Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ersBrock Purdy was literally perfect, recording a perfect 158.3 passer rating and joining Joe Montana and Steve Young as the only 49ers to ever accomplish that feat.
There is a tendency to overreact when things hit a peak or a valley, and nowhere is this more evident than the ridiculous hysteria when quarterback Brock Purdy hit a relatively poor patch of form when the San Francisco 49ers hit a three-game skid before their bye week.
People were quick to jump on Purdy as someone who was overrated, since the concept of a young quarterback having poor games was apparently unknown to certain pundits and fans. Key context such as Purdy pushing the team to within field-goal range against the Cleveland Browns, or his suffering a concussion before throwing two late interceptions against the Minnesota Vikings were conveniently ignored.
Purdy used the bye week to revitalize himself (on a farm, no less) and had a huge game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road, and little did people know he would be even better against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the way to a 27-14 win.
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Purdy became only the third quarterback in franchise history to have a perfect 158.3 passer rating and the first since 1989, going 21-of-25 passing for 333 yards with three touchdowns, which included a perfect deep ball to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, to once again dispel the ignorant belief by some that Purdy can't throw deep.
#49ers QB Brock Purdy has a perfect 158.3 passer rating today. He's the first Niners QB EVER to do that with 20-plus attempts in a game. (Joe Montana did it once with 19 attempts in 1989).
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) November 20, 2023
He finishes 21-of-25 for 333 yards with 3 TDs and 0 INTs.
Purdy isn't out of the question for the MVP conversation yet either. For the season, Purdy has thrown for 2,329 yards, 15 touchdowns, five interceptions, a 109.9 passer rating and an extremely efficient 68.8 completion percentage.
With the win, the Niners retain control of the NFC West as they take on the Seattle Seahawks in a rare Thanksgiving contest where the winner takes control of the division. As some added motivation for the 49ers, they could go two games clear after the Seahawks were upset 17-16 by the Los Angeles Rams this week.
Purdy continues to prove all those who doubt him wrong, and those still clinging to the idea he's a noodle-armed product of the system are clinging to something debunked long ago.
As long as Purdy continues to develop, the 49ers can add a sixth Lombardi to their trophy cabinet at the end of the season.