Most of ESPN and NFL Network are trolls. It really isn't something unique to First Take.
This is their business model, and it's successful. It's all about getting clicks.
I only watch football but WWE-like story telling and promotion is huge with how ESPN and NFL Network treats the game of football. It's all meant to fan around optimism, get people excited, and create their own story lines.
Tom Brady is the greatest QB of all time.
But Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in the league (bullshit)
However, Peyton Manning is the greatest regular season QB of all time (lmao)
But Andrew Luck is the future best QB in the league.
….Even though Russell Wilson is perhaps the best QB of his draft class.
NFL says all of this shit, and it all at least partially contradicts each other, but it gives the Packers, Broncos, Colts, and Seahawks a narrative to be excited about in the absence of Lombardi trophies.
Two years ago an ESPN analyst (forget which) said Kaepernick was "better than Joe Montana."
The next day ESPN was running segments on what said analyst said, and they were having debate segments on whether or not it was true.
This is ESPN creating its own story lines and television dramas.
It's the result of sports-journalism going 24/7. It's also the result of the NFL's business model to maximize excitement across all fan bases at the expense of honest journalism.
An example is Bucky Brooks latest dumb ass article on NFL.com, where he lists the top ten most talented teams outside the QB position. Every team in the AFC East is on it…. except for the reigning Superbowl Champions.
It gets Bills fans hyped, Jet fans hyped, Dolphin fans hyped.
Then actual football season starts and the AFC comes down to the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots, neither of which are mentioned in ESPN and NFL Networks click-bait hype articles.
They do the same with negative reporting. "TOM BRADY IS NO LONGER A TOP 5 QUARTERBACK!"
It's such a ridiculously stupid premiss, but it makes money, because Patriot haters click it in a state of euphoria, and Patriot fans click it saying "WTF?". It has nothing to do with reality, but it makes the most amount of money.
Deflate Hate is this business model going into overdrive. The laws of physics lower air pressure in a football, and talking heads turn it into the Black Sox scandal of the century, and get more NFL attention during the off season then the NHL does during its freaking playoffs.
Acting like Skip Bayless and Steven A Smith are the only trolls on ESPN is ridiculous, and if you believe that, you don't get it.
The freaking Colts are being called the favorites to win the AFC right now, even though the Patriots always stomp them out by 25 points or more. They'll ride this story to create a buzz around a new team with a young QB right up until the Patriots trample them with 200 rushing yards and a 45-7 blow out, then it'll stop. They'll have made their money on that fake narrative and move on to something else.