Quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy will go up against each other this Sunday (Jan. 29), and it will mark the second time they’ve played against each other in their football careers. Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles will host Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship.
Both players are up for major honors this season. Hurts is an NFL MVP finalist. Purdy is in the running for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
What’s special is that just over three years ago, the two went up against each other in a Big 12 Conference game. Hurts was playing for Oklahoma and Purdy was playing for Iowa State.
They went up against each other on Nov. 9, 2019. In the end, Hurts and Oklahoma won that game, but it was very close at 42-41. The game even went down to the final minute. Hurts accounted for five touchdowns, while Purdy accounted for six. Hurts threw for 273 yards and ran for 68 more, while Purdy threw 282 passing yards and ran for 55 more.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Hurts said of Purdy, via NFL.com’s Nick Shook. “He’s always been a really good player. He has a lot of moxie, he makes plays and he’s been doing that since college so there’s no surprise to him when he was given this opportunity to see the success he’s having now.”
NFL.com adds that Purdy said of Hurts, “It was a great experience to go against Jalen and they had a great team, and he was making plays and I feel like we had to do the same to keep up and stay alive in that game as well, but this is a different situation, different scenario going into Sunday.”
So, who will win on Sunday? It’s anyone game. Both teams have incredible records and are playing stellar. May the best team win.