Kyle Shanahan believes the San Francisco 49ers will still "have a chance" with quarterback Brock Purdy after he was thrust into the starting role following a season-ending injury to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo suffered a broken foot on the 49ers' first drive of their thrilling 33-17 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, which maintained San Francisco's one-game lead atop the NFC West at 8-4.
Purdy was the final pick in the draft this year, earning him the tag 'Mr Irrelevant', but he is now the focus of San Francisco's season after an encouraging performance in relief of Garoppolo.
The former Iowa State quarterback completed 25 of his 37 passes for 210 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, the Niners outscoring the Dolphins 30-10 after Garoppolo left the game as San Francisco's top-ranked defense rattled Tua Tagovailoa and the NFL's most explosive offense.
Now the 49ers, a team who had Super Bowl aspirations with Garoppolo under center after he took over from injured 2021 third overall pick Trey Lance, must try to achieve their goals with Purdy under center.
While most may believe their hopes are now over, Shanahan is not giving up.
"What impressed me about Brock in [training] camp," Shanahan said, "is he was always willing to let it rip.
"He's decisive. He started for years [at Iowa State] at a high level. You gotta have some balls to play quarterback in this league, and he does. We think we'll have a chance with him."
Purdy will this week prepare for his first start, which will come against the man regarded as the greatest of all time, Tom Brady, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"Pretty cool," Purdy told King when asked about going against Brady. "The GOAT. He's been playing football longer than I've been alive."
But Purdy knows he will not have to do it alone, as he enters arguably the best offensive ecosystem in the NFL with Shanahan calling the plays for an attack stacked with weapons, and he also has the assistance of a defense that forced three turnovers from Tagovailoa as the 49ers beat a team led by former offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
"I know the question is, can I step in and continue this ride of what our team has done?" added Purdy.
"It's not just a one-man show or anything like that. What Jimmy did for this team was amazing in terms of getting it rolling and getting us on a streak to win.
"The challenge for me is like, man, can I step up in that position and continue to feed those guys? Get them the ball. Make the right checks in the run game. Allow the defense to play great and play with them. That's the challenge for me and that's how I look at it and I'm excited for it."
Mahomes' 'scary' ankle injury 'not too bad'
Patrick Mahomes assured the ankle injury he sustained during the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is “not too bad” despite hailing the incident as “scary”.
The quarterback led the Chiefs to their 14th straight win with 34 of his 44 passes completed for 291 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Bucs took them to overtime but the AFC West leaders prevailed to remain unbeaten following a 30-24 victory on Monday.
Mahomes had hobbled off with assistance at one point during the game, leading to concern ahead of the Chiefs' next game against the Denver Broncos, but he has provided some reassurance.
"[The injury was] definitely scary. I think it hurt more just because it's the same ankle I rolled last week, so it scared me a little bit,” he said.
“But once I took my breath and calmed down a little bit, it ended up being not too bad. We were able to go in there at the reset and go back on the football team."
It means it is likely Mahomes will return next week despite the reoccurrence of the injury on the same ankle, with head coach Andy Reid marvelling at the 29-year-old's resilience.
"I wasn't sure exactly where he was going to be with it. He might have the loosest ankles in America. It's ridiculous how he can come back from those things,” he said.
The victory also marked DeAndre Hopkins’ first home game as a Chief, as he finished with eight catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
"[Hopkins] is so good at winning one-on-one, so to be able to have him down in the red zone, third-down situations - he does a good job of filling out and finding those windows. You give him a chance down the field and he makes a play,” Mahomes said.
NFL: Chiefs stay perfect with OT win over Bucs
Kareem Hunt finished the game's lone overtime drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that kept the Kansas City Chiefs unbeaten with Monday's 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hunt powered into the end zone to conclude the 10-play, 70-yard series that gave Kansas City (8-0) its 14th consecutive victory, including play-off games, dating back to last season. The veteran running back finished the night with a season-high 106 rushing yards on 27 carries.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, including two to DeAndre Hopkins in the wide receiver's first home game as a Chief, to help the defending Super Bowl champions stay perfect despite the Buccaneers forcing overtime on Baker Mayfield's 1-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Miller with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Tampa Bay (4-5) opted to kick the extra point instead of attempting a potential game-winning two-point conversion, however, and never got the ball back again after losing the coin toss to begin overtime.
The Bucs trailed 10-7 at half-time following Mahomes' 1-yard touchdown pass to Hopkins late in the second quarter, but scored 10 unanswered points in the third quarter to move ahead.
After Mayfield found Cade Otton for an 11-yard touchdown pass early in the period for a 14-10 lead, Tampa Bay's defence forced a three-and-out to help set up Chase McLaughlin's 47-yard field goal with 5:50 left in the third.
The Chiefs stormed back with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, however. Mahomes capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown delivery to Samaje Perine to tie the game at 17-17, then later hit Hopkins for a go-ahead 5-yard strike with 4:17 remaining in regulation.
Kansas City's next possession stalled, though, to give Mayfield enough time to orchestrate a 10-play, 71-yard sequence that ended in Miller's tying touchdown grab.
Mayfield finished 23 of 31 with 200 yards and two touchdowns. Otton led the Bucs with 77 receiving yards on eight catches, while Rachaad White had a rushing touchdown for Tampa in the first half.
The Chiefs received 14 catches for 100 yards from Travis Kelce and 86 yards on eight receptions from Hopkins, playing his second game since being acquired by Kansas CIty from the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 24.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott reportedly expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined following an MRI, and reported Monday from multiple media outlets.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
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