Analysis: Like New England, Fox broadcast solid, not spectacular
Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIX mirrored the effort of the victorious New England Patriots. Nothing flashy. Nothing memorable. No giant mistakes.
And there should be no Monday-morning quarterbacking from the Federal Communications Commission.
For Fox, it was just a solid, workmanlike effort that turned up a winner. For a network that made its sports reputation living on the edge, that may not be a compliment.
Then again, it’s tough for a broadcast to be much better than the game and halftime it is saddled with. The commercials weren’t much more titillating.
That’s what you get when you follow up Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells representing the Cowboys in singing “Tomorrow” for the NFL Network with a cameo of safety Roy Williams doing the same.
That’s what you get when you follow up Janet Jackson with Paul McCartney at halftime. It was a slam-dunk G-rated show sure to be remembered more for its audio than visual.
And on the field, Patriots 24, Eagles 21 simply lacked dramatic, memorable moments.
There wasn’t much for co-analysts Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth, the modern-day Bickersons, to debate.
Perhaps the Super stage influenced Collinsworth to tone down his act, which in turn didn’t leave Aikman much room to try and push him off the ledge.
Patriot greatnessAs the game wound down, Aikman and Collinsworth agreed that the Eagles’ two-minute drill was not very good.
Collinsworth said it “looked like a disaster.” Aikman criticized the Eagles’ play-calling.
Earlier they agreed that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was not making bad decisions, but bad throws. They agreed that the officials blew it by not calling the Eagles for picking a Patriots defensive back on a McNabb completion to Terrell Owens.
Fox did a surprisingly good job in avoiding shameless self-promotion after it had its own Michael Chiklis represent the Patriots Nation before kickoff, while the Eagles had the higher profile Will Smith, who has no obvious Fox connection.