Dante Pettis had himself a day vs. the Bucs

Silver linings folks, silver linings. The San Francisco 49ers were embarrassed by what has been a lackluster Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad to the tune of 27-9. There’s a lot of things to take apart and uncharacteristic, even of these 49ers, but there’s one good thing:

Dante Pettis played well.

Now it’s nothing world beating, but 77 yards and a touchdown while looking good doing it is enough for a productive day. Here’s a look at the touchdown run which had a nice shake and bake move off the line of scrimmage:

Pettis was also open in the middle of the field for a couple throws from Nick Mullens to help the 49ers get some large gains. He also managed to stay upright in a second half catch and go for another few yards.

There’s been some disappointment with Pettis’ production so far. When it was announced that not only Pierre Garçon would be out, but Marquise Goodwin would be at home for a personal reason, the 49ers were expecting a lot from their rookie wide receivers. Pettis was the one to step up.

Perhaps the extended playing time helped his production. Pettis commented on how the extended play helped:

“It’s always nice to be able to play more. Rather than just going in and out, in and out, the whole time. You do get into a little bit of a groove and have a better feel for things.”

Pettis’ day puts him at 185 yards and two touchdowns for the year. This isn’t enough to put him in rookie of the year territory (not even close), but it is giving him momentum to finish the season strong. There’s a wide receiver you may know about named Antonio Brown who lit things up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His rookie season was nothing earth shattering either. He had 167 yards and no touchdowns in 2010. It was through hard work in that offseason that led to a breakthrough 2011 campaign, where he caught 69 passes for 1,108 yards. Pettis is no Brown (the two are different receivers if you want to get down to it), but it’s a good thing to look at when hoping or expecting every rookie to do what Odell Beckham Jr. did during his first season.