NFL Week#3: CBS’ Nantz and Romo have Saints@Seattle; Fox’ Buck and Aikman work TNF and are off Sunday

Friends, another NFL weekend! Week #3. FULL SCHEDULE, TALENT AND NETWORK GEOGRAPHY BELOW

• Arizona does not get CBS’ late game on Sunday. Little switcharoo. New Orleans @ Seattle, usually an NFC game is on CBS this week and Oakland at Minnesota, typically a CBS game, is on Fox.

• The Tiffany Network has the twin-bill and the Foxies the single game.

• For Fox, Dan Hellie and Brady Quinn get their first shot this season. Sam Rosen, 72, hasn’t worked yet.

• Be respectful to the elders. Dick Stockton, 77 in November, Al Michaels 75 in November and the phlegmatic Greg Gumbel is 73.

• Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland work symbiotically. Tess is feeling more relaxed. Other than a scripted call on OJ Beckham’s 89 yarder the other night, he’s feeling more relaxed in his second MNF season. Tess did have a Don Meredith moment after referencing the Dolphins’ trade of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Steelers, “Will Minkah please shut out the lights on his way out.” The Dolphins have liquidated their roster.

• SiriusXM has every game on radio, either feed, home or away. Schedule here

Jake Baskin profiles Tom McCarthy who’ll work the CBS, Cincinnati- Buffalo game. His thumbnail is below the schedule and network geography.

Chris Roth, an Arizona State media student, shares his observations of last week’s Fox team, Brandon Gaudin and Cris Carter.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars, 8:20p NFLN

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

National coverage

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills, 1:00p CBS

Tom McCarthy, Jay Feely

5% of US, 18 markets in parts of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pa. and NYS, including Cincy, Columbus, Toledo, Lexington, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse

Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys, 1:00p FOX

Kevin Burkhardt, Charles Davis

21% of US, through  all Texas, NM ,Oklahoma, Ark, Tenn Miss, Louis and Al. Much of Ga and South Florida.  

Denver Broncos at Green Bay Packers, 1:00p FOX

Chris Myers, Daryl Johnston

32% of US, from DC to Seattle, taking a strong East to West northern course, including coverage in the City of of Broad Shoulders, Chicago

Atlanta Falcons at Indianapolis Colts, 1:00p CBS

Andrew Catalon, James Lofton

16% of US, some 40 markets in Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Alab, Mississippi, Louisiana, East Texas, Tenn, SC, NC and Ky including Atlanta, Indy, Nashville, Birmingham, Tampa and Charlotte 

Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00p CBS

Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts

60% of US, some 60 markets, The Gateway City, St. Louis and all markets west, plus chunks of Wisc, Mich, Pa, Ky, Fl and DC

Oakland Raiders at Minnesota Vikings, FOX, 1:00p,

Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth

8% of US,  10 markets in Northern California and Nevada, like SF and SAC and the Upper Midwest anchored by the Twin Cities

New York Jets at New England Patriots, 1:00p CBS

Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon

14% of US, all Eastern NY, Conn, RI, Mess, Vermont, Maine and 3 markets in southern Florida

Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles, 1:00p FOX

Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman

8% of US for Marty’s son through Michigan, Ohio and Pa., from the Motor City through the Steel City and to the City of Brotherly Love.

Carolina Panthers at Arizona Cardinals, 4:05p FOX

Dan Hellie, Brady Quinn

12% of the US, in the Carolinas and Arizona and a sprinkling of other cities including, KC, Indy and Cincinnati

New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4:05p FOX

Kenny Albert, Ronde and Tiki Barber

18% of US. All NY and New England parts of the Sunshine State and Baltimore where Kenny once worked minor league hockey

Houston Texans at Los Angeles Chargers, 4:25p CBS

Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta

7% of US, through Southern California, Texas, Colorado and disjointed geographic pockets including Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio, Denver,  Kansas City and Nashville

New Orleans Saints at Seattle Seahawks, 4:25p CBS

Jim Nantz, Tony Romo

63% of US, virtually everything other than Northern California, Reno, lots of Tx, Ohio, Pa and a few scattered markets

Pittsburgh Steelers at San Francisco 49ers,  4:25p CBS

Greg Gumbel, Trent Green

19% of US, Northern California, Reno, Ohio, Pa and a few scattered markets

Los Angeles Rams at Cleveland Browns, 8:20p NBC

Al Michaels, Chris Collisworth

National coverage

Monday, September 23, 2019

Chicago Bears at Washington Redskins, 8:15p ESPN

Joe Tessitore, Booger McFarland

National coverage

Tom McCarthy does his first NFL game for CBS TV this season:

Tom McCarthy makes his season debut this week as the Bills take on the Bengals in Buffalo. This is McCarthy’s sixth season in the #7 spot for CBS, but Sunday will mark his first game alongside former Pro Bowl kicker Jay Feely.

McCarthy is best-known as the television voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, the culmination of a baseball broadcasting journey that has allowed him to spend his entire career living in his home state of New Jersey. After six years behind the mic for the Double-A Trenton Thunder, he joined the Phillies’ broadcast team as the pre- and postgame radio host in 2001, adding a secondary radio play-by-play role a year later.

McCarthy left for the Mets’ radio booth in 2006 but rejoined the Phillies two years later in a secondary play-by-play role, this time on TV. Following the untimely passing of Harry Kalas early in the 2009 season, McCarthy became the Phillies’ lead television announcer, a role he has held since.

McCarthy isn’t just a baseball guy. While working his way up to the Major Leagues, he also called college football and basketball on radio for Princeton, Rutgers, and later St. Joseph’s. Westwood One hired him in 2008 to do college football and basketball games. He would soon work his way up to the radio network’s NFL rotation as well. Tom called his first NFL game for Fox during the 2013 season, and moved over to the Eye the following year.

***

Brandon Gaudin worked his first ever NFL game on national TV, for FOX last week.

Chris Roth, an Arizona State University sports media student, has an appreciation for a good broadcast. He reviewed Brandon Gaudin’s work last week:

Gaudin was teamed with with former Ohio State and NFL star Cris Carter, known mostly to viewers for his studio work. They called the Arizona-Baltimore game. 

Brandon sounded like a seasoned pro, right from the start. Considering the fact he has done primarily college football and basketball, his call was spot on and he was impressively confident on the network stage. Gaudin meshed well with Carter who has a strong personality. Brandon set Carter up and gave him enough space to get his points across.

Gaudin has done lots of radio. Like others, he hollered a bit when he started his career. He’s learned to moderate his tone. Brandon is blessed with a strong voice that fills the room. He also has the natural qualities to build excitement. Moving  from radio to TV, he’s learned to caption, not to over-describe.

Cris’ personal stories are great, probably best suited for a talk show format, but he’s still funny. He told of a moment before the game when he was waiting for Larry Fitzgerald on the sweltering field, sharing with viewers that he sweat through his undershirt. A little too much info? Cris has a personal connection to many players in this game, like Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald who grew up idolizing him. 

There was one unclear moment, a kickoff before the end of the first half. The receiver caught the ball with one foot out. The rule was a bit confusing to this viewer but Carter attempted to clear it up.

Overall, I loved Carter’s enthusiasm. It was contagious. We’ll see whether Fox finds more room for him on its depth chart of announcers. Neither of the two announcers overused cliches.

I would give this duo a good grade.