Golden Nuggets: Game. Day.

Banged-up 49ers and Brock Purdy look to make amends against Vikings (paywall)

“Purdy noted the Vikings are adept at feigning pressure and deploying coverages that minimize risk when sending extra rushers.

“They love to bring the whole house and then being able to bluff out of that — they do a really good job with it,” Purdy said. “On film it may look like, ‘Oh man, there’s some space,’ but they do a good job with bracketing stuff and sort of just anticipating what teams are going to try to do.”......“We gave him a bunch of weird blitz looks throughout the week of practice (before playing the Giants), and we’re doing that again now,” tight end George Kittle said. “You’re going to get weird things. You’re going to think they’re in this look and they’ll drop (out of it). So many different things.”

Kittle indicated Shanahan has shrunk his typically dense game plan in response to Minnesota’s array of pressures. And the scaled-down attack could also be a nod to the 49ers’ offensive attrition.”

Silver: 49ers’ reaction to loss shows they are as strong in defeat as in victory (paywall)

“Instead of lashing out, coach Kyle Shanahan and his players put on a master class for dealing with disappointment. People blamed themselves and acknowledged the numerous ways in which the team had failed to meet its collective standard. No one complained about injuries or bad calls; everyone had Moody’s back.

These may seem like simple things, but in a charged environment replete with ultra-competitive athletes fighting for their livelihoods, the postgame scene can get ugly fast. The Niners invariably kept things in perspective and stayed committed to the common cause, none of which should be taken for granted.”

Brock Purdy, 49ers are gearing up for the Vikings’ NFL-high blitz rate (paywall)

“Since that moment, Purdy has largely continued to handle blitzes well, but that hasn’t stopped opponents from trying to attack him with extra rushers — because he has indeed been a tick less efficient when facing blitzes. According to Pro Football Focus, Purdy has faced blitzes on 45.1 percent of his dropbacks this season, the second-highest rate in the NFL. His average yards per attempt and passer rating have been good across any split but lower when facing the blitz....Brandon Allen, the 49ers’ third-string quarterback, said the Week 3 test against New York helped Purdy develop a more intuitive feel of where the offense’s blitz-beaters — or “hot reads” — will be. Purdy struggled to open that game, but he rebounded to finish 19-of-31 for 252 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz. Now comes what should be a similar opportunity — with the added element of difficulty that comes from noise in road games.”

Why 49ers’ Bell approached Lynch with vote of confidence in Moody

“And he told 49ers general manager John Lynch as much Thursday while the team’s field-goal unit took the gridiron for a special-teams portion of practice.

“My confidence in Moody is really what made me feel that I could even approach him and bring that conversation about,” Bell told NBC Sports Bay Area about his conversation with Lynch.

It was Lynch who made the decision to not pursue re-signing veteran kicker Robbie Gould in the offseason. Instead, the 49ers invested a third-round pick (No. 99 overall) to select Moody in the 2023 NFL Draft.

“I pretty much told him how confident I was in Moody and how he’s been so stellar since I’ve known him, so smooth since I’ve known him,” Bell said. “It’ll be really exciting to watch him grow and how great he’s about to become from this.”

Shanahan identifies key similarity between QBs Purdy, Cousins

“It means when there’s something prepared for, something you’ve talked about: ‘Hey, they run this coverage, we’re doing this play for that coverage,’ ” Shanahan said. “When it’s something like that and he gets the look that’s something he’s prepared for, he’s going to see it every time and he’s going to make the throw.”

Being able to see coverages and make decisions in real time is no simple task. Watching game video is one thing, but processing that information and delivering accurate passes on time is something completely different.....“Everyone knows coverages and where it’s supposed to go, but sometimes when you get in the heat of battle and in that pocket it’s not always that way,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes it looks like there’s a hundred guys out there. Sometimes you can’t see it as clean. Most of the time you can is when you’re sitting in your chair with a remote.”

Signs point to Christian McCaffrey playing on MNF, sources say

“The two-time Pro Bowler returned to practice as a limited participant Saturday after missing the two previous workouts and said afterward that he felt “great.””