A Review Of the NFL Network Broadcast
 

All in all it was pretty good. Loved the pre-game and all the introductions really gave the game a special feel. I thought they did a good job of giving different angles to the action. There were almost no replays which was really annoying -- especially on a couple of calls that I'd like to have seen again. A lot of audio problems and the miscue going to commercial when we were actually being penalized and re-kicking was surprisingly bad. The announcers were annoying but I love the extra layer that NFL Network brings to the game all the way down to the in-depth interview with Trent after the game.

Rough production, amateurish announcing, but a welcome focus on football, not actors, pop stars and corporate promos.

I think we all know my feelings on Bryant Gumbel.

Hopefully they dump him next year...

I liked the pre-game but the announcers suck. I bitched earlier about them not having a yellow first down line but I noticed they had one later in the game.

Overall I would grade it as a C

Better than ESPN but that's not saying much. C- overall. Get that DV team on there, dump the haltime show, and sharpen up the graphics and you'll have one hell of a broadcast.


edit: oh and that's all only based on about 4 minutes of choppy sopast video:)

I dont mind Collinsworth, but Gumbel did suck.

I thought they did a good job. I liked all of the shots of the city they showed everytime they entered from a commercial. They also did a lot of talking about the city of K.C. which is good for the city.

Thats probably the best and most relevant point anyone can make about the broadcast.

B+

Collinsworth is a fuggin tool and I wish great harm upon him.

Gumble needs to stick to his HBO gig and be thankful for that. It was glaringly obvious that he hasn't announced a game for a while. He could not keep track of the first down line and he miscalled several stopping points, i.e. "He's down around the 16 yd. line." When it was at the 18 or 19.

Other than that it sucked.

They need to move the graphics line to the bottom of the screen instead of across the top. That looked terrible.
The only decent thing I can say is at least they didn't have a bunch of goofy-ass sound affects like Fox does. That shit drives me nuts.

that was Gumbel.



I liked the broadcast. Loved the pregame,and the interviews afterward were great too.


It seemed light on the commercials in the beginning. At first I thought that maybe it was because they were broadcasting their own product on their own time, but they made up for it later in the game. :shake:

Deion Sanders sucks

I liked their yards gained graphics

but he has some cool suits

I thought the commercials were pretty entertaining :D

Gumbel is a pompus (fill in the blank)

and he sounds like Dave Chappelle playing a white guy






NTTIATWWT...

Gumbel just sounded stupid tonight. He kept screwing up the yards to go on the downs and everything else possible.

Send him back to a morning show and get someone who has a clue.

If it wasn't the Chiefs playing, I would have been lulled to sleep. That was a pathetic broadcast. Gumbel is a complete idiot who does not do any homework before the game and thinks his voice is enough to carry the broadcast.

They cut the crowd noise out of the broadcast for the most part and there was no intensity at all evident with either announcer. It was all matter-0f-fact reporting. Boring.

IF they expect people to upgrade their cable, dish products they had better rethink that broadcast completely.

The only good thing about the entire broadcast, outstide the Chiefs kicking Donkey ass, is the fact we didn't have to hear them pimping primetime dramas every five friggin minutes like Fox and CBS.

Good thread, I was going to start a similar one.

I really like the stripped down production with the focus on the game. No sideline reporters interupting the action.

They definitely had a few production glitches, which I'm sure they'll get worked out soon. Use of the first down yellow line was pretty inconsistent and I too would have liked to see more replays.

Collinsworth is one of the most annoying people on the face of the earth. But tonight, he was extremely tolerable. Usually he has such a smirk in his voice I just want to punch him, but tonight he took the edge off and mostly made insightful comments.

Exactly!

I think they should add Marshall Faulk to the booth and make it a three-man announcer team. When they went down to him on the field in the first quarter and talked about Lynch playing off the line, it was the first time during the broadcast that there was any semblance of excitement.

What on earth made them think that Gumbel would be a good play-by play guy?? Hes always been a studio guy. Which i actually like him in that role.

Hes just awful in play by play.....even FOX and CBS's 4th or 5th team is better than he is.

I thought that there sound effects were more annoying than Fox. Everytime a new graphic popped up it sounded like the phone was ringing. I can't tell you how many times i picked up the phone only to realize it was the damn tv. Then one graphic popped up and it sounded like a ****ing pac man game broke out

What are you, an idiot?

I think Steve Mariucci has a future in broadcasting...I think he'd have been a great 3rd in the booth.

3 in booth = bad. The only time that worked was Gifford, Cossell, and Dandy Don. Every other 3 man crew has been annoying.

It's about what I expected, I guess. Gumbel just needs practice. That's a hard place to learn how to do play-by-play. I think he has the ability to do it, he'll get better as he gets more practice and the game slows down for him. I don't mind Gumbel or Collinsworth... I mean I wouldn't list them as my favorite two announcers but at least they'll take a professional approach to it, and try to cater to football fans.

Was it just me, or did anyone else hear, the second play of the game, when Gumbel said that TG was inactive for the game, that number 88 went in motion, clear as day, across the TV screen?

He was talking about last Sunday's game against Oakland.

I haven't looked...but did Gumbel lose about 50 lbs?

WHY WOULD YOU HIRE BRYANT GUMBEL AND CHRIS COLLINSWORTH

WHY

At the start of the game when the sound was out of sync, I was thinking, this is going to be a debacle. But things got ironed out by the end and gumbel was sounding better.

What annoyed me was that not all of the cameras seemed to be high definition. The usual angles were but a lot of the zoom angles on replays were pretty grainy. Then Fox 4 would check down to standard definition just so they could put their logo up with the time and temperature, annoying.

At any rate, better than the Monday Night crew, no D-list soap opera stars in the booth, no relentless pimping of company recording artists or TV shows.

It was a football fan's broadcast.

I did think the way they did the player photos was cool.

Gumbel has to go if the NFL wants this thing to work. He was horrible.

He is a total Pimp Daddy piece of shit. He sat their with a fur coat on. It was freakin 70 degrees in November, in KC!!!


Deion I hope you read this....... YOU SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Sanders does SUCK. With the exception of Fox, every network seems to feel the need to balance coherent discussion of football with one loudmouth, dumbfuck imbecile punk. CBS has Horseface Sharpe, ESPN has the thoroughly odious, semi-literate Irvin (worst of the three by far), and NFLN has Slime Time Sanders.

WHY? Is it that important to have a mouthy asshole in the mix? Is there some segment of the population that appreciates these clowns? I don't get it. :shake:

ill take him over Shannon Sharp or Michael Irvin.

I had an epiphany...
 

Great point Gaz! It does make the FG seem a lot less...let's say chipshot-like.

I didnt like the angle much. It was very hard for me to tell if the ball was going through or not.

Yep...
 

Gumble made it a bad experience for me. Not just the fact that he could not tell where the line of scrimage was and where a run ended, but he said stupid shit like "Plummer throws for a short gain..." when it was like a 9 yard pass for a first down. Since the Chiefs were winning, me and my buddy were just laughing about it, but he really was bad.

I noticed that as well. It probably took a great deal of restraint on Collinsworth's part not to bust him on his numerous misstatements. Collinsworth may be an arrogant jerk, but he is also very knowledgable and observant.

For a first run, it wasn't to bad with the exception of PIMP Sanders being on the program, I mean WTF?? That guy is so bad he makes Sharpe look good.

God the commercials where terrible. THey where Ok i guess there where just too damn many.

Gumble has the voice inflection and tone of a robot....snore. When they were talking about Lamar, Collingsworth actually sounded sincere, Bumble just looked annoyed that time was being taken away from his boring announcing blurbs.

I thought they had quite a few ups and downs. I guess here's my breakdown:

Eisen - A-
Faulk - B+
Deion - C-
Mariucci - B
Gumbel - C
Collinsworth - B+
Scheffter - B-
Content - A (focus on football, on-field interviews, shots of the city, etc)
Production - C (seemed to be a lot of little screw ups)

Replacing Gumbel would add to the broadcast immensely.

here is a bitchline for nfl network

http://www.nfl.com/help/emailtech

What? The Chiefs didn't lose so we have to have something to bitch about this morning? :rolleyes:

It seemed like the broacast would switch out of HD for a few seconds now and then, and the sound was off at first. Gumble looked like he was in one of those old Godzilla movies.

Over all I was pleased with it, though.

At least we were spared that goddamn Mellencrap Chevy commercial over and over and over.

if u watch football on tv as much as i do
and i have to leave my couch on thanksgiving night
to go to a bar, and watch amatures mangle one of my most anticipated games of the year


then yes i say i have a legitimate BITCH


and it started last night


with the 1st words out of gimp & chrissy's mouth

ROFL

u dont do much else do you

I'm 100% sure that the NFL will get the production quirks (first down line, HD and audio screw ups) fixed.

I love the mentality of the broadcast "We're showing a football game."

I could care less about the studio panel. They're all about the same, IMO. This one seemed a little more focused on the game and not the personalites of the panel.

Gumble is a great professional. I'd bet he takes the crticism to heart and lifts his game a level. If he doesn't I'd bet they will find a replacement.

Collinsworth backed off on his usual arogance last night enough to allow his expertice to come through. He could be a keeper.

The bottom line is that this is the NFL. They don't do anything half way. By the beginning of next season, they will have one of best game casts going.

Agreed. First live game had a few bumps.

Gumbel actually deserves a sold D he lost / clueless most of the time.

Put Marshall Faulk in the booth, if it's racial balance they are looking for plus he knows the game.

Faulk would make a great analyst (the Collinsworth role) but play-by-play is its own art form. Gifford and Summerall are the only two players that come to mind that did a decent job of that.

Thanks to my father in law calling a neigbor and asking for an invite to go over and crash his family's thanksgiving dinner/get together (even though they really weren't football fans), I got to not only see the game, but I got to watch it in HD. Not long after the 3rd quarter started, since the picture was so clear on his flat screen, I asked if we were watching the HD broadcast. He didn't realize it was in HD so we jumped over to another channel and finished the game in HD. What was a much better picture than I ever could have gotten on my TV got blown away when the channel was changed.

I'm thinking it's time to think about some upgrades at home.:)



As for the NFL broadcast, I could have used some replays. Several times I wanted to see a replay and the announcers just kept right on yapping.

I thought it seemed like there were less commercial breaks. Maybe they were just showing more commercials each time they did take a break. Or maybe I was drunk & confused.

I pretty much agree with all of this. It was still far better than the debacle that is MNF and I'd rather listen to a boring monotone Gumbel than a blubbering slobbering John Madden.

I thought Collinsworth was pretty good. He lost his smug attitude and really did a great job breaking down the game.

Gumbel has no business in the booth. He couldn't get the players' names right and he obviously doesn't know anything about football.

[mouth movements] Oh God, Ryan Sims! Jake Plummer's head! NOOOOO!

Like most everyone else, I think Gumble was extremely rusty. He's gonna have to improve a lot for me to not have to turn the sound down. Speaking of the sound, there was something wrong with the audio the entire game. It sounded like they were announcing through a pvc pipe the entire game. At first I just thought something was wrong with my television, then I turned the channel and no other station sounded like that.

I agree. Gumbel sounds like Kermit the Frog.

I don't mind Collinsworth as the color, but they need to get a new commentator.

I don't know about the broadcast but it was pure joy to watch live. The score didn't reflect how we (the chiefs) dominated the game. It was close to sex.......I'm still basking in the afterglow. WhoHa!

PhilFree:arrow:

Amen, brother. This was the first game I was able to sit down and watch all season. (Due to my work schedule)

When the season schedule was announced, if I could pick one game to see, this would have been the one.

I wasn't disappointed at all.

I find them humourous and that they lighten up the pre and post game shows. Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw are best at it though.

I got the feeling Gumbel had not learned to use the monitors to announce down and distance and was trying to judge it based on the field. Bad, bad move.

Yep. He got the D&D wrong probably 6 or 7 times.

No, i think he does. He started off as a NFL pre-game studio guy back in the late 70's early 80's before the Today Show gig.

Hes just always been a studio guy. Hes good at that and needs to stay in that role. I dont get why all the sudden he thinks he can do play-by-play??? Totally diferent ballgame.

Gumbel is a hard worker through his career and is a critic of his own work. I would wait for judgement until after a few more games. Collinsworth was satisfactory but even he had the Broncos having to go for a 4th and goal on the TD drive instead of 1st and goal at the 1 with Smiths' reception.

They haven't got their booth set up and the scanning of information down.

Gumbel was awful.
Collinsworth was okay.
Mooch, Eisen, and Faulk were all good.
Deion was a jackass... as usual.

Graphics were good.
Direction was okay... but someone needs to clue the announcers in to down/distance.

As an aside, the PI call on Walls opposite Surtain's INT was HORSESHIT!!!! Good job by Collinsworth recognizing that fact.

Excellent point, I guess I didn't think of that. Somebody should have clued him in at half time though. Maybe he'll watch his broadcast and realize how bad that really looked.

Liked the focus on Football. Disliked the fellas in the booth. To quote ABC's promo for "Show Me the Money" I thought they were "Shat-Tastic"

Yep. "May have gotten ..." was his mantra.

I kind of liked scrawny neck man in the booth, though.

FAX

Yeah, yeah, Gumbel sounded like a frog and obviously made some rookie mistakes. (even though he's been on TV for a thousand years) but I thought the overall broadcast was great. Collinsworth may get get on the nerves sometimes but at least he's SMART. The guy does his research and obviously knows the game. It's good to finally watch a game where people actually know what they're talking about and give smart detailed information about what is going on instead of Robot Turkeys and sound effects.

Gumbel is also leader of men.

I signed up here just to see what Chiefs fans thought of the NFL Network broadcast.

I'm transplanted to the DFW area and this is only the second Chiefs game we've been able to see this year. The other was the pounding by the Steelers and that don't count.

We were up in SE Kansas for Thanksgiving, where they have satellite TV or nothing. Thank goodness they had the NFLN package. Most of the country did not get to see this game. That's my first gripe about the NFLN.

But there are plenty more...

Bryant Gumbel: WTF? This guy was awful, it was almost like he was watching his first football game.

Commercials: How many times did they show that GMC truck ad? The IPOD ad where the kids take their shirts on and off?

Commercials played over the kickoffs and extra points: WTF? They even had to jump back to the game once when there was a penalty on a kick, pathetic.

Weird Camera angles: Lots of these, why not learn from the masters at the real networks and cover the game right?

But Gumbel takes the cake, at least he didn't let his reverse racist bias show up too much Thursday night.

I hope the NFL Network is the financial flop it derserves to be. Maybe then we'll get our games back on the real networks.

i didn't see the broadcast, i was at arrowhead, and i don't know how well they did or didn't do. but the overall programming on nfl network is great. nfl gameday on sunday nights has replaced nfl primetime for me. eisen, dieon, and mooch make for entertaining programming. so i have to disagree with you about hoping that it flops.

Yep, Gumbel sucked. I was pretty much disappointed by the whole broadcast. Happy with the win though.