First Things First - Storytime with Wildes | The Truth Hurts Part 2

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Watch clips on YouTube! Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUTUBE CHANNEL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Kevin Wildes breaks down the truth about Jalen Hurts. He explains why Hurts should be widely considered a Tier 1 QB and claps back at people in his Twitter replies. He is also very calm and not angry at all throughout the entire discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So I told Gianna, I'm titling this video, The Truth Hurts. And she said, we've already done a video on Jalen Hertz called The Truth Hurts. I said, fine. Let's call it the Truth Hurts part two. Let's call it The Truth Hurts still. Let's call it The Truth Hurts, the sequel. I also said, I've decided not to get angry during this. I don't think anyone's like, oh, good, a video of Wild's being angry about takes of the world

that everyone is wrong on, except people who love Jalen Hertz and people who actually know football. That seems mean-spirited, see? That was... Don't do that while. Everybody wants to be happy. So I've been tweeting about Jalen Hertz,

partly to prove my point about Jalen Hertz, partly to prove everybody else wrong. For one, I've just been doing a regular old countdown to the NFL season, in which I write X days until kickoff, Today, dozens of the world's best quarterback, wake up early, hit the gym, study tape, and spend time away from their families

so that come February, the blood, sweat, and tears all pay off, and they can finally have a resume slightly worse than Jalen Hertz. And that's true. And I'd just like to look at everything you have to do to be as good or almost as good as Jalen Hertz if everything breaks your way, including eating a mundane protein-filled breakfast.

You can't eat delicious waffles. Even if there's protein waffles, I'm not putting protein in everything. For real. The other tweet I've been sending. 2025 QB goals. Patrick Mahomes, just win. Josh Allen.

Just win. Just win a Super Bowl. Lamar, just win. Joe Burrow, just win. Jalen Hertz. Win. But don't run so much. and the tush push isn't fair.

We actually made a rule to try to ban it from the league. Throw more, even if it's strategically illogical, but don't throw to the wide receivers because they are also too good. Don't use Saquan and block a punt. You have to. You know what people will respond back to me on that one? It's a team game. Really?

I didn't know that. I thought I was at the U.S. Open. Thank you for that. He doesn't play actually head-to-head against Mahomes. Thanks. I thought it was a boxing match. I didn't realize that. I was trying to be mean-spirited. No one likes that. I'm telling you. There is no market for a mean-spirited Kevin Wilde. But what got me a little bit off of my happy perch was Mike Sandow's article in the athletic. Fifty executives and coaches put the quarterbacks into tiers. Tier one, great quarterbacks. It was Mahomes, Burrow, Lamar, Josh, Matthew Stafford, sure. Tier 2 quarterbacks, Jaden Daniels, Herbert, Gough, C.J. and Jalen, Tide, Bake Show, Dak, Jordan Love, Brock Purdy.

Here's the quote, when you click on Jalen Hertz's part. Hertz's standing in the tiers barely changed after his Eagles won the Super Bowl. Okay. Then what are we doing exactly? But what exactly is the point if you can win the Super Bowl, when Super Bowl MVP beat several, beat this guy, this guy, and oh, Stafford's on tier one. He's not even on the graphic. To get to the Super Bowl, beat the number one quarterback, and it doesn't move at all. Things have to have consequences.

You're seeing the movie The Martian? if I pulled 50 scientists and astronauts, and I said, hey, can you give me the list of people, the best list of astronauts who could survive being alone on Mars? And they got Matt Damon ranked ninth. When the guy was growing potatoes out of his own feces, When he's fixing up the rover driving by himself, he pulls up a whole spaceship. He makes it himself out of a parachute and launches himself off of Mars.

They're like, you know what, ninth best. Donald Glover actually did a lot of the work there. When you look at it, it doesn't make sense. And then I said, wilds, again, don't get mad. I remember it. Oh, this is from coaches and executives. So consider the source, coaches and executives who view the world through coaches and executive eyes, view the world through that success is built through team building and coaching.

Certainly just can't be a superstar player doing a little bit of extra to put that all together. No, his success, when the coaches and executives, because several of the coaches and executives had him in tier three, even though he's a Super Bowl MVP, they're viewing it as he's a product of the hard work and success and savvy moves of other coaches and executives. It's just how they view the world.

I'm friends with a frog. We don't see each other that much. Text. And every time we go out to dinner, I'm like, Frog, what do you want? Where do you want to go to dinner? He's like,

I have a lily pad. it's the only thing he knows. That's how he views the world. I don't know, Wilds. I'm going to have the bowl full of flies. What do you look at? That's all he knows. That's why the coaches and executives

are looking at Jalen Hertz like that. Then the other shot at me is, I'm not a shot at me. I'm not being attacked. So this is nothing. The other critique, critique, criticism is Wilds, you know what? You're too much about wins.

Yeah. guilty is charged. Lock me up on that one. Me and Vince Lombardi in the only caring about wins category. Also, everybody else. Here's Jalen Hertz as a full time starter. Regular season wins, 45, third best, playoff wins, six, second best.

Super Bowl appearances, two, second best of Mahomes. Total touchdowns, 151, third best. But somehow, the ninth best quarterback. That upsets me as well. I think not being about wins is actually just sports almost virtue signaling. Like, you're about wins? I had to write this. Did you know that in 2010, Tom Brady led the league and adjusted yards per pass attempt?

No one says that in a bar. That all burns off. We're actually all about wins and Super Bowls. Then what about Nick Foles? Do you really think that's a fair argument? Just be honest. Do you think Jalen Hertz is as good as Nick Bowles? What about Eli Menning?

Eli Manning won half his games. And I think Eli Manning is very good. And they do share something, which is an ability to take their game to another level when the time demands. And they beat a dynasty and an all-time goat. So that's not necessarily a diss. But if one guy's winning 70% of his games

or one guy won 50% of his games, which isn't fair because he trailed off at the end. But you get it. One guy's always in the playoffs. The other guy is sometimes in the playoffs. I don't think it's a fair comparison. And honestly, I don't think you think it's a fair comparison either. The other reason everybody's about wins, if everyone's so smart,

how come all the best quarterbacks win? If we're not big wins people. How come you just never run into a guy is like, you know what? Philip Rivers. Tom Brady was first in passing yards. You know what Philip Rivers is? Six. Passing touchdowns.

Brady first. Philip Rivers, six, 421. Interception rate, 1.8. for Brady 2.6 for Philip Rivers. You never run into somebody who said, Philip Rivers really good. But everybody in their heart of hearts just defaults to wins.

It's okay. Join the club. Me, Vince Lombardi, are over here. It's all good. The only arguments against Jalen Hertz being a tier one top five quarterback are hypothetical.

And people think they're making really good points. And I just refuse to engage. in them like Kevin what if they're it's like talking to an imaginative child what what what if what if the whole league could be

redrafted no get this Gianna you and me are GMs now okay okay okay you and me are GMs and we get to pick we're like an expansion team but everybody you get to pick anybody you want okay anybody you want right who would you pick you wouldn't pick Jaylon Hertz right I don't know I'm a GM now

I don't know. What has happened? What has happened to the league? What happened to the contract? Everyone's open? Do I get to... Where am I living? What has happened to the world where the league is folded and we're resurrecting it?

Like, Eden? What is going on here? None of it makes sense. Those are the arguments that you get to prove that Jalen Hertz isn't good. because when you look at the real numbers, here's Jalen Hertz versus Mahomes, just numbers-wise. One guy is unanimously number one in this athletic pool.

The other guy's tied for ninth and tier two, even though he won the Subrode-Moo, and several people won him in Tier 3. Despite the record, Mahomes got the better record, team points, it's Jalen Hertz's team, completion percentage, 67.67, total yards because it counts rushing 261, 290. Touchdowns, 124, Jalen, 120 Mahomes.

Passer rating, Mahomes slightly ahead of Jalen. But there's this huge gulf between these guys? I don't think so. Wilds, he needs to throw more. Jalen, he threw the ball. He didn't throw the ball or not. Why? You playing fantasy football?

You logging on. don't draft them. Don't draft Jalen Hertz. I don't even know. It's that good fantasy advice because he gets a lot of rushing touchdowns. You know what? If you're in a non-rushing, maybe he is good advice. Most offensive plays leading in the second half in the last five years.

The Ravens, you're winning the game in the second half. The Ravens ran 400. They rush the ball 62% of the time. The Eagles rush the ball 59% of the time. The last year's Eagles rushed the ball almost 70% of the time. They're winning the game. Why should he throw the ball to purposely lose to give a chance of intercepting the ball to shorten the clock? It doesn't make any sense.

It's a poor argument. Well, they don't throw the ball enough as a team overall. That's a fair argument because he's trying to win the game. Philadelphia threw the ball 43% of the time. Baltimore also a good team, 46%. percent of the time. Buffalo, who had Josh Allen, the MVP, through the ball, 29th out of 32 teams. Philly was 32, Baltimore is 31, Buffalo was 29th, the ball bare 50.7.4. You don't have to throw the ball to win the game. You just need to

control the ball and make smart plays for a while so you know what it is. He actually can't throw. The issue is he can't throw the ball. Okay. Highest pass rating inside the pocket. Lamar, Jalen Hertz, Joe Borough, Jared Gough. These are just the numbers. This is like this, I'm making an argument for a guy that didn't make the playoffs. Look at, like, he was Super Bowl MVP. Again, Gianna, remember, there's no, there's no market for an Angry Wilds. Here's my final point.

If I was a biographer, and I wanted to do a biography on a CEO, let's say Jeff Bezos or somebody, any C. successful CEO of a successful company. And you're the editor. I'm trying to pitch you. I would say, I'd like to do a biography on the CEO of Walmart to figure out what they're doing that makes that business successful. I'd like to do a biography on the CEO of Costco to figure out what they're doing that makes that business successful. business so successful. That's how people in the media should approach Jalen Hertz. Rather than having a definition of what you think success looks like, find someone who is successful

and let it trickle down from there, what is Jalen Hertz doing that leads to so many touchdowns and wins? And that's how you define greatness then. that's how you understand Jalen Hertz. You don't go the other way. Didn't throw for 3,000 yards. No. The Super Bowl MVP, figure it out. What is he doing?

Oh, a lot of leadership. Oh, not turning the ball over. Oh, maybe you discover something if you write this biography that I'm asking right all of a sudden. But that's how it should work. And I hope, I hope that Jalen Hertz is steely resolved. is not moved by criticism because we have seen cracks in it. The one crack that we saw in it was after everyone telling him that he needs to throw some more. It locked out that he was playing Pittsburgh who had a great rush defense.

I think they had the six best rushing defense. So they weren't going to be able to run the ball. And Seekwuan rushed for 65. Eagles were 11 and 2. Steelers were 10 and 3. Jalen throws 25 for 32, 290, 2 touchdowns, and then said this after the game. So that's what I wanted to see, huh? So Jalen, while I like the outfit, I actually don't want to see that.

I just want you to win. That's actually all that matters. That's actually all that people are going to remember. This is the truth hurts part two.