Tag: Football Night in America

Former Patriots legendary safety lands major media gig

Get ready to see a lot more of Devin McCourty on Sunday nights.

[anyclip pubname=”2103″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8036″]

Former New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty might no longer be playing football, but he’ll still be making the television rounds on Sundays as an NFL analyst for NBC Sports.

The NBC Sports PR team announced on Tuesday the three-time Super Bowl champion was joining the Football Night in America crew.

McCourty has spent a big part of his offseason working in as much media as possible to sharpen his skills as a talking head. He’s done a tremendous job with it, and it eventually led to a major media gig with NBC Sports and Sunday Night Football. Not bad for a guy that was only retired for two months.

Patriots fans won’t have to wait long for McCourty to work a game featuring his former team. New England is slated to take on the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football in Week 2 of their 2023 regular season schedule.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Notre Dame on NBC announcers for 2022 revealed

Here they are.

With less than a month before Notre Dame’s first home game of 2022, folks have been wondering who will be on the call for NBC. Mike Tirico is off the broadcasts after six years to focus on Sunday Night Football, and Drew Brees’ relationship with the network was short-lived.

Finally, we have our answer.

Notre Dame alumnus Jac Collinsworth has been paired with Jason Garrett as the new broadcast team for Irish home games. Also, Collinsworth will retain his role with Football Night in America, and Garrett is filling Brees’ role on that same program. Kathryn Tappen will remain on the coverage as the pregame and postgame host despite speculation she would move into the same role with Sunday Night Football. Zora Stephenson will be the sideline reporter.

A new broadcast team is appropriate given the new coaching era for Notre Dame, and Irish fans no doubt will be paying attention to see if this crew lives up to the standards set by Tirico and other previous announcers for the broadcasts.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[pickup_prop id=”24656″]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

NBC tabs Maria Taylor as host of ‘Football Night in America’

Maria Taylor moves into the host role for Football Night in America on NBC

There has been plenty of shuffling in broadcast booths for the upcoming NFL season. And now, there will be a new host of “Football Night in America” on NBC.

With Mike Tirico moving to play-by-play, the studio role opened. NBC is filling it with Maria Taylor.

Taylor spent many years with ESPN before making the move to the Peacock network prior to the Summer Olympics in 2021.

NBC Sports made it official in a press release on Thursday:

Maria Taylor is the new host of Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports, NBC Sports announced today. Football Night is NBC Sports’ flagship studio show, preceding Sunday Night Football — primetime television’s No. 1 show for an unprecedented 11 consecutive years — each week during the NFL season. Taylor debuted on the program as a co-host in 2021.

NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood: “Maria is the perfect choice to carry the legacy forward of anchoring the most-watched studio show in sports.”

In the last 12 months, Taylor – who was named one of 2021’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” by Adweek – has hosted many of the most-watched events and programs in sports. Following her move to NBC Sports in July 2021, she hosted the Tokyo Olympics, Super Bowl LVI Pregame Show, and Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. Just prior to joining NBC Sports, she also hosted the primetime network broadcast of the NFL Draft and the NBA Finals.

In addition to her hosting roles, Taylor is executive producing and currently in production on an eight-part documentary series on the history of the Black quarterback in the NFL that will stream on Peacock.

 

Sideline reporting shakeup coming to NBC’s Notre Dame coverage?

Could this happen?

A report from the New York Post indicates that Michelle Tafoya will leave sideline reporting after the NFL season. That means there will be a gap to fill on NBC’s Sunday Night Football coverage. While no replacement for Tafoya officially has been named, many signs point to recent fill-in Kathryn Tappen, the network’s sideline reporter for its Notre Dame coverage since 2014. That’s longer than anyone else currently on that broadcast team.

Just as the Irish are going through a coaching transition, this also could be a time of transition for their home TV partner. Mike Tirico is expected to replace Al Michaels as the Sunday Night Football play-by-play announcer next season. It certainly would be a heavy load to expect Tirico to handle both gigs at once. It already is a lot doing both the Irish and “Football Night in America” on the same weekend.

The times are changing indeed, and it’s happening in many ways.

Drew Brees has terse response to Saints’ Week 2 Panthers loss

Drew Brees has terse response to Saints’ Week 2 Panthers loss

[sendtonews_embed video_id=”vghzdWjw4t-1518300-7498″]

One of the benefits of Drew Brees joining NBC Sports as a broadcaster in retirement is his quick reaction to New Orleans Saints games each week — there isn’t anyone better informed about the team than him across the NFL media landscape. He even got a look at their Week 1 game plan for the Green Bay Packers.

But he didn’t mince words when reviewing his old team’s stunning loss to the Carolina Panthers on NBC’s “Football Night in America” panel.

“The Carolina defense completely shut them down today. There was no run game, they got after Jameis Winston,” Brees said tightly, adding: “These Carolina Panthers came ready to play.” And then he quickly transitioned to recap the next game’s results.

It was a brief moment, but it sure felt like a quiet scolding. It’s a safe bet that he reserved more specific criticism for private conversations, which is probably the right move. Raising three rowdy boys prone to wrasslin’ on the sideline at the Pro Bowl is good practice. Entertaining as it may be, dissecting the Saints’ flaws on national television might not be in his or the team’s best interests. Let’s hope they make him proud next week.

[listicle id=50543]