NFC Notes: Mike Macdonald, Brock Purdy, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

49ers QB Brock Purdy said the team has WR Ronnie Bell‘s back after he dropped a pass that could’ve put the 49ers in field goal position to seal the game.

“He’s a young guy. I love him, man,” Purdy said, via PFT. “And we all got Ronnie’s back, so we’re going to continue to need him and build him up and we’re all in this together, man. It’s a team sport, man. So it’s not one player, one play here. It’s all of them all put together.”

Rams

During the 2023 season, the Rams’ special teams unit struggled which led to heat on ST coordinator Chase Blackburn. Los Angeles HC Sean McVay was quick to give kudos to Blackburn when talking about the improvements on that unit to start the season after they played a crucial role in their Week 3 win.

“I think it’s being able to commit to a process,” McVay said, via Brock Vierra of the Rams Wire. “We’ve got some better overall athleticism. I think Chase has done a great job bringing in Scott Frost to be able to help out, but we’ve got some continuity with the specialists, obviously adding Josh in the mix as a kicker. You’re looking at Ethan Evans taking a step as a punter and then obviously as a holder. I think getting Alex Ward back is big. We missed him towards the latter part of the year. It’s a big thing people don’t talk enough about, but really proud of Chase Blackburn’s leadership. He’s done an excellent job and that’s been a strength of ours through three weeks.”

Seahawks

Seattle is off to a 3-0 start in a new era under HC Mike Macdonald after a win over the Dolphins in Week 3. Macdonald is proud of what they achieved to this point but feels they can take their game to a higher level when they clean up some minor fixes.

“We are in a great position where we’ve done enough to win each game that we’ve played,” Macdonald said, via John Boyle of the team’s website. “There’s a lot of great stuff on tape, but we’re also at the beginning stages of this team and who we are going to become, and the guys know that. It’s very clear when you watch the tape where we need to improve, and there’s a great opportunity for us to improve.”

“The message is, ‘Let’s take advantage of this opportunity that we have.’ We have the opportunity to learn so much about who we are, how we’re going to grow our operation throughout the week, how we prepare, and we can be so much better. It’s so early in the season we’re in a great position. Obviously, it’s way better than the opposite, and so we’re excited about that, but there’s a sense of urgency, too, on where this football team needs to go.”