The first weekend of the NFL regular season is officially over—and what a weekend it was, filled with drama, comebacks, missed kicks, and bad beats galore. It was a reminder of just how obsessed the country is with football.
With the first week comes a lot of debuts. Rob Gronkowski made his full-time NFL on FOX pregame show debut. J.J. Watt made his debut in the booth for CBS Sports’ number two team. Also, with the first week comes a lot of recalling of the weekend as to who shined brightest among the rest and who had a tough week at the office.
Just like on the field, sports media had its share of highlights and missteps. Here are my winners and losers from the first weekend of NFL coverage.
WINNER – Booth Debut of J.J. Watt
Let’s start with who shined brightest this weekend. The ones who stood out the most among the rest and made for a more enjoyable NFL weekend.
The debut of J.J. Watt in the CBS Sports booth alongside Ian Eagle was the weekend’s biggest win in the NFL. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year won over the audience, showing not only his deep knowledge of the game but also his personality. Watt provided a WWE reference to a heel turn during a switched call by the referee. He shared laughs with Eagle following commentary about New Jersey and making a spectacular catch while keeping both feet in bounds.
He clearly spent time in the offseason refining his craft. Explaining plays with clarity, keeping viewers engaged, and weaving in humor and cultural references. Watt did what Tom Brady didn’t last year. He felt human, approachable, and relatable, without sounding like a fan or coach.
WINNER – NBC Sports
Congrats to NBC Sports on choosing the exact right time to begin promoting the NBA on NBC coverage, beginning on October 21. NBC Sports knew the eyes of the world would be fixated on the first primetime matchup of the NFL season featuring the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. They didn’t miss the moment.
The promo itself leaned into the nostalgia that longtime sports television viewers would recognize, with names they also knew. Grant Hill ripped off the warmups. Vince Carter met with a “Vinsanity” fan in the crowd. Reggie Miller signed a shoe and tossed it to a disgruntled Knicks fan, followed by the iconic choke motion from the Hall of Famer.
Wrapping up the promo was John Tesh’s legendary “Roundball Rock,” promoting coverage beginning on October 21. Yes, the NBA is still seven weeks away. This promo and the timing of its release were a massive win for the NBC Sports team.
WINNER – NFL RedZone Commercial Load
With all the talk last week about how the NFL is inserting commercials into RedZone, the season debut showed the hype was just that. The league is making money off the commercials. So is every other broadcast company. I didn’t understand what the big deal was, especially the outrage, even if it was experimented with last year.
I thought how RedZone broadcast the ads was smart—never losing the action in the double-box look with advertisements on the left and action on the right. Only one spot per play and only one minute total of advertisements in the broadcast.
I understand how RedZone seemed like the last man standing in the way of commercial insertion into football, but you can’t prevent it forever. Everyone, even the NFL, is continuing to find ways to cash in on the NFL product. RedZone is no different. Scott Hanson continued to shine in his season debut, taking football fans on a seven-hour journey through a very exciting and highlight-filled first Sunday of action.
Not everything went 100% up to snuff in week one of the NFL season. Like in any NFL game, there is a loser with every winner. Here are my three losers for week one of the NFL season.
LOSER – Ryan Clark
Ryan Clark should be on thin ice following his commentary toward Peter Schrager on Friday. The former NFL safety dismissed an opinion by Schrager on Get Up by saying the opinion was “the non-player in you” stating the opinion—basically, the former player telling the non-former player, “You don’t know what you’re talking about because you didn’t play” argument.
Working in sports media for over two decades, I have always hated when former players would spout this claim. Yes, former players are paid handsomely for their knowledge of the game because of their experience on the field and in the locker room. Yes, former players can provide perspective that non-former players cannot because of their experience.
However, when former players use this crutch excuse to dismiss or disregard the opinion of someone who has covered the league for as long as Clark played in it, it is simply wrong. As bad as that sounded on the air, the cleanup and follow-up were even worse. Reports of off-the-air interactions between the two followed the airing, leading to social media backlash against Clark and his comments.
Clark did apologize on social media and has not stated much since. The question is now: will ESPN keep Clark and his services, or will they let this incident become bigger than it already has been by cutting the former Steelers great?
While the comments don’t shed Clark in the best light, they are not fireable. There have been plenty of former athletes who have done the same as Clark and lived to work another day. The same should be true for Clark.
LOSER – Rob Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski’s debut on the main desk in a full-time role at FOX Sports left much to be desired. He never sounded comfortable with the role he was placed in, and his offerings didn’t add much to the conversation.
Several times, “Gronk” was caught just repeating what was just said to make it look as though he shared the same point of view as someone else. He didn’t leap in on the controversial statement by Terry Bradshaw, who said he felt Jerry Jones did the right thing by trading Micah Parsons. That would have been a great opportunity for Gronk to distinguish his voice among others.
Simply put, it didn’t sound like “Gronk” was prepared or put in much effort over the summer to improve on his short stint in the chair last season. It’s only week one, so I fully expect the folks at FOX Sports to work with the former NFL tight end and get him up to speed.
LOSER – YouTube Viewership
The biggest loser of the weekend is YouTube. The viewership for Friday night’s Kansas City Chiefs contest against the Los Angeles Chargers was a massive swing and a miss. I did like how the broadcast attempted to blend in a new way of discussing the broadcast using YouTube creators instead of former NFL players alone. The broadcast with Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner sounded as good as it always has on NFL Network.
The visuals were crisp. The YouTube logos were larger than the NFL shield. Overall, the broadcast, for a first, was on par with trying something different while adhering to what has always worked.
The miss was in the viewership. YouTube leveraged some of their top creators worldwide to promote tune-in for the broadcast. The outcome was a global average audience of 17.3 million, with an average-minute audience of 16.2 million in the United States, and only 1.1 million elsewhere. While the 16.2 million represents a 14% leap in domestic viewing over last year’s game, which was exclusively on Peacock, a subscription-based streamer.
You can tell that primetime in the U.S. doesn’t carry the European audiences that the NFL caters to every year, but to only have 1.1 million internationally should seem striking to the league that labels itself as a global league. While there was viewership in 230 countries and territories, the numbers weren’t exactly what I would have expected from an NFL product that the world could watch for free.
The first weekend reminded us why the NFL dominates our attention: incredible athletic feats on the field, high-stakes narratives in the broadcast booth, and experiments with media delivery that keep even seasoned fans intrigued. Some experiments hit, some miss—but the conversation never stops.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
