In 1999, a rookie quarterback named Shaun King was dropped into the starting lineup of a bonafide Super Bowl contender late in the season.
The second-round pick handled it with aplomb, winning six of eight games to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advance to the NFC Championship Game, falling just short of the Super Bowl.
Twenty-three years later, a rookie quarterback named Brock Purdy is following a similar journey.
The last pick in this year’s draft is undefeated in six starts as the San Francisco 49ers prepare to host the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Round on Sunday.
The 49ers are favored to advance, as the roster is so stacked that a conference championship game appearance seems fait accompli if Purdy can deliver a solid performance.
Rookie QBs who have won a playoff game since the merger:
Brock Purdy 2022
Russell Wilson 2012
T.J. Yates 2011
Mark Sanchez 2009 (2 wins)
Joe Flacco 2008 (2 wins)
Ben Roethlisberger 2004
Shaun King 1999— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) January 15, 2023
As someone who experienced this exact scenario at the turn of the century, King has some, well, interesting advice he’s regurgitating to Purdy.
“I was watching him in the Seattle (wild card) game and he was going through the same thing I went through, and it was kind of an out-of-body experience,” King said. “I never was a guy who got nervous. Anxiety never bothered me. But then I got in my first playoff start against Washington, and I’m telling you, in that first series I couldn’t even feel my body. I was moving and doing stuff, but I didn’t feel like I was in control. And he was going through the same thing. He couldn’t control where that ball was going. If it was supposed to go left it was going right.
“So I’m giving him a piece of advice: Stick your finger down your throat after the first series and make yourself heave. I’ve done it, and for whatever reason it shocks your body back to normalcy. I don’t know if he did that because he was still a little shaky that second or third series as well. But if you run into him you tell him, if you start feeling like that, stick your finger down your throat and make yourself heave. Whether you throw up or dry heave, it shocks your body back.”
In 1999 I was with the Bucs and our first two QBs got hurt. We inserted rookie Shaun King into the lineup. He did a great job. We relied on run game and defense and won 6 straight—went to the NFC Championship game. 49ers and Brock Purdy can do the same thing. https://t.co/Y8NhYmIUGR
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) December 5, 2022
If Purdy does indeed pull trig on the sideline — there is no prop bet for that, I don’t think — it will be the latest similarity between the two quarterbacks.
When King took over for an injured Trent Dilfer as a rookie, the Buccaneers were 6-4, and he helped them to a 5-1 mark down the stretch and a win in the NFC Divisional Round over Washington.
At 22 years and 231 days, King became the youngest quarterback in the Super Bowl era to win a playoff game. The run ended with a five-point loss in the NFC Championship game to the Rams.
Sometimes you just gotta improvise… (via @nflthrowback)@WarrickDunn | @realshaunking | @Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/raLjPstLnz
— NFL (@NFL) May 21, 2020
Purdy took over when the 49ers were 8-4, and they have gone undefeated in the six games since. They are one win away from the NFC Championship, two from a Super Bowl appearance and three from a title.
“There are a lot of similarities,” King said. “The expectation, first of all, was the same. Any time you have a young quarterback and he comes into a situation where there are real expectations, it takes a special individual from a mental toughness standpoint to be able to handle that. This isn’t Trevor Lawrence Year 1 in Jacksonville or Justin Fields this year in Chicago, where the fanbase, the national media, the organization, no one thinks you’re going to win. You get to go out and mess up and it doesn’t really matter.
“This is a whole different situation, and that’s why he and my journeys are similar. San Francisco feels like, if they get plus quarterback play, they have a hell of a shot to win a championship. Tampa felt the same way. I’ve never met him, but personality-wise I think me and Brock are similar, like super internally confident. Just like him, I had never failed. That part of the stress apparatus was not a part of me, because I had never failed at (the NFL) level.”
King said one difference in the playoffs is that he experienced a blowout loss to the Raiders in the regular season, while Purdy has yet to face adversity in a game, as the 49ers have rarely trailed with him under center.
“We went to Oakland and lost 45-0; we had to come from behind in our first playoff game against the Washington Redskins,” King said. “We had been in situations where we had to win the game late. If there is one thing I don’t know the answer to when it comes to Brock, they haven’t played from behind. We don’t know that yet about Brock, and hopefully we don’t find out. Hopefully he just rides this and wins a championship.”
Brock Purdy could be the fifth rookie QB to start and win a Divisional Round playoff game joining the likes of Mark Sanchez, Joe Flacco, Big Ben and Tampa Bay's very own @realshaunking.
— Evan Closky (@ECloskyWTSP) January 19, 2023
King won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2002, but as a backup quarterback to Brad Johnson. After that rookie season, he thought success in the NFL would come easily, but with the benefit of hindsight, King realizes that isn’t the case.
It’s why he hopes Purdy can take some time to enjoy this run in real-time.
“It was so much so fast, I didn’t really take the time to really appreciate it,” King said. “The one thing I would tell Brock is to take a lot of videos and pictures. Not the distracting kind where you’re giving people all-access and you’re trying to get your YouTube followers up. But for the memories. Take the time after practice to put video on your phone and talk to your guys on the team. After the successes, capture that stuff, because one day you’re not going to play anymore, and you want to go back and re-live those moments. That’s one thing I didn’t do.”
King also believes it’s imperative for Purdy “to make his lay-ups” by hitting open receivers in rhythm according to coach Kyle Shanahan’s scheme.
But he reiterates his most important piece of advice a second time.
“Stick your finger down your throat,” King said, “and heave.”
