Jerry Jones offers Brock Purdy comparison that doesn’t quite hit the mark

As the Dallas Cowboys prepare for a “Monday Night Football” game against the Los Angeles Chargers, a reunion — faceoff? — looms with their former offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Moore, who rose from Cowboys backup quarterback to quarterbacks coach to three-year offensive coordinator, parted ways with Dallas in January. He was named the Chargers’ offensive coordinator the same weekend.

So Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones, unsurprisingly, was asked Friday during a radio interview if he’s dreading facing Moore.

“I have dreaded seeing Kellen on this occasion,” Jones told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan, later adding: “That’s what happens when you have a good coach.”

Then, Jones freestyled with a surprising comparison to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.

“When I see Purdy perform the way he does, I immediately go in my mind to Kellen and I think of how outstanding a quarterback Kellen was,” Jones said. “You might say, ‘Well, does he have the arm talent or does he have the size or does he have the speed?’

“Yet Kellen won [50 of 53] college games. Purdy didn’t quite have that kind of number, but boy do they know how to play football. And they know how to execute.”

Jones said that just as teams passed on Purdy, who became 2022’s Mr. Irrelevant when the 49ers selected him with the final pick of the draft, 262nd overall, “We didn’t see Kellen either coming out.”

A generous interpretation of Jones’ comments would focus on each quarterback’s skill elevating his on-field play with effective processing and decision-making. Moore’s college winning percentage perhaps also resembles Purdy’s winning at the pro level.

But NFL production-wise, individually and across the teams each quarterbacked, the comparison is tenuous.

Moore spent six seasons with the Detroit Lions and Cowboys before he transitioned to coaching. He played in just two games, both 2015 Dallas losses, completing 58.7% of his passing attempts for 779 yards, four touchdowns and six interceptions. Moore generated a 71.0 passer rating.

Purdy, in just two years in the NFL, has thus far played in 14 regular-season games with 10 starts. The 49ers have won all 10 — and all 13 games, including playoffs, that he’s played at least three quarters, as NBC’s Peter King pointed out this week.

Purdy has completed 69.3% of his passes for 2,645 yards, throwing 22 touchdowns to just four interceptions in regular-season play for a passer rating of 114.4. He’s leading the league this season with a 123.1 passer rating, and lest you think easy passes are inflating that, Purdy’s also leading the league in average air yards per attempt, 10.7, en route to his nine touchdowns and zero interceptions this year. In the playoffs, he threw three touchdowns and no interceptions.

It’s a resumé that far surpasses Moore’s in a third of the time — and also one that includes a postseason elimination of Jones’ Cowboys last January, and a 42-10 decisive prime time win last week.

All of which helps explain why Moore is now in a job he’s found more success in: coaching.

“Boy did Kellen take what he was as a quarterback, what he was as a teacher,” Jones said, “and has become an outstanding coach.”