Was this a defeat with symbolic power? In his home state of California, Tom Brady takes a severe beating with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against a player who could possibly block his path to the San Francisco 49ers.

Munich/San Francisco – There he stood in front of all the cameras and microphones and had to explain what was actually inexplicable.

The San Francisco 49ers had just sent the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back to Florida with a score of 35:7.

Quarterback Brock Purdy, not yet 23 years old, had beaten the superstar par excellence in his sport in his very first game as a starter. Tom Brady disenchanted. One might even say humiliated.

49ers quarterback Purdy continues to shine

And afterwards, it wasn’t the “GOAT” who made his comments in the winner’s interview, but the complete opposite of him. At least if you use the label that continues to follow Purdy at every turn: “Mr Irrelevant”. The one no one really wanted, but who still ended up somewhere, because someone is always the last one in the draft.

“I’m just happy that we won, and at such an important time of the season,” said Purdy, who impressed in the previous game against the Miami Dolphins when he had to fill in for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo during the game.

Just how strong this debut was is shown by the fact that 49ers legend Joe Montana even trusts his ex-team with Purdy to win the Super Bowl. If, according to the 66-year-old, the rookie continues to play so well.

After the win against the Bucs, it remains to be said: Yes, he just keeps doing the same. Two touchdowns, no interceptions, 16 of 21 passes for 185 yards reached their target.

The 49ers already led 35-0 in the third quarter. But given his opponent on the other side, Purdy didn’t want to celebrate too soon.

Purdy has great respect for Brady

“I knew that on the other side was someone who has made so many crazy and successful catches in his career. I didn’t want that to happen to me in my first game as a starter,” he said – referring to Brady.

He had seen him play so many times and win the Super Bowl, he said. “And now to stand next to him and give high fives was pretty cool,” the rookie said of his counterpart, who won his first Super Bowl in February 2002. Purdy was just two years old then.

Now, nearly 21 years later, the rookie is kicking the butt of history’s greatest. That’s not a disrespectful description of what happened. It’s exactly what Brady said after the game, “They kicked our butts.”

It may have been just one of those statements after a clearly lost game that Brady was dictating into the reporters’ recorders.

But it also has the potential to be interpreted beyond its intended meaning. There’s a new guy kicking the old guy out. Maybe out of the playoffs? Or maybe out of the NFL? For good?

Brady moments are becoming rare

Yes, they still exist, those special Brady moments Purdy warned about, too. Just a week ago, he led the Bucs to a victory against the New Orleans Saints with two touchdowns in the last three minutes that was no longer thought possible.

Overall, however, it has to be said that the now 45-year-old is no longer the Brady who led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory almost two years ago.

In the 2020 season, he still had 40 touchdowns, the following year even 43. Now he stands at 17 – and there are only four games left until the end of the regular season. His quarterback rating (not passer rating) currently stands at 51.1, the lowest it’s ever been.

Whether it will be enough for Brady to make the playoffs again is more uncertain than ever. The Bucs would still be in first place in the NFC South despite a negative record of 6-7. But the recent trend is against them. They have lost two of their last three games.

At the 49ers, they lost 7:35, by far their highest defeat of the season. In his hometown, of all places, where many relatives and acquaintances still live, Brady had to be humiliated like this.

Brady’s future remains open

“I like it here. My family was here, some friends from the neighbourhood too,” Brady said after the game.

Before the game, he had gone on at length about how much it meant to him to have grown up in this area and to have been a 49ers fan.

When it came to his options for the future, a return to San Francisco was mentioned again and again, alongside the Bucs, the Tennessee Titans, the Las Vegas Raiders and a final retirement.

But whether he is really still needed there is more uncertain than ever since Sunday. The 49ers now have another hopeful.