Chip Shots: Will A GOAT Be A Welcome NFL Broadcast Attraction?
May 14, 2022 at 12:05 a.m.
Chip Shots: Will A GOAT Be A Welcome NFL Broadcast Attraction?
By Chip Davenport-
Brady is considered by most football fans as the greatest of all time – the G.O.A.T. – among NFL quarterbacks. On the personally run business end of his life, TB12 and other endeavors have also been successful.
This reminds me of the Boston Celtics using a 1979 NBA draft pick in 1978 to secure the draft rights to Larry Bird, The Celtics had to wait a year, but anyone with half a basketball brain knew it was going to work out well. Bird was a legitimate talent headed to a solid organization rebuilding for another decade of glory.
Fox seems to have no problem holding the lead NFL analyst seat for Brady while Burkhardt works with “to be determined” in the 2022 season.
The uncertainty is whether Brady will take care of enough unfinished business in 2022 to move to Fox for the 2023 season or hang around for a few more seasons on the Bucs’ roster.
There were all sorts of big moves made among the current and newcomer NFL broadcast networks and streamers (Amazon Prime), all for a good reason.
The contracts these networks have with the NFL expire when the 2022 season ends after the Super Bowl, played in February 2023. Each provider of NFL action has billions at stake when negotiations begin for the next contract timeline.
Fox is pretty certain waiting for Brady was its best move for retaining its stronghold on the NFL’s National Football Conference (NFC) television lineup. I believe Brady in the booth makes considering the award of Super Bowl broadcasts to Fox more than the standard shared rotation.
Brady played in nine of them, and his team won in seven of them. This is something no other human being sitting in a broadcast both can put on their resume. Brady will most certainly be the only human being in a broadcast booth with this distinction hereafter to boot. He already has a wealth football strategy and execution knowledge, but who has his level of Super Bowl game mastery.
Brady, like all the other quarterbacks you see providing analysis in college and professional broadcasts, is good-looking, and he even looks younger than his actual age. If he is not also the G.O.A.T. in terms of voracity in film study (Peyton Manning might actually hold that honor), he is darn close.
The NFL’s organizational leadership, something I’ve mentioned before, knows it’s a television show. The networks and streamers now offer a variety of broadcast teams to appeal to a big range of NFL viewers, much like the variety of series available among networks, cable channels, and streaming services.
Some networks’ coverage remains the same.
Jim Nantz and former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo remain with CBS. Fans who like this duo enjoy Nantz’s warm welcome at the opening of the contest as well as when the duo returns from a break. Fans will be treated to Romo’s prediction of the upcoming play. He sometimes makes his prognostication based on the game’s situation or based on pre-snap patterns he sees (a player in motion, where key receivers line up).
Another broadcast duo remains intact, but they’ve moved from Fox to ESPN. Joe Buck and another former Dallas Cowboy quarter-back and three-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman will now ply their trade on Monday Night Football.
This was a brilliant move by ESPN, a network who paid the price for broadcasting an NFL drama decades ago and allowing its key pundits creative license to open criticize NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his organization.
ESPN’s line-up of NFL’s Monday night action had little to offer in terms of watchable football action during the previous decade, and this was no accident. The broadcast team quality, and the overpopulated pregame show were a huge turnoff for me.
It appears ESPN’s suits realized how unwatchable their broadcast crew for Monday Night Football (MNF) was, too. The Manning-cast, thank Heaven, was the alt-broadcast rekindling my interest in MNF. It’s the most unconventional format among the major players’ broadcast ideas and duos.
Buck and Aikman actually give ESPN a watchable and tolerable duo, but I believe the Manning-cast will still be compelling for many viewers. What a great way to broadcast the action. Special guests fill the air with much more interesting dialogue, humor, and insight then two dudes telling me what just happened on an off-tackle run on third-and-two. The Brothers Manning know when to appropriately shift their focus on the game most of the time. They’re only going to get better.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football (SNF), anchored by Al Michaels on play-by-play along with John Madden’s, then Cris Collinsworth’s analysis in turn, exacerbated ESPN’s MNF problems by offering the new spot for feature-worthy games, and the best broadcasting tandem between both analysts.
Collinsworth is probably the most polarizing analyst. People either think his analysis is insightful, or they think he is a windbag. Interesting tidbit, Collinsworth is the only wide non-quarterback among these tandems.
Mike Tirico steps in the SNF booth permanently in 2022 following a great run by Al Michaels since 2005. I’d rather listen to Michaels, but Tirico has encyclopedic sports knowledge, and he can fill his play-by-play with useful information without much help from the producer’s truck trailer outside the stadium.
This year, for those of you watching SNF, pay attention to Collinsworth’s lead up to his post-play analysis. His words cue up the producer’s truck as if they read his mind on what he wanted to replay.
Michaels, of “Do you believe in miracles?” fame, moves to Amazon Prime, who took the reins of Thursday Night football, and he’ll be teamed up with yet another good-looking quarterback in the booth, Kirk Herbstreit.
Herbstreit makes the leap from college football with ESPN/ABC to the streaming giant, Amazon Prime. Thursday night action usually pits two divisional rivals, and the quality of the contest is hit or miss. The game also visually highlights monochromatic-but-bold uniforms for both sides.
The ratings for even the worst NFL games are better than some of the best rating among other professional sports. I wonder if it’s mostly a gambling-driven interest, or if there is a sense of urgency because your favorite team only plays once per week.
Does anyone recall the red-green color-blind person’s nightmare on a Thursday in the distant past where New England (all red) played the New York Jets (all green). I could see the actual colors on screen, and actually wished I had been red-green color-blind.
There’s something for everyone among nationally televised 2022 NFL viewing options.
Brady is considered by most football fans as the greatest of all time – the G.O.A.T. – among NFL quarterbacks. On the personally run business end of his life, TB12 and other endeavors have also been successful.
This reminds me of the Boston Celtics using a 1979 NBA draft pick in 1978 to secure the draft rights to Larry Bird, The Celtics had to wait a year, but anyone with half a basketball brain knew it was going to work out well. Bird was a legitimate talent headed to a solid organization rebuilding for another decade of glory.
Fox seems to have no problem holding the lead NFL analyst seat for Brady while Burkhardt works with “to be determined” in the 2022 season.
The uncertainty is whether Brady will take care of enough unfinished business in 2022 to move to Fox for the 2023 season or hang around for a few more seasons on the Bucs’ roster.
There were all sorts of big moves made among the current and newcomer NFL broadcast networks and streamers (Amazon Prime), all for a good reason.
The contracts these networks have with the NFL expire when the 2022 season ends after the Super Bowl, played in February 2023. Each provider of NFL action has billions at stake when negotiations begin for the next contract timeline.
Fox is pretty certain waiting for Brady was its best move for retaining its stronghold on the NFL’s National Football Conference (NFC) television lineup. I believe Brady in the booth makes considering the award of Super Bowl broadcasts to Fox more than the standard shared rotation.
Brady played in nine of them, and his team won in seven of them. This is something no other human being sitting in a broadcast both can put on their resume. Brady will most certainly be the only human being in a broadcast booth with this distinction hereafter to boot. He already has a wealth football strategy and execution knowledge, but who has his level of Super Bowl game mastery.
Brady, like all the other quarterbacks you see providing analysis in college and professional broadcasts, is good-looking, and he even looks younger than his actual age. If he is not also the G.O.A.T. in terms of voracity in film study (Peyton Manning might actually hold that honor), he is darn close.
The NFL’s organizational leadership, something I’ve mentioned before, knows it’s a television show. The networks and streamers now offer a variety of broadcast teams to appeal to a big range of NFL viewers, much like the variety of series available among networks, cable channels, and streaming services.
Some networks’ coverage remains the same.
Jim Nantz and former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo remain with CBS. Fans who like this duo enjoy Nantz’s warm welcome at the opening of the contest as well as when the duo returns from a break. Fans will be treated to Romo’s prediction of the upcoming play. He sometimes makes his prognostication based on the game’s situation or based on pre-snap patterns he sees (a player in motion, where key receivers line up).
Another broadcast duo remains intact, but they’ve moved from Fox to ESPN. Joe Buck and another former Dallas Cowboy quarter-back and three-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman will now ply their trade on Monday Night Football.
This was a brilliant move by ESPN, a network who paid the price for broadcasting an NFL drama decades ago and allowing its key pundits creative license to open criticize NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his organization.
ESPN’s line-up of NFL’s Monday night action had little to offer in terms of watchable football action during the previous decade, and this was no accident. The broadcast team quality, and the overpopulated pregame show were a huge turnoff for me.
It appears ESPN’s suits realized how unwatchable their broadcast crew for Monday Night Football (MNF) was, too. The Manning-cast, thank Heaven, was the alt-broadcast rekindling my interest in MNF. It’s the most unconventional format among the major players’ broadcast ideas and duos.
Buck and Aikman actually give ESPN a watchable and tolerable duo, but I believe the Manning-cast will still be compelling for many viewers. What a great way to broadcast the action. Special guests fill the air with much more interesting dialogue, humor, and insight then two dudes telling me what just happened on an off-tackle run on third-and-two. The Brothers Manning know when to appropriately shift their focus on the game most of the time. They’re only going to get better.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football (SNF), anchored by Al Michaels on play-by-play along with John Madden’s, then Cris Collinsworth’s analysis in turn, exacerbated ESPN’s MNF problems by offering the new spot for feature-worthy games, and the best broadcasting tandem between both analysts.
Collinsworth is probably the most polarizing analyst. People either think his analysis is insightful, or they think he is a windbag. Interesting tidbit, Collinsworth is the only wide non-quarterback among these tandems.
Mike Tirico steps in the SNF booth permanently in 2022 following a great run by Al Michaels since 2005. I’d rather listen to Michaels, but Tirico has encyclopedic sports knowledge, and he can fill his play-by-play with useful information without much help from the producer’s truck trailer outside the stadium.
This year, for those of you watching SNF, pay attention to Collinsworth’s lead up to his post-play analysis. His words cue up the producer’s truck as if they read his mind on what he wanted to replay.
Michaels, of “Do you believe in miracles?” fame, moves to Amazon Prime, who took the reins of Thursday Night football, and he’ll be teamed up with yet another good-looking quarterback in the booth, Kirk Herbstreit.
Herbstreit makes the leap from college football with ESPN/ABC to the streaming giant, Amazon Prime. Thursday night action usually pits two divisional rivals, and the quality of the contest is hit or miss. The game also visually highlights monochromatic-but-bold uniforms for both sides.
The ratings for even the worst NFL games are better than some of the best rating among other professional sports. I wonder if it’s mostly a gambling-driven interest, or if there is a sense of urgency because your favorite team only plays once per week.
Does anyone recall the red-green color-blind person’s nightmare on a Thursday in the distant past where New England (all red) played the New York Jets (all green). I could see the actual colors on screen, and actually wished I had been red-green color-blind.
There’s something for everyone among nationally televised 2022 NFL viewing options.
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