Rough
On The Ears
AQB Reviews TV's Coverage Of Saturday's NFL Playoffs
By
Randy Williams
NEW
YORK (AQB)--Some thoughts, notes and reactions from my view
on the couch on television's coverage of Saturday's NFL playoff
games between the Dolphins and Jaguars, televised by CBS, and
Redskins and Buccaneers, shown on Fox.
Interviewed
by CBS sideline reporter Bonnie Bernstein before kickoff, Miami's
Jimmy Johnson said the key was to prevent big plays. Man, he wasn't
kidding. In a span of a few minutes in the first half, the Dolphins
threw an interception in their
own territory, had a fumble returned for a touchdown and allowed
a 90-yard TD run.
Bernstein did a nice job on the sidelines, quickly mentioning
that Fred Taylor, Jacksonville's star running back, left the game
due to dehydration. She also did a nice job of noting that Johnson
left it up to Marino as to whether to stay in the
game.
Unfortunately,
the Jacksonville-Miami blowout turned the game into garbage time
early and CBS play-by-play man Verne Lundquist really lost his
focus and got
caught not paying attention.
At one point, after Miami's O.J. McDuffie caught a pass, Lundquist
said the receiver was "...taken down by McDuffie." Later,
on a touchdown by the Jaguars, Lundquist said "Touchdown
Mi-Jacksonville."
Toss in the fact that Lundquist wasn't quick to point out tacklers
and you've got a poor day by Verne. Dan Dierdorf, on the other
hand, wasn't bad. In the first quarter, he did a nice job of noticing
Jacksonville's Tony Brackens hadn't been tackled well before Lundquist
did.
While
Lundquist lost his edge during a blowout, Fox's Dick Stockton
and Matt Millen were out to lunch for much of the afternoon. They
never discussed the NFL decision to suspend Washington guard Tre
Johnson in the wake of last week's scuffle with Detroit and didn't
mention the painful rib injury which nearly prevented Redskins
center Cory Raymer from playing. Judging by Raymer's movements
and ineffectiveness, the injury severely hampered him against
Warren Sapp and Brad Culpepper.
Also, how come there wasn't any talk about Michael Westbrook calling
the Tampa Bay secondary "average," a much publicized
comment?
Were these guys around the teams this week or not?
While
I'm at it, where the heck was Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver
after a camera showed Johnson apparently in pain on the Redskins'
bench, rubbing his eye with a cloth?
Oliver's question to a Bucs player after the game: What does this
win say about this team? Terrible.
Millen
used to have the look of a great analyst but now he's nothing
more than average.
Example: In the second half, on the 3rd down and nine yards to
go, the Redskins ran a play action pass. Millen should've been
all over this, telling the audience that 1) the Redskins didn't
need to use play action in an obvious passing situation on a day
when their running game was ineffective and 2) the Bucs shouldn't
bite on play action in long-yardage situations.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen and CNN's Peter King both reported Saturday
morning that Jimmy Johnson scheduled a press conference - win
or lose - for 11 a.m. Sunday. They both reported that if Miami
lost, Johnson was going to announce his retirement.
Mort said he was 99% sure, leaving just 1% "wiggle room." King
didn't leave himself any wiggle room, adding that Johnson most
likely would end up on TV, either on Monday Night Football or
CBS. King went on to say that because Wannstedt and Huizenga feel
the same way about Marino, his days in Miami are probably over.
King said he thinks Marino still wants to play and may end up
in Tampa Bay.
CBS didn't report anything on this matter with Glanville speculating
at halftime (nothing during the pregame show) that this might
be Johnson's last game because the Jacksonville blowout was similar
to last year's Denver blowout, after which JJ
had to be talked into returning.
Glanville then playfully picked up his chair and carried it away
from the desk, shouting that Johnson can't take his chair. Nantz
then joke that Johnson could - he just has to bring his own chair.
Despite the laughs, a terrible job by CBS -
especially if it ends up winning the Johnson lottery.
Fox's
production left plenty to be desired. In the first quarter, the
network missed a play of the Bucs-Skins game while showing a headshot
of Jeff George and Kurt Warner, the combatants in today's Vikings-Rams
game.
In the fourth quarter, when Washington's Mike Sellers was called
for encroaching the line of scrimmage, Fox failed to show a replay
of the penalty.
Dan
Dierdorf may have had the day's best line in the second quarter,
as Miami offensive linemen waited to see who had committed a penalty.
"There's no wasted movement by the offensive line. They're
like cows, the move
when you tell them to."
Runner-up, also by Dierdorf: "They may have flagged Miami
for playing so horribly
on defense," after a penalty following a Fred Taylor touchdown.
Millen
made a good point during the Bucs-Skins game when he noted that
you
get much better officiating in the playoffs. The first penalty
wasn't called until the game was more than an hour old.
Coming
out of the commercial break for the two-minute warning in the
first half, Lundquist said, "I don't know what to say about this
game other than 'Whoa Nellie'
or 'Oh my!'" - a sly reference to his reported replacement, Dick
Enberg of NBC,
whose trademark phrase is "Oh my!"
The quote seemed to catch Dierdorf off-guard, who just responded
by shaking his finger at Lundquist and saying "naughty boy."
Look for CBS to make the Enberg news official this week before
the championship game.
Back
to top
Speak
Out or e-mail George.
