The biggest question now is where to turn. In the coming weeks, “The Patriot” will take a look at each program’s strengths and weaknesses to give you the best pregame show.
“Football Night in America,” the only evening NFL pregame show, precedes “Sunday Night Football” on NBC. The show is co-hosted in the studio by former ESPN personalities Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, while Bob Costas hosts from the stadium. The rest of the in-studio panel consists of Super Bowl winning head coach Tony Dungy and former San Diego Chargers and, more recently, New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison.
The program starts out with game analysts Cris Collinsworth, Al Michaels and Costas on location at M&T Bank Stadium for the Baltimore Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers game.
Collinsworth can barely move his forehead, probably from too many Botox injections, while Michaels looks out of place without the familiar figure of John Madden by his side.
Costas, especially during his interview with Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, asks the right questions and gets some great comments. Costas is a clear commentator that always is comfortable in front of the camera.
However, although Michaels and Collinsworth get their points across effectively, I got bored and started watching the scores from the day’s games on the ticker. I learned that former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Chris Redman is still playing, now for the Atlanta Falcons, and former Ravens, now St. Louis Rams, quarterback Kyle Boller threw two picks against Seattle.
The NFL never changes.
Back in the studio, Olbermann and Patrick comment on highlights of every Sunday game. Olbermann makes extremely awkward comments and actually believes that he is funny. While Olbermann broke down highlights of the Houston Texans-Indianapolis Colts matchup, I was honestly uncomfortable when he began comparing a pass interference call to displays of affection. He also used the term “fumbles away his pants” during the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game highlights.
I’m revoking Olbermann’s speaking privileges forever.
By contrast, Patrick is much stronger and is able to keep the in-studio show on task. He also tries to insert some humor into his commentary, but thankfully doesn’t rely too heavily on it.
Dungy is extremely awkward in front of the camera and physically incapable of blinking, but he has a wealth of football knowledge because of his extensive experience with the game.
In Week 4, he said that Vince Young was the best option to start at quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. Young took over for veteran Kerry Collins in Week 8, and has led Tennessee on a five-game win streak.
Harrison is, to quote my father, “better than [CBS analyst] Shannon Sharpe,” but not by much. He’s still difficult to understand at times. While talking about Hines’ comments, Harrison confuses the word “twitters” with “teeters.” It’s almost an honest mistake, except that he uses the word twice.
Read a dictionary please.
Still, I’m impressed that he hasn’t taken cheap shots at anyone yet. He has a lot of experience doing that.
The only amount of chemistry between Patrick, Harrison, and Dungy was their coordinated striped suits. Unlike other pregame shows like CBS’ “The NFL Today,” I felt like the analysts didn’t have the type of relationship or personalities that allowed for entertaining banter.
Sports Illustrated’s Peter King joined the cast and was the perfect man to address the around-the-league rumors. He also offered additional information from the college world, about star Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and ex-Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Charlie Weis.
Most insightful comment? Weis will wind up in the NFL next season, most likely with the Kansas City Chiefs or the Carolina Panthers.
While most of the highlight videos were fantastic, the Falcons and Houston Texans press conference videos were blurry, even in high definition.
In addition, NBC focused the camera on a television screen when Dungy broke down a play from the Texans-Colts game, which resulted in possibly the worst picture quality I’ve seen since the NFL Network’s training camp videos in August. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but they did the same thing while breaking down the Vikings-Bears highlights.
The best way to improve “Football Night in America” would be to give Dungy more airtime because he has the most insight into the game, but unfortunately, the focus is most heavily on those that should never be in front of a camera, at least not without a script.
Kate Froehlich can be reached for comment at [email protected]