Posted on 09/08/2025 12:30:10 PM PDT by nickcarraway
If Brock Purdy’s game-winning touchdown pass to Jake Tonges against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 felt like an improbable play, it’s because it essentially was.
The completion, which had a 14.7 percent chance per NFL Next Gen Stats, gave San Francisco a 17-13 lead with 1:34 remaining in the game.
>>Brock Purdy's game-winning TD to Jake Tonges had a completion probability of 14.7%, the most improbable completion of the week entering SNF.
Purdy was traveling 15.98 mph when he let it go, while Tonges had 0.4 yards of separation when the ball arrived.<<
The 49ers quarterback connected with the third-year tight end while running at a speed of almost 16 miles per hour, per Next Gen Stats, as Purdy scrambled right and threw up what seemed to be a prayer.
As if those numbers weren’t wild enough, Next Gen Stats also states that Tonges had 0.4 yards of separation.
The score was Purdy’s second passing touchdown of the 2025 season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The 26-year-old Tonges, who was likely even in the game due to George Kittle’s hamstring injury, entered the game with one target and zero catches over the course of his career and made a bit of history himself, according to ESPN's Nick Wagoner.
However, Tonges made sure to make his presence felt against the Seahawks and finished with three catches for 15 yards for the 49ers in the win.
Nick Wagoner @nwagoner
#49ers TE Jake Tonges is the first player since the 1970 merger to make a game-winning touchdown catch in the final two minutes of a season opening game when coming off a 0 reception season (or career in his case).
Chase says, “Hello”!!
😂
I hate watching games that are in Seattle. Always looks gloomy there.
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