I’m quite stunned by how flat and, at times, awful JA has been this season. Something is terribly off with him. A movie quote that comes to mind is from Rocky III when Mickey is telling Rocky why he won’t train him to fight Clubber Lang.
He says: “….then, the worst thing happened to you that can happen to any fighter. You got civilized, kid.”
A lot of hype, a huge contract, the demise of his relationship with a girl from the same small town he knew since childhood, a celebrity gf, etc., etc. might be okay for some players, but clearly it has all taken the fire out of the kid from Firebaugh.
I guess the whole fire thing was for literary purposes. I get what you’re saying. Sure, he cares. My point, I guess, is he’s kind of psychologically off. He’s lost his edge. You can tell that he hesitates routinely to trust his own creativity and instincts. Some of that has certainly been coaching. Some is the overall underperformance of the team. Some of it could be all of it playing out against him losing his identity to the pressures of fame and high expectations. For the record: I’m not in the bench Josh Allen camp. I am firmly in the let Josh Allen be Josh Allen camp.