Charles Davis Gives the Bears a Piece of His Mind
One of the most important parts of color commentary is identifying items of interest on the field and explaining to the audience why it's notable. It's harder than it looks! What we consider notable is very subjective and it takes a certain skill to not only call those moments out in real time, but to hit the nail on the head by properly contextualizing what's happening.
Charles Davis put on a clinic in that regard at the end of the Bears-Cardinals game on Sunday when he saw Caleb Williams trotting out to run the offense with Chicago down by 20 points late in the fourth quarter. He spent pretty much all of the final two minutes of the game slamming the Bears for leaving Williams out there and his criticism hit its peak when Williams limped off the field. It was sharp, pointed analysis that did a great job of laying out what's at stake and why Davis felt it was subpar decision-making. It was great television.
Jason Benetti Demonstrates Patience
Jason Benetti just wrapped up a tremendous year behind the mic calling the Detroit Tigers' magical postseason run and added another exciting call to his resume on Sunday thanks to the exciting ending of the Patriots-Titans game. He also navigated a rare instance for a play-by-play announcer quite well.
On New England's game-tying touchdown as time expired, Drake Maye danced in the pocket for a full 10 seconds before improbably finding Rhamondre Stevenson for the score. As it was the final potential play for the Patriots the Titans dropped most of their defenders into coverage, leaving Maye with only a few defenders to deal with. So Benetti ended up with almost no action to call and had to patiently wait for something to happen while still filling the empty space of the broadcast without sounding like he was talking just to fill taht space.
Benetti did so quite well.
Kenny Albert Excels Down the Stretch
Kenny Albert has called over 500 NFL games for FOX so he's seen basically everything there is to see unfold on a football field. Therefore, his calling card as a broadcaster has long been his steadiness and consistency. So when Kenny Albert is getting jacked up in the booth, the viewer knows something awesome is happening.
And boy did Albert get jacked up during the final stretch of the latest epic battle between the Seahawks and Rams. He nailed Geno Smith's game-tying touchdown pass to Jaxson Smith-Njigba before putting a bow on the broadcast with a really great call of Matthew Stafford's connection with Demarcus Robinson to end things.
It feels like Albert rarely gets to call these kinds of chaotic games and it was fun hearing the stolid announcer get out of his seat. Figuratively (probably).
Saquon Barkley just did that?
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley pulled off something in an NFL game that even video game makers failed to imagine—which is to hurdle someone while facing in the opposite direction. The play took place in the second quarter of yesterday's victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars and at that time it looked as though the Eagles would cruise. But then Nick Sirianni happened.
CBS' Andrew Catalon was on the call and found the exact level for the moment. Because on one hand, holy cow did you see what he just did? On the other, it was a 3rd-and-6 pickup not a game-sealing touchdown. We like how he sort of realized what he was looking at in the moment along with the crowd.
Blow the whistle!
Bo Nix had a rough day at the office as his Denver Broncos went into Baltmore and got manhandled by the Ravens. One thing you can say about the young quarterback, though, is that he is tough and will compete. Down by 31 points late, he took everyone on a circuitous journey around the field to throw a short completion.
It looked like something out of a movie and Tony Romo was there with the reference.
Elite stuff in a blowout game. With the outcome already decided, announcers must go into preservation mode and give people a reason to keep watching. If Romo wants to remember some other 1990s movies and work them into future broadcasts, he won't hear any complaints.
