49ers

49ers QB Brock Purdy is in his fifth year and off to a scorching-hot start, completing 80.4 percent of his passes for 492 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. Purdy reflected on his Super Bowl LVIII appearance in 2024, acknowledging he could have played much better that year. 

“It’s my fifth year and I feel confident with the plays and everything,” Purdy said, via Nick Wagoner of ESPN. “I go back and watch that Super Bowl year and it’s like, ‘Dude, honestly, I could have been better.’ I made plays. But fundamentally as a quarterback and being consistent with my footwork, with my eyes, with throwing the ball aggressively, those were areas that I could have been better. I’ve honed into that.”

49ers RB Christian McCaffrey thinks Purdy is a “special” quarterback. 

“He’s special,” McCaffrey said. “I think that’d be the word I’d use for it. … I don’t know what the stats are, but it’s unbelievable to watch that. 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.”

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said Purdy’s training camp was his best one during their time together. 

“I thought he had his best training camp, just in terms of being aggressive with things, but not stupid,” Shanahan said. “I think the more he plays, just with experience, the easier [it becomes to recognize defenses] and things like that. But he played so good right away that it’s not like, ‘Oh, he’s so much better in this area.’ I just think you gradually become a vet and get used to everything that you’ve seen.”

• Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett said the team still has their full support in WR Marvin Harrison Jr. despite his slow start: “Nobody’s lost confidence in Marv.” (Josh Weinfuss)
• Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur understands the talk surrounding Harrison, Jr.: “I’m not going to sit here and act like I don’t know the narrative going on. This is the league. Naturally stuff comes across my desk. “But in between those walls, Marv is Marv. He’s attacking it every day, just like his teammates.” (Darren Urban)

Cardinals

Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr. has recorded just one catch for 33 yards through weeks after an underwhelming first two years in the league. Arizona QB Jacoby Brissett doesn’t think the outside noise regarding Harrison is fair, as he isn’t the only offensive playmaker struggling to produce so far.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s a long season’ to other people, but to Marv it doesn’t feel like it’s a long season,” Brissett said, via ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss. “As a teammate and as a quarterback, you still have to be there for him because what if this week goes the same way? Am I just going to not be there? It’s a new week and that’s the benefit of it being so early in the season that you have multiple weeks to hopefully be out there and just be able to do better.”

“Is some of the noise justified? I don’t think so, personally. We just signed Mike for [$25 million] and nobody said anything about him having two catches. I think people try to find somewhere to make something out of nothing. The only thing you can do is just go out there and just continue to get better as a teammate of him and him as an individual, and I think that’s what we’re doing.”