Poor Dick Enberg. Though his voice is still strong, and I enjoy his enthusiasm calling the game, the 73-year-old Enberg struggled mightily at times yesterday, calling the wrong players, and getting numerous facts incorrect. I’ve always liked Enberg, but he’s clearly on the way down.
We never really got an explanation of why Dan Fouts was also there, forming a three man booth with Enberg and Randy Cross. They mentioned several times that Fouts would be with them for the next few weeks, but didn’t really mention why.
During the direct-snap Faulk TD run, it was also curious to hear the crew (Cross especially) wonder if the Patriots coaching staff cribbed that play from the Dolphins “wildcat” formations. Haven’t they seen the direct-snap to Faulk any of the numerous times the Patriots have done it since 2001?
On a local note the SOX & Dawgs blog says that it is time to replace Gil and Gino in the Patriots radio broadcast booth.
Shade of Bob Hohler moving from news side to the sports side at the Globe: Ian Donnis reports that the ProJo is moving City Hall reporter Dan Barbarisi to the Red Sox beat.
During CBS’ The NFL Today broadcast, there wasn’t too much Patriots talk, but Dan Marino did say of the team:
This team was built to win games with Tom Brady and play with a lead. I don’t think Matt Cassel is going to put them in a position to play with a lead.
On NFL GameDay Morning yesterday, Adam Schefter had the following to say about the tampering allegations that Al Davis made against the Patriots:
During his news conference, Al Davis also took some shots at the New England Patriots saying that they tampered with the former Raiders WR Randy Moss. Last June, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent out a memo that said teams should not be criticizing other teams or questioning them in public. The same thing happened after the ‘Spygate’ scenario last year. A memo went out saying teams should not be criticizing other teams and the New England Patriots are more sensitive about this than any other team in the league. The NFL is expected to take a look at this and either Davis has direct evidence that the Patriots tampered with Randy Moss, and in this case Davis gave them permission the day before the trade was made to speak with Moss directly, or the Oakland Raiders are going to face discipline from the NFL in the form of a fine or some sort of discipline. Al Davis opened up an entirely different can of worms when he went after the Patriots. That is an issue that is not going to go away anytime soon. That is something the league is now looking at.
On ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown”, the question was raised: Patriots or Colts: Who’s in more trouble?
Mike Ditka: “The Colts are. They are 32nd in trying to stop the run and 31st running the football. I don’t care, all the bye weeks I the world can’t change that. The other thing is the timing right now between Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, its not just what it seemed to be. Marvin Harrison is a heck of a football player, they are just not in sync right now. I think they have problems.”
Tom Jackson: “Both teams are in a little bit of trouble. One team lost the best player in the league. That’s going to be the most trouble anybody is going to have all year. When we saw them two weeks ago, to put it bluntly, ‘we can’t run the ball, we can’t stop the run, we can’t pass the ball, we can’t stop the pass.’ All of that is not Matt Cassel’s fault. I don’t know how much of that you can fix in two weeks. But the ongoing question – who’s in the most trouble, the team that lost Tom Brady.”
Cris Carter: “Both teams that we’re trying to discuss are built for their quarterbacks. One has their quarterback, one doesn’t have their quarterback … I’m not going to say I don’t think they can throw, they think they can’t throw. If you look at their playbook, four pass attempts over 20 yards in three games. Now, this is a team that’s built for (Tom) Brady, operated by Brady, and can’t be operated by anyone else. So, forget my opinion, their play calling dictates to me that Cassel is not a great reader of coverages and they don’t have confidence in him.”
Keyshawn Johnson: “I wouldn’t panic right now. You are in the first quarter of a four-quarter season. In the first quarter, the Buffalo Bills are leading this division in the AFC right now – New England wins today, Buffalo loses, they pretty much are even … You’ve got two veteran coaches here who know how to make changes. When things are tough, these two coaches, coach (Tony) Dungy and coach (Bill) Belichick, have been in these situations before. I wouldn’t just say they’re in trouble.”
FOX NFL Sunday also discussed the Raiders situation at length.
NBC promoted next week’s Patriots/Chargers matchup with a montage of highlights and clips between the two teams, with Brady’s injury, Tomlinson’s “no class” comments about Bill Belichick and featuring the tagline “No Love, No Brady, No Mercy.”
During TBS MLB on Deck on Saturday, the network offered up a Dennis Eckersley lexicon. We here in New England are of course familar with these terms from Eck’s work on NESN:
Ecktionary
Cheese = Fastball
Salad = Bad Pitch
Paint = Good Control
Johnson = Home Run
Moss = Hair
Boiling = Fat
Iron = Money
Filet = Ugly Person
Eckersley has been outstanding in the TBS role, easily the best part of the studio shows. As on NESN, he speaks his mind, and isn’t afraid to disagree with Cal Ripken Jr.
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They have run the direct snap to Faulk in the Super Bowl, that crew was terrible yesterday.
And to complete yesterday’s horrendus Boston broadcast daily-double we were subjected to “No Chip off the block” Caray and Buck “That’s his name” Martinez for the ALDS playoff game. I swear they’ve gotten worse as the series has progressed.
I almost wonder if they’re teaming Fouts up with Enberg and Cross because they want to another set of eyes in that booth in case Dick misses something, or maybe it’s just that CBS currently doesn’t have anyone to pair him up with. I too was flummoxed by the trio’s ignorance of the Pats’ direct-snap-to-Faulk play…you know Nantz and Simms wouldn’t have missed that for all the Pats games they’ve done.
They forgot a couple…
Yakker = curveball
Kitchen = strike zone
“Here comes the slickmaster with the oil.”
I love Gino like my own grandpa but he’s an embarrassment in the booth. Palinesque sentences that trail off into nothing. Gil is in the habit of sending the ball all over the field these days. One play its at the 25. The next play is at the 35….after an incomplete pass.
One thing I’ll say for Gil though. After listening to a season of ball washing with “tough” at bats and innings from house man Orsillo, Gil Santos’ candor is a breath of fresh air. If the team sucks that day, Gil says it. No sugar coating.
How can Sox and Dawgs recommend Zolak? with his wandering eye he’d miss as many plays as Gil and Gino.
I love Gil to death, but I agree it’s time to go. The problem is he has such a distinctive set of pipes.
As for Gino, ugh. A few seasons ago when Gino had heart problems, I believe they replaced him in the booth with Tim Fox. Straight up analysis of the game, good chemistry with Gil, no lame catchphrases, no need to project himself over the broadcast. I would welcome that in a heartbeat.
Maybe a Fox/McDonough booth for 2009?
I believe it was Pete Brock who replaced Gino in the booth during the latter’s heart surgery. I’d take either him or Fox, and as much as McDonough would be a nice fit with either of them he’s tied up with ESPN and it would probably require a large contract to pry him loose.
The last few years Santos has been killing me. He calls completions for the Pats, and then says “No, it’s incomplete” a few seconds later. You get all excited, and then get taken down. You just can’t do that in radio - you need to get it right the first time. And for today’s fans, I would think they could find someone younger than Gino. I remember him as a player, but I’m an old dude. Isn’t there anyone from the past thirty years they could find to do color?
as far as Chris Carter’s comments on ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown”, ….you left out the BEST part, where he said, “forget my opinion because the people in New England think they know more about football than anyone else”….this was followed by a sarcastic laugh from Tom Jackson…..I laughed like hell at that one, ESPN must get tons of “hate mail” from Pats fans ever since the way they handled “spygate” and “running up the score”
you can just tell, they know most Pats fans hate their guts……lol