1. This offseason saw an upheaval as we’ve never seen before when it came to NFL broadcasters. Entire crews switched networks, the most significant hire is still playing football and a completely new outlet may end up with the best booth in the business.
As we get ready for the 2022 season to kickoff—Thursday night on NBC with the Bills visiting the Rams—here’s what you need to know about the five No. 1 broadcast crews.
CBS: This is the only network with some continuity in the booth. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will return for their sixth season together. And they will surely be together for a while. Romo re-signed with CBS in 2020 for 10 years. The tide, though, has started to turn a tiny bit against Romo, who was a fan favorite and media darling during his first few years in the booth. It will be interesting to see whether Romo tones things down at all or continues to be himself.
NBC: After waiting in the wings for a few years, Mike Tirico, who does an excellent job calling games, is taking over as the voice of Sunday Night Football, which has been the No. 1 show on television for the last 11 years. Cris Collinsworth will return for his 13th season as lead analyst. Tirico has filled in on many games over the years, so while technically this is a new booth, the pair have a lot of experience working together.
Fox: The new No. 1 broadcast crew is Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen. For now. The new No. 1 broadcast crew will be Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady if and when Brady ever decides to stop playing. Burkhardt is more than worthy of the gig. Olsen is in a fascinating spot. He’s done only one full season in the booth and he’s seen as someone who is keeping the seat warm for the GOAT. What happens if Olsen shines in the role and becomes a favorite of the media and fans and then Brady hangs it up after this season? Fox has the Super Bowl this season, so it will be Burkhardt and Olsen broadcasting to more than a million viewers on Feb. 12, 2023. And if the Bucs don’t make it, maybe it will be Burkhardt, Olsen and Brady?
ESPN: After years of trying to find a good Monday Night Football booth, the Worldwide Leader hit the jackpot and ended up with as good a pairing as you can have in Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who called games together on Fox for 20 seasons. ESPN has a top-level main booth after finding huge success last season with the ManningCast alternative broadcast on ESPN2. Like last season, Peyton and Eli will do only 10 ManningCasts over the course of the season.
Amazon Prime Video: Al Michaels is coming over from NBC and Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s lead college football analyst, is taking on a second gig to call Thursday Night Football. Yes, Herbstreit will do both jobs. The pair called a preseason game together Aug. 25 and sounded as if they had been calling games together for years. Michaels, at 77, is still as good as ever and is as good as any play-by-play man in the sport. Landing him was a huge win for Amazon as it tries to establish credibility in its first season with exclusive rights. Herbstreit sounded like a natural doing a couple of NFL games for ESPN in recent years. The ceiling for this booth is very, very high.
2. College football is back, which means “Bad Beats,” courtesy of Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve, is back. And that is a beautiful thing. The highlight of the Week 1 “Bad Beats” was SVP perfectly describing what betting Hawai'i games is like for degenerate gamblers.
3. Regular Traina Thoughts readers and SI Media Podcast listeners know how much I love Kyle Brandt and Peter Schrager, but I think Jason McCourty just became my new favorite Good Morning Football host.
4. When most people get fired, they don’t like rehashing the details and retelling the story. That is not the case with former LSU coach Ed Orgeron, as you will see below.
5. I know this happened four days ago, but this is my first Traina Thoughts since last Thursday so I had to post this clip no matter how dated it may be. I want North Carolina to win every single one of its football games just to see what dance coach Mack Brown gives us after each one. Here's what he pulled off Saturday after the Tar Heels beat Appalachian State.
6. The latest episode of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by yours truly features an interview with longtime fantasy football guru Matthew Berry.
Berry talks about what led to his recently leaving ESPN after 15 years and why he ultimately decided to join NBC Sports. Berry also discusses fantasy football’s enormous popularity, how legalized sports betting has impacted fantasy football, how he’ll cover gambling for NBC, how he handles social media, his love for Howard Stern and much more.
The podcast closes with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment with Sal Licata, from WFAN and SNY in New York. The week, Jimmy reads recent SI Media Podcast Apple reviews, Sal talks about meeting one of his idols and then getting a follow on Twitter and then the duo talk about some potential NFL win totals they may bet.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
