5 takeaways from 49ers dominant Week 14 victory over Buccaneers

49ers takeaway No. 1: Brock Purdy is not a fluke

It’s pretty fitting that for Brock Purdy, the signal- caller opposite him for his first start would be Tom Brady.

The parallels are impossible to ignore between the two. Both were late picks in the NFL Draft and were never envisioned to be starters. Like Purdy, Brady got his break due to injuries ahead of him and never gave the starting spot back.

Now, Brady is arguably the best quarterback of all time. Of course, some of us 49ers fans would prefer to further the Joe Montana cause on that front, but the vast majority of the footballing world would say Brady.

While it’s too early to say Purdy is on the same career trajectory, his performance showed that he certainly is no fluke.

Purdy finished with 16-of-21 passing for 185 yards, two touchdowns passing and a third on the ground. If one looks at only the box score, you could be forgiven for assuming he had a steady role as a game manager, but the truth is he had these stats by halftime, albeit with 14-of-18 passing (his two completions in the second half went for 0 net yards).

Indeed, both of Purdy’s touchdowns were perfect floaters down the sideline to running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk with almost identical passes.

Purdy’s poise was also on display. He was blasted early on in the game but still led San Francisco to a touchdown on the very first drive. His touchdown pass to Aiyuk was immediately preceded by a poor throw that was intercepted, which was called back due to defensive holding. He could be forgiven for going into his shell and playing it safe after that, but to have the courage to throw downfield like that shows great conviction in his abilities.

Few knew who Purdy was a fortnight ago, but now he’s the best story going about in the NFL.