Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff will take to his old stomping grounds next Sunday as the Northern California native and his team visits the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
Sophomore 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy led a late-game comeback against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs Saturday night.
These two will do battle at 6:30 PM ET next Sunday inside Levi’s Stadium with a spot in Super Bowl LVIII on the line.
As has been the case throughout modern NFL history, quarterback play is central when it comes to the success of teams around the league. That’s going to be no different with the upstart Lions visiting San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game. Here, we provide a comparison between the two signal callers heading into the big game.
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Jared Goff, Brock Purdy put up elite regular seasons
There is a reason why Detroit and San Francisco are taking on one another in the NFC Championship Game. Quarterback play was huge in the success of the two teams during the regular season. In reality, the statistical comparison between the two is eye-opening.
| Player | Comp % | Yards | Total TD | INT | QB rating | YPA | YPC |
| Brock Purdy | .694 | 4,280 | 33 | 11 | 113.0 | 8.1 | 12.1 |
| Jared Goff | .673 | 4,575 | 32 | 12 | 97.9 | 7.6 | 11.2 |
Purdy’s worst performance came Christmas night against the Baltimore Ravens. The former seventh-round pick threw zero touchdowns against four interceptions in a 33-19 loss to Baltimore.
Goff’s worst performance came Nov. 19 against the Chicago Bears in a 31-26 win. He threw three interceptions in the victory.
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Standout performance against top-level defenses: A Jared Goff case study
Goff played six games against top-10 pass defenses during the regular season. That span saw him complete 64% of his passes with eight touchdowns and five interceptions for an 88.7 QB rating. The Lions were 4-2 in those six games.
As for Purdy, he took on top-10 defenses four times. The 49ers were 2-2 in those four games with Purdy completing 57% of his passes while throwing seven touchdowns against five interceptions. Obviously, that four-interception outing against Baltimore skews things a tad.
Detroit’s defense finished 27th against the pass during the regular season. Opposing quarterbacks threw 28 touchdowns against 16 interceptions against this unit.
It’s less than ideal for the Lions given how well Purdy performed against bottom-end pass defenses during the regular season. In six games against units that finished in the bottom 10, Purdy completed 74% of his passes with 14 touchdowns compared to three interceptions for a 129.6 QB rating. He took advantage of poor pass defenses. That’s as clear as day.
As for the 49ers’ defense, they finished 13th in the NFL against the pass. However, Steve Wilks’ defense intercepted a league-high 22 passes.
Brock Purdy with home-field advantage
Interestingly enough, Purdy performed much better on the road than at home during the regular season. In seven starts inside Levi’s Stadium, the youngster threw 13 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. On the road, that split stood at 18-to-4. Of course, that aforementioned Ravens game played a role in this, too.
As for Goff, he threw 11 touchdowns against six interceptions on the road compared to a 19-to-6 split inside Ford Field.
This is a clear indication that Purdy has the advantage heading into the NFC Championship Game.
Of course, recency bias will also play a role in the evaluation process. Goff completed 30-of-43 passes for 287 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions in Detroit’s 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Purdy completed 23-of-39 passes for 252 yards with a touchdown in San Francisco’s 24-21 win over Green Bay.