Before I get into discussing the Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts angle of this upcoming game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles, we're gonna play a round of one of my personal favorite games. It's called the Blind Resume Game, and here is how it works… below, I've put up the single season stats of five different quarterbacks. It's up to you to read through the resumes and determine which quarterback you feel the best about.
Got it? Good!
A: 3,978 passing yards, 28 total touchdowns, 13 interceptions, 69.1 completion percentage, 102.0 passer rating, .813 winning percentage
B: 4,176 passing yards, 28 total touchdowns, 9 interceptions, 70.2 completion percentage, 112.3 passer rating, .727 winning percentage
C: 3,923 passing yards, 42 total touchdowns, 17 interceptions, 67.6 completion percentage, 94.9 passer rating, .909 winning percentage
D: 3,538 passing yards, 37 total touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 62.7 completion percentage, 94.8 passer rating, .750 winning percentage
E: 3,465 passing yards, 29 total touchdowns, 7 interceptions, 66.7 completion percentage, 107.0 passer rating, .875 winning percentage
Now before I reveal who each of these five quarterbacks are, let's dig into this match-up.
This is the highly anticipated rematch of the highly anticipated NFC Championship Game we didn't get to see last year. Sure, the 49ers and Eagles faced each other with a Super Bowl berth on the line, but not too long into the game the Niners were playing without a quarterback due to injuries to both Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson.
Now with both of these teams reasonably healthy, the outcome of this game could determine not only who the general NFL fanbase considers the favorite to win the NFC, but it could end up determining who wins the NFL's MVP award. Right now, both Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy are among the betting favorites to win the NFL MVP, according to BetMGM (h/t Sean Treppedi of The Action Network).
| Jalen Hurts +140 |
| Patrick Mahomes +350 |
| Lamar Jackson +500 |
| Tua Tagovailoa +800 |
| Dak Prescott +800 |
| Brock Purdy 16/1 |
| CJ Stroud 18/1 |
| Trevor Lawrence 22/1 |
| Christian McCaffrey 25/1 |
| Josh Allen 30/1 |
Personally, I think Christian McCaffrey's contributions to the 49ers offense have been just as impactful as Brock Purdy's, but seeing both McCaffrey and Purdy on the board makes sense. I have questions about some of the other names, or lack thereof (Why isn't Tyreek Hill on here? Isn't he just as valuable, if not more valuable to the Miami Dolphins, than Tua Tagovailoa?), but ultimately, this feels pretty accurate as we head into Week 13 of the season.
Now, back to the Blind Resume Game. The five quarterbacks above are as follows:
A: Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019
B: Brock Purdy in 2023 (stats projected over a sixteen game sample size)
C: Jalen Hurts in 2023 (stats projected over a sixteen game sample size)
D: Jeff Garcia in 2001
E: Steve Young in 1992
So what did we learn from the Blind Resume Game? Well, I learned that maybe a quarterback is always going to get a Kyle Shanahan bump, Jeff Garcia's 2001 season was surprisingly underrated, and Jalen Hurts is having a more prolific/less efficient version of Steve Young's first MVP season.
I don't know, I came away from this more impressed by Brock Purdy's numbers than I expected. But what I didn't factor in was just HOW impactful Jalen Hurts is in the Eagles rushing game. Sure, accounting for total touchdowns instead of just passing touchdowns helps Hurts' cause, but his 410 rushing yards and 49 rushing 1st downs don't show up in the Blind Resume Game, but they quadruple Brock Purdy's output there.
The NFL MVP is often a narrative-based award, and whoever comes out on top on Sunday will be the player who receives a boost in their MVP odds. That's not to say that Purdy or Hurts are definitely going home with the hardware, but their case will be either helped or hurt on Sunday afternoon.
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