ESPN analyst Ryan Clark was arguably the harshest critic of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert ahead of Week 1. However, Herbert made Clark eat his words on Friday night after outplaying Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes.
Herbert was outstanding in the 27-21 season-opening victory over the Chiefs on a national stage. Herbert completed 25 of 34 throws for 318 yards and three touchdowns to zero picks. Also, Herbert carried the ball seven times for 32 more yards.
Herbert made all the big throws and secured the game-sealing first down on a scramble late in the fourth quarter. Safe to say, Herbert’s 2025 campaign has gotten off to an excellent start.
If you had listened to Clark during the week, you would’ve thought Herbert was incapable of what we saw on Friday night. Clark went off on Herbert on ESPN’s “Get Up,” saying the Chargers signal-caller wasn’t capable of coming through in the clutch.
“For Justin Herbert, this dude that we crowned a top-10 quarterback, this person that his own coach says everybody else needs to raise their level of play in order to be in a position that he’s in…Justin Herbert, whenever it matters, has been terrible,” Clark said.
As Herbert was putting on a show against the Chiefs, Clark was very complimentary of the veteran signal-caller.
“Yea. Justin Herbert showed his whole entire a– tonight! Could not have played a better football game. They put it all on him and he delivered every single time!” Clark exclaimed.
In case you were wondering, Clark did not address his comments from Thursday. It’s shocking a hot-take artist like Clark didn’t admit he was wrong (that’s sarcasm, in case you didn’t catch it).
Nobody is ignoring the fact that Herbert hasn’t had success in the playoffs during his career, but saying that Herbert has been “terrible” when it matters most isn’t totally accurate.
The former No. 6 overall pick has led the Chargers to 12 fourth-quarter comebacks and 16 game-winning drives during his career.
There’s no doubt that the next step for Herbert is to win a playoff game and perform well in said contest. But he most certainly is deserving of recognition as one of the better players at his position in the NFL affer what we saw on Friday night.
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