Monday, January 17, 2011

Divisional Round Eventful ... But Uneven on TV

What was arguably one of the better NFL weekends of the season -- which put four teams just one step away from the Super Bowl after two great games, one average game and one clunker -- was generally good on TV, but none of the network's on-air teams produced consistent postseason quality this past weekend.

Oh, they were typically steady, but nobody on TV raised the level of their game to rival the postseason action on the field.

At least one play-by-play man tried, but instead sounded more biased, grumpy and perturbed as a result. That's probably why some New York Jets fans though Jim Nantz was rooting against them.

At least one color commentator tried, but simply talked more without imparting information. That's probably why some Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers fans turned down the volume on Dan Dierdorf.

Even worse, at least one producer-and-director tandem tried but lost viewers with unconventional camera angles. That's probably why so many of us were wondering what was happening for a few brief seconds late in the Jets-Patriots game. At a time of the year when familiar coverage would be best, the director and producer in that game tried some low-angle, behind-the-kicker shots on kicks and it was difficult for viewers to have a perspective on the action.

In each of those cases (just as with the teams on the field), it was a matter of people altering what had a been a proven game plan and doing something different for the postseason than the regular season.

Plus, when the broadcasters had a seemingly special bit of information, it was used incorrectly. What sounded like a wonderful stat about the Jets provided the weekend's prime example as it was repeatedly overused and provided without perspective.

CBS Sports was the first to inform us that the Jets were the first team since 2001 to beat the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots in back to back weeks. Sounds good, right? Impressive even. But nobody ever told us how many teams had actually had the opportunity to pull off the back-to-back accomplishment. That would've made the information much stronger.

But it was especially bad when ESPN Radio, thanks to Mike Greenberg (with his unabashed support of the Jets, part of what makes him great on radio and a fun daily listen), parroted the stat some 12-plus hours later ... and still without the necessary perspective.

That was really the story of the weekend on TV and radio -- a bunch of good but nothing great. For example ...

-- Fox Sports had no venue for rules expert Mike Pereira to make an impact, in part because the NFC games were lopsided. He's the best NFL newcomer on TV and the network should find some role for him, even an informational/rules/safety piece in case the game action does not lend itself to explaining a controversial call, which is where he usually shines. Unfortunately, Pereira was mentioned in one of the worst moments of the weekend, when Kenny Albert almost breathlessly congratulated Pereira for joining the broadcast team in Chicago on Sunday after working the other NFC game in Atlanta the night before. Great. He arrived to do his job. What else did we expect? That mention was just silly.

-- Nantz and Phil Simms on CBS Sports sounded unusually argumentative with each other, at times. It was fun to hear Nantz make a pronouncement and Simms disgree, but they did sound like they were on separate pages at times.

With just two games this coming weekend, it'll be each network's A-list tandem: Joe Buck-Troy Aikman calling the NFC Championship Game for Fox Sports at 3 p.m. Sunday and Nantz-Simms on the AFC Championship Game for CBS Sports at 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

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