Steve Spagnuolo and Chiefs defense 'blown away' by Brock Purdy's ability to dice up zone, per report

Steve Spagnuolo and Chiefs defense ‘blown away’ by Brock Purdy’s ability to dice up zone, per report

In each of their last three Super Bowl wins, the Kansas City Chiefs had to overcome double-digit deficits to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Kansas City needed overtime this time around, but a 22-12 run after halftime downed Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime.

In the biggest game of his career, the former Mr. Irrelevant completed 23 of 38 passes for 255 yards and one touchdown. While he didn’t exactly make a case for Super Bowl MVP, the Chiefs defense was impressed with what Purdy brought against them — especially when it came to dicing up their zone coverage. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and his staff were reportedly “blown away” with how Purdy performed against their zone, and one Chiefs coach told SI.com that Purdy has some Drew Brees qualities.

Spagnuolo was forced to make a change in his game plan during the course of Super Bowl LVIII, going from primarily zone coverage to man coverage.

“The zones, I just think their wideouts and quarterback are so good at their timing routes, and Brock Purdy is really good,” Spagnuolo said, via SI.com. “He knew when we were in certain things, and he found seams.”

It’s interesting, as this was not indicative of how the regular season went for the 49ers quarterback. Purdy had the highest yards per attempt vs. man coverage (10.2) in the NFL this season, while throwing 13 touchdowns compared to one interception. Yet on Sunday, Spags’ change-up worked. If we exclude throwaways, Purdy was 8 of 20 when targeting his top weapons in Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, while he was 15 of 16 when targeting everyone else. Kansas City put its faith in its star cornerbacks, and they came through.