It didn’t look like being a history-making day for Brock Purdy early in the San Francisco 49ers’ Week 10 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He missed open receivers and displayed questionable ball placement as the 49er offense wasted opportunities to take full command of the game.
The 49ers quarterback conceded to underperforming in the first half.
“Yeah, I definitely felt out of rhythm to start the game, and you know, not really sure what it was,” Purdy told his postgame press conference.
But Purdy was much improved in the second half and particularly in the fourth quarter, in which he went 10 of 14 for 160 yards and a touchdown. He was four of four for 39 yards on the game-winning drive that ended with a decisive Jake Moody field goal.
Purdy finished the game 25 of 36 for 353 yards and two touchdowns with a passer rating of 119.3.
Though he received something of a backhanded compliment from Tom Brady as he surpassed 300 yards in the fourth quarter, it did prove to be an historic performance for Purdy.
Indeed, Purdy became only the second quarterback since 1950 with a passer rating of 100 or higher in 10 of his first 15 career road starts, joining the man who beat him in the Super Bowl last year, Patrick Mahomes (11), in a very exclusive club.
On top of that, Purdy’s performance also saw him register a 13th career game with at least two touchdown passes and a rating of 115 or higher, tying Justin Herbert for the second-most by a quarterback in their first three seasons. Purdy trails only Mahomes and Russell Wilson (both 14).
He will have a lot of opportunities down the stretch to tie and potentially surpass that duo, and Purdy will need to show the same decisiveness he believes was key to his improved second-half display.
“Second half, I just told myself, ‘Alright dude, just go out and compete and rip it – don’t hesitate.’ And I thought in the second half we all did that,” added Purdy.
“The guys were open, I didn’t hold back, and we just tried to stay ahead of the chains and move the ball and keep it simple, and so that was the biggest part, understanding that it’s a four quarter game for a reason. What happens early on can’t affect you right now in the present, so that was my mindset, and I thought we were all able to finish pretty well as a team.”
Purdy has every reason to retain that kind of confidence going into Week 11, when the 49ers host a Seattle Seahawks team they have dominated over the course of his time in the league.
And it is reassuring for the 49ers that they will roll into looming road tests against the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills that follow the Seahawks game with a quarterback who consistently finds way to excel in unfriendly confines.