Issue #251: Elevator Pitch
By Derrick Ernst
February 12, 2026
Well That Was…
Not great? Everyone I talk to has the same reaction about Sunday’s game. I also feel like the coverage leading up to the game was lacking as well. I’ve given this some thought over the past few days, the reason I think this was the case is due to the lack of marketable players from either team. Maybe in the years to come that changes, but in today’s NFL neither team packed a punch of players with pronounced personalities. No offense. But then again, that’s probably the way the likes of S. Darnold and D. Maye like it. It’s unfortunate how that dynamic often evolves. Where we feel like we can’t get excited about something because the person isn’t animated themselves. As people, we feed off energy, even if it comes by way of TV.
Outside of the fans from the cities who play in the game, I think we can all agree that when we don’t have any skin in the game, all we’re looking for is a competitive product. Sometimes it works out that way, other times it doesn’t. Sunday fell in the latter. Couple this with the aforementioned and you’re left with something that was just meh.
My thoughts on S. Darnold:
As a Vikings fan, part of me feels bitter that we let him slip away given what we know in hindsight
As a fan of the NFL, I’m happy for him knowing his journey of trials and rejuvenation
I was reminded the other day that Darnold was in the same draft class as J. Allen, L. Jackson, and B. Mayfield. Go figure he’d be the first to raise the Lombardi.
I did want to get into this. Just when I give ESPN credit, they turn around and post this:
To ESPN’s credit, they’re not the only sites to do these kinds of articles, but what they all do and what my grievance is towards them is they simply assume the season that just concluded will be run back. Literally the top-six teams they suspect for next season finished the top-six this season. The odds of that happening are 0.01%. To make matters even more outlandish is that they assumed 11 teams from this year’s playoffs will make next year’s. On average, there’s about a 50% turnover year after year.
I get that sites push out articles to meet quotas, get clicks, and for an article like this it’s to be expected you release your version of it or risk losing “relevance,” but golly, if you’re going to do it, at least put some time into it. This to me just feels like it was mailed in. One last thing. This gets back to some of the things I was talking about in the opening, while defenses can win championships, it isn’t as flashy as its offensive counterparts and tends to be what disengages an audience. This was part of the equation on Sunday as well.
Source: ESPN
30 Seconds
Source: The Seattle Times
Must be all you New Yorkers driving up this average. I don’t spend a second of my M-F in an elevator. I’m assuming we’ve all heard about the ‘elevator pitch' before. It’s typically used in the context of business, but why should it be limited to just that? I was thinking about this the other day:
If you were asked about your fantasy team and couldn’t tell the questioner about what purpose (insert player’s name here) serves on your roster, it may be time to consider ditching them.
I’d go as far as saying if you can’t make a case for them in the 30 seconds you’d have in a hypothetical elevator ride, then it’s time to move on. I’m at fault with this just as much as the next person (heck I held onto B. Aiyuk all this season), but I think we all have a tendency to hang onto players longer than is probably warranted. Getting rid of them is, in a way, an admission of defeat, but doing so gives you the opportunity to have exposure to a potentially more able asset.
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