A few months back I mentioned that the future of NFL Films was grim as the demand for the costly produced program slowly dwindled. Well it appears for the time being that the Steve Sabol run company is till in business and they're creating three new shows for the NFL Network. Via the Houston Chron....

After a year in which the NFL Network seemingly struggled to find a role for NFL Films, the company is developing three new series that will air on Thursday nights this fall.

Starting 11 will be a football-sized weekly top-10 show, listing 11 points of interest for the coming week, such as strangest play, biggest blooper or greatest catch. It will be followed by Sounds of the Game, which will match the best sideline sound of the week with excerpts from players miked during games and classic sound bites from the NFL Films library.

"What we lack in coherence, we will make up in energy and innovation," Sabol said. "It's going to be like building an airplane in flight. We have footage, and we will use it to make an observation about the week in the NFL."

America's Game, which accounts for the latest Emmys in the company collection, returns Sept. 3 with an episode on the 2007 New York Giants featuring Tom Coughlin, Michael Strahan and Eli Manning, followed by a five-episode miniseries titled Missing Rings, which gives America's Game treatment to five teams from franchises that have never won a Super Bowl.

I can probably do without "Starting 11" but anything with mic'd up players and coaches and I'm watching. I don't really take time out of the day to catch up on the NFL-N's regular programming but additions like this couldn't hurt.

Fear not — NFL Films no dinosaur (Houston Chronicle)
NFL Films Might Be Going The Way Of Inside The NFL (Awful Announcing)

Earlier this month NFL Films had to "let go" of a few employees in a move which was called "a leaguewide belt-tightening". Well now people in the know are saying that the costs might finally outweigh the benefits. This seems to be due in large part to HBO dropping of Inside The NFL and NFL Films might be next. Via Philly Daily News....

It also has pointed to HBO's recent decision to end its long-running show, "Inside the NFL," which relied heavily on NFL Filmsproduced work.

"We're in a time in America financially that's quite unique," New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, the chairman of the league's broadcast committee, told the Daily News. "Everyone's trying to run their business soundly.

"I think what you're going to see in America in the next 6 to 9 months is, every company is going to look at redundancy. Whether it's newspapers or brokerage firms or insurance companies or retailers or professional sports leagues. We're in a period in our economy where people who want to be strong 10-15 years from now have to do that. If they don't, they won't be around."

Kraft and the league's other owners will discuss the Films layoffs, as well as the struggles of the 4-year-old NFL Network, next week at their annual March meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.

There's nothing better than putting in the Super Bowl XXII Highlight tape from NFL Films and watching the greatest quarter ever played. Hell I think the only reason I still have a VCR is to watch old Super Bowls. I've bought ever tape/DVD since the Redskins won in 1988.

If you're deciding between NFL Films and the NFL Network feel free to drop the pointless channel before one of the NFL's greatest institutions.

NFL Films is taking shots (Philadelphia Daily News)

We all had a great time arguing whether David Tyree's third down grab was the Greatest Super Bowl history. This is obviously as subjective as it gets buy my vote was a resounding yes and a few of you disagreed. Well Steve Sabol of NFL Films has come out with his opinion and from someone who has watching every Super Bowl about 8,000 times, I think he's a good a judge as any....

I was sitting around with some people after Super Bowl XLII, talking about the dramatic finish and, in particular, the winning drive. We still were marveling over the catch David Tyree made, leaping high in the air and wrestling the ball away from New England's Rodney Harrison, to keep the drive alive.

Someone said it might go down as the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, better than Max McGee's one-handed stab in Super Bowl I, better than Butch Johnson's tumbling touchdown grab for Dallas in Super Bowl XII, better even than Lynn Swann's balletic leap for Pittsburgh in Super Bowl X.

I took it a step further. I said I thought it was the greatest PLAY in Super Bowl history.

That's right everyone. Better than Vinatieri, better than Riggins' run, better than the Mike Jones tackle, and better than Elway's helicopter run. After thinking them all through I'm inclined to agree. Thinking back to how I reacted to all of those plays (minus the Riggins play) I've never going that crazy for a play in the Super Bowl ever. Not even for any play during the two Redskins Super Bowl wins I watched as a kid.

So that's my two cents. I hope some of you that are a little older can share some other highlights that us youngins may not understand the gravity of, but my vote's for Tyree.

Tyree's catch goes down as best play in Super Bowl history (NFL.com)