How’s this for being stupid – er, stubborn?
Steven Ruiz of The Ringer has vowed to quit covering the National Football League “forever” if the San Francisco 49ers win the Super Bowl with Brock Purdy at quarterback (Writer vows to stop covering the NFL if 49ers win Super Bowl with Brock Purdy).
“They can’t. No,” Ruiz said. “If they do, I’m not covering the sport again. If they win it with Brock Purdy … Sam Darnold, sure. I can get on board with Sam Darnold, not Brock Purdy.”
Keep in mind that Purdy, who is well-documented was drafted as the very last pick in the 2022 draft, helped the 49ers get to the NFC Championship Game before being injured in it, and is statistically one of the league’s top-rated quarterbacks week-in and week-out, was near-perfect in a win over the Arizona Cardinals last week.
In spite of that, Ruiz picked two plays in the game – a pass intended for Brandon Aiyuk and one intended for fullback Kyle Juszczyk – to drop the hammer on the quarterback. Both those plays, Arizona was flagged for defensive holding.
“I’m a hater. I’m hating so hard right now,” Ruiz said.
And he tried to turn it into a pure analytical argument.
“Here’s my thing: I’m ranking these quarterbacks, not based on their suitability for the Kyle Shanahan system,” he said. “I’m ranking them based on what they would do in a normal offense, like a league-average offense. And if we put Brock Purdy in the league-average offense, this game isn’t going to lead to top-of-the-league results.”
How ‘bout all of us that don’t have a team root for the Niners just to see if Ruiz keeps his word?
It’s likely a good bet that even if the 49ers are hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after the Super Bowl, Ruiz will still be in the press box. We’ll see.
