Sunday Night Football aims to pick one of the best matchups from every week of football to display in prime time. And looking at tonight’s matchup, between the Colts and the Giants, you’d think they had picked a winner. A rematch of the Manning brothers? For only the second time in their esteemed careers? How could that possibly go wrong?
Well, Peyton could kick his little brother’s ass into dust. Yeah, that might do it. The problem with a blow out is that it makes it extremely hard for the announcers to get excited about a game, and as such, difficult for the viewer to get into the game as well. So unless you are a Colts’ fan, tonight’s game probably didn’t have a lot of appeal to you; and if you’re a Giants’ fan, you’re probably pretending tonight’s game didn’t happen.
That being said, some of tonight’s calls are worth repeating, because it’s never all bad when it’s football. Tonight’s calls better described what was happening on the field to the uninitiated, which as I pointed out last week, is key to Sunday Night Football’s success. So calls like this: “That’s the problem when you’re calling the [defensive] matchups and Peyton Manning is basically the offensive coordinator out there” help explain why Peyton Manning is such an offensive powerhouse; you know, other than being able to throw really far and stuff.
The rest of the evening the calls were descriptive, if not terribly memorable. I’d love to hear more nicknames for players; that is something that has really been lost in modern football. For instance, one of the broadcasters referred to Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, the Colts’ tight ends, as “The Bookends” when their stat cards popped up. However, on the play before, when both players rushed in to smash Eli Manning, he made no mention of their nicknames - which is a travesty. Hearing a professional broadcaster yell “And Eli Manning is smashed by THE BOOKENDS!” could make a highlight reel all on its own; so let’s get on it, NBC! I want to hear NFL players referred to as “Lightning Bolt”, “Big Gun”, and “Red Rover” in next week’s game.
Moving onto a more technical level, I would be thrilled to hear more of the on-field audio, especially before the ball is snapped. There is always a little bit of dead air that could stand to be filled by Peyton Manning’s great play calling. Seriously, he’s the guy that yells things like “Blue dog, sixty-four, gatling gun, wonka, HUT!” - and is actually calling a play. I’m all for more of that and less of the often dreary television announcers.
Tonight’s broadcast was an exceptional improvement over last week’s, and would have gained quite a bit had the game been more exciting. Nevertheless, at least one of the Manning brothers performed well, and the broadcasters stepped up their game big time. Much hype is being built up for next week’s Dolphins and Jets’ game (when you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the… err…) - we’ll see if it holds up to the hype.
Until then, check out some of the stats from this week’s game below.
Eli Manning (NYG) passed for only 161 yards, and completed 13/24 attempted passes. He managed to throw two touch downs, but was picked off once.
Peyton Manning (IND) passed for 255 yards, completed 20/26 attempts, threw three touch downs and gave up no interceptions.
The Colts rushed for 410 yards, while the Giants managed to snag half of that with 257 yards.
The Giants were penalized three times for twenty five yards, which is one category in which they beat the Colts, who were penalized six times for fifty-five yards.
Touchdowns (NYG): 2, (IND): 5
