The Seahawks gave their all on Thursday night, but in the end the Cowboys prevailed 41-35.  Some fun facts, first from Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Cowboys and Seahawks pulled off a rare feat on Thursday night, playing an entire game without a punt.

It was just the sixth time in NFL history that a game concluded with neither team punting.

The first game in NFL history without a punt was Bills-49ers in 1992, featuring a great quarterback duel between Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Steve Young. The Packers had two no-punt games in 2014, against the Bears and the Saints. Mike McCarthy was the Packers’ coach then, so after coaching the Cowboys on Thursday night he has now coached in three of the NFL’s zero-punt games. The Eagles-Chiefs regular-season game in 2021 also had no punts. And it’s also happened once in the playoffs, between the Chiefs and Colts in 2003.

Punt-free football tends to be exciting football, and the Cowboys and Seahawks delievered a great game on Thursday night.

Douglas Clawson of CBSSports.com expands:

The Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to lose a game with 35-plus points and zero punts. Teams in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) had been 64-0 when hitting both marks.

The Seahawks had been 36-0 under Pete Carroll when scoring 35+ points.

Scott Kacsmar points out it was the first of its kind (both teams 24+ points) in a standalone game in a long time.

@ScottKacsmar

This is only the 2nd island game all season where both teams scored more than 24 points.

The last one was Week 2 Vikings at Eagles, 34-28.

More from Clawson:

*There were 257 penalty yards between both teams, the most in a game since 2021. It featured the most first-half penalty yards since at least 1991 (180).

*The Cowboys tied an NFL record by scoring 40-plus points in four straight home games. The only other three teams to do this within a season in NFL history were the 2013 Bengals, 2000 Rams and 1952 Lions.

The Cowboys have a daunting task as they go for 5 straight at home with 40+ points – the Eagles on Sunday night, December 10.

More on the penalty fest from the Clete Blakeman Crew.  Charean Williams ofProFootballTalk.com:

The Cowboys and Seahawks played one of the most exciting games in the NFL this season, with Dallas coming back for a 41-35 victory. But it also was one of the most penalized games in the NFL this season, with the yellow flags giving it a start-stop feel.

Referee Clete Blackman and his crew stole the show with 25 called penalties, 19 accepted. It tied for the third-most flags in a game, and the 257 yards in penalties between the two teams was the most in an NFL game this season.

The 49ers and Browns, who played Oct. 15, had the previous high with 25 accepted penalties for 224 yards.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll wasn’t happy with the flag-fest that included 10 accepted penalties for 130 yards against his team.

“It’s unfortunate. It feels like there’s a whole other factor in this game,” Carroll said. “I don’t know. You guys saw it a lot better than I did, but there were just way too many penalties in this game from both sides, and we’ve got to get out of that kind of football.”

The Cowboys ended up with nine penalties for 127 yards.

“They were against both of us, and that bunch was throwing them,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “That secondary was full of them. It’s frustrating, but they were calling them.”

NFC NORTH

GREEN BAY

A bold prediction from David Carr at NFL.com:

Jordan Love has played some of his best football since Week 9, winning three of the Packers’ last four games. After tossing five TD strikes — and zero picks — over his last two contests, the first-year starter makes his biggest statement yet on Sunday night when the Chiefs come to town. Love throws more touchdown passes than Patrick Mahomes and leads the Packers to an upset win in prime time.

NFC EAST

DALLAS

The MVP chatter is heating up for QB DAK PRESCOTT:

MySportsUpdate

#Cowboys QB Dak Prescott in his last seven games:

• 177/251 (70%)

• 2,173 yards

• 23 total TDs

• 2 INTs

• 6-1 record

You’re in denial if you don’t think he’s an MVP candidate.

And this:

@ScottKacsmar

#NFL QBs to throw 20+ TDs in a 6-game span in one season since 1970

🏆 = won MVP

2023 – Dak Prescott

2020 – Aaron Rodgers 🏆, Russell Wilson

2019 – Lamar Jackson 🏆

2018 – Patrick Mahomes 🏆, Andrew Luck

2015 – Russell Wilson

2014 – Aaron Rodgers 🏆, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning

2013 – Peyton Manning 🏆

2012 – Aaron Rodgers

2011 – Aaron Rodgers 🏆, Drew Brees

2007 – Tom Brady 🏆

2004 – Peyton Manning 🏆

1999 – Steve Beuerlein

1996 – Brett Favre 🏆

1986 – Dan Marino

9/13 seasons produced the MVP winner.

Charles McDonald of YahooSports.com buys in:

The Dallas Cowboys have flirted with greatness over this NFL era, but the 2023 squad is starting to feel like they have the juice for a real playoff run on the back of arguably the best quarterback-wide receiver duo in the league.

Dak Prescott is playing out of his damn mind lately, throwing with pinpoint accuracy, making plays outside the pocket and being so in control pre-snap that the Cowboys’ offense moves like a well-oiled machine. He has been performing like an MVP for the vast majority of this season, but with Thursday night’s performance in an exciting prime-time game against the Seattle Seahawks, he’s going to have more momentum to actually win this thing.

Prescott has helped the Cowboys maintain long streaks of scoring touchdowns with one simple trick: just spam targets to CeeDee Lamb, who is without a doubt an elite wide receiver right now. Lamb received another 17 targets this week, giving him at least 14 in four of the Cowboys’ six previous games. Lamb already set a record for the most consecutive games with 10 catches and 150 yards a few weeks ago and got back on the 100-yard train during the Cowboys 41-35 win over the Seahawks.

Lamb has developed into one of the most versatile wide receivers in the league, showing the capability to dominate from the slot and the outside. According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Lamb ran 21 routes from the slot and 23 from the outside. He caught six passes in each alignment and his versatility makes it damn-near impossible to slow him down because he can break down cornerbacks at any point on the field.

Even a Seahawks secondary featuring stud cornerbacks like rookie Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen had no chance to slow down the Prescott to Lamb connection. Lamb saw 12 of his 17 targets against Witherspoon and Woolen, converting those targets into 10 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Stopping this duo is going to be a nightmare for any defense, even ones that are theoretically equipped to stop it. There’s still five games left on the regular-season schedule for the Cowboys, so there’s still a ways to go until the season ends, but until someone shows they can slow down what Prescott and Lamb are accomplishing together, the Cowboys are firmly in the ranks of the Super Bowl contenders.

Prescott had the perfect quote in his postgame presser for folks who still want to doubt his skills or what he has accomplished this season.

“I appreciate them,” Prescott said of his critics. “People can say what they want, but I have the pen and I have the paper, so I’m the one doing the writing.”

That’s a bar — and legitimately true.

According to RBSDM.com, Prescott is second in expected points added per play this season (0.256) and third in success rate (51.5%). He’s putting together the best season of his career (right before a soon-to-be lucrative contract extension) and Lamb’s skills give the Cowboys a duo they can rely on at any time when they need to generate offense.

The Cowboys’ defense has normally been a stalwart unit this season, but the game against Seattle showed that even if they have an uncharacteristically bad performance, they have the offensive firepower to make up for it. Giving up 35 points on 64 plays is a pace that most offenses won’t be able to keep up with, but Dallas’ version of Captain America and Falcon have enough juice to fly past any team.

Dallas has a gauntlet to close the season, with their next four games against the Eagles, Bills, Dolphins and Lions, but those teams should be fearful of the Cowboys as well. If Prescott and Lamb can keep this level of play up through the rest of the regular season, Prescott and the Cowboys will have a chance to take home a lot of hardware.

PHILADELPHIA

Brooks Kubena of The Athletic on the relationship between QB JALEN HURTS and OC Brian Johnson:

Jalen Hurts squinted through the rain and took notice of what he needed to do.

“Green! Green! Green!”

The quarterback concluded his cadence. He waved DeVonta Smith into motion. Hurts absorbed the snap, pumped once to his right, then spun a spiral that struck Smith springing over three defenders.

A score. A spike. A scream. A fourth consecutive comeback by the Philadelphia Eagles had begun. This time against the Buffalo Bills. This time with Hurts hurling three second-half touchdowns and hurtling for a walk-off overtime run.

After each subsequent score, each one more implausible than the first, Hurts convened with offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, where they engaged in critical conversations within the most crucial coach-player relationship in football. It’s what reinforces the confidence from which the MVP candidate’s transcendence evolves: an offensive brain trust that fuses framework with freedom and is built on a relationship that’s as familiar as family.

Their story starts in Texas. In 2003, when Johnson was quarterbacking Baytown Lee High in an eastern enclave outside Houston, Hurts was the school’s ball boy. Hurts’ father, Averion, was the defensive coordinator. Averion roamed the sideline trading friendly barbs with head coach Dick Olin, the patriarch of seven-on-seven football in Texas, whose spread offenses yielded seven straight Division I quarterbacks.

Johnson was the fifth, a one-year starter who moved down from nearby Crosby. He was a lightly recruited quarterback who would sign with the University of Utah, back up future No. 1 draft pick Alex Smith during an undefeated 2004 season, then pave his own unbeaten path by stunning Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide asserted recruiting revenge years later. Nick Saban signed Hurts despite Johnson’s heavy pursuit while Mississippi State’s quarterbacks coach. Johnson, who later joined mentor Dan Mullen’s staff at Florida, tried again to land a transferring Hurts, who instead chose Oklahoma and postponed their reunion until the pros.

They’re now in their third season together in Philadelphia, and Johnson’s offseason elevation from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator fully formed the duo with Hurts that those close to them say is partly defined by their distinct demeanors. Straight-faced. Stoic. Smiles and delicacies reserved for major scores. Their stability amid chaos has staged four straight second-half comebacks. Their mid-game solutions originate from a system built on their shared trust.

“Those two together, they figure things out,” Olin said. “It’s just a tremendous dynamic when you can be like that. You don’t see these guys coming out, slamming their helmets down or anything else. They might be disappointed with this, that or the other thing. But they’ll sit and they’ll talk about it together. It’s just Brian and Jalen. That’s how it has to be.”

What’s going on inside the mind of a quarterback? That’s the fundamental conversation. Strip down the Eagles offense from its myriad routes, runs and RPOs, and at its core is a philosophy that relies on the quarterback’s vision and empowers his instincts and decisions. Said Johnson, in a straightforward sense that makes his scheme sound simple: “If your quarterback is playing well, you’re going to have a chance to win every game that you play.”

Nothing has demonstrated this more than the polarity of Hurts’ past two performances. He was 5-of-7 for 46 yards and an interception while the Eagles fell behind 17-7 at halftime to the Kansas City Chiefs. His second-half resurgence, which included two rushing touchdowns, fueled the 21-17 victory. Hurts was 4-of-11 passing for 33 yards and an interception in the first half against the Bills, which buried the Eagles beneath another 17-7 halftime deficit that Hurts again subdued with four second-half scores.

As foreboding as those first-half droughts are for a 10-1 team in pursuit of its second Super Bowl title, they underline the pivotal problem-solving that makes the Eagles so hard to beat. Coaches and players become all too aware of adages that spell out how their weeks of game planning can sometimes barely survive the first quarter. That Hurts and Johnson must adapt on the fly isn’t all that unique. It’s part of the job description. But they’ve flexed the proficiency of their sideline solutions enough times to reinforce that resilience is the team’s greatest strength.

“Well, it starts, really, with Jalen,” said backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, a former Heisman Trophy winner who’s on his fourth team in nine seasons. “Having the confidence to be like, ‘OK, hey, I see the game this way.’ Or, ‘I’m feeling this, and we can adjust to this on the sideline.’ And then everybody kind of being on the same page. Brian does a great job of facilitating that, allowing Jalen to be creative and own some of that part of the offense.

“Some of the best offenses I’ve been around, it really takes ownership from the QB. Then, what’s cool about what Brian does … he elevates that. ‘Hey, think about this. If you get this look, let’s try to do this.’ Like I said, it’s very collaborative. When Jalen’s owning it, when he can go and take charge of it, I think that’s when we’re operating at our best.”

– – –

“I think one of the things, when you build a system, is you want to have answers,” Johnson said. “You want to have answers for specific defenses or specific looks that you can take advantage of, and be able to get to those. With Jalen being the type of player that he is, we can do some unconventional things and some things that are probably not as traditional as people are probably used to seeing because he has such a unique skill set and ability. I’ve always said when you have people that have rare traits and the ability to do stuff like that, it’s not a bad thing to lean into that.”

– –

“It’s very easy as a quarterback to just go out there and start making a whole bunch of checks,” Mariota said. “But you know …”

It could be the wrong one.

“Exactly,” Mariota continued. “And what Jalen does a great job of is he gets to something that he really likes against certain looks. If it doesn’t work out, that’s all right. Those are conversations that we have week in and week out. We’re just building him a plan to go out there and play confidently.”

The Eagles and their first-half slumps remain a troubling conundrum. The offense’s initial choices haven’t recently been the right ones. There are the interceptions. The three-and-outs. The broadcast images of Hurts and Johnson managing madness in the middle of the pouring rain.

“It’s a lot of man-to-man conversations,” Smith said. “Definitely with those two knowing each other for so long and things like that, they can have those uncomfortable conversations with each other. They have them, then (Johnson) comes to us, and we can have the same conversations.”

Johnson, a three-time college coordinator at Utah, Houston and Florida, still wields an unwavering mindset that stems from his time as a quarterback. When broached about being the target of public criticism, Johnson said, “Being criticized does not affect me one way or another.” His second-half adjustments suggest his stoicism doesn’t fester into obstinance.

He understood the quarterback back and forth himself. At Baytown, in perhaps the most old-school fashion possible, he’d jog to the sideline after every down to receive the next play from Olin. They’d talk over their options. Johnson: Let’s run Y Cross. Olin: Sure, but X could be open to the post. Check the post. But, sometimes, Johnson would just look to the sideline and point to his chest.

“That could mean two things,” Olin said. “One: ‘I have a good play.’ Or two: ‘I’m tired. I’m not running over to see you.’”

Johnson’s quick transition from Utah’s quarterback allowed him to streamline his experience into coaching. His one year pursuing professional football — a rookie minicamp with the Green Bay Packers, a season with the now-defunct United Football League’s New York Sentinels — led him back to Utah as a 22-year-old quarterbacks coach. At 24, he became the youngest college offensive coordinator in the FBS. And at 25, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham named him co-offensive coordinator with Dennis Erickson, a seven-time college head coach and former coach of the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.

Erickson, who helped cultivate the advent of spread offenses under Jack Elway at San Jose State, oversaw a Seahawks offense in the late 1990s in which he managed a relationship with Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. By then, Erickson laughed, Moon had “been around the block.” He knew what he could do and what he couldn’t. Their meetings still remained vital, a trust that helped Moon secure his ninth Pro Bowl at age 41.

“Communication,” Erickson said. “That’s what it’s all about. Nobody has all the answers.”

Searching for solutions amid in-game crises seems almost inevitable for the Eagles, who host the 49ers on Sunday in a rematch of last season’s NFC Championship Game. The 49ers, their stingy defense and league-leading 15 interceptions could force enough problems for Hurts and Johnson to once again huddle on the sideline. It’s almost become where they belong.

“You’ve got to be able to talk through things as defenses continue to give you a ton of different looks,” Hurts said. “We face that week in and week out. So, just being able to communicate, adjust as needed and then go out there and execute. I think the foundational piece of everything is just being able to execute on a high level regardless of what’s going on. That’s what it comes down to.”

NFC WEST

ARIZONA

TE ZACH ERTZ has asked out of Arizona, and been granted his wish.  The news wasn’t broken by Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport.  It came with a tweet from an unexpected source:

@JJWatt

Trying new things in retirement, so let’s steal @AdamSchefter  job for a day…

TE Zach Ertz has requested & been granted his release from the Arizona Cardinals.

The 3-Time Pro Bowler plans to sign with a contender and make a run at his 2nd Super Bowl ring.

(This is easy Adam)

SAN FRANCISCO

It was only “practice” but QB BROCK PURDY sent a message during his 10 weeks last year as the scout team QB.  Tim Kawakami of The Athletic with a deep dive into how he impress the 49ers defense before he impress anyone else:

For a few quiet months last year, away from all prying eyes and only discernible at the time to outsiders by hint and giddy murmur, the 49ers’ very proud and very talented first-team defense got an exclusive Brock Purdy preview.

Got everything they could want and more than they were possibly expecting from a rookie scout-team quarterback, actually. Wait, who is this little guy flipping the ball around during practice like he’s Patrick Mahomes or Brett Favre? Is he the future?

“Doing the no-look throws and throwing on the run and stuff like that, sort of just working on stuff and trying it out on scout team,” Purdy told me Thursday about those sessions last year. “I think when I was making those kind of throws, guys were sort of, ‘Oh shoot!’ (Linebackers) Coach Johnny Holland would come up to me, like, ‘Hey, you’re doing a great job. On film, we can see your eyes moving and then you’re throwing into tight windows and over guys.’

“I was hearing little things like that. And Fred (Warner) every once in a while would say some stuff to me in meetings. I think just through all of that, those vibes, I was like, alright, I think they like me and what I’m doing.”

It wasn’t during games or on TV, because back then Purdy was still Jimmy Garoppolo’s backup and limited to leading the unit designated to prep the defense by mimicking the upcoming opponent in practice. It wasn’t even supposed to line up this way, because Purdy started the season as the third-string QB, behind Trey Lance and Garoppolo. But Lance got hurt in Week 2 and Garoppolo moved into the starting role, which handed the scout-team unit to Purdy, the seventh-round pick not many figured would be much of anything and certainly not so quickly.

You’re not supposed to impress anybody in scout-team drills. You’re just supposed to go through the opponents’ plays to give the defense a look and feel for what’s about to come. Then Purdy started taking those scout-team snaps. And something much larger started to happen.

“There was a couple weeks where he had to play the running quarterback … was it Kyler Murray or somebody, having to pull it and having to run and stuff like that,” Warner remembered this week. “You’d be surprised at his level of mobility and being able to run around. That’s where I’m kind of like, ‘Oh!’ And Matt Stafford, the no-look passes were big time.”

Among the QBs Purdy was assigned to imitate were, yes, Stafford (twice) and Murray, and also Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert. And while matched up against the host of 49ers’ Pro Bowl defenders, he was throwing to Willie Snead IV and Tay Martin, among others.

But almost immediately, Purdy was making high-level throws in these sessions. He was testing the defense. He was throwing side-arm passes, trying to fake out Warner and Dre Greenlaw and extending plays with Nick Bosa bearing down on him.

“He does resemble Mahomes a little bit,” Bosa said recently. “Just his lower body, the way he can get out of things.”

Purdy wasn’t hitting everything, of course. But he attacked these practices and the 49ers’ defense loved it.

“I was trying to emulate Stafford and Mahomes and all those guys,” Purdy said. “So over time, I started (throwing the side-arm and no-look passes) just on certain plays and whatnot. It’s not something like, alright, now I’m going to do it in games. It’s just something I worked on in practice against Fred and Dre. …

“I was breaking outside the pocket and stuff and throwing on the run. And even some read-option stuff when I was acting like Kyler Murray. Sort of juking a little bit and showing my elusiveness. I feel like all of that put together sort of showed the guys that alright, this guy has something to him. He’s not just this short kid who just stays in the pocket and throws. He can make plays.”

And sometimes, Purdy would hear some trash talk in the middle of the sessions from the heart of the 49ers’ defense, which was the surest sign of all.

“I saw it from early on, he had something about him,” Warner said. “I didn’t know he’d be this caliber of player that he is now, but he for sure had something different about him.”

It was, of course, Warner who led the defense’s vocal response to some of those throws. And, of course, from what we know about Purdy now, it’s no surprise that he barked back a little. But back then? A bit of a surprise. A welcome surprise to the 49ers’ defenders.

“That’s the competitive nature I’m talking about,” Warner said. “You can kind of tell when guys have that and when they don’t. He had it through and through. Getting after him a little bit, he’s not afraid to give it back to you. Very happy he’s on our side.”

All of this was vital preparation for when Purdy was tossed into the QB1 role after Garoppolo’s injury early in the Dec. 4 game against the Dolphins, with the rest of that game and five more left on the 49ers’ regular-season schedule. Purdy played solidly that day to help the 49ers beat Miami then went on a roll to finish the season and into the playoffs, which was only halted when he had his elbow torn up after a hit by the Eagles’ Haason Reddick just a few minutes into the NFC Championship Game. Heading into Sunday’s gigantic game back in Philadelphia, Purdy’s only picked up the pace this season; he currently leads the NFL in passer rating, completion percentage and yards per attempt.

Purdy started down this path in OTAs and training camp, if you ask Kyle Shanahan, which is maybe why he snuck Purdy a handful of scout-team reps even when it was Garoppolo’s role. Then everybody on the team, especially on defense, started to really feel it in those 10 scout-team prep weeks after Lance went down and Garoppolo was QB1.

It’s why the locker room wasn’t in a panic when the offense was turned over to Purdy. His teammates had seen him work with scout-team receivers against the top defense in the league. Putting that QB on the field with Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey, some very interesting things were due to happen.

There’s a reason why Trent Williams used the words “elephant in the room” last year when describing the way the team felt about Purdy before he got his starting shot. And when the elephant got into the lineup, the 49ers never looked back.

They knew it was possible the moment Warner christened him with those competitive barbs and Purdy gave it back.

“It was sort of like a confidence booster — alright, if Fred is starting to talk trash to me, it must mean I’m doing something right,” Purdy said. “The fact that I had his attention practice after practice, to me, it meant something. He wants to compete with me. That sort of gave me a little confidence at the time. Alright, I’m doing it right, I feel like I’m getting their attention and I’m pushing them to be better.”

I asked Purdy to describe how the trash talk with Warner would go.

“There’d be plays where we’d try to run the same route on him back-to-back and there were times when he defended both of them back-to-back and then he’s talking trash, like, ‘Purds, don’t try that on me,’” Purdy said. “And then there’s times where I’m completing it and I’m, ‘Well, let’s go, Fred, you’ve gotta be better,’ that kind of thing. Just chirping back like that. But he was definitely more of a trash talker than I was.”

There’s a comparison bouncing around 49ers headquarters, and even the guy with the most credibility to say it sometimes doesn’t want to go that far this early in Purdy’s career.

But Snead, currently a 49ers practice-squad receiver and someone who worked so closely with Purdy during those scout-team practices and spent the first three seasons of his career (2015-2017) with the Saints, also can’t help himself most times.

“Brock, just his professionalism, even at a young age, you could just tell he had that part of it,” Snead said recently. “That’s why I always reference him to Drew (Brees), from when I was in New Orleans. Just how they see the game, how they attack, their daily practice habits and stuff like that. You see it now. I mean, we did all those reps last year and we used to get reps after practice just going through the script with (QBs) Coach (Brian) Griese. All those reps count, because when you get into the game, you’re doing them with Deebo, George and Aiyuk, it’s all rhythm, it’s all timing. …

“I could just see he knows where to put the football. He knows the spots to put the ball to help receivers. In that spot and catch it. That’s why Drew was so great. He didn’t have the strongest arm, but he knew exactly where to put it, into the spot.”

There’s an absolute connection from Purdy’s work in those 10 weeks last year to what happened when he got the starting job late last season, what’s happening now and what could and probably will happen for a long time.

“I remember him being super decisive, quick in his reads, pretty accurate, making good throws,” Charvarius Ward recalled recently of Purdy’s scout-team work last year. “But honestly, man, I didn’t think he was going to be … obviously, I knew he could throw, but I didn’t think he’d be this damn good. When he started as the regular-season quarterback it was, ‘Damn, he’s really that good.’”

Let’s get back to that Brees comparison, which has been rattling around in my brain for months now. Last year, I compared Purdy to a young Russell Wilson, due to his size, mobility and instant savviness. But Wilson was a great deep-ball thrower back then and remains a very good one now. Purdy has shown he can get the ball where it needs to go, but he’s not a mad bomber. Yes, I think Brees, a future Hall of Famer who is listed at 6-foot, one inch less than Purdy’s listed height, is a very solid model for what Purdy’s top end could be.

No doubt, Purdy’s incredible touchdown pass to Aiyuk on Thanksgiving in Seattle was something you could picture from Brees at his best. And that isn’t the only one of those kinds of throws Purdy has made in his short career so far.

“He’s very young, and it’s premature for Brock, but you can see, when you watch the film closely, when he’s throwing the dagger into Deebo and he’s letting the ball go before Deebo gets out of the cut, that’s that spot we’re talking about,” Snead said several weeks ago. “And that’s what makes quarterbacks great.”

Yes, Purdy is quite flattered by the Brees comparison. He’s been watching Brees and the Saints for a long time and surprised Snead last year by telling the veteran receiver that he was pleased to be practicing with somebody he’s watched on film so often. So to have Snead repeatedly tell him — back then, now, forever — that he’s reminiscent of Brees in his prime … that’s a wow.

Purdy is loath to accept compliments in public, but he can only smile about this one.

“The fact that Willie played with him and actually knows him and stuff, that, to me, is a huge compliment,” Purdy said. “I watched Drew growing up. His footwork, his decision-making, for how big he was, I feel like I can relate to his size and his anticipation of the game and how smart he was. The fact that Willie was saying, ‘Dude, you remind me of him,’ I was like, oh man, that’s a huge compliment and something I can build off of for sure. …

“The fact that he was a winner, a competitor, he got guys around him to play better. And then obviously he ripped it. And he was smart. I definitely like to say I’d like to be like Drew Brees one day.”

How do you prepare to be a scout-team NFL QB? These guys were almost all college stars and surely superstars in high school, which means not many of them have ever been asked to take snaps just as defensive prep work. And during camp last year, Purdy theoretically was the 49ers’ fourth-string QB (if you count Garoppolo, who was in limbo all that camp) and potentially targeted for the practice squad last season. So it’s not like he could’ve plotted out a scout-team plan from the moment he was drafted.

But once Purdy moved into the QB3 spot after beating out Nate Sudfeld in camp, he watched somebody who had plenty of backup experience in his years behind Tom Brady in New England. Yes, Purdy watched Garoppolo and learned.

“When Trey was starting off the year, Jimmy was getting most of the scout-team reps,” Purdy said. “The way I saw Jimmy handle it, in terms of dropping back, actually working on footwork, ripping it into holes and looking off linebackers, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s actually getting work. He’s not out there just throwing the ball to the defense. He’s actually trying to carve ’em up.’ So I learned that from Jim.

“Obviously when I got put in as a backup, I just carried that over. … I sorta wanted to have that chip on my shoulder, sorta make throws and expose the defense, in a sense. They’re my guys, but I’m like, man, I’m trying to work on my craft. Look off Fred and Dre, throw in tight windows with Bosa coming around the edge. All those little things, I think, did help by the time I did get thrown in as a starter.”

The 49ers’ leaders were watching. At the time, Shanahan and John Lynch had Garoppolo starting and winning games and they had Lance presumably still as a future option. They weren’t paying full attention to the scout-team offense when it’s the first-team defense that was actually getting ready for games during those practices last year.

“But at the end of the day, you’re like, ‘Wow, did you see those couple plays that Brock made on scout team?’” Shanahan recalled this week. “It’s always been the same with him. It was just everyone always — players, coaches, personnel guys — like everyone always had good things to say about him. But it was, ‘How’s it going to be when he gets in the game?’ It’s been just like it is in practice.”

For Shanahan, it was all a quiet progression. Purdy’s strong offseason added to his impressive work in his brief training-camp stints and preseason snaps. But then Purdy got those scout-team reps and it wasn’t so quiet inside 49ers HQ anymore. The future was right there in front of him. And he was showing it, play by play, to everybody in the franchise.

AFC SOUTH

JACKSONVILLE

Joel Smyth of NFL.com predicts that TE EVAN ENGRAM will finally reward his Fantasy backers with a TD Sunday:

Evan Engram’s production on the season: 82 targets, zero TDs. Honestly, it’s more bad luck than anything else — it certainly doesn’t help when his quarterback misfires as he’s sitting wide open in the back of the end zone, like we saw last Sunday. For reference, Engram had four touchdowns in 2022 on 98 targets. I expect him to notch his first score of the season on Monday night, going up against a Cincinnati defense that ranks 31st in red zone drives allowed. Not to mention, this Bengals secondary loves giving up fantasy points to tight ends.

AFC EAST

BUFFALO

More trouble for the Bills in a troubling season.  EDGE VONN MILLER has a felony warrant and has surrendered to Texas authorities.  Alaina Getzenberg of ESPN.com with the details.

— Bills player Von Miller turned himself in Thursday after an arrest warrant was issued for allegedly assaulting a pregnant woman.

The Glenn Heights, Texas, Police Department in suburban Dallas confirmed that Miller turned himself in late in the afternoon to face a charge of third-degree felony assault of a pregnant woman, which is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was booked into the DeSoto Tri-City Jail on a $5,000 bond and released a short time later.

The Dallas Police Department had earlier confirmed the warrant, which was initially reported by WFAA in Dallas.

On Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT, Dallas Police responded to a major disturbance call, with the preliminary investigation showing that Miller and the woman got into a verbal argument and that he allegedly assaulted her.

Per the affidavit for the arrest warrant obtained by ESPN, the woman and Miller have been in a relationship for seven years and have children together. She told police officers that she is six weeks pregnant.

According to the affidavit, the argument began at approximately 10:40 a.m. CT and concerned her travel plans. The woman removed herself from the main bedroom and slammed the door to the office of the apartment, which made Miller “visibly angry,” per the affidavit.

He then followed her into the office and yelled at the woman to “get out.” As she tried to comply with the request, she went to collect her belongings, per the affidavit. While she attempted to do so, Miller pushed and shoved her, at one point taking out his phone to try to record the altercation. She continued to yell, “Stop, I’m pregnant.”

Per the affidavit, Miller stepped on her feet as he pushed her, which caused her to fall into a chair. Then, using one hand, he applied pressure to her neck for three to five seconds, which caused pain but not difficulty breathing, per the affidavit.

As she continued to try to gather her belongings, Miller grabbed her phone and threw her laptop on the floor and stomped on it. When she tried to retrieve it, he pulled her hair, causing her to fall to the ground and a chunk of her hair to come out. When she got up to leave and get her belongings, she started recording on a phone in her pocket, per the affidavit, and was grabbed again by Miller, who pushed her onto the couch and placed pressure on her neck with both hands, causing pain.

When she got up, she told Miller that she was going to call the police and it prompted him to leave the residence, per the affidavit.

Police responded and arrived at the condominium, observing “minor abrasions” on her left hand along with bruising to her neck, “injuries consistent with applied pressure the neck,” in addition to bruising to her abdomen and left biceps, noted when photographs were taken to document her injuries, per the affidavit.

In a 911 call, she identified herself and Miller by name, per the affidavit. She also produced a photograph of a positive at-home pregnancy test along with a screenshot of a text conversation between the woman and Miller discussing the possible due date and a possible location of a future doctor’s visit.

According to police, Miller left the scene before officers arrived. The woman was not transported to a hospital but was treated for minor injuries, and the investigation into the case remains ongoing.

“This morning, we were made aware of an incident involving Von Miller,” the Bills said in a statement Thursday. “We are in the process of gathering more information and will have no further comment at this point.”

The NFL also released a statement: “We are aware of the matter and have been in contact with the club. We will follow all legal developments. We have no further comment at this time.”

Miller, 34, was under investigation in 2021 by police in Parker, Colorado, but no charges were filed, and the subject of the investigation and potential charges were not publicly shared.

The pass-rusher signed with the Bills in 2022 on a six-year, $120 million contract. He has played 19 total games with the team, including eight this season as he comes off a right ACL injury. The Bills are currently on their bye week.

MIAMI

NFL Justice has banned from the sidelines a young photographer who got caught up in a TD celebration of WR TYREEK HILL.  Hill says he has the photog’s back.  Sean Leahy of YahooSports.com:

Tyreek Hill says he will take care of a videographer who had his game credentials revoked by the NFL following the Miami Dolphins wide receiver’s backflip celebration in Week 6.

Videographer Kevin Fitzgibbons, a 20-year-old student at the University of Miami, posted a video on X explaining that the NFL disciplined him after Hill used his phone during the touchdown celebration against the Carolina Panthers.

Fitzgibbons, who has worked with Hill in the past, was seen jumping up and down excitedly before he sent the video clip to the NFL, he explained. The videographer’s celebration was what drew the ire of the league.

“One of the best moments of my life turned upside-down in a matter of seconds,” Fitzgibbons said in the video.

…

“The NFL then let me know I would be suspended for the remainder of the season, and possibly for good,” Fitzgibbons said in the video. “They said regardless if I knew the celebration was coming or not, I still had to be disciplined and that I shouldn’t have jumped on the sidelines after the play.”

Hill reposted Fitzgibbons’ video, which has more than 4.7 million views on TikTok and over 111,000 Instagram likes since Tuesday night, with the caption, “I would comment but I could get fined.”

On Thursday, the Dolphins wide receiver told reporters he pleaded to the NFL to change their minds but the league declined to reverse the decision.

“Me and K-Fitz, we’ve got a long history together,” Hill said. “The news is something that I already knew. I told him don’t let this get to you. Just hold your head up. You’re still young. Continue to do what you love. Me and him are going to continue to work together.

“I told him I was going to cover his salary, whatever the NFL was going to pay him or whatever. I told him I was going to make sure that I do what’s right and take care of you, make sure you’re not out of a job.”

ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques was told by a source that Fitzgibbons remains an NFL employee and his game access will be temporarily suspended “due to multiple violations of NFL policy,” but “he is welcome and encouraged to participate in any number of other projects involving off-field league events as well as personal projects with players.”

You can watch KFitz’s video here.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1729689511095877762

We don’t see all that much, but the NFL does talk about “multiple” violations.

THIS AND THAT

BROADCAST NEWS

The NFL dealt with super flex Week15, and the plans include the first Monday night flex.  Mike Reiss of ESPN.com:

The NFL has made its first-ever flex on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” announcing Thursday that the Week 15 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots is out in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles’ road game against the Seattle Seahawks (8:15 p.m. ET).

The switch reflects how far the Patriots, once prime-time darlings but 2-9 so far this season, have fallen. The Patriots’ game against the Chiefs at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough will now be played that Sunday, Dec. 17, at 1 p.m. ET (Fox).

In turn, the change highlights how the Jalen Hurts-led Eagles (10-1) have risen to NFL elite status when it comes to scheduling. The game will be the Eagles’ sixth in prime time and comes the week after they visit the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

For the Seahawks, it will be their third prime-time game in four weeks, and fourth of the season, featuring a showcase of two of the leading candidates for Defensive Rookie of the Year in Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter and Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon.

This is the first year the league built in the possibility to flex games in and out of “Monday Night Football” any time between Weeks 12 and 17. The deadline for a decision on Monday games is 12 days before kickoff.

Also Thursday, the NFL officially announced its tripleheader for Saturday, Dec. 16.

The Minnesota Vikings visit the Cincinnati Bengals (1 p.m. ET); the Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Indianapolis Colts (4:30 p.m. ET); and the Denver Broncos travel to face the Detroit Lions (8:15 p.m. ET). Each game will be broadcast by NFL Network.

FOX received the two remaining unscheduled games – Chicago at Cleveland and Atlanta at Carolina – but in a stealth move, the NFL flipped Tampa Bay at Green Bay from the FOX schedule to CBS.

Chargers at Raiders stays on Thursday night.  Sunday remains the quite good Ravens at Jaguars tilt.