Super Bowl week is about hype, previews, angles, interviews, reports, rumors, and everything else that’s good about sports television. And what better place to get your initial dose of pigskin hype than on NFL Network itself. I tuned into the network’s Super Bowl Live program on Monday, February 3 for my first hype dosage.
The show began with a lavish and colorful video open including clips of Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs players with background music from Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us. It was a fitting tune because there truly are no other teams like the Chiefs and Eagles. These were essentially the two best and most complete teams in the NFL all season with all due respect to the Detroit Lions, who had an excellent year.
The Chiefs and Eagles are also the league’s most championship seasoned clubs, having met in the Super Bowl two years ago. This matchup is as close as today’s NFL gets to a clash of titans. In addition, teams have been trying to knock the Chiefs off their lofty perch for some time now. The Eagles have no fear and possess the best chance and roster to do just that.
Kudos to the Super Bowl Live production staff for the really excellent opening montage with fast edits and live action video of players – really fine work. The Super Bowl airs this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on FOX, but NFL Network has the pregame fare covered better than any network with 60 hours of live coverage this week.
This particular edition of Super Bowl Live was hosted by the always terrific Mike Yam along with David Carr and Bucky Brooks. It was a good mix at the anchor desk with a seasoned host like Yam, an articulate former player in Carr, and Brooks, who combines experience as a former NFL player and front office staffer with analyst and reporter chops.
After some studio chit-chat, Yam tossed to reporter Sara Walsh live at the Chiefs’ hotel in New Orleans, site of Super Bowl LIX. I have always enjoyed Walsh’s on air work dating back to her days at ESPN. She has a smooth and seamless style about her that combines an easy-going manner with solid information. Walsh has found a home on NFL Network and has a strong presence this week.
She began her segment running through the Chiefs’ Super Bowl week commitments and then talked about how the team will prepare for the big game. While some people have trashed the Chiefs this year because of their uncharacteristic offensive deficiencies, Walsh quoted KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes as saying that this year’s club is more about the total team, not individual stats.
Walsh went through each of the Chiefs’ playoff games and talked about different players who stepped up and excelled. She provided a really nice summation. Yam then asked a follow up question about head coach Andy Reid leading to a good exchange between the two and a studio reflection on Reid’s career.
Brooks explained how Reid’s climb up the coaching ladder over the years has helped him as a head coach. Following the discussion, Yam threw to Stacey Dales stationed outside the Eagles’ hotel in New Orleans. Similar to Walsh, Dales ran down the Eagles’ schedule for the week then transitioned to an analysis of Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni.
It was long overdue praise. Sirianni has taken a lot of heat for his attitude, actions, and personality since becoming Philly’s head coach, but as a graphic on this particular program showed, he is the first head coach in Eagles’ history to lead the team to two Super Bowl appearances. Dales also talked about Sirianni as a teacher and a stickler for fundamentals. She said that he “teaches the details and galvanizes as a leader.” Dales has become a fixture at NFL Network. The former college and pro basketball star is a talented and hard working reporter. Dales does not get enough attention, but she is always solid, prepared, and on the mark with her work.
Coming back from the first break, Kyle Brandt, the ultimate television original, did a story on the Eagles’ infamous Brotherly Shove or Tush Push play in short yardage situations. He went to New York’s American Museum of Natural History for a segment with famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The unlikely duo talked about the scientific aspects of the play. In a segment that was both tongue-in-cheek and informative, Tyson explained that the Eagles’ have the advantage because they are snapping the football and the Chiefs have to react to them.
Tyson talked about kinetic energy, potential energy, the rotation of the Earth, and inertia, while Brandt sat across from him rapt in interest like a high school senior trying to get last minute extra credit in order to graduate. In a physical explanation of the play, Tyson clutched and lifted Brandt in a wrestling move. It was one of the most wonderfully awkward moments in Super Bowl hype history, cementing Brandt as sports television’s greatest innovator.
Following the segment, Brooks offered a really good analysis of the Eagles’ short yardage play showing how the blockers get in four-points stances to get low leverage on opposing defensive lines. Brooks has a real football essence about him. Like Louis Riddick on ESPN, he has seen all sides of the game and has a knack for explaining technical points in a captivating manner.
Brooks works with a lot of different NFL Network personalities and gels with them easily. I’d like to see more of him on air. Brooks mentioned that Eagles QB Jalen Hurts makes the tush push play work because of his physical strength thanks to a powerlifting background.
Graphics and stats are a big part of Super Bowl Live. The production team showed a nice graphic of quarterbacks with the most consecutive pass attempts without an interception entering a Super Bowl. Right now, Mahomes has thrown 288 straight passes with no picks, while Hurts has thrown 209 passes without an interception. Super Bowl LIX is the first playoff game ever between starting quarterbacks with 200+ passing attempts without an INT.
Carr offered a nice analysis on how Kansas City’s fine defense could force Hurts into tossing an interception, while Brooks took the Philadelphia defensive side, saying that putting pressure on Mahomes is the key.
Super Bowl Live eventually went back to New Orleans with two of NFL Network’s insider reporters, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. Rapoport talked about Myles Garrett’s public trade request from Cleveland while Pelissero chimed in with the story of the Houston Texans hiring Rams’ tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Nick Caley as their new offensive coordinator.
Coming back from a break, actor and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce narrated an exquisite video feature about his hometown. In studio, the trio then picked their favorite New Orleans Super Bowl moments. Brooks talked about Desmond Howard’s 99-yard kickoff return versus the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI revealing that in training camp that season, Howard was on the bubble as to even making the Packers roster.
Carr selected Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning field goal for the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, the play that essentially started the Pats’ dynasty. Yam chose Super Bowl XLVII, Ravens versus Niners, with brothers John and Jim Harbaugh facing off against each other as head coaches.
Of course, the Chiefs are in the title game so Super Bowl Live had to make some mention of superstar and Travis Kelce girlfriend Taylor Swift. A fun graphic showed Kelce’s numbers with and without Swift in attendance.
Super Bowl Live is not Tayor Swift. There are no flashy sets, blinding lights, or myriad costume changes. What the show does offer is a tangible and informative look at all the excitement and stories emanating from Super Bowl week. Yam, Carr, Brooks, and company bring us right to Bourbon Street with sense, stats, and substance.
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John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
