Brock Purdy couldn’t help but get a little inappropriate with his celebration after the 49ers’ offense came out swinging to start the second half with the longest touchdown of his NFL career.
Three plays into his team’s first drive of the third quarter, Purdy dropped back and threw a bomb down the left side of the field to a streaking Brandon Aiyuk. The receiver had already beaten his man, but got even more free as cornerback Jamel Dean tried, and failed, to break up the throw with a tall leap.
Aiyuk got the 76-yard touchdown, which was the longest scoring reception in the NFL this season until Buffalo tallied an 81-yard score about an hour later, with ease. While he danced in the end zone by himself, Purdy let out a big yell and did a Big Balls Dance celebration with offensive lineman Colton McKivitz.
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Many know this dance from longtime NBA guard Sam Cassell, who would break out the move whenever he hit a clutch shot throughout his career. It became so popular that the league eventually had to start enforcing a fine against players doing it.
Cassell did not create the dance though. It originally came from the 1994 movie “Major League II,” which is where the now-Celtics assistant coach got the idea from, according to what he told The Athletic in 2019. He also noted that while others try to skirt around what the dance mimes when naming it, Cassell knows the move by one moniker only.
“‘Big Balls’ dance,” Cassell said. “That’s what I call it.”
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The celebration might not fit the devout Christian image that Purdy has cultivated when he’s off the field, but with the Niners on a roll again after a rough three game skid earlier this season, it’s hard to resist the call of the dance. It also fits in well with how the Niners saw him when he first broke out last season: A guy with “balls” known as “Big Cock Brock” in the locker room and by the fan base.