Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The facts conclude as the Houston Texans and Kansas City defense are examined along with facts about the series on TV and Sunday Night Football.
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The facts finish up with a look at the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs defenses. But first, the NBC Sunday Night Football crew gets an examination as 100 facts have been reached.
Facts and Figures for Chiefs, No. 1-25
Sad, but makes complete sense.
The good news is the NFL is back for the 2020 season starting on Thursday night with the Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs facing the Houston Texans.
The bad news for NFL fans? One of their favorite things to tweet about will be paused for the year.
When NBC’s broadcast of Thursday’s season-opener begins, Cris Collinsworth will not slide into frame to join his broadcast partner Al Michaels.
The “Collinsworth slide” launched a thousand memes (and Collinsworth told us he had a good laugh over them). Twitter went nuts when he slid in from the left and not the right. And when there was no Collinsworth slide at all? Twitter LOST IT.
From Front Office Sports, the reason is obvious:
Michaels said the slide is out, at least for a while, due to social distancing guidelines.
“I was watching a baseball game the other night and the guy was trying to steal second and he goes to the ground and comes up six feet short,” Michaels said. “So maybe that will be our slide this year.”
ESPN also added this:
Because of coronavirus protocols that require him to maintain physical distance, Collinsworth won’t “slide” into the frame with his customary smirk. “The slide,” Michaels confirmed last week, “is on hold.”
On hold! That gives us hope that it’ll be back someday.
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Al Michaels will get some rest weeks during the NFL season. Who will take the seat for the broadcasting legend on those games?
Al Michaels is 75 and still going strong. The voice of Sunday Night Football will enjoy a perk of being a legendary voice and have some time off during the NFL season.
Michaels will have three “bye” weeks in 2020.
His seat will be taken by Mike Tirico on NBC.
“His first bye week will be Week 3 in New Orleans, and then after that we’re going to take it month by month just to kind of see how the schedule shakes out,” “Sunday Night Football” executive producer Fred Gaudelli said Thursday.
Michaels likes the plan, which will see him miss a Thanksgiving game in Pittsburgh.
“This is a great schedule for me,” Michaels said via text to the New York Post. “A lot of West Coast games and a couple of byes during the season to cut down on some travel, which is welcome for me. I was part of formulating the plan. I’m all in.”
Tirico, who also does play-by-play on Notre Dame games, will call one of NBC’s two playoff games.
The Post also reported there will be no “Collinsworth slide,” when analyst Cris Collinsworth joins Michaels, due to social distancing, and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya will not be on the field due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tafoya will be stationed in a “moat” near the first round of seats. She will be so far away from her former perch, she’ll use binoculars for the first time.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees is planning to sign with NBC for his post-NFL retirement career, starting off as a Notre Dame analyst.
It hasn’t taken long for New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees to set up the next stage of his career. The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reported Friday that Brees chose to sign with NBC after weighing an offer from ESPN, putting him in line as a possible replacement for Cris Collinsworth in the future.
However, NBC won’t just be throwing Brees into the booth once he’s hung up his cleats. The goal is for him to start off as an analyst for NBC’s weekly Notre Dame games while joining their Sunday night “Football Night in America” panels, reviewing the latest NFL action. That should give Brees time to get up to speed and prepare for a more prominent role in the network’s NFL coverage. If all goes according to plan, NFL fans could be hearing Brees and Mike Tirico (replacing Al Michaels) calling “Sunday Night Football” games in just a few years.
While Brees signed a two-year contract extension with the Saints earlier this season, only his first-year salary is guaranteed. He could retire after the 2020 season and leave just over $22 million in dead money on the 2021 Saints salary cap, or choose to play out the life of this deal and count for nearly $36 million next season. He certainly won’t be lacking for opportunities, whether he plays football again past 2020 or not.
BREAKING NEWS: Drew Brees has chosen to sign with NBC Sports over ESPN, The Post has learned.https://t.co/Km6thXkZ7m
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) April 10, 2020
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More proof Brady was probably ready to leave the franchise he called home for two decades.
The biggest revelation in Tom Brady’s wide-ranging interview with Howard Stern on Wednesday was something we might have suspected but didn’t know for sure: he went into his 2019 season with the New England Patriots thinking he was probably playing his final year for the franchise he called home for two decades.
That’s right from the horse’s mouth in terms of how he felt. But if you needed further proof that he was probably ready to move on cam in an anecdote from Sunday Night Football play-by-play man Al Michaels, who told Mike Tirico that Brady had said last year before the Pats lost to the Baltimore Ravens that he was “the most unhappy 8-0 quarterback in football.”
Tom Brady told Al Michaels, "I'm the most unhappy 8-0 quarterback in football" during the 2019 season.
Al and @miketirico discuss Brady's move on #LunchTalkNBCSN pic.twitter.com/u6tVEZ6nNb
— #FootballWeekNBCSN (@SNFonNBC) April 8, 2020
What was he tired at, exactly? That’s a bit of a mystery. But we now know it was on his mind that the end of his tenure with the Patriots was probably near.
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Sad news for ESPN this week as the sports network will not be getting its “dream booth” of Al Michaels and Peyton Manning.
Sad news for ESPN this week as the sports network will not be getting its “dream booth” of Al Michaels and Peyton Manning.
Al Michaels will be staying at NBC and on Sunday Night Football, per a New York Post report
Well, it was fun while the idea lasted. However, Al Michaels will not be returning to Monday Night Football through a trade between NBC and ESPN.
The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reported the Peacock will keep its star play-by-play guy in the SNF booth.
“We look forward to Al completing his contract and calling ‘Sunday Night Football’ games on NBC,” Greg Hughes, an NBC Sports spokesman, told The Post.
ESPN declined comment.
Reports indicated ESPN as looking to ramp up its broadcast booth of MNF, going from Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland, a heavily criticized coupling, to Michael and Peyton Manning. With Michaels out of the mix, the Post says ESPN is formulating other plans while not having told its current team it is out.
Though Tessitore and/or McFarland are not out yet, ESPN has formed several plans as it tries to figure out its Monday night booth. The Post previously reported ESPN’s interest in Philip Rivers. Rivers has said he intends to continue playing. ESPN passed on Kurt Warner for Jason Witten two years ago, but Warner is a name that can’t be ruled out.
Other names to keep an eye on per Marchand are: CBS’ Ian Eagle or FOX’s Kevin Burkhardt. Both are under contract, but are No. 2s on their networks’ NFL play-by-play depth charts, so there might be a more amenable compensation scenario as “Monday Night” could be looked upon as a promotion. Kevin Harlan, who is CBS’ No. 3 on the NFL and calls Monday night games for Westwood One radio, could also be considered.
Internally, ESPN has toyed with the idea of a booth with Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese, according to sources. The trio did the back end of the “Monday Night” doubleheader last year. ESPN is hesitant to move Chris Fo
ESPN is willing to give Peyton Manning about $6 million more per season as a commentator than he averaged as an NFL quarterback.
ESPN desperately wants Peyton Manning and the network is willing to pay a premium for his services.
CBS Sports recently reached an agreement with commentator Tony Romo on a contract extension that will pay him around $17 million per year. Manning is now able to use Romo’s contract as leverage and ESPN is willing to top it.
Disney, ESPN’s parent company, is willing to pay Manning $18 million to $20 million per season to call “Monday Night Football” games, according to a report from Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.
Manning has met with ESPN executives in recent days, according to McCarthy. The former NFL quarterback already has a working relationship with ESPN — he has hosted two different shows — Detail and Peyton’s Places — on ESPN Plus, a streaming service.
In addition to trying to land Manning, ESPN is also trying to trade for NBC’s Al Michaels. ESPN seems to believe Manning and Michaels could team up to form a dream team that would rival the CBS duo of Romo and Jim Nantz.
If Manning signs with ESPN for $20 million a year, he would be making more per season than he did in all but three of his 18 years in the NFL. In 2015, his final season, Manning made $19 million, according to Spotrac.com. He retired after helping the Broncos win Super Bowl 50 that year.
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Peyton Manning would be worth all the money.
Thursday was an absolutely wild day for NFL announcer rumors.
It started with a report that ESPN was looking to make a trade (a trade!) with NBC for Al Michaels so he could take over as the play-by-play guy for Monday Night Football.
And then later in the day there was a report that ESPN would be willing to pay Peyton Manning $18-$20 million a year (sorry, Tony Romo!) to be the analyst on MNF.
While I don’t really want the Michaels thing to happen – he’s great on Sunday Night Football and I’d selfishly like for that broadcast team to stay as-is – I’m all for Peyton become the guy on MNF, for a number of reasons.
First of all, if you’ve watched MNF the past few years you know that booth has been one of the worst things to happen to sports. Jason Witten (was there for one season) was awful and Booger McFarland has been brutal. Joe Tessitore is just as bad as a play-by-play guy.
Second of all, Peyton would be awesome at the job. We all know he’s a really smart football dude, which he showed off throughout his legendary playing career. But if you’ve watched any of his “Detail” episodes on ESPN+ you’ve seen that he’s incredible at breaking down plays.
Finally, is he worth $18-$20 million a year? Who cares! ESPN wouldn’t be spending any of our money! I’ll never get why anyone would question if an announcer is worth the money, as if any of us are going to be footing the bill. Pay Peyton everything you can, ESPN!
The only thing I would ask is that Peyton gets teamed up with at least a decent play-by-play guy, if that whole trade thing for Michaels doesn’t go through. Tessitore is nowhere close to being that guy.
MNF has been virtually unwatchable the past few seasons for two reasons – the booth has been dreadful and a lot of the matchups have been even worse.
Peyton would instantly make these games much more watchable. Plus, more people would have nice things to say about ESPN during the season; just look at how much good press CBS gets for the stuff Romo does on just about a weekly basis.
This would also be the easiest job of Peyton Manning’s life. $18-$20 million a year to call MNF games? He could do this job so well without even trying.
So yeah, if I’m ESPN (which I’m not) I empty my pockets and give everything I have to the Nationwide insurance guy.
Then I tell Tessitore and McFarland to beat it.
Curry finally made his return to the court Thursday night after missing the last 58 games due to a broken hand. It didn’t take him long to hit one of his classic 3-pointers from loooooooooong range against the Raptors. All NBA fans are better off with Steph Curry back doing Steph Curry things.
– Teddy Bridgewater deserves to be a starting QB in the NFL, but where would be the best fit? Steven Ruiz breaks it down.
– Michelle Martinelli had U.S. Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel take her through a typical day of training and yeah, his days are a lot more active than mine.
– Joey Votto had the best response to MLB potentially limiting in-game video.
– Stone Cold Steve Austin is returning to the WWE… on 3/16 Day. Because, of course.
– European golfer Eddie Pepperell got disqualified from another tournament for another really lame reason. Why are golfers still keeping score for each other in the year 2020?
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Could quarterback Philip Rivers be taking his talents from the football field to the commentator booth?
Quarterback Philip Rivers is expected to get interest from NFL teams when free agency starts in a couple of weeks.
However, if Rivers doesn’t receive the offer he’s hoping for or if he ends up deciding to retire, ESPN would like to pursue the 38-year old, per New York Post.
The network plans to attempt to acquire Al Michaels from NBC Sports for “Monday Night Football” after failing to get former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who landed a monstrous deal with CBS.
If ESPN is able to land Michaels, the plan is to bring in former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
If Manning says no, Rivers, who parted ways with the Chargers, could be their next option, taking his talents from the football field to the booth.
The limit would not exist with the number of “shoot” and “golly” could would come out of Rivers’ mouth if he was to take a job as a commentator, but it would certainly be a sight to see.
