Tag: Jason Garrett

NBC mostly has same Notre Dame broadcast team for 2023

We know some of you don’t want to hear this.

Notre Dame fans who were hoping to hear new voices broadcasting home games in 2023 are out of luck. NBC Sports has announced that nearly every broadcaster from 2022 will be calling the action from South Bend as well as the season opener in Ireland. That means Jac Collinsworth on play-by-play, Jason Garrett as color commentator and Zora Stephenson reporting from the sidelines. The only difference is the departure of coverage host Kathryn Tappen, who will be on NBC’s Big Ten broadcast team.

Despite some sports media critics willing to give the broadcast team a chance in 2022, Irish fans were far more critical. After the season’s final home game, more than a few folks expressed that they were fed up with this group. Although rumors swirled about Garrett and the Stanford head coaching job, that arrangement didn’t materialize. So we’ll have mainly the same people on the call in 2023.

For those disappointed by this, remember that you’re not tuning into games to hear the announcers. They merely provide the soundtrack to what you’re saying. If you really can’t stand them, the mute button is right there on your remote. Problem solved.

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Potential shakeup coming to NBC’s Notre Dame broadcast team?

The broadcasters you saw and heard this season might not all be back in 2023.

To put it very politely, Notre Dame fans were not pleased with NBC’s broadcasters for their team’s games this past season. Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett called the game action, and those were the two who received the most wrath. Not receiving quite as much were sideline reporter Zora Stephenson and coverage host Kathryn Tappen, the lone incumbent on the coverage who previously had worked the sidelines.

Now, we know of a couple of news items that could indicate a change in the personnel for NBC’s Irish coverage. Garrett is one of the finalists for the vacant head coaching job at Stanford. Meanwhile, Tappen is giving up her golf assignments to potentially take on a bigger role at the network. There is no word on whether this would affect her Irish gig, but it definitely is worth thinking about.

Irish fans wanted a change in their team’s home coverage, and they just might get it, at least partially.

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Report: Former Cowboys HC Jason Garrett finalist for job at Stanford

If hired by the Cardinal, we could see fascinating matchups between Garrett and former teammate Deion Sanders, now coaching at Colorado. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett may be heading back to the sidelines and back to school all in one fell swoop.

Garrett is said to be a finalist for the head coaching vacancy at Stanford University, as reported by Stewart Mandel of The Athletic on Thursday. David Shaw, the winningest head coach in the history of the Cardinal, stepped down in late November following a second consecutive 3-9 season.

If Garrett gets the job, it could set up a fascinating clash next fall (and beyond) between Garrett and former Cowboys teammate Deion Sanders, who was just hired to be the next head coach at Colorado, also in the Pac-12 Conference.

Garrett coached the Cowboys from 2010 through the 2019 season, going 85-67 in that time and posting a 2-3 mark in the postseason. From Dallas, Garrett served as offensive coordinator with the Giants for less than two full seasons before being fired.

He was then rumored to be the frontrunner for the head job at Duke, but ultimately was not hired. Instead, Garrett shifted to the broadcast booth, working as an analyst for NBC Sports during USFL games and Notre Dame football games. This fall, he joined the network’s studio show on Sunday nights.

As a player, Garrett went undrafted out of Princeton in 1989. After stints with two CFL squads, he joined the Cowboys, where his father was in the scouting department. Garrett was a backup quarterback for most of his career, but won two Super Bowl rings behind Troy Aikman in the team’s dynasty days.

The highlight of his playing career came in 1994 when he got the start on Thanksgiving Day. The third-stringer improbably threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Cowboys to a dramatic 42-31 comeback win over Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Garrett also played for the Giants and spent time on the Buccaneers and Dolphins squads before retiring as a player.

The Athletic reports that, besides Garrett, Stanford is also considering Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor for its head coaching duties.

According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Garrett was scheduled to visit the school later this week.

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Jason Garrett’s creepy smile during ‘Sunday Night Football’ had NFL fans thinking he’s a robot

NFL fans were a little freaked out.

We’ve seen it a lot this season on Sunday Night Football: The super-quick “what’s going on at halftime?” segment in which Maria Taylor, Tony Dungy and Jason Garrett preview what they’re going to talk about.

They do it at lightning speed, with one sentence per analyst before Taylor throws it back to the game, and during the Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the Green Bay Packers, there was one moment that had everyone freaked out: Garrett’s delivery of his sentence before he turned and smiled to the camera.

NFL fans had so many jokes about how robotic it seemed, and some were frightened:

Notre Dame Twitter ready for new announcers for NBC broadcasts

Does NBC have a Notre Dame football broadcaster crisis on its hands?

With Notre Dame’s 2022 home schedule complete, the final NBC broadcast of the season is in the books. This was the first season with Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett in the booth, and, if Irish fans had their way, 2022 would be the only season they have to listen to them.

Don’t believe us? Look at Twitter.

When Collinsworth and Garrett were announced as the new broadcast team for Notre Dame football before the season, public reaction was lukewarm at best and incredibly negative at worst. Still, Irish fans had no choice but to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that the two would prove them wrong.

By the time the Irish were done dominating Boston College, it appeared very little about their perception had changed. That’s not a good look for the people at NBC who made the decision.

Here are some of the more brutal assessments of Collinsworth and Garrett with some tweeters commenting more than once:

Jason Garrett takes victory lap with Giants LT Andrew Thomas dominating

Jason Garrett pushed the New York Giants to select OT Andrew Thomas in the 2020 NFL draft and now he’s enjoying a victory lap.

New York Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas is at the very top of the ladder in the NFL. There are no tackles, let alone left tackles, performing at a higher level than the 23-year-old is right now.

Thomas is Pro Football Focus’ highest-ranked offensive tackle in the league and through eight games this season, he’s surrendered a grand total of zero sacks.

Not only has Thomas received praise from his coaches, teammates and basically every analyst in existence, he’s also received some praise from his former offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett.

In fact, Garrett has taken a bit of a victory lap thanks in part of Thomas’ domination. After all, it was Garrett who implored the Giants and then-general manager Dave Gettleman to select the Georgia stud at No. 4 overall in the 2020 NFL draft.

“Plug Thomas in at left tackle and you don’t have to worry about that position for the next 10-plus years,” a Giants evaluator told the New York Post of what he recalled Garrett saying.

At the time, there was a fierce debate over which of the top four offensive tackles had the highest ceiling. But thanks to Garrett’s thumping, Gettleman and head coach Joe Judge settled on Thomas over Tristan Wirfs, Mekhi Becton and Jedrick Wills.

“He was as pro-ready a left tackle as I’ve seen in recent years,” Garrett told The Post. “To me, there was never a doubt about who that pick should be. It’s certainly bearing out now. He’s a fantastic young man, and he’ll be a good left tackle for a long time.”

Thomas isn’t just good, he’s elite and ascending. There’s no telling where his ceiling currently is but, dare we say, it has Hall of Fame potential. And for the many wrongs Garrett brought to East Rutherford, he deserves credit for getting the Thomas pick so right.

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Report: Joe Judge, Jason Garrett wanted Cooper Rush with Giants

Joe Judge and Jason Garrett reportedly wanted QB Cooper Rush to remain with the New York Giants, but the team’s decision-makers didn’t.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush is finally getting a real opportunity on the big stage. How long he’ll be there this time is the question.

Rush is playing in place of the injured Dak Prescott, who fractured his thumb in the Cowboys’ Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rush is Cowboys’ backup quarterback who has been on and off their roster since 2017. He started last week at home against Cincinnati, his second NFL start, leading Dallas to a 20-17 win. He is now 2-0 as a starter (he won his only other start last year in Week 8 against Minnesota).

Rush’s Cowboys tenure was interrupted by the New York Giants in 2020, when Dallas waived him after signing Andy Dalton and the Giants scooped him up off the waiver wire.

Rush had played under former Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett for years in Dallas and the Giants were trying to upgrade their quarterback room. He never made it onto the 53-man roster, getting waived after camp and signed back to the practice squad.

Dallas didn’t let Rush sit long. They poached him off the Giants’ practice squad a few weeks later. He’s been with them ever since.

Garrett and former Giants head coach Joe Judge were locked into Daniel Jones, who was entering his second season, and had signed veteran backup Colt McCoy. COVID-19 restrictions didn’t allow Rush much of a chance to make the roster.

“Other guys can be more impressive in a workout environment — he’s got decent size, decent athletic ability, a decent arm, all of that,” Garrett told the New York Post, “but what we saw in Dallas right from the start with him was that whenever he went into an 11-on-11 situation, good things happened. He completed passes, moved the team, scored points.”

Judge and Garrett were in Rush’s corner but the rest of the organization was not in accord.

Other Giants coaches at the time, including Joe Judge, liked Rush’s makeup, too, sources said.

“The decision-makers with the Giants felt like they weren’t overly impressed with how he played or what his potential was,” said Garrett. “To me, Coop is not someone who wows you physically. Sometimes you get caught up in that. Sometimes those decisions happen.”

That is all moot now. The Giants are hoping to 3-0 for the first time since 2009 and Rush is standing in their way.

“I see a guy that’s a starting quarterback in this league,” current Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said last week. “Just watching him and the decisions that he makes, I think he’ll have a long career as a quarterback in this league.”

He already has had a long career in the NFL. The 28 year-old Rush has been waiting for his chance for years now. He’ll get it while Prescott recovers. If he can keep winning, the Cowboys won’t be in such a hurry to rush Prescott back.

Owner Jerry Jones stated tis week he wouldn’t mind if Rush played well enough to create a quarterback ‘controversy.’

“Of course I would. Of course. That means we’d have won,” Jones said. “If he comes in there and plays as well as Prescott played, Rush? Played that well over these next games ahead? I’d walk to New York to get that.

“Well, of course we want Dak to be here next week. That’s the thing. You do. But Dak and I want Rush to lead the team to a victory here and get another win and get another win. That’s the only way to look at it.”

The Giants aren’t caring much who is under center for their opponents these days. They are simply putting their heads down and forging ahead.

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5 potential replacements for Alabama OC if Bill O’Brien leaves

5 potential replacements for Bill O’Brien as Alabama OC

Alabama offensive coordinator, [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag], has already been rumored to be a top head coaching candidate for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and will only garner more interest as the season goes on. O’Brien is in his second season with the Crimson Tide and in year one he had a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and took them to a national title appearance.

Alabama currently leads the country with 7.5 yards per carry and is ranked No. 2, making O’Brien such an intriguing candidate. If O’Brien leaves for Nebraska or any other schools, here are the top five candidates to replace him.

Jeff Agrest: NBC’s Notre Dame broadcasts have become ‘training ground’

Has the new broadcast team won you over yet?

As Notre Dame is on the road at North Carolina this week, NBC will not be covering the game. That means the new Irish broadcast team of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett will get a week off. Actually, the team will get two weeks off as the Irish have their bye week after they leave Chapel Hill. The next time we hear them will be for the Shamrock Series game against BYU in Las Vegas.

The long layoff provides an opportunity for observers to critique Collinsworth and Garrett’s performances for the loss to Marshall and the win against California. Those merely are the first two of what could be many Irish games they’ll call together. Most people seem to agree that there’s a lot of room for growth and improvement.

Among them is Chicago Sun-Times sports media columnist Jeff Agrest. In his weekly column, which mainly is available to subscribers, Agrest analyzes what he’s observed so far. He joins a chorus that has reminded people of broadcasters like the late Dick Enberg, Tom Hammond and Mike Tirico who used to call the action from South Bend. While he likes Collinsworth’s Notre Dame ties, he can’t help but wonder this:

“(Collinsworth) doesn’t carry on the tradition, which makes me wonder just what NBC thinks of Notre Dame these days. The Irish still were basking in the golden glow of their 1988 national title when they agreed to a five-year, $38 million deal with NBC. They don’t carry the same heft they used to, but Notre Dame maintains a national following. Its games are a big deal and deserve a broadcast team worthy of them.”

Here are Agrest’s current impressions of the new broadcast team:

“In both games, Collinsworth sounded knowledgeable talking about the teams. But all of his interviewing and studying couldn’t prepare him for live action. The USFL was supposed to be his training ground, not Notre Dame football in front of 2.5 million viewers for the Marshall game and 2.9 million for Cal.

Incidentally, Garrett impressed me. He brought emotion and valuable insight to the broadcast. The former Cowboys coach clearly understood his role. He got in and out with his commentary and didn’t talk over Collinsworth. It likely helped they worked together on USFL games.

Both will have to grow into their jobs on a national stage, but Collinsworth has more to do. He needs to command the broadcast and provide context for viewers. The Marshall game was a missed opportunity for him. Garrett understood, calling it one of the biggest upsets in recent college football history.”

Will the broadcasts eventually improve? We’ll find out as Collinsworth and Garrett continue to call games. If they continue to not impress, maybe they’ll be bumped down on NBC’s depth chart when the network picks up Big Ten games next year. Still, there’s a lot of season left, and they have time to change people’s minds.

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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

Watch: Jac Collinsworth video of him walking on Notre Dame campus

Someone is excited about their new job.

When NBC announced Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett as its new Notre Dame broadcast team, the reaction was rather mixed. Our editor is among those who doesn’t particularly care for the duo, at least right now. Maybe minds will be changed by the end of the season.

Regardless of how Collinsworth will do, you can’t deny that he feels a lot of pride to be calling home games for his alma mater. Don’t believe it? Watch this video he posted on campus:

Look, you don’t have to love the idea of Collinsworth and Garrett in the booth for these games. At least give them a chance before stranding them on top of the Golden Dome though. Maybe this is the assignment they need to really shine as broadcasters. There’s no denying Collinsworth especially has some big shoes to fill in following Mike Tirico, but contrary to what some might think, it’s not that hard of a task if you have the right skill set.

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

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