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After a morning filled with chatter and more chatter about Brett Favre and his debut in the afternoon with the New York Jets, Chad Pennington, the Jets' former quarterback, almost stole the show.
CBS, which televised the Jets-Miami Dolphins game, underplayed the Pennington story, but, to its credit, kept a lid on the Favre hype. That was a relief. By kickoff, we had heard enough.
Tom Jackson, during ESPN's NFL Countdown, predicted that Favre, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback, would “tear 'em up – period” with the Jets. On Fox's NFL Sunday, Terry Bradshaw knocked Packers management for moving him, saying, “He got screwed and the Green Back Packers' fans got screwed.”
Looking ahead to the Jets-Dolphins game, ESPN's Chris Berman, said, in his usual understated way, “The plot is deeper than an Agatha Christie novel.”
We had never thought of a Christie mystery as deep, but if you're looking for a story with a surprise or two, Favre is your guy. Every time he touches the ball, as he reminded us Sunday, is an adventure.
Perhaps because Favre usually makes his own news, CBS produced a straightforward telecast. It didn't oversell the Favre story. For the most part, it gave him the camera only when he deserved it. Late in the game, it went to him for reaction shots when Pennington was driving the Dolphins down the field. And the play-by-play team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms spent about the right amount of time analyzing his performance.
Early in the game, Simms gave him a jab after he threw low to a receiver in the end zone.
“By NFL standards, this is wide open,” Simms said.
By the fourth quarter, Simms was ready to admit Favre, who threw two touchdown passes, had played “extremely well.”
Pennington also threw two touchdowns. He was the flip side to the Favre story, the veteran who was released by the Jets after the club acquired Favre.
But the CBS telecast didn't pursue that story to any degree. Another miss was the reporting on kicker Mike Nugent, who left early after injuring his thigh.
His absence forced the Jets into a failed two-point conversion attempt. Their inability to kick for the almost-sure point probably would have cost them the game had Pennington been able to take to the Dolphins into the end zone with seconds remaining.
CBS doesn't employ a sidelines reporter and certainly it could have used one Sunday to provide more information on Nugent.
Strahan's debut
Fox's NFL Sunday is a success because it is largely personality-driven. It is an entertainment package more than a standard pregame show. And, within that framework, Michael Strahan, who made his debut Sunday, should do very well.
The retired New York Giants defensive end is a big-personality guy. He's confident, has a sense of humour and is completely at ease in front of the camera. But will he contribute anything that doesn't already exist on NFL Sunday, which is the banter in addition to the jocularity and off-the-cuff opinion? We'll see.
Strahan contradicted himself when he picked the Giants to win the National Football Conference, but then said Dallas Cowboys would triumph in the Super Bowl.
His opening comment, that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would not make the playoffs, wasn't supported by an argument, aside from citing quarterback Jeff Garcia's subpar preseason, although Jimmy Johnson noted that Garcia is a proved and reliable veteran.
Still, the chemistry was good.
And Strahan is so assured as a TV personality that he could have been starting his third season with Fox rather than his first.
*GameDay Morning, the NFL Network's new, two-hour pregame show, fell well short of producing the sort of strident opinion and glitz of ESPN's NFL Countdown, but it provided good information, particularly with the on-site stadium updates.
*Terry Bradshaw announced he is no longer the dumbest guy on NFL Sunday, given that Strahan turned down $8-million (all currency U.S.) to return to the Giants, choosing instead to stay with Fox, which pays him about $2-million a year.
*Howie Long noted that Strahan's addition brings the total number of divorces on NFL Sunday to six. Strahan was embroiled in a divorce a year ago. Bradshaw has been divorced several times.
*CBS ran a short feature during its half-time report that promoted a network restaurant-bar at Foxborough called CBS Scene. A commercial advertising the business would have been fine. Making it part of the football telecast seemed cheesy.
Open final streamed
The U.S. Open men's final, Monday at 5 p.m. EDT on CBS, will be streamed on CBSSports.com and U.S.Open.org and will be available to Canadians.
