[Mick]

I asked a buddy of mine before the game today why the line was only Niners -2 and he told me why people think the Steelers might win:

- Brock Purdy regressing to the mean (absurd and more on that below)
- Niners OL questionable (I'm sure there would be struggle, but not worried)
- Kenny Pickett having great pre-season (yes, that was pre-season though)
- Steelers are back! (whatever)

I told him I don't buy it. One very bad 2 minutes and dominated the other 58. The Niners simply have more better players than almost every team they will play. They are kind of the opposite of the S.F. Giants that way.

Just comical how so many "experts" doubt Purdy. Little known fact:

Purdy's Passer rating was 108 in 2022 in 10 starts between regular season and playoffs. Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL with a 105.5 and Mahomes was #2 at 105.2. Just because he didn't qualify for the passing title, doesn't mean he is a question mark. Nobody does that unless they are legit good players. Purdy was 111.3 today.

To your points:

1) The line had actually shrunk to Niners favored -1 at kickoff.

2) Agreed, Purdy had the highest rating in the NFL last year for all quarterbacks with at least 100 passes.

3) That said, I looked at five different pre-season rankings of the 32 starting quarterbacks. The best had Purdy at #15, the worst at #26. Most were between #20 and #23. This was chiefly because all the pundits agreed that he had good stats because of the talent around him, not that he was intrinsically a better quarterback. I don't remember reporters making that argument when Montana and Young had Rice, Clark, Craig, Solomon, Jones, Taylor, Owens, Watters et al, but there you go.

4) Currently, Purdy's game passer rating is 111.3, just .5 behind Desmond Ridder at 111.8. There are 20 QBs listed.
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...ating/DESC

5) McCaffrey is leading the NFL in rushing by a wide margin. #2 rusher at this writing is Nick Chubb with 106 and #3 is Travis Etienne at 77. 25 RBs are listed:
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...yards/desc

6) Brandon Aiyuk is second in the NFL in receiving.
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...yards/DESC

[Mick]

I asked a buddy of mine before the game today why the line was only Niners -2 and he told me why people think the Steelers might win:

- Brock Purdy regressing to the mean (absurd and more on that below)
- Niners OL questionable (I'm sure there would be struggle, but not worried)
- Kenny Pickett having great pre-season (yes, that was pre-season though)
- Steelers are back! (whatever)

I told him I don't buy it. One very bad 2 minutes and dominated the other 58. The Niners simply have more better players than almost every team they will play. They are kind of the opposite of the S.F. Giants that way.

Just comical how so many "experts" doubt Purdy. Little known fact:

Purdy's Passer rating was 108 in 2022 in 10 starts between regular season and playoffs. Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL with a 105.5 and Mahomes was #2 at 105.2. Just because he didn't qualify for the passing title, doesn't mean he is a question mark. Nobody does that unless they are legit good players. Purdy was 111.3 today.

To your points:

1) The line had actually shrunk to Niners favored -1 at kickoff.

2) Agreed, Purdy had the highest rating in the NFL last year for all quarterbacks with at least 100 passes.

3) That said, I looked at five different pre-season rankings of the 32 starting quarterbacks. The best had Purdy at #15, the worst at #26. Most were between #20 and #23. This was chiefly because all the pundits agreed that he had good stats because of the talent around him, not that he was intrinsically a better quarterback. I don't remember reporters making that argument when Montana and Young had Rice, Clark, Craig, Solomon, Jones, Taylor, Owens, Watters et al, but there you go.

4) Currently, Purdy's game passer rating is 111.3, just .5 behind Desmond Ridder at 111.8. There are 20 QBs listed.
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...ating/DESC

5) McCaffrey is leading the NFL in rushing by a wide margin. #2 rusher at this writing is Nick Chubb with 106 and #3 is Travis Etienne at 77. 25 RBs are listed:
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...yards/desc

6) Brandon Aiyuk is second in the NFL in receiving.
https://www.nfl.com/stats/player-stats/c...yards/DESC