My Commentator Awards For 2010

I've finally decided to give this a try. I've tried my hardest to view games from every commentator team for both Sunday afternoon networks.

I wish it were possible to list some people individually (I suppose I could), because there is a difference between the skill levels of some teams. Dick Stockton and Ron Pitts I bet would be tiered higher if they had better analysts, as would Brian Billick if he were paired with a better announcer. Conversely, I think Jim Nantz would be doing worse if he were not with Phil Simms.

It seems stupid, but I applaud analysts and announcers to actually do what they're supposed to do (talk about the blocks, the coverage, who made the tackle, etc), because too few do. Some teams get too caught up in talking about the prominent players on the team or the dreaded storyline.

Play-by-play men are listed first, then analysts, with their network in parenthesis.

*****Five Stars*****

Sam Rosen, Tim Ryan (Fox) - Never heard of them? Chances are you haven't. They're fifth in the batting order according to the network, but they're money on Sunday afternoons. Rosen handles the game well, quick to identify substitutions, yardage, penalties, etc. I love that in football play-by-play, and not enough p-b-p guys do it. And Ryan, a former defensive end, obviously focuses more on what's going on in the trenches, but to my liking, he'll identify changes in the starting line-ups from what the network shows in their graphic (say, if the offense comes out three-wide and/or the defense counters with a nickel or dime). Rosen does this throughout the game, too.

Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf (CBS) - Gumbel could very well become the football play-by-play voice of a generation. CBS, when they came back to football, made Gumbel their lead play-by-play man in an effort to attract more African-American viewers to their telecasts. The network had him take a two-year hiatus to host CBS's Mickey Mouse pre-game show (more on that later), and since '06, he's been the #2 play-by-play man at the eye network.

Gumbel is usually very quick to identify yardage and penalties and will often get into a little analysis with his partner (in what little time there is allowed between plays). Example from this past week in fact: The Colts are out-rushing the Raiders. Reason why, Gumbel identifies the Raiders are keeping a safety or two more than 15-yards off the line of scrimmage and Peyton Manning keeps audibling to runs and Dierdorf is letting us know exactly what kind of defense it is play-in, play-out for a series. Sweet. Could use who actually made the tackle more, but I won't nit-pick, because nobody does it anyway. Will also let us know who of the skill position players are in on a given play, even if they are well known (perhaps this is their spotter).

I've gotten used to Dierdorf's pronouncements over the years, they don't bother me ("If this linebacker, quarterback, running back doesn't get into the Hall of Fame, it'll be the biggest travesty since...") because he can really get into some good analysis, and not just within the trenches or just with the quarterback, but everywhere on the field and is probably the best at telling the viewers just how a play developed.

Jim Nantz, Phil Simms (CBS) - Simms is hands-down the best analyst, and just based on that I'm giving this team a five-star rating. He'll point out and identify things that seem so mundane that one would think would not manner in the realm of football when in fact they do. However when I hear this I think he's either a genius or he's making it up. Another thing I absolutely enjoy is that his analysis goes beyond the X's and O's and will get into the emotion of the game and how if affects players and how they perform. Speaking of X's and O's, I would say on a healthy third of the plays of the game, Simms will correctly guess what the offense will do on a given play based up how the defense is lined up. It all goes back to his quarterbacking days. About the extent of the conversation between Nantz and Simms about the action would be Nantz asking a question and Simms answering. Nantz is good, and he deserves to be at the top of the batting order. He's smooth, and to my liking, identifies the subs well.

****Four Stars****

Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworksi, Jon Gruden (ESPN) - Second-year for Gruden, and it's going well so far. I actually knocked them off a star because a.) I want Gruden to go back into coaching and get the hell out of the broadcasting booth, and b.) I'm not fond of three-man broadcasting teams for football. Tirico is a top-notch p-b-p guy. He gets into it and will identify yardage and tacklers often, but because he is in a three-man booth with two other analysts, he rarely gets in on the between-the-play action (for some reason, I enjoy it when the play-by-play guy can carry on an intelligent conversation with their analyst. It means they actually have a "feel" for the game, even if they never played it.) Their slight downfall is when they get wrapped up in the storyline, whether its the Brett Favre lovefest or Mark Sanchez or whatever. Stuff about the quarterback seems to get Jaworski on a roll. I would say this team has Favreitis. I'm sure you know what that is, and working for ESPN, by default, you have it.

Don Criqui, Steve Beuerlein (CBS) - This team is probably the biggest disparity between the two individuals of the broadcast team that I can tell. You call tell Criqui is from the old-school because he is deadly accurate with his calls (meaning he called games before all the scrolls and on-screen graphics and such). He'll even call-out passing patterns on some plays and identify blockers, which is nearly unheard of from p-b-p. And while Beuerlein is not terribly insightful, this team is not terrible, and should probably being moved up the CBS totem pole. They are clearly better than a #7 team. Just for good measure I watch Houston-Denver, which was Tebow's second start. Not a whole lot about the ol' storyline or Tebow, other than stuff that is actually helpful toward his development. Beurlein, I think you can do more. Criqui play-in, play-out sets you up with stuff to digest for us on the replay, about the blocking and such. Criqui will say something like "Good blocking and he picks up 11." Beurlein, you should have the capacity to tell us why the blocking was good, not just about the athleticism of the quarterback and the receiver. Why am I spending so many words on a #7 team? Because I want them to do better and move up in the batting order. I think Beurlein can become a better analyst. There are flashes of how he can be an elite analyst, just do it play-in, play-out, OK? Oh, and please, CBS, you've got a good gig going, just be sure to move this team up in 2011, OK? Thanks.

Al Micheals, Cris Collinsworth (NBC) - Micheals is the gold-standard for football play-by-play. Collinsworth is an excellent analyst, but can, annoyingly, be a smart-ass, and will shower the telecast with I-told-you-sos when a rip is called for. Case and point, the finale of the San Francisco-Philadelphia game. Read an earlier post of mine for the details.

Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston (Fox) - First things first. Dump Siragusa. Most consider him a second analyst when he is basically a sideline guy who wants to talk about the dumbest, randomest stuff, and doesn't appear to put much effort into his spiels. If he's gone, then this team would almost be perfect, at least tie for best on Fox. Albert, unlike some play-by-play people above him on the Fox totem pole, actually has a "feel" for the game (that's the only way I can describe it). Albert does the stuff a play-by-play guy is supposed to do and does it well; identifying tacklers and the yardage on a given play. He probably got tips from his dad. It also seems this team has done their share of NFC West games, but never once have I heard them exhaustively yacking about how crappy the NFC West is and this and that. In a word, they show up, do their game, talk about the action on the field, and that's about it. They don't get caught up in the storyline or Favreitis. Johnston is one of the more articulate analysts out there (he doesn't sound like some half-wit ex-jock) and he does a solid job at analysing all aspects of the game.

Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts (CBS) - Fouts was an excellent college analyst, and unfortunately was just a sidenote for ABC's Monday Night Football with Dennis Miller as "the third guy," so we never really got to see his true colors as an NFL analyst. He quietly signed on as an analyst on CBS and was assigned the #3 spot with the now-retired Dick Enberg. Obviously being an-ex quarterback, that is where his expertese lies. Eagle is kind of lazy on his yardage, but again, that really doesn't bother me, but he is excellent at identifying tacklers and those who assisted on the stop. Lovely.

***Three Stars***

ESPN No. 2 Team Of Brad Nessler and Trent Dilfer (ESPN) - I was semi-surprised to not see the trio of Mike Greenburg, Golic, and Ditka this year, as it seems ESPN is promoting Mike & Mike so much lately. ESPN put in Nessler and Dilfer for the second game of their opening Monday doubleheader (Kansas City-San Diego). Nessler, who mostly does college football play-by-play, has a silk smooth delivery, but sort of lacks on accuracy; not indicating yardage alot of the time and only IDing tacklers some of the time. Dilfer is obviously good at describing the pass-catch side of the action, but other than that, not so good. He's not terrible, but I wanted more. Perhaps if they did more games then it might be better.

Dick Stockton, Charles Davis (Fox) - Stockton has always been a top-notch play-by-play guy. He is smooth despite his strong New York accent and does everything a solid play-by-play guy should do well. He would fare better in my ratings if he were paired with a better analyst (he has in the past).

Ron Pitts, John Lynch (Fox) - Pitts has done almost everything in the realm of football on TV. He's been a sideline reporter, an analyst, and now, a play-by-play man, and he's done a fantastic job at all three. The problem lies in his partner who I think still has not grown accustom to an NFL broadcasting booth. He's also not very smooth, either, and I always think he's trying to rap.

Kevin Harlan, Soloman Wilcots (CBS) - This team would be tiered lower if not for Wilcots, who is a fantastic, smooth, and low-key analyst, and has been for years. Like breakdown of the coverage? You'll get it here. Wilcots is an ex-defensive back. Yeah, Harlan IDs the subs, and of the certain offensive sets, but we'll get such obviousness like "The defense is in a 4-3" or "Four in the secondary." Both of those happen on the majority of defensive snaps, just sayin'.

**Two Stars**

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman (Fox) - This is really the highest I could go with this team. Aikman is solid analyst, maybe a little shakey on line play, but it really doesn't bother me. Aikman seems to also be able to describe the development of a play really well, which is good. The bad: Favreitis. New England-Minnesota, Favre love abounds, even after he was removed from the game and Tavarus Jackson was doing well for the Vikes and trying to bring them back, moreso from Aikman than Brennaman. Now for Joebaby, he just doesn't have it. He doesn't have it in his heart or in his head to do football play-by-play. Only points out the obvious stuff, does not concern himself with accuracy; who made the stop, yardage, penalties, etc. I know he speaks during a play, but they're just words. I don't know if he's lazy, he doesn't care, or if he really has no idea what's going on out there, but better should come from a #1 team.

Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick (Fox) - This team likes to plug the stars and talk about the old storyline a bit too much. We're all aware of the implications of the NFC West, we get it. They seem to have forgotton the fact that there is a game going on down on the field and instead talk about the quarterback or the star linebacker. I'm not saying that all time should be spent in the trenches, but at least give a majority of your attention to the action on the field. I have a feeling, though, that this team is going to move up the Fox totem pole for all the wrong reasons (to me). This season Brennman spelled Buck during the baseball playoffs when in the past it had been either Stockton or Albert (and honestly, it was a nice restbit from Buck). Brennaman is a Buck clone, very monotonus in his delivery and not terribly accurate on his calls, either.

Sometimes Billick will get on a roll and actually get to talking about what's actually going on in front of them. That I enjoy. Obviously he will talk about the coaching side of it and team chemistry, which is cool because that, typically, is a side of football that not covered enough in telecasts. He'll also do a pretty good job at explaining why a certain play was called on a certain down and distance. What I'm getting at is Billick is a solid analyst who, if paired with a better partner, may be higher rated.

Bill Macatee, Rich Gannon (CBS) - Just average all around. I saw them in several Cleveland games this season and the show was just very boring. A little love for Peyton Hillis sprinkled in from Gannon, but other than that very boring. But how much should we expect from a #6 team?

*One Star*

Gus Johnson, Steve Tasker (CBS) - The Denver-Oakland game where Tim Tebow started was by far the worst game from a broadcasting standpoint. It was just one big Tim Tebow plug, which a.) I've had my fill of, and b.) Tebow and the Broncos did not do well. So whatever the director or producer had lined up for Johnson and Tasker to talk about just blew up in his face, and they had nothing else to fall back on, which tells me that Johnson and Tasker just decided to keep talking about it, ignoring the play on the field. Tasker has always been a plugger for the stars, whether they're doing well or not. And Johnson, don't get me started. Even though he's done play-by-play for years I still don't think he has the feel of the game. Not accurate in his calls whatsoever, never has been. He's relied on being into the emotion of the game and being an annoying yeller, whether or not it's a big play. We CAN hear you, you know that, right?

Zero Stars

Chris Rose, Torry Holt (Week 13, Fox) - Fox had a musical chairs of commentators in their seventh and eighth spots. It was either Chris Myers and Kurt Warner or Chris Rose and somebody. Well for the Week 13 Cleveland-Carolina game, Rose was paired with newcomer to the booth Torry Holt and it was a disaster. Holt offered nothing in the way of analysis and had trouble on really simple things like finishing sentences and using the proper verb tense when he speaks. I'm not kidding. It was cover-your-ears awful.

This is a work in progress. I have one game with Chris Rose and Kurt Warner and from the NFL Netowork that was actually meaningful so I can sit though it (thank god for NFL Game Rewind).

Now for pre-game shows. They're all useless noise. I don't watch them, or I try my best not to. But I guess if I had a choice, I'd watch Fox NFL Sunday. Football Night in America is a complete and utter joke. Dan Patrick is making inhuman noises during highlights and Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison are just sort of there. Bring back Olbermann. Even though both Olbermann and Patrick have past experience as spors broadcasters, I don't know, I guess Olbermann made the show tolerable, even after they wanted to make it a spin-off of his regular MSNBC show, and gave it a bloated cast.

And since ESPN is just one big case of Farveitis, I never bothered to watch Sunday NFL Countdown or Monday Night Countdown. Same goes with NFL Live. Whether its Mark Schlereth or Trent Dilfer or Herman Edwards dick-riding Favre or Marcellus Wiley blabbering about god knows what - just stop!

Now let's move onto one final thing: why Fox sucks. Or, why their coverage this year has been so down. For whatever reason, Fox totally abandoned the Saints, or the whole NFC South for that matter in its national coverage, instead opting for whoever was playing in the NFC East, including three-straight Giants games or the Vikings. Here are their games below:

Week 1: Green Bay-Philly
Week 2: Chicago-Dallas
Week 3: Dallas-Houston
Week 4: Washington-Philly
Week 5: Green Bay-Washington
Week 6: Dallas-Minnesota
Week 7: Washington-Chicago
Week 8: Minnesota-New England
Week 9: N.Y. Giants-Seattle
Week 10: Dallas-N.Y. Giants
Week 11: Green Bay-Minnesota
Week 12: New Orleans-Dallas (Thanksgiving); Philly-Chicago (Sunday, #2 team)
Week 13: Dallas-Indianapolis
Week 14: N.Y. Giants-Minnesota
Week 15: Philly-N.Y. Giants
Week 16: N.Y. Giants-Green Bay
Week 17: Green Bay-Chicago

The games where Jim Nantz and Phil Simms of CBS were sent to were a little more varied:

Week 1: Cincinnati-New England
Week 2: New England-N.Y. Jets
Week 3: Indianapolis-Denver
Week 4: Baltimore-Pittsburgh
Week 5: Tennessee-Dallas
Week 6: Baltimore-New England
Week 7: New England-San Diego
Week 8: Jacksonville-Dallas
Week 9: Indianapolis-Philly
Week 10: N.Y. Jets-Cleveland
Week 11: Indianapolis-New England
Week 12: New England-Detroit (Thanksgiving); Jacksonville-N.Y. Giants (Sunday, #2 team)
Week 13: Oakland-San Diego
Week 14: New England-Chicago
Week 15: N.Y. Jets-Pittsburgh
Week 16: N.Y. Jets-Chicago
Week 17: Indianapolis-Tenneessee