Something Needs To Be Said About CBS' Coverage Of The Patriots
Monday, December 10, 2007
Look we all know how good they are. We've seen them play all season long, and god knows they don't need motivation. Tom Brady is an amazing Quarterback and if I had to choose someone to start my franchise with I'd pick him over Peyton Manning in a heartbeat. With that said, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms' coverage of yesterday's game was some of the most biased I've ever seen.
Let's start with Nantz. The normally straight laced Play by Player was almost giddy when Brady would go back to pass. During the Flea Flicker-Fumble it sounded like he was leaping out of the booth. Now I know that's an exciting play, but on a similar call when Big Ben hit Davenport on a wheel route, Nantz almost seemed disappointed. Jim even got verbally upset at the end of the game when Simms brought up Anthony Smith's comments. The Lead almost went as far as calling him an idiot in a "don't pick on MY Brady!" sort of way. He seemed offended that someone would trash talk the QB while showing video of Brady yawing at Smith after the Pats first TD.
Now for Phil Simms. In plays which occurred about five minutes apart from each other Simms bashed Roethlisberger for overthrowing a receiver and praised Tom Brady for doing the exact same thing. Brady threw high to Randy Moss in the endzone and Simms went even so far as to analyze the throw saying it was perfect. The analyst blamed Moss for not hauling in the "high heater" as he called it. Later in the quarter Big Ben threw high to Nate Washington and after the receiver dropped his second pass in a row Simms analyzed Ben's throw by saying it got away from him.
These were just two examples and again we get how good the Patriots are, but Brady is not perfect. The Steelers put pressure on him early and forced him into some pretty tough throws in the first half. He had to throw it away multiple times and missed on some hot routes throughout the game.
I understand that the Patriots are a huge ratings boom for CBS, and will continue to be throughout the season, but this was just a ridiculous display of pandering to the almighty Tom Brady. It was the biggest display of such behavior outside of every Brett Favre game covered by John Madden.
For more on this and other Monday thoughts head over to The Sporting Blog for my Weekend in Review.
32 Comments:
Yeah, Fox doesn't want Billy Packer either
Well, this broadcast cancels out the Ravens love-fest on ESPN last Monday.
Unfortunately, I didn't see any of it. You see, I live within 500 miles of Denver and Kansas City, so CBS gave us EVERY SECOND of a 41-7 blowout. And an ice storm kept me from getting to the sports bar yesterday.
If you like the NFL, thank God you don't live in Missouri or the near-vicinity. Every good game on CBS is preempted by the Chiefs, and every good game on Fox is preempted by the Rams.
If you are going to start with Nantz, then you should let Nantz start with you...
Hello, friends.
I would pay a million dollars for a reporter who has balls to ask the pats these questions
1. Bellichick, broken up any more marriages?
2. Brady has your baby mama let you see your own kid?
3. How come your kid does not have any part of your name?
4. Rodney, have you tried anymore HGH?
I put the TV on mute. ANd I could then talk with my Dad about what was happening.
They are truly awful.
I don't know when football commentators thought they should become Oprah and talk about feelings and friends and baking cookies rather than strategy, players tendencies, insights into the game...these two jackasses are the worst. They cannot be bothered to talk about what is going on on the field.
And Nantz, could he be any more putrid at reading numbers off a piece of paper...I can hear the gears grinding into mesh in his head when he has to read some stats. He's much better at blathering on and on about Tom Brady.
Simms better watch out for snowballs the next time he's in the Burgh.
Don't worry. Gus Johnson will solve all of this real soon.
hollywood,
for someone who claims to put the tv on mute -- you sure have a lot of comments about the announcing.
i guess your "dad" had a lot of opinions.
Is this the deranged La Raza guy?
See, if I put it on mute, it was, at one point, not muted.
Anonymous said...
I would pay a million dollars for a reporter who has balls to ask the pats these questions
1. Bellichick, broken up any more marriages?
2. Brady has your baby mama let you see your own kid?
3. How come your kid does not have any part of your name?
4. Rodney, have you tried anymore HGH?
we all want things in life ya know what I want? Douchebags to stop hiding behind the Anonymous tag and use a real name. Especially the one's that make dumb ass comments.
who died and left you hall monitor.
my name is pain in the ass. did i make the pats fan cry. wawawawa
Nantz called Smith "stupid"
I want to see that little twerp put on some pads before he starts calling nfl players stupid.
As a Steelers fan, that was the most disheartening part of the loss.
whether he was talking about the pats or the steelers, simms just sucked across the board
and was it sweater vest day at cbs?
They were just as bad during the Cowboy/Patriot game.
Including a play where Randy Moss didn't catch the ball in bounds being one of the greatest athletic feats either has seen. BUT HE DIDN'T CATCH THE BALL.
Those 2 can suck it. Hard.
How bout the time Brady threw a simple TD pass to Welker and Simms went on and on about how it was really a tough a pass that looks easy. HUH? It was a simple 4 yard in pattern from the shot gun that most High school QBs can make.
My biggest problem with the game was Brady's trash talking to the Steelers after the first TD pass.
Any football coach that I had at any level would have chewed my ass for that display and rightly so but the announcers almost endorsed it.
In a completely unrelated story, CBS announces the first (of what I'm sure will be many) CBS themed restaurants in.....Foxboro, Mass!
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-12-09-hiestand_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
If you think Brett Favre and Tom Brady get over-praised, just imagine how it will be if or when Tim Tebow in is the NFL. It will be obscene.
um try not to make stuff up please. try watching the game again, and you will clearly see Big Ben try to put something extra behind his pass, you will see he is off balance and his throwing is affected. case in point-the ball WOBBLED. it shouldnt come as a surprise that simms would notice this. after you do this and hopefully delete your hyperbole, watch bradys throw. He steps forward and throws a perfect SPIRAL. It may have been high, but it was well within Moss's reach and it was thrown HARD. I guess I know where your bias lies...
Yeah, good one anon. What are you a frickin moron? Tebow will NEVER get anywhere near the hype/praise that Farve (undeserved) and Brady (deserved) get. What a dumb a$$ comment. Please leave the site and never come back.
Conflict of interest? Look at USA Today this morning and see that CBS is opening a sports restaurant ... at Gillette Stadium.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2007-12-09-hiestand_N.htm
Glad to see everyone else now understands my complete dislike for Simms. He has been blatantly rooting for the Patriots in games for several years now and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon.
pain in the ass said...
who died and left you hall monitor.
my name is pain in the ass. did i make the pats fan cry. wawawawa
You didnt make me cry fuck head. If you have a legit gripe put your name on it. I think one of your questions is legit but I hate when someone pussies out and hides.
my name is troy williams, an accountant in la. happy irs
Okaaay. Well, Simms is definitely awful. Nantz would probably be tolerable someone else broadcast partner, but as it is he sucks.
Really, defending Phil Simms is a damn hard argument to win...
That was some serious dick sucking last night in Foxboro
If it wasnt bad enough to watch the game listening to it was worse!Thank goodness-Someone said something CBS was painful to listen to I was ready to puke and not kidding muted the rest of the game-WHat the heck is going on with CBS?Are those guys are in bed with Bilichick and Brady?
The questions were answered at the beginning of the broadcast when CBS unveiled their new joint venture with Bob Kraft...
"CBS Scene" is a restaurant at Patriots Center, next to Gilette Stadium. CBS and the Patriots now have a common interest in supporting each other, a clear conflict of interest when it comes to being unbiased.
My hatred of the Steelers is surpassed only by my hatred for the Redskins, Eagles and 49ers (Cowboys fan here), and even I was disgusted with Nantz/Simms' pro-Patriots homerism. It was like listening to the Pats' radio feed or something. They went on and on and on and on and on at one point about how stupid that Steeler (who's so irrelevant I can't remember his name even though it probably appears in this thread somewhere) making that guarantee. They were legitimately offended that he would do that. It was as bad as Joe Buck's disgust over Randy Moss mooning Lambeau Field.
Brady went after Smith after the first TD because Smith was taunting him before the game. That team does not do stuff liek that without a reason. I just wish they had the audio of what he said to him.
I think you meant to say the the Patriots are a huge ratings boon...
Noun
Singular
boon
Plural
boons
boon (plural boons)
1. a blessing or benefit
Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers
Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery
Isn't it nice that Nantz is the lead announcer for CBS for the sole reason that he didn't leave for Fox. Never mind that he only stayed because Fox doesn't carry the one "sport" he loves in golf.