Brock Purdy leads 49ers to wild-card win on Seahawks
Brock Purdy leads 49ers to wild-card win on Seahawks!
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As San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy dropped back to throw his first postseason pass, he had wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel streaking open down the field.
But Purdy's first pass didn't hit either wideout and was nearly intercepted. Perhaps a case of postseason jitters for the lowest-drafted rookie quarterback to start an NFL playoff game?
"Honestly, the ball was a little wet, it was raining at the time and it just got away from me," Purdy said. "But it wasn't anything in terms of, like, the game."
Purdy did later acknowledge he could feel the importance and emotion of Saturday's wild-card matchup against the NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks and perhaps it played a factor in what was an uneven first half for him throwing the ball.
But whatever contributed to Purdy's first-half misses were wiped away at halftime of San Francisco's 41-23 win against the Seahawks. Purdy finished 18-of-30 for 332 yards with three touchdowns and a rushing score in his postseason debut.
In the process, Purdy not only became the lowest-drafted rookie quarterback to start and win a playoff game, but he also etched his name in the record book in other ways.
Purdy became the first rookie quarterback to win a playoff game since Russell Wilson in 2012.
At 23 years and 18 days, Purdy is the youngest player in NFL history with 300-plus passing yards and three-plus touchdown passes in a playoff game, surpassing Dan Marino. Coincidentally, Marino is the reason Purdy wears No. 13.
Purdy is the third player in NFL history with 300-plus yards and at least four total touchdowns in his playoff debut, joining Matthew Stafford (2011) and Kurt Warner (1999).
With a streak of seven consecutive games with multiple passing touchdowns, Purdy tied Justin Herbert for the longest streak by a rookie in NFL history. It also is tied with Steve Young for the second-longest such streak in 49ers history.
Purdy became the first player taken with the final pick of the NFL draft in the common era (since 1967) to record a postseason touchdown of any kind.
Despite all of that, Purdy's teammates and coaches continue to seem wholly unsurprised by the quarterback's consistent production, regardless of the setting.
--Ankit Gondane
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