Brock Purdy Enters NFL Record Books With Huge Win Over Tom Brady-Led Buccaneers

Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were dominated by the San Francisco 49ers behind the efforts of rookie play-caller, Brock Purdy. Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

Brock Purdy has earned the right to take the "Mr. Irrelevant" tag out
Purdy enter record books with the Tampa Bay demolition job
The Buccaneers lose three defensive players in the lopsided loss to the 49ers

All questions tied to how the San Francisco 49ers would fare with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy have been answered–at least for one game.

The 22-year-old native of Arizona helped the 49ers register their sixth-straight win and improve to 9-4 for the year following a 35-7 win over the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The win also put Purdy in the record books, making him the first quarterback to secure a win over Brady in his first-NFL career start.

"He's shown all of us this a bunch. It's not out in the games, but it's just how he's been since he's been here. He's been extremely consistent... Him going out now, I'm just happy that he was able to go out there and perform at the level that a lot of us thought he was capable of. I know the players felt that way. I know the coaches felt that way," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan stated.

Aside from Purdy, the 49ers' defense also marked a first in the NFL after becoming the first unit to be No. 1 in total and scoring defense and defeating Brady past the Week 5 mark.

Stepping in for an injured Jimmy Garoppolo, Purdy went 25-of-37 for 210 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

He followed up that performance by completing 16-of-21 passes for 185 yards, two touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, and a 134.0 passer rating in his first NFL start.

"I'm just excited that we won," Purdy stated. "Just to do what it takes to win, defense played great, offense did their thing, and to come out to win in a crucial part of the season especially going into a Thursday night game coming up, I'm just very excited."

The 28-point halftime deficit, 35-0, was the third-most-lopsided of Brady's 23-year NFL career.

The Bucs needed a special kind of second half to overhaul that deficit.

To make things worse, Tampa Bay also lost three players in the loss to the Niners. Vita Vea (calf), Jamel Dean (toe) and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka(hip) left the game with respective injuries and never returned for the Bucs.

For Purdy, the first start of his career is memorable. However, he will need to prove that it was no fluke.

He will try to prove that when they face the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, December 15 at the Lumen Field starting at 8:15 PM ET.