Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Jason Kelce debut; Colt McCoy has rough broadcast | The Play-By-Play

[Music] welcome to the playby playay a sports media talk show from awful announcing where like Kevin Burkhart we did our hair real nice for Tom Brady's debut on Fox we have a mega NFL week one Media review to get to I'm Brendan clean a staff Rider at awful announcing that is Ben Axelrod a senior editor at awful announcing Ben football's here how are you feeling it's that time of year I'm feeling great and and for those who are just listening and not watching on on YouTube we actually did do our hair like this is usually we were both hats last week this time the hats are gone we got our Kevin Burkhart here going for sure yeah that's how you know it's football season that's how you know we mean business I feel like hats actually would probably be more like football if we were really in that like tailgate mode but yeah I got I got my first cardinals home game my family has season tickets on September 22nd week three I think so I'll be I'll be really in the in the Zone by then but this was a nice little taste we got a great weekend of games we have approximately 400 new people to talk about in this media world including two New England Patriots Legends who we will Deep dive on Tom Brady Bill bellich different networks somewhat of the same perspective we'll get into that and some highlights and low lights from the rest of the weekend with some new faces at CBS and fox and peacock and ESPN and and everywhere else okay you wrote about this for the website Ben Tom Brady the story we've been talking about for two years making his debut alongside the previously mentioned Kevin burkart and Andrews in the number one booth for Fox America's game of the week it's Dallas Cowboys of course and they were uh visiting your Cleveland Brown so a little bit of uh some some home cooking going on here from you as well but what did you think of Brady's first ever game how harsh are you willing to be for the rookie broadcaster SL NFL goat it was fine it was okay um if this was the third or fourth game on a college football slate like you would not have noticed anything um that went terribly wrong in the broadcast I I there were no major blunders uh there was a moment where he stumbled over Jeremiah U cor moa's name the Browns linebacker and he he said excuse me which uh based on social media led a lot of people to think that he had burped on air uh but as somebody who has become accustomed to spelling auu K MOA on a regular basis I can assure you he just stumbled over his name um but that's not what fox is paying for right Fox is not paying 375 million for just okay and just fine uh these are lofty expectations in in my review for awful announcing uh the analogy I used was uh actually Tom Brady's first start with the New England Patriots back uh in 2001 uh in which he was a game manager he he went like you know 12 for 18 for 164 yards no touchdowns no interceptions and the Patriots won like 41 to 14 and to me this was a very game manager like performance I I thought um you know that you could definitely pick apart some stuff like I I thought the his Cadence was very slow and very enunciated early on that that was my attempt at repeating it and I can't bring myself to speak that slowly even um you know I I thought he sounded very rehearsed which I think you would expect from some in that position um but all things considered like Kevin Burkhart was the the real quarterback here and I thought he put Tom Brady largely in good positions um you know asking him questions but just I I think it's just gonna be so hard to beat the quarterback out of Tom Brady like I think Tom Brady is a quarterback quarterbacks are accustomed to not saying anything controversial and not saying anything that's going to make a unnecessary headline or unnecessary distraction and that's fine when you are the quarterback of the New England Patriots or Tampa Bay Buccaneers uh it's not as fine when you are the number one NFL analyst for Fox so obviously it's game one obviously he still has at least uh 17 more of these to go plus the playoffs so I I think you know based on his work ethic he should only get better um but I thought it was I I thought it was um solid but not spectacular in any passion what what did you think there was this question all summer right of like how harsh are we allowed to be and I kind of just posed it to you there because $ 375 million 10 years demoting Greg Olsen all the things that went into this move on the part of fox obviously the departure of Aman and buck even that we've kind of already forgot about being part of this whole deal and I actually think that even though we all ramped ourselves up to think of this as this massive moment in sports history frankly even let alone Sports media history I think people are kind of dealing with this with kid gloves a little bit I in terms of the national voices that I have heard talk about it I think that there's this like there's this hope or optimism that it's like oh come on like it's his first one he got better as a quarterback he'll get better in the booth he's kind of uh has no experience even compared to a lot of other people who have made this jump he hasn't even done a podcast he did the radio show last year with Jim Gray who cares you know I just think normally when a broadcaster is great right away especially an analyst we do know it immediately we do you know like I was thinking of people like Dan orlovski and Greg Olen who obviously was his predecessor in the top Fox booth and even Robert Griffin who like we do kind of hav aib chib Once Upon a Time you know who unceremoniously had to exit because of some uh you know stuff off the field we'll call it like we we hear about these people when they first come in and we know right away wow that's different that's new that's very fun and so the fact that Brady couldn't even get to a threshold for us to all have that feeling deep down in our stomachs about you know what the future might hold I that it does kind of worry me and I was pretty bummed out because I had pretty high hopes I thought the interviews he's been giving and just letting loose a little bit more on the herd and wherever else the Fanatics um conversation with Stephen A Smith that we talked about a little while ago maybe in our first episode I uh I think this does spell a little bit of trouble here that maybe the the top the ceiling of what Brady could be we might have to ratchet that down a little bit it might not be the vaed ceilings it might be a normal you know every per everyday person's kind of home you know what 10 feet or something I I think that's where we are I think this does spell a little bit of trouble yeah to to your point about Greg Olsen like I knew he had it when he was calling XFL games like you could just tell he viewed the game in in a manner that was different than the other analysts who are up there um I I will defend him on this and I I'll push back one I think it's like the hardest job in sports media of these football roles we're going to talk about from being a a a analyst like Bill Bel or or being a studio analyst like Jason Kelce like I think being in the booth and calling a live game where you can only prepare so much for what's going to happen I think that's a tough job and I think that having said all that like this is the position he's in he's there there's no kid gloves he's the number one analyst for Fox and he's gonna have to adjust quickly the other thing is Tom Brady's not in the booth because of of his personality Tom Brady's in the booth because of his resume because of his star power and I think there's almost some push and pull with that where it's a little distracting to have Tom Brady and the booth like you're hanging on to every word you're hearing this voice that you've been listening to in a different context for more than 20 years now um I don't know just as somebody maybe it's because I was tuned into the game to not only watch it but but to pay attention to what he was saying but I found there something to be distracting about Tom Brady being in the booth and the other thing I would say is this could goes to head coaching too like there's something about the idea that the best analysts and the best head coaches aren't typically former star players now obviously there are exceptions but by and large like the best head coaches in basketball are are backup point guards or or role players and the best head coaches in football are backup quarterbacks or or guys who who were you know gritty special teamers or or whatever like and that's because you take Barry Bonds and you make him a hitting coach Barry Bonds can't necessarily articulate what makes a great hitter Barry Bonds just knows how right just just go be Barry Bonds just it's Shaq's analysis go be Shaq like and Tom Brady like I just did I Tony Romo doesn't have the same resume as Tom Brady but I think he's kind of the exception at least early on and his he's a great example of exactly what I was talking about too we knew it immediately right EXA exactly and so I think that like Tom Brady I just didn't get that sense that he's going to be able to to articulate the game through his prism because his prism is so clouded by being the greatest of greatest of all time um and I think it's G to be really interesting to see how that evolves if if it does evolve moving forward so my other thought on this is and it's again goes into our expectations what did we really think was going to happen here and your points there as far as like the history of who actually has been the best and maybe where we should have put the the The Benchmark for him is is valid too but I think Fox just kind of let him down to be honest with you I think that giving him the payday that they did putting together you know there was this commercial on Saturday during college football may have aired even before that we caught it on awful announcing on Saturday and wrote it up in a post and it's you know the the kind of angel and devil on his shoulder kind of thing but it's like Patriots Brady and Bucks Brady and whatever kind of talking to him and he's answering oh here's why I'm doing this I'm going to be the best just like I was as a QB and all that and you know the the cow herd appearances and just this red carpet of course you have to do it but they also like again to go back to some of these other debuts we got to just like you're saying oh hold on I'm watching the XFL is that the Panthers tight end what is he why oh wow he's pretty good at that you know what I mean or is that that guy who ran out of the back of the end zone why is he like awesome on my TV right now you know what I mean and instead it was just and then also to to have the demotion of Olsson go into it it sets hey this guy is like everybody every Sports media nerd's favorite analyst go be better than him otherwise you're a failure it's just a lot of I I think ingredients that uh add up to probably two lofty of expect but you mentioned him um being a quarterback when I think about Brady if if he can get better when as he does get better which I think will happen it's just a matter of how much is I personally and this this is just we're getting into pure taste here but I love something that I think Olsen does very very well something that I think like Jeff Van Gundy did does very well on the NBA or did very well on the NBA the best broadcasters do and it can be a little bit of a Crut if you're zeroed in on it is take me through what it feels like to be not the deepest of reading the safety but oh they only have eight seconds here to get this off watch how that player communicates the call like the the nuts and bolts of the flow of a football game I think nobody on Earth is more equipped to talk about that stuff than Brady and I felt like it was almost absent he was going to big picture I love when it's like Olson saying oh that you know can did you just see the tight end look at the QB he doesn't know what the block is going to be and then the you know pass rusher bum rushes the quarterback blows through that tight end and gets a sack you know those the little things are what we don't notice we notice when yeah the Browns are going backward too much you know we notice that we don't need anybody to tell us that what we don't know is that other stuff and that's where I think he could honestly improve by by thinking less and just saying what he's seeing saying what he's feeling in those moments and I'm sure sure there will be some awesome touches that can come from just what would you be what would be in your head if you were on the field right now and the most microscopic level and I'm sure we'll learn a lot if he can just tap into that a little bit more yeah and to that point it was a very weird game and and maybe not even weird it was just a blowout like it was not a competitive game there wasn't a competitive moment in that game from the second quarter on and when you think of Tom Brady like you think of big drives you think of big moments you you don't think of week one blowouts where the the fans are are boing the home team off the field and that's exactly what we got in Cleveland on Sunday so I did think we saw Tom get more comfortable as the game went on um but that also might have just been like a matter of hey I don't really have to focus on this game I can kind of just shoot the [ __ ] with Kevin Burkhart right now um but I do think to to that point though like you mentioned being a quarterback like deshun Watson was really bad like that and that was one of the biggest storylines of week one of the NFL season is how bad deshun Watson looked and we saw more of Tom Brady making excuses and and justifying his play then we saw of him maybe not even being critical although he wasn't very critical but but even explaining like man this footwork looks really off or this is what deshun Watson isn't seeing out there or or this is what he needs to improve on it it just seemed like it was a very uh and to that end even that Prescott didn't particular L play well in that game even though he didn't really need to for the Cowboys to to win it so I don't know we I I I was expecting more of a quarterback Centric Focus for Tom Brady in that game but to your your larger point about him um being put in a place where he's replacing Greg Olsen I just think Tom Brady's such a weird fit in the booth like I I just don't this feels like it's the the murdo's shiny new toy and this is the highest profile position they could put him in calling the Super Bowl and like I think there are just better uses of Tom Brady even if you still want to pay him $375 million you you could put him on Fox NFL Sunday's pregame show you you could do a weekly feature where he sits down with a quarterback each week like I just don't I don't know is are that many people gonna be tuning in uh to watch the Super Bowl because Tom Brady's on the call and not Greg olon like I I just think it's a weird fit with very little uh upside and really a lot of downside in terms of Tom Brady's reputation and Fox's reputation in terms of broadcasting NFL games yeah it doesn't make a ton of sense right like we we are going to talk about bichi next and the thing about him is it kind of does fit ESPN's overall strategy like bringing in you know even if it's just for one season which this might be a legend on the court or as a coach to cover any sport just to fill in on a studio show that that's an ESPN strategy we've seen but there was a a feature about the process of getting Brady to Fox at the ringer by by Brian Curtis this week or last week now where Curtis talked about how this isn't actually how fox normally has operated right people like Joel clatt people like Kevin Burkhart Joe Davis they were not names and fox and their own obviously Talent made them names with the platform that they were given so this it's it is just a little confusing from every angle I do think it will get better I do think that there will are going to be people for the beginning of the Season who tune in just to maybe they're gonna pick this game over the other one on CBS or something more often than not I mean it's probably pretty uh minor it's not going to affect the ratings a ton we didn't see it do that much this weekend but that will fade if that Improvement doesn't come and if he continues to feel like he did back in what 20201 when he was a game manager getting 175 yards in the air and you know letting the defense take it home that that's not going to work out that like you said is much more of a fourth ESPN college football broadcast on a Saturday type of broadcas or not record setting salary Hall of Famer most famous player football player probably of our lifetimes it's just that's not going to it's not going to work to prove them right he has to get better I think so so real quick before we move on to bellich because I do want to talk about him um let's I I can't remember if it was our Test episode or our first episode but I said I think Tom Brady is one and done like that's my take that's my Baseline expectation I think we should keep a running tally here throughout the season I still think he's one and done uh what say you I kind of think the same for him and belich so yeah I I I especially if he doesn't get the love and adoration that maybe he was expecting or hoping for here Brady I think he might just realize what we all are already thinking which is what that weird slash kind of cool Fox commercial showed of like why are you doing this dude you know I I I wonder if he has an answer to that and if he doesn't get his answer then he might just decide hey actually I'm not going to yeah no I'm I'm with you all right let let's spin this forward uh I wrote the review on Tom Brady you wrote the review on Bill bellich my review was a little easier because I only had to cover uh one football game you had to cover 37 podcasts uh but you mainly focused on what he's doing with ESPN and Omaha Productions uh so when it comes to both of them his his appearance on the Pat McAfee show on Monday and his role on the Manning cast on Monday Night Football uh what what were your big takeaways here yeah look I think you would assume right that the Pat McAfee show is a about the best environment for anybody to be their best I I know that might that might run counter to how people view that show but as far as guests go McAfee is an expert at making people feel comfortable he is a nerd on the side of football so if you know the NFL college football whatever and you're comfortable which he's going to make you you're going to be great in that environment and and belich was but I mean right just ask Nick sain who's already glowing about how easy mcafe is making his new role on College game day for any evidence that you might need there but I actually think belich was even better on the Manning cast I feel like the the the being able to talk over a game being able to have the Mannings there rather than you know mfy who obviously played in the league but is a little bit more of a fan he kind of comes at it from that perspective I think that that really worked for bich however they talked over each other about as many times as belich has media roles this season right so it was it was it was genuinely just like physically difficult to listen to you couldn't hear what they were trying to say because of whether I don't know if it's you know belich needs to upgrade the the the Wi-Fi service plan he has at his house or something but it was even worse than it normally is with any of the other guests and they need to figure that out um but it if they can and assuming that they just kind of get more comfortable maybe it's more question and answer rather than just talk when you have a thought pop in your head or whatever there's workarounds I think that it's going to be really really good and and they gave him the space I mean he has basically the whole first half after kind of a first little intro from pton and Eli to to talk and set the stage for what each team's trying to do and everything else and he had the right mix of Deep dive stuff but also just kind of what I was talking about with Brady at one point he just started saying Wilson Wilson Wilson about you know Garrett Wilson on the Jets because the Niners were just leaving him open consistently single covering him and it's like yeah sometimes it's that simple and a coach who's just able to cut through it and be like yeah you at home you're wondering why the hell they can't guard Garrett Wilson me too you know and I I thought it was a really good watch yeah I to to McAfee I think that one reason why all of us have such high expectations for Bill bellich as a media figure is because he did so well during the draft spectacular with Pat mck and I think maybe it's been glossed over how much of a role Pat actually played in that because Pat was setting him up and and putting him in good spots um and so like I think the I think the weekly interview is g to be what it is like I I think it's G to be good um I don't know how many headlines it's going to generate but but I think like if you're a football fan if if you're remotely interested in any of this stuff like that's going to be a weekly mustat I'm with you on the Manning cast obviously they have to figure out the tech issues and I think when you consider the entities involved like I would imagine that will be fixed very quickly and cleaned up by next week um but I'm somebody who who goes into the Manny cast I am not a big fan of simal casts uh they are just not for me I I understand the appeal of them but the the Manning cast specifically is just like a little too cute for me especially with the celebrity guests that they have it's a lot of you know Payton Manning telling dad jokes and like you know we get it you guys are brothers and make fun of each other and you both happen to win like four Super Bowls combined so so like I get all that um but having said all that I thought belich was like the perfect compliment to pton and Eli especially because he has so much shared history with both of them I mean he he was legitimately one of the chief Rivals of both pton and Eli Manning and so they always have that crutch that they can fall back on like they showed that um on on on Monday night they they they just randomly showed a clip of I think pton R running on a bootleg which you never see pton Manning do and like Bill bich reacting to it it was against the Patriots and Eli chiming in and it was great and I think that my issue with the Manning cast is it's too much going on for me when I want to watch the game and for me when it comes to having the Mannings with Bill bich like I can watch the game and just listen to them as football guys quote unquote football guys uh without like having to worry about like oh Adam Sandler is trying to tell this joke and like it are these two really meshing in terms of their senses of humor like as a football fan like I just thought those three complemented each other in a way that I don't think I've seen from the man and cast uh what is this year three now I I haven't seen it yet yeah very small side note but alt casts without it makes you realize how much you rely on the crowd noise while watching a game to have your attent I Peak you know what I mean where you're like oh that was a big play and without some of that if you're not like locked in watching which you know it's 2024 we all have a phone and everything like you're not always it it is very disorienting but I agree like of of all alt casts even if probably most people would agree it's a little bit of a worse experience maybe this is the best one but it's still not quite as good especially on ESPN look you're you're turning off Buck and Aman like that's a right that's a great it's a great Booth to not watch just to watch this but all that aside I think that belich and and Payton in particular did they do a good job of yeah no crowd noise a little bit of a different experience but there so on top of what matters and what should be happening frankly it's like they they'll tell you something that was like a two-yard you know second and one first down execution is just as big as the thing the crowd's gonna yell about when there's a touchdown like they almost they give you like three times as many quote unquote big plays to care about so I just think that they were two PS in a pod obviously the funny stuff like you were talking about but just as far as like what I think Payton especially the ethos of what he kind of wants that show to be belich seems to fit right into it so I think it'll be good I think that the McAfee thing they almost probably leaned a little bit too much into the all right coach what what would you think and do this it's just kind of like we again I think I said it about somebody as we were talking in the past um I just don't like oh is Mark schare when we were talking about uh breakfast ball it's like we we that that's a little bit played out though like put us in the mindset of the they're all around we we don't need that but just let Bill let them talk and we'll learn a lot so yeah uh I still think that that very conveniently timed article Ben about how he is waiting for the right opportunity solidifies that we might not get a year two of Monday Night Football with Payton Eli and Bill yeah or his show at Underdog or his show at the 33rd team or him on inside the NFL um do we have a do we have a deal with him like is he gonna do a a weekly uh feature on awful announcing like how we're like the only Outlet I we were actually paid to talk about him right now that's what this is I didn't tell you we'll throw the logo up of of his media company on the corner when in post I I do though in in all seriousness like it is a little bit of oversaturation like it it like I kind of wish we only had the the the McAfee interview and Monday Night Football to look forward to and maybe not not to take anything away from other any of the other outlets but it's just a lot of Bill bich and like that to me at least with Tom Brady we know he's calling one game a week if you're interested in hearing what Tom Brady has to say uh other than the occasional appearance on Colin coward like you're going to tune in to Fox game of the week um with Bill Bel it's like I can get him on demand now like any day of the week um I don't know how much overlap there's going to be in terms of the analysis he's giving there there's only so much you can say it does seem like he's kind of trying to take a different approach you know with the coach show and you know formulating it to to where he's coaching his own team and and that's how he's approaching it but I don't know it's just a lot of Bill bich and I I kind of think you know especially considering we only we only think we're only going to be getting one year of this moving forward I I think maybe less would be more yeah that's totally fair all right you want to run through some highlights and low lights from some others some new faces new network maybe new new teammates we have quite a few others that that made that debut and probably the most high-profile was Jason Kelce who obviously replaced Robert Griffin III on Monday night countdown he made his kind of official entry into more traditional Sports media on top of uh the new heights podcast that he just signed a massive New Deal for at Amazon with his brother Travis um I thought Jason Kelce was a natural fit on this show Ben and it didn't surprise me one bit that he was fun smart loose I mean I could just see him being on that show and and more for the next 20 years and you he'll be the guy we like all right when are they going to move on from Jason Kell like it just it's exactly what uh what what he needed to be yeah you know I mentioned earlier Tom Brady has his job because of his resume I think that you could say the same certainly about Bill bellich regardless of of what you think about either of them as analysts it's like they are in those roles because they've won a gajillion Super Bowls uh Jason Kelce which is funny because he has an incredible resume he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer he won a Super Bowl um but he's not in this role because of his resume he's in this role because of his personality and what he's been able to Showcase um you know really since the Eagles won the Super Bowl but especially in the last few years since him and Travis started the podcast and that's like that's the best of both worlds when you have a guy who has the resume and when you have a guy who can be the personality and be the analyst that's what makes Charles Barkley so great is Charles Barkley is that Hall of Fame power forward who also has the best the best personality you know on air um in terms of NBA analysts and and I think Jason Kelce like has a real chance to become football's version of that um so yeah it's not surprising to me at all that he was a natural fit I think you you could have watched that Monday night countdown broadcast and you could have thought he was doing this for 20 years now I almost wonder if the platform is too small for him I I feel like of these three guys that you know I I've compared this year's NFL media free agen class to the 2010 NBA free agency class with with LeBron James Dwayne Wade um and Chris Bosch and and I think that you know I I I think that Jason Kelce wound up with maybe the smallest platform of the the other two big three in this with Bill bich and Tom Brady um I I I almost wonder if if we'll see maybe it's more like that summer when what did Carlos Boozer went to the Bulls maybe I think that was the same summer I think that was the same what I'm saying like he's not even on the big three level compared to those two he's almost like the other guy who kind of had to settle for the other place you know yeah and and you know I think that it's just I I think he could do anything in in NFL media I think he could be the centerpiece of a Sunday Morning Show I think he could be in the booth um I think he could have his own simoc cast which I think ultimately once Travis retires might be the endgame here um so I'm not surprised at all I think one thing that stood out is there was obviously a viral clip about his shirt not fitting um I think that's what ESPN is looking for here I I think they're looking for one viral clip that Travis Kelce can retweet to his millions of followers if it's not billions by now um and I think that that we'll see one of those each week but I I in terms of him being a football analyst like I think he lived up to the hype and then some Agreed 100% I feel that way about a lot of people I think that the NFL Media Sports media they over stuff everything about their broadcasts of of this league which I get there's 53 players on every roster the League's been around and very very popular for a very long time once people get jobs they don't really want to leave them I understand supply and demand here but we all talk like with you know Inside the NBA which we've been covering it off announcing a ton for this past year as the Warner Brothers Discovery deal with the NBA collapsed whatnot of like is it possible to recreate that show could it be the same on another Network why is no one else tried to mimic it or why does everybody fail to mimic it and all that stuff kind of on the NBA side I wonder the same thing on on the NFL side all these shows are on for hours every Sunday morning and yet sometimes they can feel so congested and I get its commercials and everything else but I don't know if Monday night countdown necessarily qualifies for that but Kelsey just has the type of Personality that is very much more in that Barkley Shack mold then I'm G to come and deliver my two-minute hit on how the center pulled for this big run even though he can do that too I don't know maybe we're headed toward as these podcasts kind of grow and get these people some shine before they ever even step foot in a place like ESPN maybe maybe we're going to see a little bit of an evolution of the format of these shows I think we all would hope so considering those podcasts are much more popular than these shows in 2024 but yeah I had the same feeling like he's kind of bursting out of this show can we find another way to get him out there in a format that's even better for him and frankly like yeah Marcus Spears is great Ryan Clark honestly you could say a lot of those same things about him but I want more that's that's kind of it um that takes me to the CBS Morning Show which was I had on because the Cardinals were playing the bills and and lost on on Sunday morning and I just figured hey Matt Ryan JJ Watt watt was on it last year he kind of moved into a more uh an even bigger role over time there and then Matt Ryan debuting and I have this impression and I think I've made that clear as we've talked about this stuff for a few weeks on on the play-by-play here now of like these shows is very old and stuffy and between Nate burles Matt Ryan and JJ Wat it's just Bill Cower who's left of kind of the Old Guard of that show which it is a little funny to to watch it at times um but I guess a little bit of credit to CBS for mixing it up bringing some some younger more vibrant voices in there and they were they were sitting at at recliners at one point or like a little kind of like uh living room setup and they were it just felt a little different I don't know if it's going to be the next great thing and we're all going to be tuned into CBS every morning for the rest of time but salute they mixed it up which is all we've been asking for for years for those Fox and CBS shows well in CBS would have been the network if we did a draft of this like you probably would have picked last of who would have like intentionally gotten younger like this is the the network that's known for like NCIS reruns like this is not a network that caters to a younger audience so the fact that they recognized that that they had um an issue in terms of of you know not being young enough frankly um is is a credit to them so so yeah I'm I'm with you there um I I wasn't watching Terry Bradshaw talking about how Caleb Williams nails are painted on the other channel it's it's Stark right yeah I mean and that's gonna it seems like the Terry Bradshaw stuff is is really starting to catch on um I saw Boomer aison talking about him because he had never seen Terry Bradshaw stumble through highlights and now uh he he's become witness to that um but I wasn't watching CBS I was actually watching ESPN uh Sunday morning we we can only watch so much at at one time um but that was notable because you had the move from Sam Ponder to Mike Greenberg and as you and I were were kind of prepping for this show I said you know we don't really need to do a greeny review my I know my greeny review is going to be greeny as greeny um and greeny was greeny but I will say like this move to Mike Greenberg paid off immediately because they had four major stories break and that's not an exaggeration especially when you factor in that one of them was the Tyreek Hill situation which totally came out of nowhere and obviously is a very uh sensitive and nuanced issue Mike Greenberg quarterbacked his way through all of that with Jeff Darlington uh ironically considering his role in the Scotty sheffler arrest uh as his his go-to on the ground in Miami um and that was not an easy situation and I thought know I can't speak for the other networks but I thought ESPN covered all of that masterfully um and really became the the go-to destination for what became the the biggest uh at least mainstream story of week one of the NFL season yeah I think the FBI or somebody's going to give Darlington a job as like a an investigator at some point given his knack for for being right where he needs to be but yeah Greenberg was uh the the right man for that job and and you're absolutely right I had that one on a little bit as well during like when the Dak thing came out and and whatnot before I think the Tyreek news had hit and and everything else and that takes talent that takes reps to be able to to jump around and then still kind of buy buy Time by setting up you know a Ryan brother here and and a Randy Moss there for some some little you know chatter about whatever game for a moment before you jump back to shefy and then you go to that City like it is uh a tough job in the first place especially when there's breaking news um I will say that the other person I want to shout out is it it it goes back to Fox putting Brady in a bad position because Craig olssen just continues to be amazing and I will also just say though that game was trash Atlanta Pittsburgh you know already feeling the the effects of being in the number two Booth although Cleveland Dallas wasn't great either but Greg Olsson aside the fact that fox has Joe Davis as its number two announcer on the NFL also is just like an embarrassment of riches um that Booth is going to be just as good as Brady burkard all season I think if if not better and uh we're in good hands on on Fox we just turn on a game and we're bound to get something pretty great yeah you you Lu out as a fan of an NFC team because NFC teams usually wind up on Fox yeah I thought that I thought I might get Brady because the Cardinals Rams game is the only Fox afternoon game but they're putting him back on the Cowboys in a game that really will I think test spend the effects of the viewership from The Brady bump I'm not positive that anyone is going to be tuning in to Cowboys Saints just to hear Tom Brady despite the 40 Point whatever that that Derek Carr was able to to orchestrate there I'm not not sure the Saints are a draw um unfortunately in 2024 but any other places you want to jump in the the debut of the football broadcasting world before we get to our hot mics yeah well let's take it back to Saturday real quick um because there was some college football on too in the biggest game of the week um at least in in the prime time window was Colorado versus Nebraska which also marked Colt McCoy's debut uh quarterback you and I are both familiar with you as a Cardinals fan me as a Browns fan uh I think we bookended his career kind of um but he made his debut in the NBC Booth we had a story about it on awful announcing he did not receive R reviews it seemed like if you thought that uh people had the kids gloves on with Tom Brady they certainly did not for Colt McCoy um I think there were a lot of comparisons to Drew Brees just in terms of he didn't seem overly enthusiastic he he kind of seemed to be um maybe not unprepared but but just really reacting in in real time uh which is a part of the job but but obviously not all of the job um and so I thought quote m i I thought that was a tough spot and I think that that kind of ties this all together speaking to our our Tom Brady conversation is like it's a tough job and and to just drop a quarterback in regardless of their resume and regardless of how you know how good they were as a uh interview subject that's a tough transition to make we we saw through Breeze go one and done col McCoy to make him the lead analyst for NBC which because fox now has the the 12 o'clock big noon window in CBS with the SEC kind of has that 3:30 window like the night game the 800 PM Eastern game is usually going to be a big NBC Big 10 game and I don't think Colt McCoy is ready for that job and I think that it's it's going to be a really tough ask for him to to be in that role um and it seems like there is going to be some flexibility whether he's in the booth or in the studio and I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the season he's predominantly in the studio yeah well I I guess I assumed that he was getting that call for this week because of the Brazil NFL game right so won't it be Noah eagle and and Blackledge in the future for that game I I that's kind of what my assumption was and he'll get to handle maybe a less high-profile matchup so that should help him out but yeah I think uh I think I don't know I mean I I thought it was funny Dan Patrick had Colt McCoy on obviously Patrick has the relationship with NBC on you know his show streams there and kind of a distribution promotion deal and then on Monday he was ripping Colt McCoy just kind of like like you are there I'm like ah well you know that's it's called journalism baby Dan Patrick you're getting the raw uncut uh real deal from him he'll he'll interview a guy and three days later he'll he'll rip him if he doesn't do a good job but yeah I don't know I guess it feels like my my thought on that just seeing the the reactions was you mentioned Breeze like NBC has just added so much Sports to its slate lately with the peacock exclusive NFL stuff the Big 10 deals for every sport um you know expanding what the Olympics output is you know they bought the tennis and everything or they had tennis I guess it's just very it feels like a very young broadcasting crew right now across everywhere like it it just feels like a a kind of a new wave over there and not all of them have worked obviously but that as far as a macro kind of strategy thing was surprising to me or interesting that they're kind of Dipping into new people as they expand all this obviously the NBA is on the horizon maybe that means they're going to do that over there too and kind of take chances and I guess I can't hate on that even if people don't seem to like Colt for right now yeah and you know it's funny you mentioned NBC because one thing that that did stand out to me over the weekend too is Sunday night football's broadcast and their Studio crew is Maria Taylor Devin mccordi Chris Sims and Jason Garrett and one I I think it's for like what's the most watched show uh each week like I really think that panel is lacking in star power they I really think they could have stood to to add Jason Kelce like I think that would have been the Home Run higher for them um but what stands out about that studio crew is like that Jason Garrett's older than 50 years old because the the other three are you know in their early 40s or younger so uh I I don't know I I I definitely that was one of my takeaways from the weekend was I think NBC really needs to boost the star power on Sunday night um and go going back to Colt McCoy real quick one one thing that stood out to me about that is maybe it's just because college football is like so tribal and so you just think about these these former players and coaches and like what school they're tied to col McCoy has no ties to the Big 10 like he played at Texas in the Big 12 Texas is now in the SEC I don't know it's just he he kind of just seems like a man on an island when it comes to being a a big 10 analyst because he he has no ties to the conference yeah you got to lean into it at at a certain point and if you're counting on any name recognition to carry you it it's better when the people tuning into the game are more likely to have that so yeah you would have guessed I don't know who who's a big 10 quarterback that they should have gotten Chad Henn there you go I'm saying that has no high State guy what are you doing um yeah all right so ready to move to our hot mic I'll let you kick us off here yeah so I uh was on vacation last week uh that's why we didn't have a show and I made the uh like any good Ohio in I made the 10 or so hour drive to South Carolina because we invade uh South Carolina whether it's Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach uh for most of the summer and on that drive on the way there and back I listened to the Audi book version of the new Aaron roders book out of the darkness uh by Ian o Conor and I thought it was really really good I I didn't know what to expect it was the first uh youo Conor uh Sports biography I read slash listen to um I'm G to be listening to the bill bich one here shortly because just thought it was really good it was really straightforward um in terms of he talked to Aaron Rogers for the book but you didn't feel like he was being sympathetic to Aaron roggers I didn't feel like he was being unnecessarily harsh to Aaron roggers I thought it was a very like by the numbers like this is who Aaron Rogers is this is why he is the way he is and it leads it to the to the reader listener to make their judgments on you know a lot of things about a really polarizing figure here in sports um and it's also like very up to dat like it goes all the way up to the RFK um and Pat McAfee controversies the the Jimmy kimmell controversy from earlier this year so I I thought it was a really good book um and I also thought like we're in such this weird such a weird place when it comes to uh content focused on specific athletes and how much say they have in the book and and whether it's better to to not get that athletes input or whether it's better to to let them control the message and just listening to Ian o Conor on The Dan lebatard show and some other interviews he's done about the book going through his interview process uh he talked to like everybody from Aaron Rogers life he talked to his family he talked to his former coach coaches and teammates and then he went to Aaron Rogers and it didn't seem like he got a interview with Aaron Rogers but it seemed seemed like what he was able to do was run a bunch of stuff by Aaron Rogers and let Aaron roders say yes that's true or no that's that's not true um or this is my perspective on that and there there were some moments where Ian o Conor pushed back on Aaron Rogers uh there was a moment where Aaron Rogers in the midst of his Feud with his family didn't go to a wedding of a family friend he was scheduled to be the best man in and reportedly didn't give that friend notice until the day of or the day before it was very short notice and Eno Conor pushed back on Aaron Rogers both in the interview and in the book and told him why he thought that was a terrible thing to do so I just thought like in this day and age where we have such little Sports content about specific athletes um and and sports figures that feels like it's like independent I thought this was a great example of something that that still feels like true journalism I caught a lot of the media tour that Ian o Conor went on so I had a lot of familiarity with the book and honestly that was part of what made me not in a hurry to read it you know when you get too much and I I think I was I was convincing myself that I I knew everything that there was to know but you're makes me want Tove back in but I was surprised though too because Rogers gave two interviews around the time that this book was being promoted uh with Boomer and Gio on WFAN and with uh pardon my take and in both cases he was you know kind of prepping people to be skeptical about the truth of what ' Conor's reporting suggested I think just to kind of you know protect his Integrity a little bit but he didn't go as hard on him as I think we all know Rogers could and would if he really thought it was all nonsense and terrible right like he oconor did seem to earn Aaron's respect a bit just in the way in the depth that he went to to to pull this book off and I feel like by the time it seems like that he went back to Rogers like you're saying I feel like he just had so much information and it seems like the vast majority of it was very accurate that Rogers was like I can't really be mad here I mean I'll try to say my piece as much as I can but um you kind of did a good job what am I supposed to do so I don't know I guess my other question off that though would be how are you feeling about this Netflix documentary about Rogers do you feel like it'll tell us anything new do he he seems to be involved but not an executive producer through only three episodes what do you think yeah I I don't have much interest in it uh just based on the trailer it seems like it's going to be like solely focused on his Achilles uh rehab which I I guess is interesting because he was doing so many crazy things to to try to uh expedite the process and get back on the field last year so like maybe that part of it will be interesting but you know when you consider the entities involved especially NFL films which which you pointed out to me um like we're not gonna get into the interesting stuff we're not going to get into the off the field stuff I think it's it's mainly gonna be you know Aaron Rogers as this great football mind and Aaron Rogers as this motivated spiritual uh individual who who's trying to push the limits of science which which we already know the outcome he he didn't do it even though he'll have you believe that you know if the Jets were still in the playoff hunt he would have played and I'm sure there will be something hinting that that that was the case um but it just coming off of Monday Night Football where Tyrod Taylor came in during garbage time so it's like they're still being careful we all kind of know what he's still 40 and you know a little bit hurt but or coming off of it they're being they're being gentle I I guess um as far the documentary side of things I I just worry that or not worry I I just hate that they're making so many of these that are also on such tiny subjects like you said if this is truly just about his recovery that's like a quarter of one episode of the Aaron Rogers docu series we get 10 years from now you know it's just like that that would have been like a like a sports center segment and it was they did an interview with him this past weekend uh it's just weird what counts as content in 2024 sometimes three episodes on the recovery of a player who did not come back is just I'm not even hating on him or it it's just kind of why like what what who is it for why why do we need to hear more about this you know you know you know maybe because it was the the most um the the newest stuff in Aaron Rogers life but I thought that the uh the stuff about the recovery and the injury was the least interesting part of Ian o Conor's book like and maybe I was just like all right let's get this drive over let's finish this book but I I didn't find it all that interesting it it just it it was less interesting than Aaron Rogers thinks it is I think I thought it's funny you mentioned like you didn't want to read the book because you felt like you had already heard everything in it that's how I am with like most books I I books are in this weird place where they get published and then two excerpts get leaked and then like you already have all the interesting parts of it to me the best part of this book was being able to take a trip back down into two early 2000s college football mid 2010s NFL football all the stuff at Cal it's like oh I remember Ryan Grant I I remember Greg Jennings all that stuff to me is like part of what makes reading a book like this really fun the stuff about like him getting injured with the Jets and trying to force his way back I just didn't find it wholly interesting so I to me this this docu series is is going to be more of the same if you needed the reintroduction to Greg Jennings you clearly have not been watching enough first things first on FS1 I I get I get a large dose of Greg Jennings every day here for a announcing covering that show but all right my hot mic of the week before we wrap here uh several people now including Andrew marshand and John orand uh of the athletic and Puck respectively have agreed in their reporting that these Equity discussions largely between ESPN and the NFL but also at one point rumored to be the NBA Ben are basically off and for a refresher on that the idea was at the time like early this year or so that ESPN kind of needs a cash influx or doesn't need but would benefit from one as they're kind of reorienting their business around a streaming first future and obviously from an NFL standpoint they did a bunch of layoffs and cuts they moved good morning football across the country NFL media as its own entity is struggling a bit because you know Cable business as we know same reason ESPN is struggling something based on NFL network is a little bit on life support here in the year 20124 and that ESPN would just take over NFL media the NFL would inject a little bit of cash in ESPN and we probably as consumers of all this stuff would just get a hell of a lot more NFL talk even than we already are on the worldwide leaders Airwaves and that seems to just be not happening anymore and same with the NBA side of it as far as we can tell from the latest reporting I just have to admit I was pretty surprised to see this I thought that it made a ton of sense on both sides frankly and in a world where kind of coming off that documentary conversation we were just having so much of this stuff is co-produced and licensed from one thing to the next and the sources and subjects are involved in the production of it it just felt like a no-brainer that this was kind of the next chapter of where Sports media would beheaded I'm sure there's a million reasons business-wise and financially that this just did not make sense maybe one side was asking for something different you never really know what did you think when you saw this news and do you think there's a chance something like this maybe still comes together or where does ESPN go next I I'm actually I'm I'm a little more interested in where like the NFL Network goes or or NBA TV which seems to be on on life support with the with Turner being out of the picture I just I wonder if we're at a point where there's no not not much use for for Lego networks like it seemed like for the NFL it was a place where they could put Thursday night football and now they realize they can just sell Thursday Night Football um and and the the leagues are already such partners with their Media Partners because of the amount of money that has started to to come into these deals that I don't know like does the NFL need to have its own State media does the NBA need to have its own the I mean the NBA's is is almost non-existent it feels like now compared to the NFL the NFL still has a fully functional cable channel uh you know big personalities like Ian Rapaport and and the good morning football crew um the NFLs is at least still like an entity I I don't know about the nb's um and so I just I wonder if like this is it for those for those leagues and in terms of League own networks because I I don't really see what what the point of them are I think it is I mean I I think they were so late to the game with that stuff in the first place you know they they started trying to grow their networks by the time you know cable was had been dominant a dominant business strategy for big media companies for decades and then they were like hey maybe we should get in on that you know and then it was almost too late by the time they even started I mean how long was Thursday Night Football exclusive 10fl Network I mean it couldn't have been 10 years right was it I mean so I think my my my assumption has long been that that those things are going to die off but how is a fascinating question they're still putting out content I mean Chris Russo's on MLB Network right like yeah I think uh it's not as if these things have no interesting shows or content and there are di hard fans who want that stuff and it still can be can be good and diligent coverage of leagues that you know maybe not the NBA and NFL but others that don't get a lot of it so I don't know I'm I'm curious to see kind of where that side of it goes I guess the PN part of this to me my my guess it sounds like they they may still explore some tech Partnerships which was another offshoot of the initial reporting when they were kind of scouring the marketplace for for these types of deals it feels like something with Apple has to make a lot of sense here that that you know maybe that's how Apple kind of dives into this from the side door is just to you know I don't know if you like I have an Apple Watch I get 100 notifications a day about where stuff's going to be airing and what the score is and this and that both from the ESPN app as well as it telling me to go turn on my Apple TV in the living room and watch something and obviously they kind of want content that can live in a lot of places between highlights and news and actual games ESPN feels like a perfect match that'd be my best guess because so many of these other tech companies are now just competitors with ESPN it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for them to partner with Amazon Amazon's kind of the enemy now so Apple would be I guess maybe where they go next yeah they they definitely Loom large in all of this especially because they've been left out of of both the NFL's and the NBA's uh last two media rights deals which are you know now locked up for for uh the long term in terms of though had this partnership come to fruition like it seems like there was this idea that like this is the end of sports journalism because we're not even going to have the facade of of ESPN being an independent entity from from the NFL and from the NBA um and to me like those lines have always been blurred and so I guess like this would just be this this would just be making it official um but I don't know where did you stand on all of that I understood the fear I obviously can't predict the future and the direct influence where you know the NFL is like at a Disney board meeting or something it gets a little bit hairy but to me the NFL is already a pretty significant informal stakeholder in ESPN given you know the way in which they partner on so many things and I mean like I guess to me the the best way that it made sense to me from an ESPN standpoint with all of this is like they got to worry about you know these quarterback and receiver shows that Netflix is doing and they almost who cares about that like they got to just cling on on to the relationship they already had with the NFL let alone whatever the kind of next layers of that would be so I agree with you it wouldn't have been a Monumental change I just think it felt a little taboo to the you know Old Guard of of sports jism and rightly so I guess those boundaries just broke down a long time ago this wouldn't have changed much yeah the uh the and ESPN stands for entertainment don't don't ever forget that yeah I mean there's not a lot of hard-hitting Journalism happening on ESPN about any sport in 2024 so you know that ship just feels like it sailed already but that will wrap us up for the week thank you for listening to the play byplay don't forget to hit follow or subscribe wherever you're finding us YouTube Spotify Apple whatever audio platform you love visit awfulannouncing.com we have content going up there constantly I mean Daily doesn't even do it justice enjoy your sports until the next time we'll see you next week