The Two Announcers That Called Last Nights Game....

[global1]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the General Discussion forum).

were clearly biased in favor of the Patriots & Brady. I had to turn down the sound cause I couldn't take their continuing fawning for the Pats. They kept on going over the two controversial plays hoping each would be called back. It was apparent to me they would have preferred a different outcome for the game. It was a great game. One for the history books. Well played by both teams. After the game they still had to replay those two calls - they had a hard time giving the Eagles their due.

[lark]

1. Yeah, the Brady Bro love from the NFL during the playoffs and Super bowl was thick and sickening.

I'm so very really glad trumper Brady lost!!!

[VMA131Marine]

2. There should have been no controversy about the Ertz touchdown

He was clearly a runner when he broke the plane of the goal line. The other one, I thought the receiver had two steps in control of the ball before he bobbled it and then stepped out of bounds. That one I thought could go either way. I did not think either of the NBC announcers were particularly good.

[PCIntern]

5. You are exactly correct and that POS Collinsworth

Has always hated the Eagles and cannot diss them enough.

[NewJeffCT]

3. Is this a GD topic?

just curious.

I barely watched the game last night, but a team that has had the longest run of success in NFL history is going to get some positive coverage just from announcers admiring their success.

[CTyankee]

10. I thought the same thing...

maybe it's been allowed under thee exception for national news events. I didn't watch the game even tho here in CT there are lots of Patriots fans. Not me.

[Orrex]

25. From my recent locked discussion on this subject:

From the GD rules: Threads about sports/sporting events which do not have a political angle are not permitted under normal circumstances and should be posted under Sports.

Open discussion of sports is permitted during very high-profile news events which are heavily covered across all newsmedia.

I'd say that the latter bit covers the OP pretty handily.

[DAngelo136]

4. The two announcers were

Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth. They're usually pretty good during the season. I'll just chalk it up to the producers and the network trying to drive up the drama for the broadcast. Personally, this was more like a backyard game of football than a usual NFL game.

[PCIntern]

8. Pretty good unless:

You’re a sub-.500 team or
One a a few teams old Cris hates the Eagles being one of them

[MagickMuffin]

6. Crhis Collinsworthless voice forces me to turn down the volume

And yes, he and Al Richards were very disappointed in the outcome.

As far as the "controversial" plays. The Refs in this one instance made the right call. They were both legitimate touchdowns. Collinsworthless should have kept his mouth shut, because now everyone is calling those plays "controversial" when in fact they are not.

And one more thing about the Pats and the coverage by the production crew. Has anyone ever noticed how much the camera follows Brady around. Brady sitting on the bench, Brady standing up, Brady picking his nose (oh wait the media would never show that) but you get the drift. There's a game on the field, for pete's sake!!!

[icymist]

14. And Brady's wife is cheering. Then Brady's wife looks sad.

And yeah, they probably would show Brady picking his nose and celebrating the Great American Booger on the end of his finger!

[lindysalsagal]

20. The ball was carried into the endzone. I know nothing about football, but, why does it have to be

more complicated than that?

Why does nfl have to be about the zillian rules, anyway? It's a ball. There are lines on the field. You take territory and it's yours.

This is a war game. Why so many rules?

[malthaussen]

35. Because there are a lot of sore loosers around.

I used to love football. The bullshit ruined it for me.

-- Mal

[MLAA]

7. I agree.

Particularly the touchdown where the pass was caught on the 3or 4 yard line then the receiver ran a couple steps before crossing the goal line and the broadcasters kept saying he didn’t have control. I just thought these guys are suppose to be experts? That particular play wasn’t even close since I could count at least two running steps.

[mr_lebowski]

29. Allow me to show you one example off the top of my head that suggests its no catch ...

Receiver unequivocally caught with both hands, full ball control ... on 4 yd line. 3 steps taken. Breaks plane of goal. Is fully tackled, on ground, clearly down by contact. Ball is never bobbled. But defender rips ball away from receiver AT THAT POINT on the ground when play should've been OVER ... twice ... once when plane broken, if not then, when down by contact ... Ruled no catch/TD.

So having seen calls made like the one on Streater (and this one of around a dozen times I've seen refs take TD's away that happen like that) is why the announcers were unsure which way that call would go.

[Sam McGee]

41. Agreed . . .

The receiver clearly was a runner with full possession of the ball.

Also -- as I recall, the ground can't cause a fumble -- and if he did fumble in the end zone, HE RECOVERED THE BALL IN THE END ZONE FOR A TOUCHDOWN.

The problem is Chris Collinsworth(less).

[SonofDonald]

9. No

They were fawning all over the pats, when the pats took back the lead all I heard was that they were going to win over the Eagles.

It was blatant and obvious who they were rooting for, it is just a game but that gave me a flat out wtf? moment due to the announcers obvious bias

[icymist]

11. The constant griping about those plays show that these announcers have contempt for

the referee and review system of the NFL. These two should not have been covering the Super Bowl. It made me wonder if they had gambling bets on the Patriots winning.

[MagickMuffin]

23. I think they were pissed they didn't meet the "Spread"

Hopefully they lost a LOT of $$$$$

[napi21]

12. NO KIDDING! I spent way too much time yelling at the announcers!

Even when the Pats missed the catch in the last play of the game, I firsst loudly cheered the Eagles WIN, and them tossed some obscenities at the d*mn announcers. During regular season games, I understand when the local announcer favors the Home Team, but during the Super Bowl, they should remain unbiased, even if that's not their personal feelings!

[jalan48]

13. Collingsworth sounds like he's talking in between drinks.

[barbtries]

15. i watched highlights only, this morning

because the Eagles won! i work in Philly on a regular basis, my son went to school there, so i'm rather fond of the place.

[NCTraveler]

16. Pretty good commentators.

People are going to play you up if you have years worth of greatness in your body of work.

I think Brady is an ass but to not understand the conversations about him as stated means there is something else going on. The guy is one of the best of all time and keeps winning.

[monmouth4]

18. Not yesterday he didn't..LOL nt

[NCTraveler]

30. No, he did not win yesterday.

Kind of obvious.

[mythology]

28. They should be a bit more skeptical of Brady

He was a middling college quarterback, he's been caught cheating and his body guru/business partner is an overt medical fraud, the fact that nobody is willing to ask the obvious questions about PEDs is obnoxious.

Same thing with Belichick. He was a middling coach in Cleveland and has also been busted cheating over a prolonged period of time on something he claimed was only a small advantage. And yet questioning if he's cheating on larger things isn't considered.

There was a time when something that was too good to be true, it would be looked at skeptically.

[NCTraveler]

31. They push the envelope.

No doubt about that. Similar to the Gators during Tebow’s run. Meyer pushed every rule to its limit. Just like there is no doubt he is one of the greatest to ever play the position.

[malthaussen]

36. This is true. But other teams have been accused of cheating, too.

During the run of Super Bowls for the 49ers, they were accused by about everybody of using forbidden blocking methods. Ditto the Steelers in the 1970's. As we are not on the field playing, it's hard to say how much of these sort of accusations have merit, and how much is sour grapes.

As a Steeler fan of long standing, I cannot think off-hand of a playoff game or SB where somebody didn't whine about some bad call, cheating, or favoritism. It kind of goes with the territory. Using instant replay for review has multiplied instances of this, at all levels.

-- Mal

[malaise]

17. They were awful

and are yet to say 'we got that one wrong'. Fugg 'em!

[davsand]

19. I had no dog in the hunt and I thought the commentary was poor.

I was not especially passionate about which team won. They both had to have played some good ball at some point in the season to even be there--that's how it works. Having said that, I commented during the game that I thought the color guys were just WRONG about the calls they found "objectionable." Once the replay was shown on both those calls, I thought it was pretty clear that the refs on the field got it right. I also thought it was fairly unprofessional of the color guys to keep on disagreeing about the calls AFTER the game had resumed.

YMMV.


Laura

[stopbush]

21. Its also the way they sluff off penalties that were obvious against the Pats

but that weren’t called. “no one is going to call Gronk for that push off in the SB.” Yes. We know that. The point is that the refs did call the Eagles on penalties that were just as minor/borderline.

The refs always, always help the Pats at the expense of their opponents. Just take a look at who has the most penalties yesterday.

[MagickMuffin]

26. Well apparently according to Collinsworthless

The Pats did not receive 1 offensive penalty the whole year until last night. That should tell you something!!!

It kinda explains how the Pats get to the Super Bowl year after year. The Refs don't throw flags/call penalties against the Pats. Why that would be unpatriotic, now wouldn't it???

[left-of-center2012]

22. Patriot haters have to hate

No matter what happened or the final outcome,
folks would be out today damning the Patriots.

Geeze !

[LexVegas]

24. Reap. Sow. nt

[global1]

27. The Intention Of My OP Was Not To Damn The Patriots....

they played an impressive game as well and I would have been satisfied that I watched an historic game no matter which team won.

My OP was to take the announcers to task - that they didn't call an unbiased game. It was clear to me and it looks like it was clear to others here that responded to my post that these announcers were playing favorites.

I hope the NFL and NBC consider other more unbiased announcers in the future. I won't keep the sound on to watch the game next year if these two guys are invited back.

[louis-t]

32. You are correct. Heard it with my own ears.

"I can't WAIT for this to be called back" exclaimed one of them.

[stonecutter357]

33. K&R

[gay texan]

34. Meh

I hate football. I bought an antique tractor and spent the weekend making it live again.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Yes! They were awful

[thbobby]

38. Michaels and Collinsworth are idiots. nt

[mountain grammy]

39. Agree, they were clearly biased.

But it didn't matter. It was a great game, one football fans will talk about for years. This one was for football fans, and me, with no skin in the game, loved every exciting minute..

[Sam McGee]

40. Chris Collinsworth

Collinsworth especially is past his expiration date. After watching the Super Bowl last night, I decided to never watch another game with him as a commentator -- if need be, I'll turn the sound off.

He is irritating, obnoxious, clearly biased and an all-around asshole.

[DonViejo]

42. Locking....

The game was last night, please post this in the Lounge or one of the Sports Groups, e.g., Football

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