Tag: Noah Eagle

Noah Eagle’s sharp announcing during Texans-Browns drew rave reviews from NFL fans

It was a joy listening to Noah Eagle call the Texans’ playoff win.

In the absence of the legendary Al Michaels, we heard a relatively new voice call the Houston Texans’ resounding 45-14 win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday afternoon. It was young play-by-play commentator Noah Eagle — son of Ian, CBS’s No. 2 NFL announcer — who got the booth with partner Todd Blackledge.

And in the aftermath, the general consensus seems to be that Eagle did quite well while setting up a fantastic moment for the city of Houston.

For one, there was this excellent call after a second Texans’ pick-six to ice the victory:

There was also this reference to Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik as a “young man.” Note: Eagle is 26.

Eagle will be NBC’s No. 2 playoff announcer this postseason. Judging by the early returns, the network made a smart decision to give the mic to the rising announcer.

Awful Announcing documents criticism of Jason Garrett

What did you think of Garrett’s season-opening broadcast?

As the Week 0 game with the highest profile, Notre Dame-Navy drew a large audience hungry for college football. That meant extended exposure for fill-in play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle and color commentator Jason Garrett on NBC.

Garrett and regular play-by-play announcer Jac Collinsworth, who missed Saturday’s broadcast, both have become frequent targets for Irish fans for the quality of their announcing. Without Collinsworth, Garrett received the brunt of criticism for the season opener, and sports media website Awful Announcing kept track of some of the tweets containing that criticism.

One series of tweets Awful Announcing chose to focus on were those saying Sam Hartman hasn’t worked with a running back like Audric Estime when the Seattle Seahawks’ Kenneth Walker III had played with Hartman at Wake Forest. Awful Announcing also highlighted tweets criticizing Garrett’s repeated mentions of the Midshipmen’s “mental toughness.” Still other tweets didn’t like what was perceived as Garrett’s lack of enthusiasm or energy.

We’ve had only one NBC broadcast in 2023, but social media already is in midseason form. There’s no place for critiques of Garrett to go but up. Who knows what’s in store for Collinsworth when he presumably returns for the Irish’s home opener this coming weekend?

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Jac Collinsworth main subject of Awful Announcing story on nepotism

Good discussion to have?

For the past two years, Notre Dame’s NBC broadcasts have come under heavy criticism. Never was it on display more than during and after the Irish’s stunning dominance of USC. Social media bashed the broadcast early and often. People seem to have had enough of what they’ve been exposed to on coverage of Irish home games.

To that end, Jesse Pantuosco of Awful Announcing saw it fit to pen an article about nepotism in sports with Notre Dame play-by-play announcer Jac Collinsworth being the story’s primary subject. Jac, of course, is the son of NBC Sunday Night Football color analyst Cris Collinsworth. He also is a Notre Dame alumnus. But he hasn’t won many fans calling Irish games, and this article in particular says he didn’t rise to the big moment of the Irish walloping the Trojans.

Here’s the main argument against Collinsworth in the story:

“The elder Collinsworth is one of the best in the business, and maybe Jac will get there someday, but Saturday proved the 28-year-old is still very much a work in progress, failing to meet the moment in his biggest assignment to date.

Naturally, Collinsworth’s relative lack of polish has sparked a larger discussion about nepotism in sports media, with many questioning his credentials while wondering if Collinsworth is qualified for his current role, leapfrogging more deserving broadcasters on the strength of his last name. Not only was Collinsworth ill-equipped for primetime, but his rapid ascent presents problematic optics that NBC will now have to answer for, fast-tracking a novice announcer in desperate need of seasoning.”

The story goes to cite similar situations in Noah Eagle, Chris Simms and former Irish offensive lineman [autotag]Mike Golic Jr.[/autotag] None of those broadcasters have come under as much scrutiny as Collinsworth though. Whether it’s merited or not, it’s unfortunate that the situation has necessitated this discussion. Here’s hoping Collinsworth has a better end to the season.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Paul Burmeister to do play-by-play for Notre Dame home opener on NBC

Jac’s not back yet.

When Jac Collinsworth became too ill to travel to Ireland for Notre Dame’s season opener, many figured he would be back for the home opener. Instead, he will be replaced in the NBC booth once again when the Irish play their first 2023 game at Notre Dame Stadium against Tennessee State. Pete Sampson of The Athletic has tweeted the following:

Burmeister already is employed by NBC Sports, so this decision had to have been an easy one. Irish fans used to watching games on TV but not listening to them on the radio will get a taste of what it’s like to experience the Irish when you can’t see the action. As great as Noah Eagle is, NBC needs him for its Big Ten Saturday Night coverage.

It’s not known as of this writing who will fill in for Burmeister on the radio. Still, the Notre Dame Radio Network has employed some great broadcasters over the years. Someone worthy surely will be chosen, even if for one day only.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Noah Eagle to fill in on NBC play-by-play for Notre Dame-Navy

Prepare for a different sound Saturday.

There has been much criticism about the Notre Dame NBC broadcasting team of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett. Many Irish fans would rather new blood had been brought in this season, and they were disappointed to find out nothing had changed. Well, the broadcasting team will in fact be slightly different for at least one game. Chicago Sun-Times sports media columnist Jeff Agrest has tweeted the following regarding the broadcast for the game against Navy:

Noah Eagle, the son of Ian Eagle, is one of the most talented young broadcasters in the industry. Having previously called both the NFL and college football for Fox, CBS and even Nickelodeon, NBC scooped him up for its new Big Ten Saturday night broadcasts. He also does radio radio play-by-play for the Los Angeles Clippers.

If Irish fans want to keep watching college football after Irish games during the day, this will be a nice preview of what they can expect, at least on NBC.

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

Did Nickelodeon just change how we watch football?

Could the NFL keep some of the ingenious graphics used by the children’s television station, Nickelodeon?

This afternoons NFL Wildcard game that featured the New Orlean Saints and Chicago Bears broke a barrier of sorts due to their broadcast on Nickelodeon. It was the first of what I expect to be many of, a potential game-changing event for the future of football games on television.

Their broadcast team consisted of four members: former NFL star Nate Burleson, Noah Eagle (son of megabroadcaster Ian) and Nickelodeon star Gabrielle Neveah Green in the booth with Nick star Lex Lumpkin on the sidelines. It wasn’t about this, although it was interesting to hear child stars making their NFL debuts. The game changing aspect was how the children’s station showed some of their graphics.

This was probably the most important one of them all, giving the NFL plenty of marketing ideas for their future games. Keep in mind that previously the NFL has had advertisements on the netting during field goals, but nothing like what Nick did. Imagine the NFL changing out Sponge Bob for a beer sponsor.

At the end of the day, the NFL’s bottom line is about making money and this surely planted at least a semblance of an idea in their heads. That wasn’t all Nick did, the slimezone was a unique added function as well.

We might have just seen history today with this broadcast. Not just in the NFL but at the collegiate level as well. Hat’s off the Nickelodeon and their ingenuity for bringing these elements to an NFL game.