The backgrounds of Jared Goff and Brock Purdy couldn’t be more different.
Goff was a first overall pick in the NFL Draft, Purdy the last.
Goff is the comeback kid, leading the Rams to the Super Bowl in just his third season, then falling out of disfavor in Los Angeles before getting off to a rocky start in Detroit. Now he has led the Lions within the brink of their first Super Bowl.
Purdy surpassed the third overall selection in a draft, Trey Lance, to win the 49ers’ starting position. He has done little but excel since.
Goff and Purdy share one common denominator, though: Doubters.
It’s like no matter what they do, they still have their share of detractors.
Goff has exorcised the ghost of Matthew Stafford and taken the Lions deeper into the playoffs than any QB in more than three decades. He passed for the NFL’s second-most yardage during the regular season, and has been even better during the playoffs.
Goff being ripped by fans on sports talk radio and social media has ceased, but he always seems to be just a bad game away from being in the doghouse again. Late this season, after an utterly brilliant and extended stretch, Goff was widely roasted for his lack of mobility and subpar play in outdoor games. The kicker, though, were complaints about his supposed lack of a deep arm. They don’t take QBs one-one if they can’t sling it deep. Goff has a strong arm. He displays excellent velocity fitting short and intermediate throws in tight windows. Goff hasn’t had that much success throwing deep as a Lion because he hasn’t had top-end deep threats. Jameson Williams was supposed to be that threat, but his career got off to a slow start for a variety of reasons. None of them were Goff, but there were nonetheless a number of loud-mouthed sycophants of Williams, who blamed Goff. It was as if Goff had a noodle for an arm.
That perception proved false when Goff, effortlessly, hit Williams with a pass flipped 57 yards right on target in the regular season finale vs. the Vikings for a 62-yard gain.
Goff has been a very good teammate for Jamo. That’s even despite the couple times Williams, albeit seemingly more out of excitement rather than spite, showed up his QB with demonstrative gestures on the field. Now Williams is coming into his own. That’s mostly to his credit, but Goff has been a help, not a hindrance.
Goff has obviously made all his offensive teammates better. He is the consummate veteran QB, at an apex where talent and experience meet to form the ideal combination for performance.
Where Goff was a high 4-star coming out of his Bay Area high school, Purdy was a low 3-star near Phoenix despite posting off-the-chart statistics. He wasn’t that big, didn’t have a big-time arm and wasn’t that fast. Or so he was labeled.
At Iowa State, Purdy was easily one of the Top 10 QBs in Big 12 history. But his last season wasn’t his best and there remained this stigma about his tools, hence Mr. Irrelevant.
Thing is, all he’s done is produce in high school, college, pros. It’s made Purdy extraordinarily relevant.
It’s been suggested Purdy is only effective because of exceptional talent surrounding him. It is, frankly, an absurd notion. Sure he has plenty of weapons, but he has made the most of them.
Still, anticipate the Lions attempting to stop Christian McCaffrey’s runs first, and force Purdy to beat them with his arm.
It’s called picking your poison, and Purdy did toss nine of his 11 interceptions in ‘23 in the four losses the 49ers had in games he played. That included four in a defeat to the Ravens that essentially knocked him from the MVP race.
But Purdy has mostly played exceptional football over a two-year span.
What shouldn’t be expected is either one of these QBs flinching Sunday.
They have proven their detractors wrong, which makes them more similar than their backgrounds and skill sets suggest.
It starts with motivation. Each still has so much yet to prove.
It’ll be fascinating to see who proves it more under a microscope Sunday.