NBC’s Dungy believes Tua could lead Miami ‘a long way.’ An update on TV plans for Dolphins
The NFL and NBC have decided to stick with the Dolphins-Steelers as the Sunday night game on Oct. 23 instead of flexing it out.
And among others, that pleases NBC analyst and former Florida Gators star Cris Collinsworth.
Asked if it’s good for the NFL for the Dolphins to be relevant again, Collinsworth cracked: “It’s good for me to get back to Florida as much as I can!”
Tua Tagovailoa could be ready to play in that game.
What happened the past two weeks to the Dolphins “is really too bad because what we saw from Tua and Teddy Bridgewater,” Collinsworth said. “This is a team that is extremely exciting with big play capability. On defense, good young players on that side of the ball.
“As far as intriguing to watch, you put Buffalo ahead of them, as far as offensive weapons. But the Dolphins are in that next group of two or three teams that you want to turn on the television and watch them play.”
I asked NBC studio analyst Tony Dungy what the Dolphins’ ceiling is at full health.
“I think their ceiling is very high from what I saw early on,” Dungy said. “They’re doing a lot of creative things on offense getting playmakers into the fold. Defensively, they were excellent last year. It depends on getting their quarterback situation healthy again.. Tua or Teddy could lead this team a long way.”
Even though the Steelers are 1-4, the NFL and NBC decided to stick with the Dolphins game in prime time for several reasons: the Steelers’ national popularity; the lack of appealing alternatives on the NFL schedule that day; the Dolphins’ 3-2 start; and the fact the Dolphins are celebrating the perfect season’s 50th anniversary that weekend. The NFL respects the enormity of that achievement.
If the Dolphins are in contention in December, they might get a Saturday game against Buffalo. But it’s unlikely they will be flexed to Sunday night on NBC during the final weeks of the season.
NBC assuredly will stick with Green Bay-Philadelphia on Nov. 27; the Dolphins play the dreadful Texans that day.
NBC has Colts-Cowboys on Dec. 4, on a day the Dolphins play at the 49ers.
NBC then has Chiefs-Broncos on Dec. 11, on a day the Dolphins play at the Chargers. It’s highly unlikely that NBC would flex out of either of those assigned games.
But the Dolphins’ Sunday, Dec. 18 game against Buffalo could be moved to a national telecast on Saturday, Dec. 17 on NFL Network. Two of the following five Dec. 18 games will be moved to Dec. 17: Baltimore-Cleveland, Indianapolis-Minnesota, Atlanta-New Orleans, Giants-Washington and Dolphins-Bills.
Dolphins-Packers is a national game on Fox on Christmas Day.
And the Dolphins’ Jan. 1 game at New England would seem unlikely to be flexed; Rams-Chargers will be NBC’s game that night. The Dolphins’ Jan. 8 finale at home against the Jets also seems unlikely to be moved to prime time on NBC.
Incidentally, Fox is sending Sunday’s Dolphins-Vikings game only to Miami Fort-Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Minnesota, the Dakotas and a few nearby markets, with Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma on the call.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Bally Sports Plus, a new service that allows viewers to gain access to the Bally Sports regionals without subscribing to cable or satellite television, is now available, and it’s a bit pricey.
Don’t blame Bally Sports Florida or Bally Sun for that; the prices were set nationally by Sinclair, which owns 19 Bally sports regionals.
The cost to get Bally Sports Florida or Bally Sports Sun is $19.99 a month or $189.99 a year. It’s $29.99 a month for both.
One reason the prices are that high: If Sinclair prices it much lower, it would anger cable and satellite providers that pay to carry the channels and potentially encourage cord-cutting, which could jeopardize future Sinclair negotiations with cable and satellite services.
Seven-day free trials also are available. Subscriptions and free trials can be accessed through Ballysportsplus.com.
Every cable or satellite system available in South Florida carries Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun except Dish Network and YouTube TV.
Devices that viewers can use to stream games or content via the Bally Sports app and Bally Sports Plus include iOS, tvOS, Android, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Xbox.
A couple of other notes: If you live in Heat and Panthers territory, you won’t be able to get Magic or Lightning games through Bally Sports Plus, because of league broadcast rules. That’s also the case for the two television networks.
Also, if you order Bally Sports Plus and want to leave town, you will be able to get the market-specific programming (such as Heat, Marlins or Panthers games) for 30 consecutive days. If you return to South Florida for a few days and leave town again, that would reset the 30-day clock and you could again get the games for 30 days in a row.
But South Floridians who want to spend an entire summer elsewhere can’t get Marlins or Rays games for more than 30 days in a row, at a time.
Bally Sports Florida declined to say how many people have purchased the service in Florida since it launched in June, but Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun general manager Steve Tello said “we are enthusiastic about the response,” while noting that “Bally Sports plus is specifically designed for the hometown cord-cutter and for fans looking for an easy, direct way to watch their favorite teams.”
▪ Saturday’s UM-Virginia Tech game will air on Bally Sports Sun, with the Oct. 22 UM-Duke game on Bally Sports Florida. Both kick off at 12:30 p.m.
▪ Bob Costas - who has transitioned fully to Warner Brothers - is working the Yankees-Cleveland baseball playoff series for TBS, then will anchor the network’s studio coverage for the American League Championship Series, with Brian Anderson calling the games.
Costas also does a monthly show on HBO and contributes to CNN. TBS, HBO and CNN all fall under the same corporate umbrella.
This story was originally published October 12, 2022 at 3:58 PM.
