As the NFL Playoffs continue their path towards Super Bowl LVII, scrutiny against game announcers will become louder and louder. WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti believes one in particular will get flack as the playoffs progress.
During Boomer & Gio Monday, Giannotti predicted FOX analyst Greg Olsen will blasted for his work after the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl.
“He is going to be crushed on Twitter,” Giannotti said of Olsen. “That’s my prediction, because I don’t know if people are really paying attention during the regular season to what the announcers are saying. During the Super Bowl they do. He’s going to get crushed.
“This guy points out every obvious thing that happens during the game, provides zero insight during the game, and sometimes points out things like there’s five-year-old watching the game. ‘Alright, there’s two minutes and three seconds left on the clock. This is the last play before the two-minute warning.’ Oh thanks, Greg. I’m really glad that you pointed that out,” Giannotti sarcastically concluded.
His comments came after mentioning that he thought very highly of FOX NFL play-by-play announcer — and former WFAN co-hort — Kevin Burkhardt. Giannotti said the two shared a text exchange before the broadcast where he wished Burkhardt well.
Super Bowl LVII will mark the largest assignment for both Burkhardt and Olsen, who both rose to the network’s top spots before the season. However, Olsen is slated to be replaced in the number one analyst role when Tom Brady ends his playing career. During an appearance on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina in December, Olsen admitted there are areas of broadcasting he can improve.
“My problem is — and this was also something when I was a player — you see so much that you find interesting,” the former NFL tight end said. “On any given play, it could be a 25-yard pass completion down the middle. The easy thing to point out is great throw by Patrick Mahomes and what a great catch by Travis Kelce. I’m always in the belief like ‘No shit, everyone at home saw that’. What element to why that was a good play can you provide the audience? The problem is do you want to pick what they did to the coverage, do you want to find the back who did a good job in pass protection.”
