NFL Wild Card Weekend -- With an elegant Jag on

Rodney Harrison, for one.

 

He's not an ideal choice, but Dungy is absolutely terrible at everything.

 

They couldn't have had Colinsworth pull double duty?

 

I get that. Just seems like an A-list broadcast professional who is an expert on the NFL, and covers nothing but the NFL all year long, ought to be able to pull it off. He should have seen most of these teams enough this season (they've had the Chargers and Ravens both on SNF within the past month) that it's not like he's completely unfamiliar with them.

 

I will clarify my view on Al being "wronged."

Al was still very good last season. He was engaged and did a solid job. There was no "need" to replace him from a product standpoint.

They chose to replace him with with a younger guy who does much more for the network, costs a little less and had been waiting for years to get the gig. Like it or not, Tirico was absolutely more important to NBC than Al Michaels at that stage.

So, was it "wrong" to push Michaels aside? Here's my most honest answer: I don't care. He was incredibly well-paid when his contract was over, they decided to do something else. Whether he "deserved" it is kind of immaterial. If there was any drop-off from Michaels to Tirico it was marginal at best -- and worth noting, SNF's ratings were up this year, and the best they had since 2019.

Al went to Amazon where he is earning an estimated $15 million a year and has sounded disinterested all year. He's also slowly nudging into the territory where he doesn't always know what's happening on the field, which is worrisome. The Jags line up for a two-pointer and Al says "they are not going for two here." The final play of the game is underway and he doesn't seem to realize it until it's over.

I'm not an Al Michaels hater. For decades he was as good or better than anyone in the business. He's not that guy anymore. I doubt Tirico will ever be as good as Michaels was... but he's better than Michaels is now.

 

And from what I've seen, that's San Diego's response as well.

 

Two thoughts on kickers:
1) The Chargers' kicker will get his share of grief for missing the field goal that would have put them up 33-20, but the way the game played out I'm not sure it made that big of a difference. The Jags played for the field goal at the end with the ball around the 20. They had a minute and a half and two timeouts, so it seems they could have gone for the touchdown if they needed to and still won 34-33.

2) The officials are getting pretty damn aggressive on preventing "practice kicks" on field goals these days. Last week in the Titans-Jags game (I think it was that one) there was a timeout right before the snap. The snapper still snapped it and the official ran in from behind the play and knocked the ball down when it was on the way to the holder. It was weird, but everybody had a good laugh about it because it was so over the top.
Then tonight, when the Chargers called timeout before the final field goal attempt, the official damn near tackled the Jaguars' holder to keep them from kicking it.
Once is kind of odd, but seeing it twice is even more odd. Is it a new point of emphasis or something?

 

If you are going to put Dungy in there - you really should have added Rodney Harrison, who made him better when they were on the desk at SNF. Why they matched Dungy with Garrett is beyond me.

 

Since I'm not above piling on, the reviews are in:

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/al-michaels-tony-dungy-jaguars-comeback-call-nbc-chargers.html

 

I can see that. But then I think of a recent call by Mike Tirico that was ridiculously forced. Like he thought he was Gus Johnson.

Tirico's not. And it was awful. So bad, IMO, that I'll take Al's approach in Jacksonville without hesitation.