries last week on their preseason-opener injuries.
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