1. A non-competitive Super Bowl meant a ho-hum broadcast for NBC’s Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth.
There just wasn’t anything there in Sunday’s Seahawks-Patriots game to dive into. There was no strategy. There was no controversy. There was no intrigue.
The game was about two things: Seattle’s suffocating defense and Drake Maye looking like he had no business on the main stage.
It’s hard not to believe Maye wasn’t affected by his right shoulder injury, but NBC didn’t really dive into that. Right before the game, sideline reporter Melissa Stark told viewers that Maye told her his shoulder was fine. He had to be lying, because if his shoulder was fine, then he has no excuse for being awful, regardless of how well Seattle’s defense played.
Collinsworth came out of the gate way too overhyped and talked way too much early on. It was almost as if he was trying to sell you on a game that 100 million people were already watching.
He also pulled a Tony Romo, saying “this could determine the game” when New England was pinned back in its own territory with 4:18 left in the first half and the score 6–0. Games are rarely determined with 4:18 left in the second quarter.
My biggest issue with Collinsworth during the game came in the second half when he was constantly talking about how tremendous the Seahawks’ defense was while simultaneously trying to tell us that the Patriots were one or two plays away from being in the game. If Seattle’s defense was as good as Collinsworth was saying (calling it "one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen in the National Football League”), then New England doesn’t have a chance to get back it the game, which is how it played out.
I get that the only thing Tirico and Collinsworth want is a competitive game, but that game was not competitive at all. They wanted to will the Patriots back into it to keep the audience, but it felt so forced.
Collinsworth’s best moment of the night came after a terrible Drake Maye interception. Collinsworth didn’t try to insult the audience by coming up with an excuse for Maye. He simply said, “I’ve got nothing for you here.”
More of this, please. It would be so awesome if more analysts would take this tact.
Tirico called the typical Tirico game. It was smooth. There were no hiccups. No head-scratching lines. Just a solid nuts-and-bolts broadcast.
I did feel bad for Tirico when he was forced to promote the NFL’s International games midway through the third quarter as if anyone football fan cares that a game will be played in Australia next season, but that wasn’t his fault.
Overall, NBC’s game coverage was a solid B. Unfortunately for Tirico and Collinsworth, the Patriots did not have a chance to give to get to an A.
2. The best moment that NBC had the entire day came during its pregame show when former Patriots Rodney Harrison called out Tony Dungy for his absurd and nonsensical defense of Hall of Fame voters not electing Bill Belichick to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It’s hard to take Dungy seriously, but this was still good television.
3. Here’s how insane the cost of attending a sporting event has gotten. An NFL spokesperson had to get on social media and correct the pricing of parking at the Super Bowl by letting everyone know it ONLY cost $120 for a parking pass as if that’s reasonable. What are we doing?
4. This is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen in my life. Not so much because a hamburger is $180, but because I can’t fathom why or how anyone would eat this while at a football game. Or anywhere else for that matter.
5. The over/under on Sam Darnold’s rushing yards last night was 5.5. At one point during the game, the Seattle quarterback sprinted for an 11-yard run. Over bettors figured they were in good shape. Those betters, myself among them, were wrong.
With 2:14 left in the fourth quarterback, Darnold dropped back to pass, but then dropped to the ground for a six-yard loss. The official scorer counted this as a rushing play, not a sack. If you are a math person, you know that 11-6=5. The over was 5.5. Just as devastating a loss as you can have.
The only thing that cheered me up was Scott Van Pelt acknowledging my disaster on SportsCenter.
6. I’m not going to lie to you. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast is a little outdated now, since my guest was Maria Taylor, who hosted yesterday’s Super Bowl pregame show.
But you should listen to it anyway.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Trainaon YouTube.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I thoroughly enjoyed this commercial last night.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughtsand check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcasthosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotifyor Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Xand Instagram.
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JIMMY TRAINA
Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.
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