Ravens explain how they forced 49ers QB Purdy into four-INT game

Prior to the 49ers’ game against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas night, Brock Purdy was the front-runner for NFL MVP and led the league in the majority of quarterback stats this season.

However, Monday at Levi’s Stadium, Baltimore’s formidable defense led the normally cool signal-caller to suffer the worst game of his young career, which included throwing four interceptions in San Francisco’s 33-19 defeat.

Ravens players and coaches discussed how they caught Purdy off guard during the much awaited clash after the game.

“The rush and coverage work together, and we all understood that. We just understood that we had to stop the run, and we’d be able to make plays,” Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen said.

“We capitalized on the plays that we were capable of making, and we just took off from there.

We saw a few times where the rush wasn’t working with the coverage. They had a few plays here and there [where] we didn’t tackle, or we just missed the assignment on the coverage.

“It was just our front line and back lines working together when we see players working together like that, like my interception or Kyle [Hamilton]’s interception, everybody’s plays that they made.”

Prior to the crucial “Monday Night Football” game, the 49ers had defeated the Arizona Cardinals 45-29, Seattle Seahawks 28-16, Philadelphia Eagles 42-19, Seahawks 31-13, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-14, and Jacksonville Jaguars 34-3. They were on a six-game winning streak.

Queen shared his take on why he believes the 49ers have been able to beat other teams by such a wide margin, and why their matchup was a different story.

“We play a brand of football that people don’t want to play,” Queen said. “Everybody wants to be out here [being] cute, playing basketball on grass and stuff, and we [are not] with all that.

You can do all that stuff. We’re just going to hit you in the mouth every play, honestly. We couldn’t care less about all the pretty stuff you do, gimmick stuff. You still have to line up and play football.

You still have to get touched, so that’s our mindset. That’s how we want to come out and just hit people in the mouth.”

When asked if he thought the 49ers played basketball on grass, Queen replied, “They definitely do,” but they also had an aggressive mentality. They are, in all honesty, possibly the most aggressive team we have faced thus far.

According to Ravens coach John Harbaugh, the victory was the result of a team effort.

“It was all three levels defensively,” Harbaugh remarked. “We experienced pressure. We were very fortunate to have the run game under control.

However, we were under pressure. We forced them to keep the ball, forcing them into some poor throws, and we had our hands on balls because, in my opinion, our coverage was excellent and we covered a large distance.

“We tipped balls, we had balls in the air, and guys caught them, and that helps, too. It was just a complete team effort on defense to get those interceptions.”

Baltimore defensive end Jadeveon Clowney credited the unit’s success defending Purdy to the rush and coverage working together, and applauded defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald for putting them in “good situations to go out there and make plays.”

Entering the night, Purdy had seven interceptions in 14 games. In Monday’s game, he had four.

Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey acknowledged that they understood the challenge Purdy presented and wanted to do their best to limit him, before ultimately doing much more.

“We tried. He makes all the right reads,” Humphrey said. “It was really kind of hard to kind of flesh him [out]. We felt if we could get the lead, then maybe that would be our best chance. We were able to get the lead and kind of attempt to flesh him, but it’s hard to stop that guy.

He kind of makes all the right reads. Even though he made mistakes tonight, he usually doesn’t make too many mistakes.

“[We were] really just flying to the ball. The one of Kyle [Hamilton]’s [interceptions], he went to go rush the quarterback and then got a pick — so stuff like that, just running to the ball.

‘B-Steve’ [Brandon Stephens] tipped it up. A lot of things kind of bounced our way tonight, but it was a full team effort, just running to the ball, hustling, trying to take fire to fire.

That team … I think everybody’s a little sore. There are a lot of teams that want to be physical. That team is a real-deal, physical team [and] a really good team, so for us to come out and kind of put on a show was really good for us.”

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