General

Press Coverage: How Many People Are Talking Football On Sunday

Sep 21, 2009, 7:00 PM UTC

Every year there’s more talk about how bloated the NFL pregame shows keep getting. I thought it was a good idea, in Week 2, to watch every pregame show and see exactly which show is the most bloated. There are five shows to catch, including those on ESPN, NFL Network, CBS, Fox and NBC. For full disclosure, I couldn’t tape and watch four shows at once, so the Fox breakdown is on good authority (thanks, dad). The other four, I watched, and yes, my mind is numb with football information and hilarious banter.â†µâ†µIf you ever wanted to use the joke, ‘how many analysts does it take to screw in a football,’ here’s your answer:â†µ

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â†µNFL Networkâ†µ

â†µâ†µWe’ll start with the show that starts the earliest. NFL Network starts their coverage at 9:00 in the morning, which for the West Coasters in studio, is before most of their neighbors wake up on a Sunday. But to be fair, for the purposes of this exchange, we started the ‘how many people’ count at 11 a.m. ET.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe hour began with an enormous desk of six seats, including two hosts and four analysts. Spero Dedes drives traffic most of the time, but shares the responsibilities with Stacey Dales throughout the show. â†µThe analysts, from left to right on the set were Steve Mariucci, Marshall Faulk, Warren Sapp and Michael Irvin.â†µ

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â†µWhile much of the show is banter and cross-talk, they do employ the analysts in other roles, including several interviews with players and owners. Irvin and Dedes interviewing Jerry Jones on the Cowboys’ new stadium was journalism at its finest, really.â†µ

â†µâ†µNFL Network also brought in Jason La Canfora for news and scoops, and Steve Wyche from Cowboys Stadium for a report and behind-the-scenes look at the new digs.â†µ

â†µâ†µNFLN smartly interviewed play-by-play men and beat reporters at several games, rather than sending their own reporters to stadiums across the country. That said, at times the video link looked as poor in quality as some Skype conversations I’ve had.â†µ

â†µâ†µWhile the set was overflowing with six at the desk and on the fake field -- including a Irvin in his noticeably-short tie and Dales in a noticeably-thin-strapped tank top -- NFLN didn’t bring too many other network people into the show. In those two hours, there was no Deion Sanders, no Rich Eisen and a mention, but no live shot of Red Zone Channel’s Scott Hanson. The network did make room for a fantasy update, given to us by Joe Theismann and Sterling Sharpe, so that’s a plus, right?â†µ

â†µâ†µTotal NFL Network Tally (11 a.m.-1 p.m.): 10 network people, with six non-NFL on-site reportsâ†µ

â†µâ†µESPNâ†µ

â†µâ†µChris Berman welcomed the viewer to “En-Eff-El Countdown” in his weekly bombastic fashion, before introducing the cast of Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson, Cris Carter and Tom Jackson.â†µ

â†µâ†µBefore getting to the NFL talk, the panel ripped Keyshawn for his USC Trojans losing to Washington on Saturday. Jackson even brought out a balloon to ‘let the air out’ of the Trojans season, an act that was hilariously timed with a balloon that was even more hilariously stamped with an ESPN logo. Well played, TJ.â†µ

â†µâ†µFor the first of the cavalcade of ESPN reporters, Berman brought in Rachel Nichols from the Pats-Jets game, before more studio banter. The next segment was a look at fantasy with Matthew Berry and Merril Hoge. â†µIf we could Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for ESPN segments, I’d Sit ‘Em.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe next member of the ESPN team to join the show was, as Berman put it, “something new.” ESPN introduced Good Morning America’s weather person, Marysol Castro, to give a look at what the teams were about to be facing from Mother Nature on Sunday. Hmmm, an attractive weather person on a pregame show? Where have I seen that before? To ESPN’s credit, this was actual weather from an actual weather person.â†µ

â†µâ†µWe finally got to Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen, giving us all the latest news and information that we get on Twitter from them five minutes before they say it on the air. Actually, the duo has done a very good job in the first two weeks in this combined role.â†µ

â†µâ†µSal Paolantonio joined the show from Philly before the “Mayne Event” teaser, which was eventually followed by a piece from Jeremy Schaap on Mark Sanchez taking over New York City. Before the actual Mayne Event, we’re given reports from Michael Smith on location at one of the games, and ‘ESPN.com Injury Analyst’ Stephania Bell to give us the ‘who is out, why and when they’ll come back to my fantasy team’ rundown. â†µ

â†µâ†µLots more cross talk and banter before we got a promo from the Monday Night crew of Jaws, Tirico and Gruden. An EA Sports virtual field breakdown – which is far cooler than an actual field breakdown – led to more yakity yak until a late story on the Saints and Drew Brees’ motivational skills was filed by Ed Werder.â†µ

â†µâ†µTotal ESPN (11 a.m.-1 p.m.): 20 network peopleâ†µ

â†µâ†µCBSâ†µ

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â†µâ†µJames Brown introduced us to the panel of Dan Marino, Bill Cowher and Boomer Esiason, with Shannon Sharpe in Denver awaiting his induction into the Broncos Ring of Honor.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe line of the show came from Cowher, who helped me illustrate this point by saying, “I want to thank Shannon personally, too. â†µBecause Shannon, we’ve got so much space up here.”â†µ

â†µâ†µCBS has added a lot of fluff to their telecast, including Face Off and Wildcat segments that were ripped right from PTI. But the telecast didn’t seem to have that many faces other than the regular cast. Three stadium reports were filed from Dan Dierdorf, Solomon Wilcots and Phil Simms, with a follow up report by Simms and Jim Nantz later in the show.â†µ

â†µâ†µCBS still insists on giving us a sit-down with Charlie Casserly, a guy they call ‘NFL Today General Manager’, who gave little news on Peyton Manning’s contract, a non-update on Mike Tomlin’s contract and speculation on Jake Delhomme.â†µ

â†µâ†µThere isn’t much fat to trim from the hour program, which featured a solid interview by Esiason of the Jets’ Sanchez. The Casserly segment doesn’t add much, and could be replaced by a fantasy segment right before kickoff, but other than that, the show is tightly run by Brown, hokey, ripped-off segments or not.â†µ

â†µâ†µTotal CBS (12 p.m.-1 p.m.): 10 network peopleâ†µ

â†µâ†µFoxâ†µ

â†µâ†µFox always tries to inject the most humor into their hour-long pregame show. This week, there were copious plugs for Michael Strahan’s new show Brothers, including the opening which featured the former Giant and two of his cast members ‘watching’ football.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnother five-person set consists of Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Strahan and Jimmy Johnson. Fox quickly introduced Jay Glazer to the program and went back to Glazer in the same way the other networks to go their Schefters and Morts and La Canforas.â†µ

â†µâ†µPam Oliver filed a report from Philadelphia about the late defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, before the panel talked about Jeff Garcia and his potential impact on the Eagles. The foot-in-mouth moment of the day came in the next segment when Jimmy Johnson pronounced the Cardinals dead, saying ‘stick a fork in them.’ Of course, the Cards won.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe only other member of the Fox team added to the show was the Frank Caliendo, who made his requisite appearance with his ‘hey, look, it’s a fat Jay Leno’ impersonation. There was no visit by anyone other than Oliver from the game sites, but there was time for more plugging of Brothers. Fox left the weather to ESPN this week.â†µ

â†µâ†µTotal Fox (12 p.m.-1 p.m.): 8 network people (and two Brothers)â†µ

â†µâ†µNBCâ†µ

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â†µâ†µThe thing with NBC is that their pregame show is after all the other games are over, so Football Night in America is more highlight show than pregame show. That said, the NBC crew is a large lot.â†µ

â†µâ†µBob Costas was all over the telecast, doing three interviews, including sit downs with Jerry Jones and each starting quarterback. He asked Tony Romo questions like, “You looking for a close shave Sunday night? Maybe not bring the blade out until about three or four in the afternoon,” in reference to the enormous scoreboard zoomed in on his face and “Hey if you’re a young, single guy, and the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys – if you’re not going to enjoy that, what will you ever enjoy?”â†µ

â†µâ†µCostas did shop short, however, of asking Romo whether the quarterback thought his eyes were dreamy or starry.â†µ

â†µâ†µAlso on the NBC show were Al Michaels, giving his best financial report of the stadium’s cost and Jones’ investment, Cris Collinsworth, who gets better by the week, and an entire crew back in New York, consisting of Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison and Peter King.â†µ

â†µâ†µCostas’ new role really works, and being at the game -- including his halftime interview with John Madden -- has helped the telecast. I still can’t figure out why Olbermann is in studio, other than to play Big Show Buddy to Patrick. It’s cute, but unnecessary. And of all the former athletes in the world, Harrison is okay, but far from the best on TV. He’s new, so let’s hope he gets better, or he’ll get the Bettis treatment.â†µ

â†µâ†µAs for the show, NBC went back and forth between Dallas and New York pretty seamlessly -- with a lot of highlights and not much insight from the New York set. Dungy is good in his role, but there’s still just too much going on to give him the time to be really good, or even great. You don’t need two guys doing highlights with two guys doing analysis, with another guy filing, “I talked to Mark Sanchez after the game” reports, then still having more than half the show on location. It’s just too much. I honestly can’t even remember if Andrea Kremer made her way into the pregame show. I wouldn’t doubt it, as Matt Lauer almost found a way into the show with his behind-the-scenes look at the stadium as a news-style lead in to football.â†µ

â†µâ†µTotal NBC (7 p.m.-8:15 p.m.): 8 network people â†µ

â†µâ†µSo there you have it. NBC had the fewest people, yet seemed the most bloated. ESPN used 20 people on their telecast and that’s not even close to half the staffers they have just for the NFL. And if you ever plan to do this, don’t.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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