It is fair to say that Fox’s Emmanuel Acho is not a big fan of Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
In mid-November, Acho referred to the third-year NFL signal-caller as a “social media quarterback” who gets more hype than he deserves.
“Justin Herbert is a social media quarterback,” said Acho on November 21. “What do I mean? Justin Herbert makes throws that can go viral on social media this day in age. Instagram reels, Tik Tok videos, Twitter clips— he makes social media throws. And on social media they don’t show you interceptions; that’s not fun. People aren’t going to retweet an interception, people aren’t going to retweet a bad sack, people aren’t going to retweet a bad decision, but that is who Justin Herbert is, a social media quarterback.
“We always look for Justin Herbert to succeed but had Tua made the mistake to throw a pick at the end of a game with two timeouts remaining he’d be crushed. Had Jalen Hurts thrown a pick with two timeouts remaining at the end of the game, he would be crushed. But for whatever reason, our beloved Justin Herbert— he does it and we simply look away. I WON’T, I’m looking dead into the heart of the camera.”
Acho was back at it on FS1 on Wednesday, calling out Herbert for being very good at racking up stats that don’t matter while his contemporaries are putting their teams in the playoffs.
.@EmmanuelAcho: Justin Herbert's stats are like a bad bag of chips… they’re empty. pic.twitter.com/6AHKGpN6am
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) November 30, 2022
“Justin Herbert has never been in an MVP conversation. Tua is in an MVP conversation, Jalen Hurts is in an MVP conversation,” said Acho. “Justin Herbert hasn’t made the playoffs, Jalen Hurts has made the playoffs, and Tua is currently sitting as a No. 2 seed overall.
“Justin Herbert has a whole bunch of statistics but they are empty. It’s like when you get that bag of chips and you open it up and you realize that you paid $6.99 for a bag of chips but it’s half empty. Justin Herbert’s statistics are half-empty. All of these touchdown passes, what has it amounted to?
“Here is the problem with us in society: we think a two-handed reverse windmill dunk is worth more than a layup. A layup is worth two points, a reverse windmill is worth two points… So Justin Herbert’s 60-yard dime pass is not worth more than Jalen Hurts’ six-minute methodical drive down the field. It’s not worth more than Tua’s play-action pass finding Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle on a crosser. But we esteem it as if it’s worth more and it makes no sense to me. I do not understand how you can look at a man in Tua who has won 21 games in 30 games, and you can look at Justin Herbert, who took 43 games to win 21 games, and try to say that Justin Herbert is better than Tua.”
The Chargers are currently 6-5 and find themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot. But if Herbert wants to prove Acho wrong, he’s going to have to do much more than that.
