Kirk Herbstreit Offers Two Theories As to Why September Football Has Become So Ugly

The 'Thursday Night Football' commentator discussed an unsightly NFL opening week.

Jan 1, 2024; Pasadena, CA, USA; Kirk Herbstreit on the ESPN College Gameday set at the 2024 Rose Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Rose Bowl. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In the opening week of the 2024 NFL season, an unusual degree of low-quality football abounded. Final scores of 18–10, 16–10, 20–17 and 22–10 dotted the scoreboard, and even quarterbacks in high-scoring games found themselves struggling against aggressive modern defenses.

It was a week uninspiring enough to get football's intelligentsia talking about what ails the sport's most important position. On Tuesday morning, Thursday Night Football color commentator and ex-Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit offered two theories as to why September football has become so shaggy in an interview with ESPN's Kevin Clark on This is Football.

The first theory has to do with how seriously teams take the preseason now—not at all, in Herbstreit's estimation.

"I don't know if it's a lack of preseason football—that's become the new thing. A lot of the starters don't play," Herbstreit said. "The result is really bad September football. I feel like September football is becoming what August football used to be, where you kinda work the kinks out. ... Now you almost have to wait three or four weeks, to get us into what you expect to see."

"September football is becoming what August football used to be," @KirkHerbstreit said of NFL's week one.

Why? A fascinating theory on the quarterback position and how it's changing from the high school game and beyond.

*Excellent* This Is Football ahead of Bills-Fins TNF. pic.twitter.com/OS2OUuihRR

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) September 10, 2024

The second theory has to do with a disconnect between two generations of quarterbacks—the last generation of pure pocket passers and the current generation of dual-threat signal-callers.

"We have coordinators who are trying to adapt to this modern college quarterback," Herbstreit said. "There are very few guys who now come in that look like Philip Rivers. Everyone's more of a dual guy. Everyone's relying on his feet to create."

That generation gap, Herbstreit said, breeds opportunity for defenses.

"What happens is as a league, we're stuck in second gear or third gear," Herbstreit said. "It's because the NFL system is struggling to learn how to adapt to the dual-threat quarterback and how to maximize his ability to play the position."

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