OK. I'm tryin' this

[Mklangelo]

In an effort to get us off the whole "The Brady Bunch visits Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood" debate, I pose a question:

Which NFL pundit, when they pick a winner or break down a game, do you really listen to and why?

I'll throw my pick in after I read a few answers. I'll just say that he works for ESPN.

Discuss.

 

[GoPGo]

Jimmy the Greek.

 

[Mklangelo]

Jimmy the Greek.

You can't just throw that name out there without telling us why. lol

 

[El Guapo]

I always liked Ron Jaworski back in the days when I paid for cable tv. He always had a knack for breaking down the QB's reads and explaining routes.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

No one comes even close to this guy analyzing NFL games:

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-podcasts/0ap3000000431668/Football-Baby-Week-12-Picks

 

[yooperpackfan]

Mike Golic. He played the game and is one of the more level headed talking heads.

 

[Mklangelo]

I always liked Jaworski. Especially that show he did with Merril Hoge :NFl Matchup.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Jimmy the Greek is pretty close since he's dead.

The national media is by and large an echo chamber wasteland. I don't have the patience to sit through an hour of broadcast to get 5 minutes of analysis that sounds like it was drawn from something more than a casual tape review or a repetition of what somebody else had said.

You're better off with the local beat writers. You can be confident they've viewed extensively the team they're talking about while perhaps having some sense of which insiders provide useful info and which misdirect. The process of writing provides at least some time for reflection even if it's a blog written on deadline; TV and radio commentators are called upon to fill any void. Anything can, and does, pop out of their mouths to prevent dead air.

McGuin and Silverstein are the best of the Packer beat writers. Demovsky, the former GBPG writer, handles the Packer blog at ESPN...he's decent.

 

[Mklangelo]

What you say is by and large true, but I don't think Jaws is one of those guys that runs his mouth just to fill dead air.

 

[Dan115]

John Madden-- great humor--- smart coach

 

[HardRightEdge]

Madden was very entertaining and good at communicating the emotion of the game. For being such a good coach, I found him to be a surprisingly mediocre analyst. His last couple years doing ABC's Monday Night Football were particularly sad...no homework, mailing it in, and what sounded like too many pre-game beverages. He cleaned up his act for Sunday Night Football, but I think the pass-first game had left his trench-oriented perspective behind.

That said, I don't think anybody could be worse than Dan Dierdorf for being so consistently wrong. Chris Collinsworth's random motor-mouthings are giving Dierdorf a run for the money as most unlistenable.

 

[searmh]

mike carlson for me he is an american sports journalist, blogger and tv pundit in england on channel 4. Very very smart man, very funny and great to listen to, has a massive knowledge of nfl, wrestling and film

 

[Dan115]

Madden was very entertaining and good at communicating the emotion of the game. For being such a good coach, I found him to be a surprisingly mediocre analyst. His last couple years doing ABC's Monday Night Football were particularly sad...no homework, mailing it in, and what sounded like too many pre-game beverages. He cleaned up his act for Sunday Night Football, but I think the pass-first game had left his trench-oriented perspective behind.

That said, I don't think anybody could be worse than Dan Dierdorf for being so consistently wrong. Chris Collinsworth's random motor-mouthings are giving Dierdorf a run for the money as most unlistenable.

and you like?

 

[scotscheese]

mike carlson for me he is an american sports journalist, blogger and tv pundit in england on channel 4. Very very smart man, very funny and great to listen to, has a massive knowledge of nfl, wrestling and film

I do like Mike Carlson also, i remember when he was doing the punditry on channel 5 when they had some NFL coverage back in the day. though i do also like Cecil Martin, Shaun Gayle and Kevin Cadle on Sky's coverage

 

[Pkrjones]

I really loved Hoge & Jaws breaking down plays and showing some of the keys to a play succeeding or failing.

I've always like Chris Collinsworth on TV broadcasts and his ability to quickly spot specific weaknesses and "pressure points" ~ and then seeing a team exploit that a few plays later.

 

[Poppa San]

I listen to Hub Arkush whenever possible. As far as:

...That said, I don't think anybody could be worse than Dan Dierdorf for being so consistently wrong. Chris Collinsworth's random motor-mouthings are giving Dierdorf a run for the money as most unlistenable.

He was a step up from Jerry Glanville.

 

[TJV]

I liked Jaws on NFL Matchup too. He did his homework and showed the results of his film study. I wasn’t fond of Hoge on that show but Jaws was good enough it didn’t matter.

I agree with HRE about depending upon local writers. National writers and broadcasters can’t know as much detail about each team as those who only cover one. In addition to McGinn and Silverstein I like Wilde too. I also like Hub Arkush – he’s one of the few worth listening to on Bears radio.

I too thought Madden embarrassed himself the last few years.

 

[Mklangelo]

John Madden-- great humor--- smart coach

I agree with HRE that Madden sure sounded drunk sometimes.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I liked Jaws on NFL Matchup too. He did his homework and showed the results of his film study. I wasn’t fond of Hoge on that show but Jaws was good enough it didn’t matter.

I agree with HRE about depending upon local writers. National writers and broadcasters can’t know as much detail about each team as those who only cover one. In addition to McGinn and Silverstein I like Wilde too. I also like Hub Arkush – he’s one of the few worth listening to on Bears radio.

I too thought Madden embarrassed himself the last few years.

I liked Jaws too on NFL Matchup. He was fond of naming Rodgers his #1 QB.

The problem I have with the X's and O's shows is they extrapolate too much from a couple of plays. A vulnerability or a successful match up illustrated on one particular play tends to be an isolated event that is likely to have a different outcome against a different alignment, rotation group or opponent.

It's a limitation of the format. If they took one team, for a full hour, dissecting 20-some plays, in order to illustrate what a team does consistently well and what they do poorly, that could be instructive. However, nobody would watch but for that team's diehard faithful.

 

[HardRightEdge]

and you like?

I see there's a "why not to like Troy Aikman" thread which I did not read.

I find him to be a good color man for the Packers. He's done a lot of Packer games over the past few year so he knows the team. He does his homework and is detail oriented.

 

[TJV]

I agree about the limitations of Xs and Os shows but when NFL Matchup was on there weren’t many others and helping fans understand, in detail, just a couple of plays was valuable insight even if they went too far in making generalizations from those few plays.

 

[Dan115]

I agree with HRE that Madden sure sounded drunk sometimes.

some of my favorite people are drunks

 

[realcaliforniacheese]

You can't just throw that name out there without telling us why. lol

Ok, you must be pretty young.

 

[realcaliforniacheese]

Madden was very entertaining and good at communicating the emotion of the game. For being such a good coach, I found him to be a surprisingly mediocre analyst. His last couple years doing ABC's Monday Night Football were particularly sad...no homework, mailing it in, and what sounded like too many pre-game beverages. He cleaned up his act for Sunday Night Football, but I think the pass-first game had left his trench-oriented perspective behind.

That said, I don't think anybody could be worse than Dan Dierdorf for being so consistently wrong. Chris Collinsworth's random motor-mouthings are giving Dierdorf a run for the money as most unlistenable.

You and I have completely opposing views on this.

John wasn't an analyst, he was a color commentator. that's what they used to call them. Back when watching a football game was more about fun then breaking down and dissecting every fart that occurs on the field. He explained what was happening in the game in a fun and educational way. He was a guy who loved, in the dirt, grass in the helmet smashmouth football. you could feel his enthusiasm for the game. I think it's an insult to call him an analyst. He was so much more then an analyst. I like collinsworth for the same reason. He has fun with the game. He doesn't dissect every play Ad Nauseum. He brings a humor and doesn't repeat what I already know. I also thought Diedorf had those same characteristics.

I'm sure the change to the pass oriented game made it boring for Madden. As it has done for alot of us.

 

[realcaliforniacheese]

I agree with HRE that Madden sure sounded drunk sometimes.

Because he was giddy?