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Chris Harris Jr. has been making some media rounds lately, and appeared on the Up & Adams Show to deliver a painfully annoying take. When asked what is missing from Justin Herbert’s game, Chris Harris Jr. said, “He’s missing that clutch factor.”
Harris Jr. was brough to LA to play slot in Gus Bradley’s defense in 2020. He was a fit for that scheme, but when he transitioned to Brandon Staley’s defense in 2021, he was a regular liability both in coverage and in stopping the run. His highest missed tackle rate outside of his LA was 10% back in 2014, but in his two years in LA he had missed tackles rates of 17.5% and 13.3%. His PFF coverage grades that had floated in the 80’s and 90’s with the Broncos plummeted to 57.4 and 60.4. It was a classic Tom Telesco signing – he paid a veteran on the wrong side of 30 a $8.5 million APY deal, essentially paying him retroactively for the player he was with Denver, and watched him fail to play anywhere close to his peak levels in LA.
Harris Jr. was credited as being a great teammate and veteran for younger guys to learn from, but it’s frustrating to hear shots being taken at the Bolts’ franchise quarterback from a guy that didn’t live up to his contract in LA.
Most Chargers fans would tell you Justin Herbert has been incredibly clutch for the team, but continuously has been hampered by boneheaded plays and questionable roster development. In fact, one of Justin’s most iconic games that should have punched his first ticket to the postseason featured Herbert going 6-6 for 106 yards and a touchdown for a perfect 158.3 passer rating on 4th down.
Could Herbert have been a little more clutch in that game, or could his supporting cast have been a little more… supportive?
You tell me, StormCloud.
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Thanks crew!
@kylededi It is great just to have relevant content and see the community growing here Kyle. Hello everyone, my name is Kent, and I have not had a drink or sip of BFTB for two weeks now and it feels wonderful.
He named three iconic HOF QBS all with multiple championships lead by iconic HOF Head Coaches. Three of the greatest most consistent franchises in history and has declared those QBs as clutch. So because of those three Justin is now declared as not “Clutch”. Seems like an extremely obvious take and a waste of space/time/my life to listen to that. So in the spirit of wasting more of my life:
Wow Chris! So, these guys had the “Clutch” factor. No fucking kidding Mr. Hindsight. Maybe you should quit your new day job of “not covering sports” to coincide with your last day job of “not covering wide receivers”.
He names the following tandems:
Bill Belichick/Tom Brady
Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes
Ben Roethlisberger/Bill Cowher/Mike Tomlin
All of those teams loaded with HOF players, HOF Head Coaches, dominant defenses, dominant coordinators, etc. This also spans multiple decades. These teams are the definition of stability.
So, yeah, Justin it is your fault that you landed with the Chargers and have endured 3-Head Coaches, 4-Offensive Coordinators, 4-Offensive Systems, A Massive Shit Show of a defense, No Running game, A total idiot for an owner and his idiot Son, who employed a dumbass of a GM who failed for 11-years to even win the AFC West a single time, yet was spotted two HOF QBs.
*Justin if you could only throw a better pass to QJ down the sideline under total distress in a collapsing pocket against Green Bay that would have won the game.
*Justin if you could have only picked up the free blitzers against Dallas and Baltimore this year while you were backpedaling because there were at least 2-3 other guys unblocked and breaking free.
*Justin if you could only not fumble inside the opponents 5-yard line on 1st and goal, thank you Austin.
*Justin if you think that leading your team on 5-consecutive TD drives on your last five possessions against the Lions (first time ever in history that it did not result in a win). You should have stopped Detroit’s final drive for a field goal, and this is another reason as to why you are not “Clutch”.
Herbert had 5 4th quarter comebacks in 2021. That is tied for the 12th best single season all time in that category. Harris, with his “brilliant” perceptive capabilities, was Herbert’s teammate that season.
The 5 4th quarter comebacks equals the most that Brady had in any year of his career and he only had that many once and had 2 or fewer 4th quarter comebacks in 13 of his seasons. Mahomes has never had more than 4 4th quarter comebacks in any one season. Herbert had 4 in 2022, the year after he had 5.
Over the course of his career, Herbert has produced more 4th quarter comebacks and game winning drives per game played than either Mahomes or Brady.
Perhaps Harris should rethink his unsupported narrative.
Not sure how to measure this metric, and you skimmed this topic by (accurately) calling out the Massive Shit Show defense, but how many 4th quarter leads did Staley’s defense blow? How many times did the other team run out the clock because the Chargers couldn’t stop a fucking thing? How many times did Herbert score the go-ahead score, only to have a team connect on two 20+ yard passes & score as time expired?
Similar to counting “catchable” passes, there should be a metric for “winnable” games blown by shit coaching/defense.
@kevdiego Yes!!! I thought about that topic and a deeper dive on a game by game what really happened. Games in the last three years where the Chargers did take a 4th quarter lead and then lost it on a final drive by the other team. Bad defense on our part and Justin losing credit for a 4th quarter comeback. That information would only benefit the perception of Justin. I was just so fired up about the Donkey Douchebag that I had to post what I had written.
The final game against the Raiders two seasons ago would absolutely define Justin as clutch, but the Chargers lost the game.
The game against the Chiefs when he drove the Chargers the distance for the win and they hurried up inside the 5-yard line and Gerald Everett who was balling out and tapped his helmet in exhaustion and they ran a play where he staggered and went half speed and did not complete his pattern and the ball was picked off by KC and returned 100-yards for a td. Not Justin’s fault but another failed comeback.
I agree with Tau below. In hindsight just ignore it. But when someone messes with my family or my Charger team I go all kinds of Daddy-Bear on them. I hate to use the “Bear” part, but you get my meaning.
Chris Harris Jnr is an effing idiot and one of the worst value Chargers players of the 2020s. These comments show he isn’t paying very careful attention, which was also a hallmark of his on-field play for the Bolts. Just remember him pointing to a lot of teammates when his direct opponent caught the ball. Total ass clown.
That felt cathartic to type out.
This is one of the dumber takes I have read in a while. It seems like clickbait, and I advise everyone to ignore it.
Remind me who Chris Harris Jr. is again??
Chris, you were a great player for the Broncos for a lot of years and made the 2010s All-Decade Team with 3 All-Pros. I now doubt it was because of your intelligence.
Add in 2 years of shitty clutch play yourself (e.g. video above) with the Chargers while pointing fingers at teammates. I can’t think of a more donkey way of acting.
You will forever be a dumb donkey and an irrelevant analyst.
The hostess of the show said all that needs to be said by her reaction to what that donkey had to say. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.
aint gonna lie, never liked him, as a bronco or as a charger.
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