I was surprised to see Jason Brown off his game at NHK Trophy. He's such a great competitor. It seemed he was given a bit of a break in the sp because the judges respect his aesthetic talents and his competitiveness. But it was Adam who bit the bullet and brung it. Even Adam was not at his absolute best technically, but he made split second adjustments and landed everything in both programs, and his performance abilities are always top-notch.
Perhaps (as mentioned already) Jason felt some pressure of being considered top brass with Hanyu having to withdraw? Still, that's not like Jason though. What seemingly got overlooked is that even with Hanyu withdrawing, Voronov and Bychenko are journeymen with quadabilities who are known to be capable of piling on the numbers technically, despite neither being superb artists. But both are always threats for the podium in a weaker field. I'm not sure why it was felt that Jason should have necessarily won. Of course, Jason's always been a gamer and he did have the chance skating last. But the thing is, Jason would still have had to skate cleanly and win by 3 points higher than his best ever total points (which would seem to mean getting credit for quad rotations, even if with a fall). Bychenko was winded toward the end of his free program and Jason absolutely had a great opportunity to place at least second or third.
There's no way Jason can afford to fall on both of his 3-axels! I've never seen that from him before. Last season, it turned out that Jason was injured (ironically after not doing as well as expected at NHK). I dearly hope this is not a repeat. Unfortunately, Jason's history at NHK looks unlucky: he had to withdraw in 2015; came in 7th last year with an injury later diagnosed; and 4th this year when he had a good chance to at least make the podium. The fact that Jason made no attempt to go for a quad is a bit troubling. Is it the pressure?; is it the Olympics season and he wants it so much? Or God forbid, is there another nagging physical issue resulting from his training the quad? Hopefully, that's not the case this time, and Jason will be able to regroup ahead of U.S. Nationals. What a missed opportunity though, especially since Jason started out the season so well with a silver at Skate Canada. I'm bummed for Jason.
But he's never been someone who stays down. The fact that Jason can land those quads in practice means he can do them in competition. And in any case, I think Jason loves performing in Japan (so NHK is probably one of his preferences for the GP).
I'm happy for Adam. Way to go AdaRipp!
It's a tough field for Adam at Skate America though. Just skating his best and weathering it will be good. The pressure in the Olympics season for U.S. guys is way heavier than for most top contenders, because it will be such a battle to make it out of U.S. Nationals. In the end, while the GP season has importance, it will be Nationals that everyone wants to head into at full fighting strength.
Meanwhile, Jason tweeted 9 hours ago:
"Today's a new day!"
https://twitter.com/jasonbskates/status/929469574474432512
Next week in France, Max and Vincent certainly have chances to battle for at least 3rd/ 4th. But it's not an easy field with Uno, Fernandez, Samarin, Ten, Kvitelashvili, Bychenko, and a consistent/artistic Misha Ge.
My feeling is that Nathan is not looking over his shoulder at what others are doing to catch up. He's looking at where he wants to be and what he needs to do to achieve his own goals.
I'm thinking of the saying attributed to the great Satchel Paige: "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you." 
http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1718/gpjpn2017/data0105.htm
