NEW YORK (AP) — Cole Caufield scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Sam Montembeault made 38 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Caufield converted a pass from captain Nick Suzuki at 8:56 of the final period for the decisive goal. Caufield leads the Canadiens with 26 goals and has scored in seven of Montreal’s last eight games.

Kirby Dach also scored for Montreal, which was coming off a 2-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday. The Canadiens have four wins in their last 16 games. They are 4-11-1 since Dec. 12.

Montembeault denied a point-blank chance by Panarin with four minutes to go, and he made 13 saves in the third period to improve to 8-7-2 this season.

Artemi Panarin scored for the Rangers, who had won five of their last six games and had points in seven-straight, with a 5-0-2 mark. They hadn’t lost in regulation since dropping a 4-0 decision at home against Washington on Dec. 27.

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New York is still 6-2-2 in its last 10 games and 13-3-2 since Dec. 5.

After a scoreless first, Dach notched his eighth of the season at 4:54 of the second with assists to Christian Dvorak and Cole Caufield.

Panarin tied the game for New York at 16:03 of the second with his 12th goal. He leads the Rangers with 47 points, including 35 assists.

The Rangers outshot the Canadiens 14-10 in the first period. Both teams had 12 shots in the second.

NOTES: Montreal scratched forward Jake Evans, who was injured during Saturday’s loss to the Islanders, in addition to goaltender Jake Allen and defenseman Chris Wideman. … The Rangers scratched injured forward Chris Kreider for the second straight game and also scratched forward Ryan Carpenter and defenseman Libor Hajek. … The teams meet again March 9 in Montreal. … The Rangers won the teams’ previous meeting, 4-1 in Montreal on Jan. 5.

UP NEXT

Rangers: At Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.

Canadiens: Hosting Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The three-day, playoff-opening salvo the NFL has taken to calling ‘Super Wild Card Weekend’ lived up to that billing Saturday – super, wild and with some jokers thrown into the mix for good measure.

The first half of the third San Francisco 49ers-Seattle Seahawks installment of the season was perhaps unexpectedly tight – and Seattle’s 17-16 lead at intermission was definitely a surprise. But that was followed by four quarters of blowout football that spanned the country from Santa Clara, California, to Jacksonville, Florida – where the second game of the day between the host Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers provided one of the great comebacks in postseason history. 

So many winners Saturday … and nearly as many losers:

WINNERS

Brock Purdy: Wow. The 49ers’ freshman quarterback – ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ as the final player selected in the 2022 NFL draft – ran his record to 6-0 in record-breaking fashion as the Niners bounced the Seahawks 41-23. Purdy became the first rookie in league history to account for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) in a playoff game and even got a shoutout from LeBron James. Prior to Purdy, the last rookie to win a postseason game was Seattle’s Russell Wilson in 2012. Prior to Purdy, the last seventh-round rookie QB to start a postseason game … was no one, though the Miami Dolphins’ Skylar Thompson should become the second Sunday at Buffalo. Also on Saturday, Purdy joined the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert as the only rookies in league history to throw multiple TD passes in seven consecutive games, though Herbert’s run occurred entirely during the confines of the 2020 regular season.

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Buffalo Bills: They don’t play until 1 p.m. ET Sunday against Miami but registered a huge victory Saturday, when they were reunited with teammate Damar Hamlin – just 12 days after he suffered cardiac arrest on the field at Cincinnati. Enough said.

Quarterbacks making playoff debuts: All four QB1s on Saturday – Purdy, Herbert, the Seahawks’ Geno Smith and Jacksonville Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence – were appearing in their maiden postseason games. Three more are expected to join them Sunday: Thompson, the New York Giants’ Daniel Jones and the Baltimore Ravens’ Tyler Huntley (or Anthony Brown).

Worst to whoa: The Jaguars’ remarkable win Saturday made them the first team ever to notch a playoff victory the season after having the league’s worst record.

49ers offense: It was hardly all Purdy. San Francisco’s 505 yards were 51 better than their highest output during the regular season. RB Christian McCaffrey (136) and WR Deebo Samuel (165) both had 130+ yards from scrimmage and a TD.

DK Metcalf: By and large, he was the Seahawks offense, finishing with 10 receptions for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns while imposing a physical presence against the Niners’ top-ranked defense that the rest of his teammates just couldn’t replicate.

Chargers tight ends: They did their best to pick up the slack created by WR Mike Williams’ injured back. Gerald Everett, Donald Parham Jr. and Tre’ McKitty combined for 12 receptions, 148 yards and a TD.

Robbie Gould: San Francisco’s kicker converted on four field goals and three extra points. In 14 postseason appearances, he’s never missed a kick – perfect on all 25 FG tries and 37-for-37 on PATs.

Travis Etienne Jr.: The Jags’ ‘other’ first-round pick in 2021 (and Lawrence’s teammate at Clemson), Etienne continued his superb sophomore season – he missed his entire rookie campaign with a Lisfranc injury – with game-high 121 yards from scrimmage, many of the chunk-play variety that helped Jacksonville scratch its way back from a seemingly unrecoverable start.

Asante Samuel Jr.: The Chargers corner became the first player to pick off three passes in the first half of a playoff game. If his dad’s hands had been that good, the New England Patriots would have gone 19-0 in 2007. (Sorry/not sorry, Boston.)

Sean Payton: Next coach of the Chargers? The rumor has lingered for weeks and seemed dead at one point Saturday night … then didn’t.

Doug Pederson: Jacksonville’s coach didn’t panic, and neither did his team as it steadily clawed back against the Bolts. And let’s not forget Pederson’s bold decision with 5:25 to go and his team trailing 30-26 – which is the moment Lawrence used his 6-6 frame to convert on a two-point try following the team’s fourth TD. That preceded a game-winning FG from Riley Patterson on the night’s final play.

Second-half Trevor Lawrence: Wow. Eighteen of his 23 throws found the mark, covering 211 yards and producing three touchdowns in the final two quarters. The performance of the 2021 draft’s No. 1 pick fueled an improbable comeback – necessitated by his own ineptitude through the game’s first 28 minutes – propelling the Jags to a 31-30 triumph that marked the third-largest comeback in playoff history (more on that later). Jacksonville became the first team in postseason annals to overcome a turnover deficit of at least five.

LOSERS

First-half Trevor Lawrence: Boy did Sunshine put his team into a (27-0) well, passing for all of 77 yards while completing 10 of 24 passes – well, 14 of 24 when you count the four interceptions. The last quarterback to serve up four INTs before halftime in a playoff game was Gary Danielson in 1983. But give Lawrence credit for initiating the Jags’ turnaround, finding TE Evan Engram for a 9-yard TD in the final minute of the first half.

Brandon Staley: He wasn’t guilty of any dubious analytics plays Saturday, and his team executed a first-half game plan that frustrated Lawrence and seemed sufficient to likely set up another go-round with the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round. But the Chargers could only muster three points in the second half, had to employ a third-string left tackle, collapsed defensively, lost their composure … and sure could have used Williams, whom Staley senselessly played in Week 18, when he suffered the fracture in his back. The Bolts would be justified in retaining their bright, if stubborn, second-year coach … and would also be justified if they move on.

Herbert: Speaking of LA’s budding third-year superstar – yeah, he didn’t have his favorite receiver Saturday or adequate protection, getting sacked three times, hit 10 and even absorbing a cheap shot from Jags rookie OLB Travon Walker. That drew a flag, but no retribution from Herbert’s teammates. Still, as much fun as he is to watch and the possibility he could become Aaron Rodgers 2.0, he should have found a way to put this game on ice.

Bosa Bowl: Presumptive NFL Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa had a nice day, making five tackles (one for a loss) and recovering a fumble in San Francisco’s win. But big brother Joey had a rough night in Duval County – finishing with one tackle, one hit on Lawrence … two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and an offside call that infuriated him while negating a crucial third-down sack of Lawrence and instead wound up extending a drive that ended with Jacksonville’s second TD. So Nick plays on, and Joey will have to watch from a luxury box.

Seahawks offensive line: All five of Seattle’s penalties were against its front five, not including a sixth that was declined, most falling into the mental error category. Smith was also sacked three times.

Geno Smith: He wasn’t terrible considering what was occurring in front of him, but Smith did turn the ball over twice and failed to become the first quarterback in 22 years to win his playoff debut 10 years into his career. Now he waits for Seattle to make a decision as his contract expires at the end of what was otherwise a breakout campaign.

Detroit Lions: Had they not lost to the Seahawks in Week 4, the Leos would have been in action Saturday. And the way Dan Campbell’s crew finished the season, you wonder if Detroit would have given the Niners four quarters of hell as opposed to the two Seattle managed.

Johnathan Abram: There’s a reason the 2019 first-round pick of the Raiders is on his third team (Seahawks) of the season. There’s zero reason he should be trying to injure a fellow player, Samuel in Saturday’s case. Bum. It also seemed to ignite San Francisco, which scored 25 points in a row after the dirty play.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.

If you’ve flipped on the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars wild card playoff game on Saturday and heard the legendary Al Michaels on the play-by-play call with NBC, no, you’re not just hearing things.

Michaels is indeed calling a playoff game for the network he was a part of for so long, even though he left NBC for Amazon to do Prime Video’s ‘Thursday Night Football’ games this past season.

Why is that?

Back when he left, Michaels became a “broadcaster emeritus” and NBC announced he would work an NFL playoff game for them.

And why is Tony Dungy with him instead of Cris Collinsworth? That’s easy: Collinsworth will call Sunday’s Ravens-Bengals game with his usual partner, Mike Tirico.

There’s your answer!

Trevor Lawrence’s playoff debut couldn’t have started any worse.

On Lawrence’s very first pass he threw an interception. On the Jacksonville Jaguars’ second possession, Lawrence tossed another pick. The Jaguars quarterback threw four interceptions in the first half, including three in the first quarter. The Jaguars were down 27-0 late in the second quarter and trailed 27-7 at halftime after committing five total turnovers in the first two quarters. 

But it was a tale of two halves.

Lawrence and the Jaguars showed tremendous resilience in the second half. Lawrence tallied 211 passing yards and three touchdowns after halftime, and the Jaguars defense held the Chargers to just three points in the second half as Jacksonville stunned Los Angeles 31-30 to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs.

Jacksonville’s 27-point comeback was the third largest in NFL postseason history. Little coincidence, it was also the Chargers’ biggest blown lead.

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“Our defense just kept getting stops for us. We been in that situation before – not that many points. That’s the thing, just the belief in this team. It’s really cool to see what could happen when everybody believes,’ Lawrence said after the game. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today and what the offense was able to do to bounce back and also the defense, if we didn’t believe in one another.

‘I threw four picks in the first half and those guys beside me on offense and the guys on the other side of the ball never lost faith in me. That’s one thing that makes it easier. When you know you have guys who believe in you no matter what the circumstances are.”

Saturday night’s win exemplified the Jaguars’ season. Jacksonville was 3-7 going into its Week 11 bye, but the club rallied to win five straight games to end the regular season, including a win-and-in game versus the Tennessee Titans to win the AFC South title for just the second time in franchise history.

“It’s just what I told them at halftime. It’s kind of like our season. We put ourselves in a hole at times and we worked ourselves out of it at times. Just to have the resiliency, the fight, the desire and the ability to continue to play. It could’ve easily gone the other way,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said. “That’s what I’m so proud of these guys for. Everything is on the line and they go out and get the job done.”

The Jaguars defense deserves plenty of credit for its performance in the second half for holding a Justin Herbert-led Chargers offense to just three points and 140 total yards. But Lawrence’s ability to bounce back from a nightmarish first half was a tremendous display of resiliency. He didn’t flinch, kept his composure, delivered timely and accurate passes and played turnover-free football in the second half.

“That’s what I love about Trevor. His demeanor and his aggressiveness and his ability to forget and move on. But he’ll be the first one to tell you that it’s not about him. Guys around him, too, made plays,” Pederson said. “But from an individual standpoint, this was really a great performance by our quarterback.”

Lawrence’s second-half performance was a demonstration of why he was such a highly touted quarterback coming out of Clemson and why the Jaguars selected him No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL draft. The Jaguars have their franchise quarterback, and he took a big step in his NFL career Saturday night in his first playoff win.

“I was able to turn it around and play well in the second half, but it all stems from the collective belief of the team,” Lawrence said. “We all believed it and that’s the crazy thing. It’s easy to say it after, but you don’t win a game like that if you really don’t believe it… It’s a special night. I’m proud of the group (and) the city. It’s a special night for a lot of people. Just thankful for everybody who played a part in it.”

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.

Perhaps sometime in the late 2040s or early 2050s, if Trevor Lawrence is on a Canton stage delivering his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, this will be remembered as his first grandiose signature NFL moment. 

What Lawrence did on the night of Jan. 14, 2023 at TIAA Bank Field, in his playoff debut opposite another young gunslinger in the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert, was a legacy thing.  

This won’t ever be forgotten, if for no other reason than just the sheer improbability of it all. 

Just before halftime of the Jaguars’ first postseason game in five years, TIAA Bank Field felt like a morgue. After all, most teams are pretty much dead after committing five turnovers and trailing 27-0. 

Yet, 10 minutes after the clock expired, when Riley Patterson’s 36-yard field goal completed a stunning 31-30 AFC wild-card comeback victory, hundreds of delirious fans outside the west side of the stadium were loudly chanting in unison, “Let’s go Jaguars! Let’s go Jaguars!” 

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More Chargers-Jaguars game coverage:

How could this possibly happen? Who saw such a wild finish and historic rally coming? 

Well, everybody wearing black and teal inside the Jaguars’ locker knew enough not to dismiss it as a possibility.  

Not with someone like Trevor, the 23-year-old with maturity beyond his years, operating with that Joe Cool persona and who never seems to get rattled no matter how dire the circumstances. 

‘That’s a special man‘

Lawrence had thrown four first-half interceptions, completing more passes at one point to Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel, Jr. (three) than any of his own receivers. 

He candidly referred to those opening 30 minutes as “definitely the worst half of my football life.” 

Yet somehow, when those dark hours come and the Jaguars face a climb as steep as Everest, they have an uncanny knack for flipping a switch. 

Thanks, in large part, to No. 16 turning into Superman in the nick of time. 

All at this same venue, Lawrence has led them back from 17 points down against the Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys, a 9-point deficit in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens, then beat the Tennessee Titans last week to win the AFC South after trailing 10-0. 

But this comeback was something else, the stuff of legend. It was the kind of performance that gets quarterbacks on Wheaties boxes and entices major brands to seek them out as pitchmen. 

It’s not like Lawrence is Tom Brady, who had four Super Bowl rings in his collection and 16 years of NFL experience to draw on when he orchestrated that comeback from a 28-3 deficit against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. 

Yet Lawrence managed to excavate the Jaguars from a 27-point hole, much of it his doing, by not veering from his trademark even-keeled demeanor that never ceases to impress teammates. 

“Once he finds his rhythm, I wouldn’t have nobody else,” said receiver Marvin Jones. “I’ve never seen a quarterback come back from throwing four picks. But he’s different. The dude never wavers. He doesn’t care what happens, it’s all about the next play.” 

Zay Jones, the recipient of a 39-yard touchdown pass off a Lawrence audible to cut the Chargers’ lead to 30-20, held nothing back in praising his quarterback. 

“From playing football, watching football, I know a lot of quarterbacks that would fold in that situation that he went through,” said Jones. “That’s tough, for anybody at any level. For him to be as poised and composed as he was, it showed another side of who we have on this team.” 

After a slight pause, Jones then pointed at Lawrence as he was talking to backup QB C.J. Beathard near his locker, adding: “That guy right there, standing right there, that’s a special man. I’m proud to be part of a team that he’s on, and I’m glad that 16 is leading us.” 

Jaguars’ offense goes off 

How bleak was it? Well, a lot of fans among the sellout crowd of 70,250 had left the stadium when it was 27-0, then frantically made their way back in after Lawrence’s 9-yard TD pass to Evan Engram shortly before halftime provided a glimmer of hope. 

But since the Jaguars made a habit of overcoming big deficits in the second half of the season, there was no sense of doom permeating the sidelines. And certainly not on the quarterback who started out 4 of 16 with four interceptions. 

“That’s the thing, just the belief in this team,” said Lawrence. “It’s really cool to see what can happen when everybody believes. I wouldn’t be able to do what I did today and what the offense was able to do in the second half to bounce back, also the defense, if we didn’t believe in one another. 

“I threw four picks in the first half, and those guys beside me on offense and the guys on the other side of the ball didn’t ever lose faith in me, and that’s one thing that makes it easier, when you know you’ve got guys that believe in you, no matter what the circumstances are.” 

The circumstances were at DEFCON 1 level late in the second quarter. That’s when a JK Scott punt went off the helmet at the Jaguars’ 20 of an unsuspecting Chris Claybrooks, who was running back to get himself in position to block for returner Jamal Agnew. 

When the loose ball caromed all the way back to the Jaguars’ 6 and Amen Ogbongbemiga recovered for a fifth turnover, you just felt it wasn’t going to be the home team’s night. 

The season appeared on the brink of expiration. An air of resignation hung over every part of TIAA Bank Field except on the Jaguars’ sideline. 

But a stout defensive front led by Roy Robertson-Harris, Josh Allen and Foye Oluokun, which had to deal with terrible field position because of the turnovers, scored an important victory. It held the Chargers to a field goal, preventing the lead from ballooning to 31 points. 

When Lawrence got the Jaguars on the board to make it 27-7 at halftime, an offense capable of explosive surges became unstoppable in the second half. 

The Jaguars went touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown and game-winning field goal on their last five possessions. 

The Chargers could never regain the momentum. Their defense was powerless to fend off the Trevor turbo-charge, so much so that frustrated edge rusher Joey Bosa picked up two unsportsmanlike conduct flags, though he was mysteriously not ejected from the game. 

Brilliant audible 

It’s usually a multitude of plays that ends up winning a game of this magnitude, but if there was just one to select bigger than any other, that came with 1:28 remaining. 

The Jaguars found themselves facing a fourth-and-less-than-1 at the L.A. 41. It was a textbook quarterback sneak situation, which is exactly what the Jaguars appeared ready to do. 

Only head coach and play-caller Doug Pederson didn’t like the way the Chargers were stacking the line, selling out to stop just that. 

So he called timeout as the Jaguars, in Pederson’s words, “reloaded, regrouped, put our heads together, came up with that call.” 

They hit a reset button that might well have saved the season. Instead of a Lawrence sneak, he handed the ball off to speedy running back Travis Etienne to get to the edge. He beat the defense there and outran Samuel down the right sideline for a 26-yard gain to the Chargers’ 16. 

“Just a great effort by Travis to obviously hit an off tackle there and get the first down and more,” said Pederson. 

Lawrence acknowledged he was “kind of mad” about the play-call because he thought a QB sneak would work, but his Clemson teammate delivered something much better. 

“It takes a lot of guts there, fourth-and-1 and game on the line, and just the guys up front, they just mashed them,” said Lawrence. “They set the edge and Travis was rolling.” 

Two plays later, Patterson’s kick went through inside the right upright. You would have thought an earthquake had hit ‘The Bank,’ the noise of approval was so deafening. 

How far can Jaguars go? 

This historic comeback, the third-largest deficit overcome in NFL playoff history, was nothing really new to Pederson. He saw a Hall of Fame quarterback performing similar magic during his playing days with the Green Bay Packers in the 1990s and early 2000s. 

“I played with one of the greatest quarterbacks ever in [the Packers’] Brett Favre and there were times he didn’t have a great first half and came back in the second half and could light it up,” said Pederson. 

“That’s what I love about Trevor and his demeanor and his aggressiveness and the ability to just forget and move on.” 

But what made the Jaguars’ fourth victory in five postseason home games so mind-boggling is they won despite a minus-5 turnover ratio. 

Unlike those four fumbles he had against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4, Lawrence defied the odds this time as the Jaguars won their fifth one-score game. In October alone, they went 0-5 with losses by 8, 7, 7, 6 and 4 points. 

But those low moments galvanized the Jaguars, to the point where no form of adversity for the rest of the AFC playoffs is likely to faze them.   

“It’s tough when you’re struggling and not playing well, but if I don’t continue to be myself, we don’t have a shot to win because then I’m going to miss the plays that I usually make,” Lawrence said. “I just had to keep my confidence.” 

Let this be a forewarning to the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and whoever else thinks they can hoist a Super Bowl trophy. 

Trevor Lawrence and the Cardiac Cats are for real, and they’re living to play another day. 

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540 

Damar Hamlin will be rooting for his teammates in Buffalo but not at Highmark Stadium.

‘My heart is with my guys as they compete today! Supporting from home as I focus on my recovery. Nothing I want more than to be out there with them! LFG #BillsMafia,’ Hamlin tweeted at 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

The Associated Press reported earlier Sunday − citing a person with direct knowledge of Hamlin’s schedule on the condition of anonymity − that the Buffalo Bills safety planned to attend Buffalo’s wild-card playoff home game against the Miami Dolphins. The source later told the The Associated Press ‘plans may have changed.”

Hamlin is recovering after going into cardiac arrest on the field in Cincinnati less than two weeks ago.

Hamlin, 24, visited his teammates at the stadium on Saturday but has not made a public appearance since being taken from transported from Paycor Stadium in an ambulance on Jan. 2.

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Hamlin collapsed and was given CPR and resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati on Monday Night Football and the game was about an hour later. Hamlin was in the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Three days later, UC physicians said that Hamlin had shown ‘remarkable improvement’ and was ‘neurologically intact.’ He opened his eyes. was able to hold the hands of family and friends was able to communicate via writing, asking, ‘Did we win?’

Hamlin’s breathing tube was removed on Jan. 6 and he FaceTimed with Bills teammates, telling them ‘I love you boys.’

He was transferred from Cincinnati to Buffalo General Hospital on Jan. 9 to undergo additional testing and was discharged on Jan. 11.

Waiting, waiting, waiting…

It never happened.

If you thought Brock Purdy would wet his pants during his first NFL playoff game, just keep on waiting. Purdy, the first rookie quarterback in San Francisco 49ers history to start a postseason game, played with the poise you’d expect from the legendary Joe Montana in carving up the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC wild-card matchup at soggy Levi’s Stadium.

Don’t just take it from me. Check out the love from LeBron James:

“PURDY GOT GAME!!!!!!!!!!” the NBA megastar tweeted.

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“LeBron said that?” Purdy responded when alerted during his postgame press conference. “That’s sweet. That’s awesome. That’s so cool.”

Purdy, 23, passed for 332 yards and set an NFL record during the 41-23 blowout by becoming the first rookie quarterback to account for four touchdowns – three passing and a sneak – while further advancing his Cinderella journey to stardom.

The playoff win was the 49ers’ sixth in a row since the last player drafted in April was inserted into the starting lineup after Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a foot injury in Week 13.

What nerves? For all of the win-or-go-home pressure and better competition that postseason brings, no one was more composed than the “Brock Star.” He didn’t commit a turnover and posted a 131.5 efficiency rating as the 49ers (14-4) won their 11th consecutive game.

Purdy undoubtedly knew the stakes and felt the emotion building before kickoff.

Then the game came. On his first pass, the wet football slipped out of his hand and sailed away.

That was as bad as it got.

“Once the game started, it was 11-on-11,” Purdy told reporters. “I’ve got to do my job, get it to the guys when they get in space and go from there. We didn’t make it more than it was.

“It wasn’t, ‘Oh, my gosh, we’re in the playoffs. We’ve got to get all tense.’ We just have to play our game and let everything else fall into place.”

Nothing seemed to faze the baby-faced kid who looks like an ID check waiting to happen. He ran Kyle Shanahan’s versatile offense with aplomb, which means getting the football into the hands of Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and others.

When it didn’t go exactly as designed, that’s when Purdy got creative, using his legs and football savvy to spin out of would-be sacks and turn broken plays into highlight clips with his elite scrambling. His 7-yard TD toss to Elijah Mitchell in the fourth quarter was just that as he emerged out of a spin to find Mitchell floating alone in the flat.

Mitchell was the last read for that exact purpose.

Or, as Purdy put it, “Elijah was where he needed to be.”

Shanahan has shown tremendous confidence in his rookie, evidenced by the load he has put on Purdy in the passing game from the moment Jimmy G. went down, weeks after opening-day starter Trey Lance was lost for the season. Purdy threw 30 passes while the 49ers logged 33 rushing attempts. Balance is the ticket, particularly when a prolific offense has so many weapons.

Yet the coach can also get a bit nervous about his rookie when Purdy is forced to go off-script to extend plays.

“He’s got a feel for it,” Shanahan said. “He definitely makes me nervous. He does a good job getting away. He knows his body. He never tries to give up on a play.”

Even better, Shanahan concluded, “He’s been very smart with the ball.”

No, Purdy isn’t perfect. With the Seahawks holding a 17-16 halftime lead, Purdy said that Shanahan gave him a pointed reminder in the locker room that stemmed from the lone sack that the quarterback suffered. He said he looked for Kittle over the middle but held onto the ball rather than reacting quickly.

Shanahan told him, “We just have to keep it simple and get it to our guys.”

After halftime, the 49ers broke the game open by scoring TDs on each of their first three possessions.

Purdy, who started 46 games at Iowa State and was twice named first team All-Big 12, clearly belongs on the NFL stage, even with the spotlight intensifying during the playoffs.

Sure, the tests will get tougher as the 49ers advance. But with Purdy acing every test yet, there’s no reason to question whether the deep, balanced 49ers can still contend for a Super Bowl 57 crown with a rookie at the game’s most important position.

It’s funny now: As the last player drafted, Purdy was dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant,” a distinction that comes complete with an annual parade in Southern California in that player’s honor. On the final day of the draft, no one would have imagined that Purdy would be in this spot of quarterbacking the hottest team in the NFL in the playoffs.

Yet here’s Purdy, plenty relevant with the next stage occurring in the divisional playoffs.

As LeBron reminded his 52 million followers on Twitter, Purdy’s got some serious game.

Early in the second episode of “Break Point,” the new Netflix documentary series about the pro tennis tour, Spanish star Paula Badosa explains that the sport “is a drug” — an addiction that we learn later in the series does not always serve her well. 

But as physically grinding and mentally taxing as tennis can be, the burning ambition to compete and the adrenaline rush of playing in front of 15,000 people usually trumps everything for the elite players in the world. 

Now, the sport’s gatekeepers hope the same high will translate to a new legion of fans who have barely, if ever, watched a match before.

Created by the same team that helped boost Formula 1’s mainstream popularity with “Drive to Survive,” Friday’s release of “Break Point” coincides with the beginning of the Australian Open and a season of potential transition in the sport. 

Roger Federer is gone, having retired officially in September. Serena Williams played her final match at last year’s U.S. Open after announcing an “evolution” away from tennis. Rafael Nadal starts 2023 as the all-time Grand Slam king with 22 major titles but will turn 37 in June and is just 4-7 since pulling out of last year’s Wimbledon semifinals with an injury. 

At this point, the only one of the remaining legends who seems poised to squeeze more out of their prime is Novak Djokovic, who is back in Australia going for his 10th title there after the bizarre events of last January when he was detained and then deported because he had not met the country’s COVID-19 vaccination guidelines for entry. (In November, he was granted a visa to play in 2023 after Australia eliminated a rule requiring all international travelers be vaccinated).

Though none of those all-time greats are featured characters in “Break Point,” they are of course a large part of the narrative. Nadal, in particular, casts a massive shadow over the first five episodes, which take viewers from Australia through the French Open — both events where Nadal took the title last year. The rest of the episodes, covering the second half of 2022, will drop in June before Wimbledon.

From a larger institutional standpoint, tennis has dreaded the day when its most bankable, beloved stars would no longer be able to carry the sport to television audiences and ticket buyers around the world. 

In that sense, it gave the creators of “Break Point” an easy framing to create characters out of players that most casual or non-tennis fans would not likely have heard of: Who’s next, and what does it really take to get to the top?

Viewers who may have an impression of tennis as a genteel, country club sport will certainly come away with a much different impression of the anxiety, loneliness and difficult health choices players have to make as they pursue their dreams.

“I’ve trained my whole life for this moment,” American Taylor Fritz says as he’s weighing whether to take the court against Nadal in last year’s Indian Wells final even though doctors have told him he could be risking long-term injury to his foot and his coaches are imploring him not to play. “If I pulled out, I’d be thinking about this forever.”

In that respect, “Break Point” works exactly as it was intended, building personalities and storylines that will likely seem more interesting and fresh to new fans than those with a deep knowledge of the sport. 

What “Break Point” might be missing, at least in comparison to “Drive to Survive,” is conflict and rivalry. Tennis is a brutal sport in many ways, and the show makes clear how draining it is for most players to lose every week but keep showing up at the next stop on tour — but the players themselves might be too nice. 

Even the debut episode, which is built around tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios and his career-long struggle to handle massive expectations, does not address the numerous on- and off-court run-ins he’s had with competitors over the years. 

About as close as the series comes to true conflict occurs in the fifth episode when young Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime meets Nadal at the French Open, putting coach Toni Nadal in the awkward position between the nephew he coached to his first 16 Grand Slam titles and his current pupil. But even Uncle Toni’s controversial handling of the situation mostly gets shrugged off by the players themselves, leaving viewers wondering whether the storyline really went anywhere.

While there will be plenty more nits for tennis fans to pick with the series, “Break Point” will almost certainly attract some new eyeballs to tennis, which is why the men’s and women’s tours, all four Grand Slams and a group of more than a dozen players gave Netflix significant access to their on- and off-court lives. 

If those new viewers (and current fans) tune in for the Australian Open, here are some storylines they’re likely to see.

Can Novak Djokovic match Rafael Nadal with 22 Grand Slams?

After being unable to play the U.S. Open due to his unvaccinated status, Djokovic tore through the end of the 2022 season, winning 18 of 19 matches including the year-end ATP Finals. Djokovic looked every bit the Australian Open favorite during a warm-up event in Adelaide but did pick up a minor hamstring injury that could prove problematic. 

Can Nadal survive a brutal draw? 

If not Iga Swiatek, then who?

The dominant No. 1 player on the women’s side, Swiatek comes in as the favorite. Though she’s proven herself plenty of times on hard courts, including at the U.S. Open, she is somewhat more vulnerable in the faster conditions that are typical of Melbourne. But there’s no clear second tier in the women’s game at the moment, which means the draw could open for any of 25 or 30 players to make a final. One player worth keeping an eye on is American Jessica Pegula, who has become very consistent at the Slams and beat Swiatek at a warm-up event.

Who’s missing? 

Unfortunately for “Break Point” fans, two of the series’ stars — Ajla Tomljanovic and Badosa — had to pull out of the tournament due to injuries. Tomljanovic and her then-boyfriend, Matteo Berrettini, were the focus of the second episode of the series while Badosa opens up about mental health struggles in the fourth episode centered around the Madrid Open in her hometown. Last week, two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka announced she will not compete in 2023 because she is pregnant. But the tournament’s most disappointing loss from a competitive standpoint is men’s No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Since his breakthrough Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, the 19-year-old has struggled with injuries including a leg problem he developed during a recent practice match.

Who is primed to win their first major?

Fans of American Taylor Fritz had to love what they saw from the 25-year-old at the season-opening United Cup where his big serve was firing and he notched several quality wins. Up to No. 9 in the world, Fritz has shown he can compete with, and at times, beat the best on the regular tour. He has come close to doing it at Grand Slams but hasn’t closed the deal yet. The draw sets up well for him to make a semifinal run here, where he’d likely draw Djokovic. If she can keep it together mentally and play with discipline, the conditions are well-suited for big-hitting Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka to break through.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Dan Wolken on Twitter @DanWolken