It’s that time of year again. The National Media is on the prowl for headlines or “hot takes” that they can use to drive engagement as the NFL season begins their first preseason games of the 2021 season. This is nothing new, we have seen this, time and time again, throughout any major sport. The National Media specifically targets a fan base that is active on social media, rips off a hot take that will trigger the emotions of said fanbase, and sit back while smiling at the commotion it causes on social media. Today, we got yet another example of this from FS1 and their show, First Things First.

Joy Taylor was talking about Jalen Hurts and in her words, a made up quarterback competition between him and backup quarterback Joe Flacco. Joy starts off her two minutes on television by “I have never seen a team fumble the bag more spectacularly or more quickly than the Philadelphia Eagles. What a fall from grace.”

Joy Taylor continues her tirade saying that the Eagles are in the midst of a quarterback competition and then references that good teams, like the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, and the Buffalo Bills, do not have quarterback competitions. Yes, Joy, the teams with the best quarterbacks in the NFL do not have quarterback competitions. Just to be clear, neither do the Philadelphia Eagles, but that’s besides the point now isn’t it?

As she continues to make herself look like an idiot on camera, Joy continues to say there’s a quarterback competition, the Eagles are the worst team in the NFC East, and they don’t have “a guy” behind center.

But have no fear, Philadelphia! JOY believes that JALEN HURTS should be the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles! She continues on to question the Eagles organization on why Joe Flacco would be considered as the starting quarterback, when everyone in the entire tri-State area and Eagles fans around the world know very well that is completely made up bullshit that for some reason, Joy believes, as she reads off a teleprompter.

The rest of the talking heads on First Things First, nod along as Joy continues to say the dumbest things about a team and city that clearly, she knows absolutely nothing about. Joy ends her ignorant rant saying that the Philadelphia Eagles are an absolute disaster because of this “quarterback competition” and “how could they let this happen”.

There are so many things wrong with what Joy Taylor said, I’m honestly impressed. To be able to look into a camera and just spew complete lies with a straight face is pretty hard to do. Let’s give Joy Taylor the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she doesn’t actually believe this and she is in fact just reading a script that was generated with a specific marketing strategy to drive engagement. If that’s the case then well done. We can then shift focus over to FS1 and the behind the scenes crew for ignoring facts while covering football teams and focusing on nothing more than sloppy hot takes that provide zero insight into what is actually happening with a sports team.

For those who are still unsure about the Philadelphia Eagles and who their starting quarterback will be this season, I promise you, Jalen Hurts is QB1. He started last night and has gotten every single first team rep during training camp to date. They drafted him in the second round last year and moved on from Carson Wentz. Hurts will be starter this season. Sink or swim. Joe Flacco is the backup quarterback.

As for video clips, television segments, and social accounts in the national media, do yourself a favor and just unfollow and block every single one of them. We as consumers of content have the power in our hands. If you don’t like something, don’t quote tweet it. Just unfollow and block the account. We aren’t puppets and have the power to enforce change by not giving in to clickbait articles and video clips that are specifically designed to make you upset.