The past 10 weeks, the two highest-rated quarterbacks in the NFL have been Brock Purdy and Jordan Love. During this period, Purdy's passer rating is 113, and Love's is 111.
Skeptics would look at those numbers and say they're a product of the offensive scheme each quarterback plays in. Love plays for Matt LaFleur, who's a disciple of Purdy's coach, Kyle Shanahan. Both coaches specialize in scheme receivers wide open. Which means skeptics would consider both Purdy and Love to be system quarterbacks.
Nick Bosa all but called Love a system quarterback Tuesday in the 49ers' locker room. Said Love goes through his reads quickly and finds the open man but doesn't make lots of plays like Purdy does. I'm guessing Packers players would say the same thing about Purdy -- that he operates the 49ers' system well but he's not a play-maker.
The truth is that both quarterbacks have the ability to make big, off-schedule plays, but neither one has to make them in order to win. Both quarterbacks' primary job is to not throw interceptions. And Love is much better at that than Purdy. During the past 10 games, Love has thrown three interceptions while Purdy has thrown 10. And that's because Purdy wants to be a playmaker and a gunslinger while Love seems content to be a game manager who can make a few plays when you least expect it.
Whoever wins this game will be seen as the better quarterback, but it seems likely these two will face each other in the playoffs quite a few times in their careers. Should be fun.
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