Rating the NFL Network announcers for Vikings-Jets
Rich Eisen will leave the studio to call this game and be joined by Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner.
Having covered the sports TV-radio beat for the Star Tribune for eight years, I found there was plenty of interest in that side of the business.
We tune into games to watch the action, but the viewing experience either can be enhanced or taken away from by those describing what is going on.
Thus, each week I’m planning to do a brief analysis of who will be in the booth to call Vikings’ game and whether the assignment is a good or bad one.
Network and broadcast team: NFL Network will have Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner in the booth and Stacey Dales and Jamie Erdahl on the sideline.
Rating the duo: 5 on a scale of 1-10.
Why that rating? Eisen, the former “SportsCenter” anchor on ESPN and now the longtime face of NFL Network, is well known for his studio work but only does play-by-play of a few NFL Network-produced games each season.
I’ve listened to Eisen call bits and pieces of games, but have never paid close enough attention to give him too high or too low of ranking. It will be odd hearing him in the play-by-play role.
Andrew Marchand, who is a sports media critic for the Athletic and formerly worked at the New York Post, said last year on his podcast that he isn’t a fan of Eisen on play-by-play. “Rich Eisen — I’ve said it before — he’s just not a play-by-player. It’s distracting when you’re watching,” Marchand said.
Warner, the Hall of Fame quarterback, is the primary analyst for “Monday Night Football” on radio with Kevin Harlan and does a nice job. Hearing Warner break down the performance of Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold should be interesting. It would be a great move if the telecast gave us footage of Darnold during his time with the Jets and enabled Warner to show us what has changed in his mechanics.
The best news for Vikings fans, especially those who don’t have NFL Network, is the game also will be shown on KARE (Ch. 11) in the Twin Cities.