Cue the Rodney Dangerfield clips, because I tell ya, Joe Flacco gets no respect at all.
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(OK, I don't expect anyone to watch that 48-minute clip. But you'll get the point with the following.)
Flacco, the Super Bowl XLVII MVP, is coming off a poor season, having thrown 19 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Sure, the offensive line was horrendous and he had no help from the running game. But still, he put in the worst season of his career, all things considered. However, he's a more-than-capable quarterback that's won a lot of games and won a postseason game in each of his first five seasons with the franchise. That weighs so much heavier than whether a quarterback throws for 4,000 yards in a season or not.
But his down year in 2014 may be why the folks at Bovada are down on Flacco's chances of potentially being the NFL's MVP in 2014. The Las Vegas betting site is giving Flacco 100/1 odds of getting the crown. Hey, I'm not saying anything remotely close to the fact that Flacco deserves higher odds or actually has a chance at this stage of the preseason. Odds at 100/1 is probably fair right now.
But here's where the disrespect comes in. Without playing an NFL snap, Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel checks in with the same odds. Others getting 100/1 odds are Andy Dalton, Rob Gronkowski, Arian Foster and Eddie Lacy.
You could easily make the disrespectful argument for those other players to, as if those established players have the same likelihood of winning the NFL's MVP as Manziel.
Now, do I actually think it's disrespectful? No. Who cares? It's just a Vegas betting site. And hey, if you really think Flacco can win the MVP, throw down some money ASAP. It's essentially low-risk, high-reward at this stage.
HERE is the full list of NFL MVP odds at Bovada.