The kids call it glazing. NFL folk might call it Jim Harbaughing. Either way, gushing praise of Justin Herbert is generating heightened and unavoidable attention around one of football’s most gifted but divisive stars.

Herbert stepped out at SoFi Stadium as the best player on the field last weekend. He stepped off it having been out-duelled and outplayed by, with the greatest respect to him, everybody’s favourite bridge quarterback in veteran Jacoby Brissett and a transitioning Arizona Cardinals team adrift of postseason discussion.

Brissett and a valiant defensive display had guided the Cardinals to a 26-14 opening weekend victory over Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers to pierce, but by no means burst (yet), the bubble of a team billed among the most exciting playoff contenders coming into Week One. Over-billed? Over-hyped? Time will tell.

It was the quintessential Chargers Chargering exhibition based on the discourse of recent years, a disjointed performance of mistakes and miscues negating the influence of superior individual talent. An all too familiar theme to this team.

Now, were you to drop somebody on earth for a day, ask them to watch a showreel of the NFL’s starting quarterbacks and point out which they believed might be considered the best, the most feared, the most dangerous, you would bank on an initial eye test leading many to Justin Herbert. He remains something of a dream prototype blessed with the ludicrous arm talent, the marauding ground presence, the dwarfing stature, the fizzing needle-threading velocity and deep ball fireworks – as much, though, fuels most of the frustration surrounding his career thus far.

In his most successful moments, he has been spectacular, a match for any defense in the league and one of the most box office showcases in football. There has rarely been a flicker of doubt over his skillset, but noise-meets-uncertainty over both his killer instinct and credentials among the elite play-callers in the NFL is as loud as ever, you feel.

Herbert finished Sunday’s loss 17 of 27 for 209 yards, one touchdown and an ill-informed interception while attacking double coverage downfield with 10 minutes to play and the Chargers trailing by nine. His day had started hot when he led an eight-play, 77-yard scoring drive including three passes for 60 yards to Ladd McConkey, whose exit with a chest injury after his touchdown catch before the end of the third quarter left Herbert and his offense short of answers.

In fact, the Chargers proceeded to go punt, turnover on downs, interception, turnover on downs, turnover on downs on the five possessions spent without McConkey, their offense failing to reach opposition territory in four fourth-quarter drives, while also collecting six of their team’s total penalties including five in the second half and three straight on their penultimate series.

The performance came just days after head coach Jim Harbaugh forecast Herbert going down as the best to play his position.

“Allow me to call my shot, like Babe Ruth pointing his bat over to centerfield: Justin Herbert, when it’s all said and done, when his career comes to an end, I predict he will be known as the greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “When it’s all said and done, and his career is finished, we’re going to look back and say, ‘Yep, that’s the best that ever did it.'”

Harbaugh will not and should not change who he is, having become Herbert’s most vocal and persistent cheerleader since taking over as head coach in 2024. He has repeatedly hailed his quarterback’s potential for greatness and sought to speak Herbert’s explosion into existence almost, but with it has come enlarged expectations and a Hollywood fishbowl feel. Is there such a thing as too much hype?

We might add that it is merely Week One, a prime window for premature panic. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots both lost in the first week of last season before going on to reach the Super Bowl, while the widely favoured Los Angeles Rams were just beaten by the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne; nobody wrote them off, nor is anybody writing them off. Seasons aren’t defined in Week One, but an unwelcome start has only prompted further question marks.

Part of the intrigue around Herbert this season comes from the hiring of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, whose wizardry fell flat in a disappointing end to his Miami Dolphins head coaching tenure but has seen his arrival tipped to unlock the best of his quarterback’s alien arm. The best of McDaniel’s offense in Miami relied on Tua Tagovailoa’s quick-release passing concepts, heavy pre-snap motion and a dynamic rushing attack off which his quarterback could tee, so Herbert will be asked to stray from his comfort zone a little. Every quarterback-coordinator marriage needs time to flourish, McDaniel similarly seeking to justify his own advertising as one of the most influential offensive figureheads in modern football.

McDaniel failed to get his running game going at all through second-year back Omarion Hampton, who managed just 43 yards from 12 carries and averaged only 1.5 yards before contact behind an offensive line that surrendered three sacks. It had been an area the Chargers appeared to address efficiently over the last two seasons under Greg Roman, whose run-heavy offense restored some long-lost stability to their attack. No balance, no party.

Herbert was sacked 54 times last season, the second-most in the league, as the Chargers went without two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater for the entire campaign while losing Pro Bowl right tackle Joe Alt for 11 games through injury. His 225 sacks and 615 hits entering the season marked the most on any quarterback since Herbert was drafted with the sixth overall pick in 2020. Both Slater and Alt returned this weekend, but weaknesses continued to show on the interior of the Chargers’ offensive line.

The numbers have often spoken to his ability to join the NFL’s premier quarterbacks at the table. Herbert’s 24,820 passing yards through his first six seasons are the second most in NFL history behind only Peyton Manning, whom he surpassed for the most completions by a quarterback in his first six seasons.

He also previously began his NFL career by setting the record for most consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons with three in a row from 2020 to 2022 behind his best offensive arsenal featuring Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler. The gradual departure of the aforementioned trio hasn’t helped; McConkey, Quentin Johnston and tight end David Njoku are now his most recognised pass-catching targets.

But for all his stats through the air, the one number Chargers fans care about is playoff wins, which currently stands at zero from three postseason appearances. Herbert has fallen in the Wild Card round in three of the last four years, witnessing the Chargers blow a 27-0 lead against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022 playoffs, producing a career-worst 43.8 completion percentage and four interceptions against the Houston Texans in the 2024 playoffs and throwing for just 159 yards and no touchdowns while being sacked six times against the Patriots last season.

There is something to be admired about the ability for Herbert to become one of the prized faces of the league without quite yet managing to break through the glass ceiling. For the purposes of further fuelling an AFC arm’s race brimming with quarterback talent, football is urging and willing him on to thrust himself among the perennial frontrunners, and football knows he is capable of doing so.

But games like that of Sunday should not be happening. Year seven is up and running and the Justin Herbert story remains both captivating and impossible to forecast.

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“This is who we are. This is our team. This is City.”

It’s been a few days since the Manchester Derby victory but sat at Man City’s training ground, Gianluigi Donnarumma is still basking in the glory.

He’s not interested in Erling Haaland’s controversial winner – though he’s still annoyed Phil Foden was “harshly” sent off earlier in the game – as something else pleased him. A man down, everything going against them – City showed mettle and won.

“I loved my team-mates’ performance, it was sublime,” he tells Sky Sports. “The capacity to stay in the game and to react to difficult moments – no one can take that away from us.

“We will give everything for this shirt, for this club that gives us so much and offers us so much great support. It has a great history, and we need to give a lot back to it.”

Not many had City down to hold a 100 per cent record this season ahead of the upcoming, lengthy international break – especially after losing the core of a successful era in Pep Guardiola, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Rodri.

City have not been entirely convincing in certain areas – even Donnarumma says there is still lots to learn despite the faultless start to the Enzo Maresca era. But this was meant to be a transition season at City.

“I don’t really like the word ‘transition.'” he adds. “The club’s objective is to win. This team’s objective is to win. We’ll certainly give everything we can to achieve that.

“We could reach the end of the season having won something, or having won nothing. But what’s important is having a winning mentality, going out there and trying to win everything we possibly can.”

Part of that winning mentality is being driven by Donnarumma – who is part of a newly-formed leadership group that replaced the likes of Bernardo, Stones and Rodri.

Donnarumma sits alongside Ruben Dias in the leadership pecking order, along with Haaland and Marc Guehi. All four players have one thing in common: they all have won trophies both at City and at other clubs in their careers.

So as the likes of Ayyoub Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson and Ilimian Ndiaye settle into their new team – tasked with making an immediate impact in a non-transition year – the leadership quartet are there to drive the standards.

“We’ve changed a few players. A few new ones have arrived,” says Donnarumma. “They’re all top players who are used to playing on the biggest stages, dealing with certain situations, and playing in the Premier League.

“It’s not easy at the beginning when you move to a new club, a new organisation, a new city. But they’re adapting well, and we’re making them feel comfortable.

“The players who were already here are helping them a lot. I think we’re going to have a great season.

“The objective is to get to the end and compete for everything there is to compete for – in addition to the Premier League, there’s the Champions League and the two domestic cups.”

It’s a clear warning from City that anything is possible when it comes to this team. But when it comes to Donnarumma’s aim of challenging for the Premier League and the Champions League, one team stands in the way: Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta’s side have also started the season with five straight wins – and have the added recent psychological boost of pipping City to the Premier League post last May.

The recent Guardiola documentary showed down and disappointed scenes from City players as they slipped up at Bournemouth to hand the Gunners the title. Donnarumma – who had won the league title in each of the previous five seasons before last term – was one of them.

“It’s difficult, but that’s football, that’s life. You’re not on your own,” he says about that disappointment. “There are other strong teams, especially in the Premier League.

“It’s not that if you don’t win there isn’t disappointment – of course there is – but it can happen because there are other teams as well, just like in the Champions League.

“It’s important to go into every game trying to win it. Certainly, our objective will be to win, but there are other teams too.

“You have to compete, you have to work, and you have to do everything possible because the history of this club demands it.”

Sunday 20th September 1:00pm


Kick off 2:00pm

Will it be City and Arsenal again competing at the top come May? “I don’t know. We’re only four games into the season,” says the Italian goalkeeper.

But the stall has been set out. “Our focus right now has to be on working and trying to win every game. That has to be our objective.

“Whether we achieve it in the end or not, only time will tell.”

Watch Man City vs Norwich City in the Carabao Cup third round on Thursday night, kick-off 8pm.

Then watch Man City vs Sunderland in the Premier League live on Sky Sports’ Super Sunday from 1pm, kick-off 2pm.

Hull KR head into the play-offs as defending champions, but if they are to go back-to-back, they will have to make history by becoming the first team ever to win the Super League title from sixth place.

It has been a season of highs and lows for the Robins. Their World Club Challenge triumph was followed by a heavy defeat in Las Vegas, while inconsistency throughout the campaign saw them sneak into the play-offs in the final available spot.

That means they face a trip to Warrington Wolves before a potential clash with Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield winners Wigan Warriors as they look to secure a place in the Grand Final.

“It is a tough ask, but one Hull KR head coach Willie Peters is preparing his side for as he looks to extend his farewell to the club before returning to Australia to take charge of the new NRL franchise, the PNG Chiefs.”

Peters has opted to rest the majority of his senior squad twice in the past three weeks and knows they will have to step it up when they return if they are to taste Super League glory once again, starting with a tough contest against the Wolves.

“Look, I don’t think what we’ve done at the moment is probably good enough, but we’ve got three games ahead of us, hopefully, the most important games this weekend against Warrington,” Peters told Sky Sports.

“If we tick that off and then you go play Wigan and you tick that off, then you deserve to be there.

“I have got a saying- you get what you deserve and we will get what we deserve, whether that’s to be playing in the big one or bowing out early.

“We know where we want to be, that’s for sure.

“I have watched Warrington closely this year and you have a look at the players that they’ve had in, a lot of young players, but they’ve got the great experience around them. They’ve got a really good mix.

“Sam [Burgess] has done a great job and is still doing a great job with them, so we know what we’re up against.

“We are not happy just to bow out this week or the week after. It’s about playing at Old Trafford again and creating more memories. That’s what it’s about.”

Currie: We are happy to fly under the radar

If Hull KR are to achieve the goals they have set themselves, they will first have to get past a tough Warrington side standing in their way.

Despite finishing third, there has not been too much noise surrounding Warrington.

But for loose-forward Ben Currie, that is exactly how they like it. They can continue to work together as a team and focus on their own goals while the attention remains elsewhere.

“We see a lot of the media things and Warrington are probably not mentioned or our players are probably not mentioned and we love it that way,” Currie told Sky Sports.

“I personally love it that way. I would rather not have the cameras on us and it just be about us.

“I think it just shows the consistency our team has had. We have played as a team this year.

“There has probably not been too many standout players, we have all just worked really well together.

“We have been working away.”

Super League play-offs schedule

Eliminators

Friday September 18: Wakefield Trinity vs Leigh Leopards, KO 8pm on Sky Sports

Saturday September 19: Warrington Wolves vs Hull KR, KO 5:30pm on Sky Sports

Semi-finals

Semi-Final 1: Friday September 25, Leeds Rhinos vs TBC, 8pm KO on Sky Sports

Semi-Final 2: Saturday 26 September, Wigan Warriors v TBC, 5.30pm KO on Sky Sports

The Super League play-offs begin on Friday September 18, live on Sky Sports, and continues all the way through until the Grand Final from Old Trafford on October 3.