Can we talk about how weird it was that the Bills were using E.J. Manuel as, basically, their hard count and QB sneak specialist? Like, what in the fuck was that about? Are these things Tyrod Taylor cannot do?

For sure. It’s much easier, and safer career-wise, for NFL coaches and GMs to complain that college coaches “aren’t preparing these guys for a pro-style offense” (which is not a college coach’s job, of course) than to admit their own failing at helping players make the transition.

Who? Oooohhhhh right, I remember him. Didn’t he used to play for the Cowboys?

What I am saying is that the QB crisis is something created by GMs and coaches who haven’t drafted well and find themselves without a franchise QB or and talent around him.

Personally, I fall in the middle of the two schools of thought on this: I think the league is generally a bit lacking for top-tier young QB talent, but not enough so that I’d call it a crisis, or necessarily historically unusual.

I know the question of whether the NFL is in the midst of a QB talent crisis has been hashed and rehashed, but it certainly can’t help the situation that two of the most promising prospects to enter the league in the past two years are being coached by Fisher/Boras and Mike Mularkey/Terry Robiskie.

Your question seems to presume there’s a downside to enabling idiots on the field.

That is most definitely the trick, and thanks.

I rarely watch Monday or Thursday night football anymore, unless “my team” (and that label is fading for me as well) is playing or both teams playing are ones I enjoy watching and there’s nothing else burning up my Netflix queue, which is a rare confluence of circumstances.

It’s sooooooo bad. And, with some exceptions, the sophistication of the coverage of the sport is also medieval. The NBA media, for example, has taken great strides in recent years and has left the mainstream NFL media in the dust.

oh shit, you’re right. My sincerest apologies to noble alcohol.

Oh, for sure, fantasy is huge.

Interesting, I think that could work with my dad/friends too. Honestly, I presume I’d find replacements to fill the gaps in most of my social relationships that dropping football would create, but it’s a hard step to take.

Honestly, I think I’m only still watching the NFL for the same reason I’m still on Facebook: social pressure. Like 80 percent of my friend group cares about these games, our fantasy league has been a great way for my ever-sprawling college-era clan to keep in touch, it’s a good thing to chat with my dad about when I…

Thanks, and go for it.

I had no idea how close I was to reaching a turning point in my relationship with this sport until last night. Like, I was goddamn hyped for that game and by the end my excitement for the start of the season had been entirely replaced by frustration. The second half was basically a showcase for everything wrong with…

“The needs of the many... outWEIGH... the needs of the few... or the ONE... for... TACOS...”

I’d guess yes, too.

Yep, I think both are probably true.

“For some reason it’s OK for Jim Nantz or Joe Buck or Cris Collinsworth or Jon Gruden to disagree with an official, but when Mike disagreed, with all the years of experience he had, he used to get criticized, pretty roundly.”