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Willard and Dibs react to the 49ers' Week 1 win over the Rams and the Chargers' Week 1 loss to the Cardinals. Who would you rather have as your team's quarterback: Brock Purdy or Justin Herbert?
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00:00But, yeah, Grandy, go ahead.
00:01Ask me again.
00:02Who would you rather have as your quarterback,
00:04Brock Purdy or Justin Herbert?
00:05Brock Purdy.
00:07What changed – one game changed your mind?
00:09No.
00:09Last time I asked you that, you said, oh, Herbert.
00:11No.
00:12Yeah, Justin Herbert has more like what we would call quarterbacking skills.
00:19He has all of them, and I'm not against him.
00:24But there's just more to it than that.
00:27And I think it's just a rethinking process for me.
00:30And so am I guilty of making that about one game?
00:33If you want to accuse me of that, go ahead.
00:36But there's something about the processing and fitting into a system.
00:41Jeff Schwartz did a great breakdown of –
00:44there was just a complete jailbreak sack on Justin Herbert yesterday.
00:48Two Cardinals came in completely untouched.
00:51And when we watch football, we go, oh, look at those doofuses on the offensive line.
00:57Herbert never had a chance.
00:58Schwartz does a whole breakdown of how it's completely Herbert's fault.
01:02Like a quarterback gets to the line of scrimmage,
01:05and they've got to start moving protections around based on what they're seeing.
01:09Like they've got options at the line of scrimmage.
01:12And he goes, here's what Justin did.
01:14Here's what his offensive line were supposed to do.
01:16He goes, if you're going to do that, either you change the protection
01:20or you have a plan, like a screen pass.
01:23You want to let someone come in untouched and we're going to dump it right over their head?
01:27Great.
01:27Well, what Justin did was snap the ball, stand there, and get trucked.
01:32And then everyone's like, oh, he's got no offensive line.
01:35He's like, it's completely his fault.
01:37There's got to be something in the sauce that Justin is not doing on the mental side that Brock Purdy
01:42is.
01:43That's what I'm saying.
01:44And I do think that a lot of that is innate, and a lot of that also is coaching.
01:49And you look at what Justin Herbert's gone through, which is new coordinator, new coordinator, et cetera, et cetera.
01:55And I don't know if all of them have been perfectly in tune and aligned with what he does best.
02:00And so this is the one where, again, it's week one, so we're all going to overreact.
02:05But Mike McDaniel is supposed to be the guy who comes in the offensive guru from the Shanahan system.
02:11And you've got Harbaugh, and so he's supposed to be the guy to get Herbert to be the best version
02:17of himself, and maybe he will be.
02:19But right now, one week in, they are the biggest disappointment in football.
02:22No question about it.
02:2314 points against the Cardinals.
02:25Let's go to Marlon and Concord.
02:26So just as an exercise, Herbert or Purdy, how are we feeling right now?
02:32Hey, Marlon, thanks for calling in.
02:34What's up?
02:37I'd say Purdy.
02:38I'd say Purdy.
02:38And the reason I called in and just hearing you guys talk, I think you just said it.
02:44I mean, you kind of said it.
02:45It's like Justin Herbert is that top pick.
02:48He looks like the quarterback, you know.
02:50And maybe we, as fans, if you didn't live in the Bay Area, you look at somebody like Purdy who's
02:56made it to the Super Bowl,
02:58and you can say he's a B-grade version of Steph Curry.
03:01He's the undersized guy, and he's just really good at commanding his football team, you know.
03:07And I think if the game in Australia had resulted in a different way, maybe we'd be talking down on
03:14Purdy.
03:15But Purdy's in command of his team, you know.
03:18And the thing that stuck out to me during the commentary was he recognized that last year wasn't good enough.
03:25And he went back to his year one and his decision-making, and he's totally in command of his team.
03:32Even though Justin Herbert has that higher ceiling, the best ability is availability, you know.
03:39And he's not available.
03:40And when you compare him to somebody like Joe Burrow, to fairly assess them all, Joe Burrow has it.
03:47And we all know that he has it over Herbert.
03:49But, yeah, to answer your question, Purdy, and even though Herbert's ceiling is higher, I would take Purdy all day.
03:56Yeah, Marlon, I think you said some of the key things there.
03:59And that's one of the things that I see right now with Brock Purdy.
04:02We spend a lot of time with the whole, like, well, there's the arm strength, and then there's this physical
04:08characteristic.
04:09I love what Marlon just said.
04:11Purdy is in complete control.
04:13Doesn't mean every throw is great.
04:15Doesn't mean every decision is perfect.
04:17You know, he threw that pick early in the game, and the defense picked him up.
04:21Renardo Green picked him up and got the ball back.
04:23Then he played a great game after that.
04:25But it really feels like it is under control.
04:29And when I watch the 49ers play football, I feel like there is this wheel.
04:33And everybody's got a spot on that Ferris wheel.
04:37Purdy's got a spot on it.
04:38Kyle Shanahan has a spot on it.
04:40McCaffrey.
04:41We can go on and on.
04:43And they're a machine.
04:45And they all know what they're trying to do.
04:47It doesn't work on every play, but it works more often than not.
04:51It's why they're consistently one of the best offenses in football when they're all healthy and out there.
04:55And I do think that a lot of that is a byproduct of him now in, what, year six for
05:01Brock Purdy or year five for Brock Purdy.
05:04And he's been with Kyle Shanahan the whole time.
05:07And so I do think that is a big part of it.
05:09And so for Justin Herbert, he's on his third different head coach.
05:13He's on his fifth different offensive coordinator.
05:16And so some of that is, you know, learning new terminology and learning new systems and schemes and all the
05:22rest of it.
05:23But it's a little bit of a head scratcher that Justin Herbert, who, you know, 6'6", and all the
05:28physical tools that even when he had, I'm looking at his list, he had Greg Roman for a couple of
05:33years.
05:33And he's had coordinators who are really good, Shane Steichen in his rookie year, and he's had some good coordinators.
05:40Kellen Moore was one of them.
05:41And it hasn't ever seemed that he's been able to fully, like, accentualize or, you know, access his potential.
05:49And yes, year five for Brock Purdy.
05:51And again, what I'm trying to get at here, like, I think we can all agree on this.
05:56I'm saying something that, to me, feels obvious.
06:00We're not assessing these people in the same way.
06:04We're just not.
06:05Like, at what point does accomplishment, record, stats, like, I don't know.
06:11And you get to use whatever you want.
06:14My point is, is we're using a completely different metric for Justin Herbert than we would for someone like Brock
06:21Purdy.
06:22And if you want to do that because you love the mock consensus so much, fire away.
06:27But these guys are not new.
06:29One of them's in year five and one of them's in year seven.
06:31And at a certain point, I have to feel like the offense, its output, its yardage, its stats, its results,
06:41its wins, its losses, its playoffs, its results in playoffs, has to come into play.
06:48Like, how many years do we just go, no, Justin's elite.
06:52Based on what?
06:54Based on what?
06:55Your eye test?
06:56How many times do we need to be reminded that that doesn't work?
07:00Dajon Stribbling was supposed to be a round three pick.
07:03Do you know what I mean?
07:05And then we all convinced ourselves of the opposite.
07:08Like, we can't just do this based on what we thought in college or even little things that we see
07:16once we get to the pros.
07:17You know what the wild thing is about Herbert and why I bring him up today?
07:20He doesn't even do the things that normally make people whack out about a quarterback.
07:26Normally, in this day and age of the NFL, we whack out about a player and decide he's better than
07:30he is because he wins fantasy games for us.
07:34He doesn't even do that.
07:36He's not even a good fantasy quarterback.
07:37The guy hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards in three years.
07:43So, when is everybody loves accountability?
07:46When is Justin accountable for the fact that the Chargers offense is not very good?
07:52It's ordinary.
07:53And it has been for a long time with multiple people at the helm.
07:57Can I ask you guys a question?
07:59Fire away.
07:59So, part of your point about Purdy and Herbert is, you know, postseason success or lack thereof for Herbert.
08:06Do you remember when Baldy was asked about Nick Sirianni and Kyle Shanahan?
08:10And he said, well, Sirianni's won the Super Bowl.
08:12It's got to be Sirianni over Shanahan.
08:14Shanahan hasn't got that.
08:15I feel there's a little bit of that in your conversation here.
08:19And you were on the other side of that conversation.
08:21So, my issue there is at that time, what you're basically saying is I think Sirianni's better than Shanahan
08:27because they've both been to the same game and Sirianni won his and Kyle didn't win his.
08:33So, you're whittling that conversation almost down to one football game.
08:37My point here is the exact opposite.
08:40Brock Purdy's not won one playoff game.
08:41He's won a bunch of playoff games.
08:43Justin's won no playoff games.
08:45Year 7, year 5, consistent performance.
08:49Someone just texted in.
08:50He's production.
08:51He's more productive than Brock.
08:53No, he's not.
08:54Look at his numbers.
08:56No, he's not.
08:57He's just not.
08:58He's not the video game that we've decided he is.
09:01We are on this whack-a-doodle trip on Justin Herbert that he has produced all of these things that
09:07he's never produced.
09:09His numbers are not there.
09:12His playoff record is nothing.
09:14It doesn't even exist.
09:16Well, his team's not as good as Brock Purdy's team.
09:18That's fair.
09:19Year in and year out.
09:19But I thought the quarterback was partially accountable for that.
09:24Absolutely.
09:25Okay.
09:25And, I mean, he's been to the playoffs three times, and they are 0-3.
09:29And if you look at his performance in those games, there was the one game back in 2024.
09:34He threw four picks.
09:35I remember I was in the car that day listening, and it was an absolute disaster.
09:40And by and large, in those playoff games, he's not been spectacular.
09:44He's got a quarterback rating in the playoffs of 64.7, which is not great.
09:50So, you said earlier, like, at what point do we start to look at it and really, quote, hold him
09:56accountable?
09:57Well, year seven, they've made the playoffs three times, and he's had a bunch of different coaching regimes.
10:02And I think if you want to look at, he had Staley as a coach, no longer a head coach.
10:06He had Anthony Lynn, not a real head coach.
10:09I think that he's been in a much tougher spot than Brock Purdy, who got to be with Kyle Shanahan
10:15throughout his whole career.
10:16Yeah.
10:16And that, to me, is a big part of it.
10:18And that's fair.
10:19But, I mean, he's literally now being coached by people who successfully coached here and had a huge hand in
10:26wonderful offensive production.
10:29It's one game.
10:29It's been one game.
10:31But not with Jim Harbaugh.
10:32Last year with Harbaugh.
10:33Not Jim Harbaugh.
10:33It's not been one game.
10:34Play caller.
10:35Offensive play caller.
10:36One game.
10:36Greg Roman last year, who is, you know.
10:38Who also succeeded here.
10:40Yeah.
10:40Yep.
10:41Niner fans didn't like him.
10:42Okay.
10:42You don't have to be wrong to not like him.
10:44Okay.
10:45Like, well, he had Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick.
10:48He took him to the Super Bowl as the OC.
10:50If you're going to be upset at the Shanahan-Siriani thing over the results of a Super Bowl one game,
10:54then I don't know how you can be up in arms about one game with a new play caller.
10:58I'm not up in arms about one game.
10:59And, again, I'm not, like, here to rip Justin Herbert.
11:03I want to know why the rules are so different for some people.
11:07That's all.
11:08Because they'll say, imagine if he's had Kyle Shanahan as his play caller for his entire career.
11:12Okay.
11:12You can imagine it.
11:14I mean, imagine if Brock Purdy had Kyle Shanahan as his play caller.
11:17It would be like, I don't know, maybe you would go on multiple playoff runs or something.
11:21Yeah, and they have.
11:22Exactly.
11:22So imagine what a different good quarterback would do, too.
11:26I mean, honestly, I don't know.
11:29I don't know.
11:30I do not subscribe to the strong arm theory.
11:34That does nothing for me.
11:36That's, like, cool.
11:38I'd rather have it than not.
11:40But we've all been around for a minute.
11:43How many strong-armed quarterbacks suck?
11:45Jeff George sucked.
11:47Isn't that good?
11:49DeMarcus Russell sucked.
11:50Isn't that good?
11:52Could throw the ball 60 yards from his knees.
11:54What does that do for you?
11:56That is not quarterbacking.
11:59You know, Brock Purdy threw the deep ball in Australia and nailed DeMarcus Robinson.
12:05Stride for stride in the back of the end zone.
12:07So if he can throw the deep ball, what does this strong arm thing do for anybody?
12:11I don't know when does that win you a football game?
12:16It depends on what you have around you.
12:18And we, I think, in this business and as fans, we all focus too much on just the quarterback.
12:24And if you look at Justin Herbert and his draft class, he is number one in total yards passing.
12:31And he's number one in touchdowns.
12:34He's also number one in interceptions.
12:35And he's number one in games played.
12:37He's played in 96 games.
12:39Only Jalen Hurts is close.
12:41Burrow in the draft class got hurt.
12:43Tua now is hurt again and not really a starter.
12:46And then you've got Jordan Love, who might actually eventually be maybe the best of the class.
12:51But, I mean, we'll see.
12:53We'll see.
12:54We will see.
12:55Listen, I think Justin Herbert's a good player.
12:57I think he's a really good player.
12:59I'm not using yesterday as, like, I'm not going to say he's a bad player.
13:05But when, at age 28, when do we remove him from his top five?
13:11When do we do that?
13:12How many years do you get to win a playoff game before we start looking at what you're actually doing
13:19when you're on the field instead of just looking at your arm and your girlfriend?
13:22And we don't even, like, shout out Madison Beer, but we don't even do the rankings.
13:27Like, you hate the rankings.
13:29I can't stand him.
13:29Right.
13:29So, he's not top five.
13:31You can put him in your top five.
13:33You can put him in number one.
13:34You can put him.
13:34I currently have him mark at 23 after week one.
13:38It's all such nonsense.
13:39I mean, I leave that to Steven Ruiz, who is the goat of rankings, whoever that is.
13:45But Mike Sando in his QB tiers, if Herbert has a rough year, he might be down a tier.
13:51And I love Mike Sando in his tiers, but ultimately, it comes down to you, your coach, your coordinator.
13:58Of course.
13:58The guys around you, the offensive line, and how you can go out there and perform.
14:02Yeah.
14:02So, that's obviously true, but I would love to see some uniformity in the way we react to what we
14:12see when football games get played.
14:14That's all.
14:15How many years does Justin get of, hey, if he had this, if he had that, then he would this.
14:23Now that he's got Mike McDaniel, he's going to cook.
14:26Sure, I'm not going to overreact to one game, but I am going to react to one game.
14:32Home game, opening day, your weapon's all healthy, and a Cardinals defense who doesn't have anyone you've ever heard of
14:39on it.
14:4014 points.
14:42Dude, you laid an egg.
14:44You laid a complete and total egg.
14:47In one of 17.
14:49Yes.
14:50So.
14:50Yes.
14:51And, quite frankly, if you want to go into numbers, he'd been looking like this for two years.
14:57Two years ago, he only had three interceptions, and everybody was like, ooh.
15:02I mean, he threw for 3,800 yards, and he played all of the games.
15:08Like, they didn't do much offensively.
15:10He didn't throw picks.
15:12He didn't throw a whole lot of anything either.
15:14Right.
15:14And I do think a lot of that is the byproduct of what Jim Harbaugh tries to do as a
15:19coach.
15:19I agree with you.
15:20I agree with you.
15:21That's not a go back there and cut it loose, as Lo Neal would say.
15:25Like, you look at the Bears, and they want to score 60 every half.
15:30And give up 40.
15:31Whatever.
15:31They don't care.
15:32Right.
15:32Like, they want to do that.
15:34But Harbaugh wants to beat you 14 to 13.
15:36He does.
15:37And I think Ben Johnson, they're both a little crazy.
15:40Not Harbaugh.
15:41Anything but Harbaugh.
15:42Not Harbaugh.
15:43No.
15:44Come on.
15:44No, seriously.
15:45I think Cheryl was on to something.
15:47I don't think that works in today's NFL.
15:49Oh, yikes.
15:51Yeah.
15:51Good job.
15:51Oh, no, babe.
15:52Good job.
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