This article analyzes Fox's Super Bowl LIX coverage, focusing on the broadcast duo of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady. While acknowledging Brady's competence, the author finds the game itself to be a disaster, which hindered both the broadcast and the overall viewing experience. The article also criticizes Fox's decision to debut a new, massive scorebug during the Super Bowl.
I first tuned into Fox’s pregame show between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m. ET, when it was in the middle of a bizarre tribute to Jimmy Johnson. I say bizarre because I thought the entire package was leading up to Johnson announcing his retirement. But when Curt Menefee asked Johnson if he had a retirement to announce, Johnson just said, “One day at a time.” Apparently, Fox just did the tribute to do the tribute.
I’m not sure why that couldn’t have been done at the end of the regular season or much earlier in the network’s never-ending pregame show, but 5:30 p.m. ET on Super Bowl Sunday seemed like a really weird place to highlight one pregame show cast member for no reason. From the end of the Johnson tribute to kickoff, it was the usual assault of your senses in the lead-up to the actual game. There were people screaming everywhere. (Hello, Jon Hamm and Bradley Cooper.) A Harry Connick Jr. performance. A Lady Gaga performance. The usual roster of anthems. All the stuff to bring in the non-football fan. Then at 6:30 p.m., we finally got to Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady and the game. The problem with doing this column, as I’ve now said several times, especially onbecause it’s his first Super Bowl as a rookie broadcaster, we HAVE TO analyze every word he says. But my analysis of Brady in the Super Bowl is the same as it’s been for basically the last few months: He’s fine. Brady is not great. Brady is not bad. He’s fine. When that’s the case, there’s not much to analyze. But here are some random thoughts I had about Brady and much more during Super Bowl LIX. • Brady came out strong in the first quarter, voicing his displeasure with an offensive pass interference call on the Eagles’ A.J. Brown and an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Chiefs’ Trent McDuffie.• Brady was way too soft on the refs later in the game when they called an unnecessary roughness penalty against the Chiefs on a third-and-26 that gave the Eagles a first down. This was a HUGE call with the game at 17–0. We needed more from Brady here.• Brady had a good moment late in the first quarter when he explained how teams need to feel things out in the Super Bowl because they are playing on a neutral field and the game is much longer than a regular season or playoff game. • Major kudos for the camera shot of Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones dropping to his knees on the sidelines after a completely wide-open DeAndre Hopkins somehow dropped a third-down pass with Kansas City down 17–0. This visual summed up the day.• Burkhardt did an excellent job of quickly explaining the NFL’s ridiculous onside kick rules, which prohibit teams from attempting one until the fourth quarter, right after the Chiefs scored to make it 34–6 with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. • With 1:23 left in the first half and the Eagles up 24–0, Burkhardt and Brady had a great exchange that summed up Philly’s complete dominance over Kansas City:• Piggybacking off that, Menefee had an excellent line to start Fox’s halftime coverage: “Well, forget about a three-peat for now. The Chiefs would take three points.” Most of these moments came in the first half. I don’t think it’s fair to get overly critical of Burkhardt and Brady in the second half because the game was over after the Chiefs got the ball to start the second half and did nothing. The only thing that stood out to me in the second half was this bizarre performance from rules analyst Mike Pereira, who, let’s say, didn’t seem overly excited Brady went to him when the game was over.In summation, Brady was fine. Fox was fine. The game was a disaster and that prevented Fox and Brady from being anything better than fine.One thing that was not fine was Fox’s new scorebug. The reaction to the new scorebug was so bad, I had to make this a separate item instead of including it in item No. 1. Listen, social media hates EVERYTHING. But there are times when the hate is so deep and widespread that you have to pay attention to it.I think the scorebug would’ve been fine if it were smaller. It’s just too big and bulky. Shrink it down and it’ll be better. The bigger issue for me is that Fox chooses the Super Bowl to debut the scorebug. It’s the biggest game of the year. It’s the final game of the year. Don’t spring something new and jarring on regular viewers. But this is a perfect example of why I hate the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is not for the NFL fan. The Super Bowl is for the 70 million people who don’t watch the NFL from September through January. Fox wants to cater to those people, not the regular fan. So the thinking is, “Let’s change things up and show off our shiny new toy.” Totally unnecessary and annoying.The Super Bowl is such a monstrous TV event that it’s sometimes easy to forget that the game also airs on radio. But the great Kevin Harlan has been on the call for 15 straight years now for Westwood One, and was as good as ever yesterday. Just listen to these three call
SUPER BOWL FOX SPORTS KEVIN BURKHARDT TOM BRADY NFL BROADCAST SCOREBUG
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