Your guide to the NFL on TV this season, including several changes
This was an NFL offseason when ESPN again shuffled its NFL studio talent, Jason Witten stunningly left a coveted TV job to play 25 snaps a game for the Dallas Cowboys and Bruce Arians returned to coaching after spending a year repeatedly questioning Adam Gase in CBS’ booth.
A look at what the network rights-holders are planning for NFL coverage this season:
CBS
What’s on: Mostly Sunday road games of AFC teams, plus Bills at Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
What’s new: Arians left CBS’ No. 3 team to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and wasn’t replaced. Tiki Barber, who worked in NBC’s studio many years ago, will work a few games.
Announcing teams, in order: Jim Nantz, Tony Romo; Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts; Greg Gumbel, Trent Green; Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon; Andrew Catalon, James Lofton; Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta; Tom McCarthy, Jay Feely; Beth Mowins, Tiki Barber.
Comment: CBS has always had stronger depth of game announcers than Fox, and that remains the case. The Harlan/Gannon team should be at least third, not fourth. ... Romo’s contract is set to expire after this season, but CBS presumably will do all it can to keep him. He’s reportedly seeking at least $8 million a year. … Catalon and Lofton will work Miami’s opener against visiting Baltimore, and Eagle and Fouts will call the Week 2 Dolphins’ home game against the Patriots.
FOX
What’s on: Mostly road games of NFC teams on Sundays, plus Bears-Lions on Thanksgiving and 11 Thursday night games: Eagles-Packers on Sept. 26, Rams-Seahawks on Oct. 3, Giants-Patriots on Oct. 10, Chiefs-Broncos on Oct. 17, Redskins-Vikings on Oct. 24, 49ers-Cardinals on Oct. 31, Chargers-Raiders Nov. 7, Steelers-Browns Nov. 14, Colts-Texans Nov. 21, Cowboys-Bears Dec. 5, Jets-Ravens Dec. 12. Fox also will carry the Super Bowl from Hard Rock Stadium.
What’s new: Tony Gonzalez joins the Thursday night studio show, allowing Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long to split those Thursday games. Michael Strahan returns as host on Thursday night broadcasts and as an analyst on the Sunday studio show.
Announcing teams, in order: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman; Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis; Kenny Albert, Rondé Barber; Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman; Chris Myers, Daryl Johnston; Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth. When Fox has a seventh or eighth game, those analyst duties will be shared among Carolina and former UM tight end Greg Olsen (doing a game on his bye week), Cris Carter, Tiki Barber, Matt Millen and Brady Quinn.
Comment: Nice gesture by Fox to give Millen (an analyst on the Big Ten Network) one NFL assignment following his heart transplant. ... Fox will again allow Jimmy Johnson to fly home to South Florida (the Florida Keys) after working Fox’s Sunday pregame show. … Burkhardt and Davis have settled in as a solid No. 2 team, and Spielman — while not dynamic — offers some of the most substantive NFL analysis on television.
ESPN
What’s on: Monday night games, beginning with an opening doubleheader of Texans-Saints and Broncos-Raiders
What’s new: Quite a bit. With Witten returning to the field, ESPN’s sole Monday night analyst (alongside play-by-play man Joe Tessitore) will be former sideline analyst Booger McFarland, who rode around his BoogerMobile offering insights last season until moving to the booth for a playoff game. … Tedy Bruschi replaces Charles Woodson on the Sunday Countdown pregame show, alongside Sam Ponder, Matt Hasselbeck, Randy Moss, Rex Ryan and Louis Riddick. ... Riddick replaces Woodson on the main Monday set, with Adam Schefter now traveling to those games to report for the studio shows. … Former Raiders coach Jack Del Rio and former Dolphins executive Mike Tannenbaum were hired for studio roles.
Announcing team: Tessitore and McFarland.
Comment: ESPN wanted Peyton Manning for its Monday night booth, but Manning doesn’t want to consider that job until his brother, Eli, retires. … Using McFarland as the sole analyst is a gamble. Riddick would have made sense as a second analyst. … ESPN’s pregame ratings rose 4 percent last season after an initial double-digit drop in 2018, Ponder’s first year as Chris Berman’s Sunday studio successor. … While most of NBC’s Sunday night games match two expected contenders, ESPN is burdened with too many games involving one contender and a team not expected to be, such as Bears-Redskins Sept. 23, Bengals-Steelers Sept. 30, Browns-49ers Oct. 7 and Dolphins-Steelers Oct. 28.
NBC
What’s on: Sunday night games, plus the Packers-Bears opener on Thursday night, Sept. 5, and Saints-Falcons Thanksgiving night.
What’s new: Nothing
Announcing team: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Comment: The Sunday night studio show spends far too little time on highlights and too much time on interviews and features involving the Sunday night matchup. … Michaels/Collinsworth remains best in class among games announcers, though Nantz and Romo are now comparable.
NFL Network
What’s on: All Thursday night games except the two NBC games, including simulcasts of Fox’s games and two other standalone NFL Network Thursday night games: Tampa-Carolina Sept. 12 and Tennessee-Jacksonville Sept. 19.
Also, on Saturday Dec. 21, NFL Network will carry three games among these five at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 8:15 p.m: Detroit-Denver; Raiders-Chargers; Bills-Patriots; Rams-49ers; Texans-Buccaneers. And NFL Network will also carry two 9:30 a.m. Sunday games from London: Carolina-Tampa Bay on Oct. 13 Houston-Jacksonville Nov. 3.
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 2:10 PM.