Jalen Hurts had better fire out some online propaganda to salvage his MVP campaign. Inflating his numbers via The Brotherly Shove may not be a thing next year, and although Hurts did that in Sunday’s game, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was badly outplayed by his counterpart, 49ers stud Brock Purdy, in Philly.
Hurts was the consensus MVP favorite at about any sportsbook you looked at entering Week 13, yet here comes San Francisco’s Mr. Irrelevant, just ho-hum balling out against a vaunted Eagles defense to the tune of a 42-19 rout.
ESPN analyst and former NFL executive Louis Riddick — who’s been in the running for GM jobs in recent years — had this to say about Purdy, and also beat back the notion that the second-year signal-caller is a quick-game/checkdown machine:
Jalen Hurts had one of the best games I’ve ever seen by somebody who lost in the last Super Bowl. That certainly wasn’t the case today. I’m not going to say the previously 10-1 Eagles lucked their way into that record entirely. However. They, uh, didn’t not have a healthy helping of good fortune to reach that mark.
You could say Purdy has the benefit of leading NFL rusher Christian McCaffrey, but D’Andre Swift is no slouch in the Eagles’ backfield. Plus, Philadelphia has the consensus best o-line in the league, whereas PFF ranked the 49ers’ pass-blocking unit 28th through Week 12. Despite far less experience at the professional level, I think Purdy already throws with more anticipation and sees the field better than Hurts does. He has to almost out of necessity because of more marginal arm talent, inferior pass protection and the big-brained Shanahan concepts Purdy is asked to execute.
We all know San Francisco has a loaded roster. But like…when was the last time you saw Jimmy Garoppolo doing sh*t like this?
“System QB” is a backhanded compliment that only extends so far. Pretty sure it’s stretching the concept to an unreasonable degree if the QB in question is leading in literally all major passing categories, right? Purdy is executing Kyle Shanahan’s offense at a level not seen since Matt Ryan won an MVP in Atlanta with Shanahan as offensive coordinator.
I saw Purdy listed as high as +1100 for MVP prior to the Niners game. My, how the tables have turned!
There has not been more of a statement win by any team this season. A lot of people agree with my assertion that Purdy should be the new MVP favorite, or at least in the very-serious conversation. Don’t discredit what the Niners are accomplishing as a team, Just recognize that what Purdy is doing is simply remarkable.
