FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright REFUSES To Accept Justin Herbert As SPECIAL With Chargers | NFL

FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright REFUSES To Accept Justin Herbert As SPECIAL With Chargers | NFL

What was your headline from this game? No player in the NFL does more with less than Justin Herbert. I mean, I know you guys don’t love the PFF grades, and I’m with you. It’s an exact science, but when they do the intros on Sunday Night Football and they show their PFF ranks, Justin Herbert’s left tackle ranked 38th out of 38, his center 36 out of 36, his right guard 36 out of 37, and his right tackle ranked 35th out of 36th. And that has resulted in Justin Herbert being the most pressured quarterback by far in the NFL, including in the game yesterday where his time to throw was snap and throw and he was excellent. And he was excellent. So if you are playing with the worst, most injured offensive line in football and still producing at an elite level and you have the fourth most wins in the league. Those numbers on the bottom are not like his yards under pressure. Those are his overall rankings. Despite being the most pressured player in football, he is just an excellent football player. Well, that there’s Okay, so here’s my my biggest takeaway is that by a month from now, we’re going to be hearing about how it’s not Justin Herbert’s fault because this is so here is it’ll you’ll be here is here is the shot here. Yeah. No. Well, Danny will be making excuses for Herbert by Christmas. So here is here like the here I totally agree that last night he was excellent and last night offensive line’s banged up that the and we’ve got to be fair about what he does and doesn’t have because I can we do the blind reveal real quick. Love it. We haven’t done this in a long time. We agree those two defenses are basically equivalent. One allows 25 fewer yards but allows one more point. The takeaways are almost identical. Third down percentage, right? Sure. Okay, I’ll walk right into your chart. Is Seattle’s defense good enough? I think it is. I think people talk about it like it’s one of the best in the league. Well, that’s the defense Justin Herbert has. So, he has We can reveal it now. By the way, that’s Seattle and the Chargers. Um, so this is what he’s going to war with. Okay, this is the last breath of a desperate man. Um, I can attack I can attack this in so many different ways that my brain’s actually about to explode. I feel like I see what it’s like what it must feel like to be like a super genius who just is so overwhelmed by the insanity of of other people where you’re just like what did you just like what what did you just say first off? Oh gosh. Oh my gosh. Where do I begin? Where do I begin? Where do I begin? Let’s start with the very easiest part right here. Okay, this whole, oh well, you know, Justin Herbert, we’re going to be making excuses for him, talking about all the things that he doesn’t have. It’s amazing what he’s doing right now. Okay, if you think that the mark of a great quarterback means that they’re supposed to overcome all of the issues that this team has and they’re just supposed to keep winning and winning and winning and they have to win the Super Bowl and then that’s insanity. That is insanity. It’s just remarkable what he’s able to do. I’ve said this so many times. There’s no quarterback in the NFL right now carrying a bad team. It does not happen. They do not carry a bad team to win a Super Bowl. It does not happen. It does not happen. Retire the nonsense narratives that Patrick Mahomes has done it. He has never never and anyone that wants to talk about the receivers or this that uh his defensive rankings were certainly a lot better than that where Nick is trying to argue well these defensive isn’t these rankings amazing isn’t this great? Also these bottom line metrics of 20 points per game, 19 points per game, uh total yards per game. First off, the whole total yards per game is always a bunch of nonsense to me. Like it’s it’s about the points at the end of the day. That that’s what it comes down to. Also, some of these metrics are skewed because it’s who are you playing? Who are you playing? Are are you taking advantage of bad teams? Are you holding a Steelers team to 10 points? Because that’s not really as impressive if you hold the Chiefs to say 18 points or something, you know, what what whatever it may be. So, let’s easy with just comparing defenses solely based on that. Not to mention the Steelers or excuse me, the Seahawks had an outlier game where they gave up a boatload of points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You know, 38 points or, you know, whatever the heck the final score was. It was in the 30s. And that was more of an outlier game for sure. For sure. So, you know, you can’t just say, “Oh, look, these defenses, one gives up 19, one gives up 20. They’re about the same rank.” Not to mention, a point difference in the NFL is massive. It’s massive. We know that. We know that because Nick literally whines and says, “Why is this team favored in one and a half? That’s not fair.” So, we we know a one-point difference in the NFL is massive. Massive. So, let’s just get that out of the way. Um I mean, it’s just it’s just it’s so frustrating. It it it really is. Also, this third down percentage really got a major boost going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers uh last night. Let’s let’s also be serious about that as well. And also I thought it was a, you know, wouldn’t it also been a boost going up against the Kansas City Chiefs with all their injuries and no Xavier Worthy and no Rashid Rice and it was artificial that the Charges were even able to be that great against the Chiefs, right? I I I thought there was a lot of cooked books then that the charges are not really as great as they appear. It’s just the Chiefs are just banged up, injured, blah blah blah blah blah. I mean, this is the nonsense. This is the nonsense. And it’s so funny because you could say the same thing about Mahomes and the Chiefs last year. This is the O line that they have. This is the O line that they have. And then they lose and it’s like what did you want Mahomes to do? He had no time in the pocket. So which is it? And Nick himself has literally said when you give Patrick Mahomes a protection, some receivers he trusts, uh, he’s the best quarterback in the NFL. And you know what’s funny about what Danny’s saying here that no one does more with less? And he starts comparing the numbers and and Justin Herbert’s numbers. Who who did that before? I did. Who’s done that for weeks now? Me. I’m the one that crunched the numbers. I’m the one that’s showing you all his metrics. I’m the one that’s telling you that that Justin Herbert is on pace even though the drops are through the roof and the pressures and the hits are through the roof. that he’s on pace to have better numbers than Patrick Mahomes has with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in his absolute prime with the whole uh you know uh we don’t even know who Mahomes is yet, right? The element of surprise aspect as well. That’s what Justin Herbert is doing and it’s remarkable. And now if he like loses in December or if this team kind of starts to fumble that we’re just going to be like a Chargers chargering. It’s amazing that he’s even able to remotely hold this team together. The fact that this team is even able to be remotely competitive. That’s the story. It’s not your worth is well, you won a Super Bowl. That’s amazing. Or no, you didn’t. You’re not. If the Chargers get to the playoffs and then get rolled first round, this is the exact nonsense, the exact nonsense that Nick will try to pedal and try to push about Justin Herbert and the Chargers. And it’s just just that. It’s like, right? What do you want him to do? Because it’s really funny that we wanted to give Patrick Mahomes the benefit of the doubt for losing in the Super Bowl for all the pressures, but not Justin Herbert getting his bell rung and being pressured through the roof as well. Actually, more times than Patrick Mahomes. And you’re going to be like, “But it’s a Super Bowl. It’s a Super Bowl.” It doesn’t matter. It’s an individual game basis that we’re making these comparisons to. And it has nothing to do with the resume. These aren’t legacy conversations we’re having. It’s what can you expect from a quarterback in any given moment. It’s not who had the better career, who got further, who won Super Bowls. That’s not the conversation. And the only people that want to twist it that way, quite frankly, are Patrick Mahomes fans. Seemingly, everyone else can have nuance about those conversations except for the Patrick Mahomes fans. And like I always say, fine, if you want to keep doing that, keep that logic forward. then Patrick Mahomes will never never never surpass Tom Brady. So, best of luck with that then. Best of luck. It’s just these types of conversations are so insane. He’s pressured the most. He’s sacked the most. And yet, look at the numbers that he’s putting forward. And those aren’t even the best numbers. I already went through the numbers. Now, those numbers are dated already cuz we got new games now to look at. I don’t got the strength to go start crunching those numbers right now. But I mean, Justin Herbert on Sunday was top three in drops. Surprise, surprise. And was two pressures away from being top four in pressures, okay? Um, and yet he’s still he’s still competing. He’s still having beautiful textbook Justin Herbert moments, which Collinssworth was pointing out all throughout the broadcast, specifically that one throw to um Lad Maconi. So, it’s just it it’s it’s unbelievable that we can’t just say it’s amazing what Justin Herbert’s doing right now. Yeah, it’s it’s awesome. It’s remarkable. It’s really impressive. And let’s leave it at that. We have to say, “Oh, well, just wait until the excuses roll in in December and January. We can’t appre we can’t really admire and appreciate what we’re seeing.” Like, are you serious? And this is my issue with the MVP conversation. Everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s Matthew Stafford’s to lose.” Justin Herbert is having a more impressive year to me than just uh Justin Herbert is having more of an impressive year than Matthew Stafford. And I stand by that. And again, you guys know I’ve been singing the praises of Jaylen Herz. What Justin Herbert is doing is more is is more impressive to me than what Jaylen Herz did last year. I think what Justin what Jaylen Herz is doing is really impressive this year because he’s had the issues coordinators and O line issues as well. But in terms of last year winning the Super Bowl, blah blah, like we we we can have nuance. We can respect and appreciate, hey, I think Jayen Herds did not get enough credit for what he did in 2024. And a lot of people are downplaying and pretending that any one quarterback could win that situation, which I absolutely 10,000% reject as a truth claim. But I can also say what Justin Herbert is doing right now is so impressive that in terms of at least again at least the regular season to be very clear the regular season, not going on and then balling out in the in the NFC Championship game in Super Bowl because that that is its own little its own little beast. But that’s how impressive it is to me what Justin Herbert is doing right now. The two most impressive season so far ironically are from Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow. Jo what Joe Burrow did in 24 was absolutely insane. He also had the worst O line, but he did have Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Now, to be fair, his defense was awful. His O line was as was as bad as it gets. He did have Jamar Chase for the whole season. He did not have T. Higgins. So, he did T. Higgins did miss about like a third of the season, which does matter, but he still did have Jamar Chase. He did still have T. Higgins for the bulk of it. And so, he did still have some support in that regard. Justin Herbert does not have that. So, it makes it even like another level of impressiveness, but he has a better defense. So, I’m not trying to compare who’s more impressive right now, Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert in that regard. I just think both those quarterbacks deserve a tremendous amount of credit for can for for dealing with what they’ve been dealing with right now. And it’s just amazing that how Nick in one breath can say, “Oh, if you give Patrick Mahomes uh protection and receivers he trusts, he’s the best quarterback in the NFL.” And now you take those things away from Justin Herbert and yet he’s still a top quarterback in the NFL, second most, third most, fourth most. And again, plenty of other metrics that I don’t know why Danny left that out. Um, he needs me doing the books then. And I can show you some of the other numbers. Um, that we’re going to just pretend like that’s not insanely impressive. Like like I I don’t understand. And that these these takes make me see red. It makes me see red because then it downplays what Justin Herbert is doing right now. But any quarterback, it doesn’t have to be Justin Herbert. Like this, if this was uh Garner Mchu, it deserves all the praise in the world, man. It deserves all the praise in the world. Stop kicking the can down the road. Stop just saying, “Well, if you fail in January, then that means yeah, that just proves that it was all whatever.” You can’t say it’s amazing what Justin Herbert’s doing right now unless he wins the Super Bowl. Like, it’s just absurd. It just doesn’t make any sense. And the problem is for people that are not actually really locked into this, the people that aren’t actually watching, they just sit back. A lot of times you need to be educated. I need to be I needed to be educated on a million different things. And so when you rely on these shows to sometimes educate you on some of the nuances of what it’s truly like in the NFL, when you downplay something like this that Justin Herbert’s doing by trying to imply, well, if he fails in January or in December, everyone’s going to be trying to give him excuses. You’re sending the wrong message. You’re telling the wrong story. You’re teaching the wrong thing. The sheer fact that this team hasn’t imploded is remarkable. It’s absolutely positively remarkable. And Justin Herbert a and Greg Roman and Harbaugh and Jesse Mter really like lots of people deserve a lot of credit. But since we’re obviously looking at it specifically through the quarterback lens, Justin Herbert deserves a massive amount of credit. And no matter what happens throughout the course of this season, it doesn’t change that. It does not change that. It’s amazing that his that he and his team have lasted this long. Okay. And that’s what drives me crazy. So again, you rely on these shows to kind of let you know what’s the context here. What’s the frame of reference we should hold here? The frame of reference is this is awesome. This is amazing. This is special. This is literally historic. But we don’t want to tell you that because we don’t like him. I’m not having any of it, man. That’s why I’ve been talking so much about Justin Herbert this season and praising him because he deserves a tremendous amount of praise. A tremendous amount of praise. And any moment of downplaying it is insane. It really is. That’s why I keep bagging on the table for this. It’s insane. It really truly is. Patrick Mahomes was getting more praise for playing objectively terrible for long stretches last season, but they kept winning mainly because of that great defense. And yet, Nick would have had you believe that Patrick Mahomes deserved more credit and more praise than what Justin Herbert is doing with clearly a less and more banged up a lesser team and more banged up roster. That’s the insanity. And that’s why I keep pushing and you winning Super Bowls in years past. That that that has nothing to do with anything. It has nothing to do with anything. And anyone who keeps trying to convince you otherwise, they’re confused or they’re just not telling you the truth. It’s that simple. How many years did Tom Brady not win the Super Bowl? I mean, this is the dude who won the most Super Bowl. How many years did he not win the Super Bowl? That means all those other years he just wasn’t wasn’t good enough or or those that season wasn’t impressed impressive. When they went undefeated and they lost, it was remarkable. Obviously, unbelievable. But they didn’t win the Super Bowl. So it was like meh. And guess what? You could have watched, this is the crazy thing, that undefeated season, you could have kept saying, “Ah, look who they’re playing. I think this is inflated. Yeah, I know Tom Brady has won a bunch, but look at look at the division. Just look at this.” And I don’t know, you know, I know Tom Brady has won a bunch, but look what he did in his last playoff game and this or that. Like I think he’s kind of, you know, I I think he’s in the decline. I don’t think he’s as clutch as people really think he is. It’s more about Bellichic and this offense has too much control over the team right now and they got to get back to their defensive, you know, you could be arguing that every single game and every single game they won, you’re just like, I’m not buying it. Ah, but look how bad the so- and so of the Dolphins are terrible, blah blah blah. And then they lose to the Giants and it’s like, I told you, this is what I’ve been saying. Look what Tom Brady did in the Super Bowl. This is what I’ve been saying. This team was too centered around Tom Brady and it worked in the regular season, but not in the play, not when it mattered most. Not in the Super Bowl. And that’s the problem. That’s the problem. You lost, you lost to Eli Manning. I mean, think about it. And that narrative you, if you construct it well enough, you could be like, see, I told you so. And it’s like, what? What are we talking about right now? That’s what’s happening with Justin Herbert, albeit on a significantly different level. I don’t have none of it. I refuse. I will not allow that. I I will not allow that. We are not going going to only praise like one or two quarterbacks right now. Again, Matthew Stafford from from Nick is getting all the praise in the world. All the And Matthew Stafford is playing awesome. His life is a million times easier than what Justin Herbert is dealing with right now. And it’s not even close. Matthew Stafford has been pressured 111 times. Justin Herbert 173. Do you know how insane of a difference that is? Over 60 more drop backs with pressure. Do you know how insane that is? We obviously know he’s got better receivers and quite frankly a better offensive play caller. That’s Shawn McVey. Not to mention what Justin Herbert’s doing with his legs. I mean, he’s literally leading the NFL in rushing yards right now for quarterbacks. I mean, what more do you want this man to do? Does uh Matthew Stafford still have negative yards? He does. He’s got even more negative now. He’s got He’s negative9. Matthew Stafford has negative9 rushing yards. Justin Herbert has 324 yards rushing as well. Please stop pretending like that’s nothing. Please stop pretending like a swing of 300 yards 300 yards is nothing. Can we Can we Can we stop pretending that? Like that’s just like ah whatever. Well, he’s got a few more touchdown passes. Oh, it drives me crazy. Drives me absolutely crazy. But those are just my thoughts. I’d absolutely love to hear yours. What do you guys all think about Justin Herbert and the San Diego Los Angeles Chargers that no one does more with less than Justin Herbert? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I read every single comment. It’s whether you agree with me or disagree with me. Either way, let’s get in some discussions. Let’s get in some fights. But ultimately, let’s just have some fun. And please do consider subscribing. We are building an amazing community here and absolutely love to see you part of it. 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FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick Wright REFUSES To Accept Justin Herbert As SPECIAL With Los Angeles Chargers
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