AFC East Buzz: Jets-Dalvin Cook hype, Skip Bayless jabs Zeke, Bills & more

AFC East rumblings: Skip Bayless won’t miss Patriots RB Ezekiel Elliott

Another running back joining the AFC East is Ezekiel Elliott who signing a one-year deal of his own with the New England Patriots.

While Zeke hasn’t been the Zeke who busted into the NFL with an impactful rookie season, the former Cowboys star is in the right situation to shine another star, one under the guidance of Bill Belichick.  With Patriots fans excited about the potential of a Rhamondre Stevenson/Ezekiel Elliott two-headed monster, Cowboys fanboy and FS1 sports personality Skip Bayless says he won’t miss Zeke.  In fact, he feels the 28-year-old quarterback is done in the NFL.

"“I’ll say it again about Zeke:  I was his biggest fan,” Bayless said during his show.  “Certainly, his rookie year, but that was by far his best year.  That was his one and only great, great year during which he literally carried my Dallas Cowboys all the way to the (No. 1) seed in the NFC.  His stats went consistently down, down, down, down, down as he suffered the fate of what I call ‘Earl Campbell Syndrome.’  He just took too many hits, too quickly.  He used up his hits in the National Football League.”"

With that analogy, Bayless further explained that like a fighter who takes too many punches, Elliott is not the bruiser out of the backfield he used to be because all the bruises have made him less effective.

Now, this could be more about Bayless’ disdain for Belichick, but Elliott doesn’t come to New England with the expectations he’ll produce Pro-Bowl numbers, he was signed to take some of the load off Stevenson.

But, you know, with Bayless saying what he has said, now there is motivation for Zeke to prove some of his skeptics wrong, particularly the “Undisputed” host who claims he won’t fear Elliott as an opponent…so he says.

If Elliott and Cook make an impact in the AFC East, the favorites to win the division will have a very tough path…and a curse?