49ers 16, Saints 10: Purdy survives harrowing hits in preseason cameo

SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy got grass stains on the back of his red 49ers jersey and lived to proudly talk about it.

Everything else is trivial when it comes to the rest of Sunday night’s 16-10, preseason win over 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.

“That’s part of football and he can protect himself well,” coach Kyle Shanahan said.

“You think about that all the time, but it’s also part of football,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He protected himself well.”

“That’s the kind of stuff you can’t get in practice,” Purdy added. “Honestly that’s stuff I like the idea of just playing in a preseason game to feel again before the season gets here. I didn’t mind it.”

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 in Las Vegas. Shanahan said he plans to play Purdy in Friday’s preseason finale against the host Raiders, and Purdy said he wants to use it to gain proper momentum for the regular season.

Not many other regular starters got thrust into action with him against the Saints, and the 49ers’ other three quarterbacks got in and fared well by game’s end.

A backup-laden supporting cast 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.

“It helps Brock to play, and last year he didn’t get to as much with his arm,” Shanahan said. “I thought it was good for him to get out there, even though it wasn’t two great drives. I know he was really wanting to do it and hopefully it’ll make him in better position for this when we go to the Raiders.”

Such contact isn’t allowed in practices, so Purdy thrived on those chances to, he said, “get out in a game and understand there’s a mental clock where you have to get the ball out or else you’re going to get hit, or there are times you have to stand in there and takes some hits.”

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, Ricky Pearsall, and, Jauan Jennings, with those  latter three dealing with injuries that shouldn’t impact their regular-season availability, Shanahan noted.

Purdy finished 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.

“He’s a baller, makes plays, goes through his reads and brings energy that guys feed off,” Purdy said of Dobbs. “I love having him in the room. He’s pretty electric.”

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.

Allen went 7-of-10 for just 36 yards before rookie Tanner Mordecai made his NFL debut and completed his first four passes (44 yards) on a field-goal drive. “Awesome, to see him get out there and get in rhythm with a couple good throws on run, on time and with good decisions,” Purdy said. “He ran our offense pretty efficiently.”

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. Shanahan said Aiyuk watched Sunday’s game from a suite with injured players.

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).

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.