Jaws leaves MNF (1 Viewer)

[netnalp]

Monday Night Football will switch to two-man broadcast team

BRISTOL, Conn. — "Monday Night Football" is switching to a two-man booth.

ESPN said Wednesday that analyst Ron Jaworski had signed a five-year contract extension to appear on other programming on the network and would no longer join play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and color commentator Jon Gruden on Monday nights.

Jaworski called "Monday Night Football" games the past five seasons. The former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback will work various ESPN studio shows year-round.

Gruden joined MNF in 2009 after coaching the Raiders and Buccaneers and agreed to a five-year extension in October. This is the first time in 15 years ESPN has used a two-person lead team on its NFL game coverage.

 

[beaux]

Thank God.

 

[Shutout]

Thank God.

Careful what you wish for. The remaining two man crew may be terrible. Tirico and Gruden by themselves may be a very odd couple.

 

[gump]

I listened to Gruden do a Bowl Game with a 2-man crew....loved it. He seemed much more relaxed without having to 1-up Jaws.

 

[Topes]

I thought Gruden was the problem.

 

[Tackling Dummies]

I thought Gruden was the problem.

^This, but schtick rules at the Worldwide Leader.

 

[Cookiemonster]

I listened to Gruden do a Bowl Game with a 2-man crew....loved it. He seemed much more relaxed without having to 1-up Jaws.

If he stops slobbing the knob of every player and coach on the screen. I'd appreciate a more honest opinion from him, and not trying to ### kiss his way into a head coaching job somewhere. If he signed a 5 year extentioin, this may be possible. Still, Jaws was the most informative and most often correct man in that booth. Every other former QB that is on TV is way more annoying than Jaws.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Jaws probably got tired of Gruden always dominating the color talk. Jaws often had a hard time getting anything in without Gruden jumping in first to give his long-winded opinion.

 

[Banemorth]

I actually liked Jaws.

 

[butcher boy]

None of the people they put in front of the cameras is the problem. The problem is that the people producing/directing/scripting any ESPN football broadcast has no clue how to make a good broadcast. We've seen the same cliched scripted lines, awkward exchanges, and overblown deliveries since the days of Theisman and the other two clowns he was in the booth with. ESPN needs to fire the people behind the scenes, not the guys in front of the camera.

 

[SammyJankis]

I really liked Jaws. He'll be missed.

Gruden is the reason they invented the "Mute" button on the remote. His cheerleading about how whoever playing that night is the "best in the league" gets old quick (and reminds me a lot of Dan Deirdorf's MNF days).

I loved it when Mike Pereira ripped him:

"I am not a fan of Gruden's. Not today, not yesterday, not when I worked for the NFL and not when I was working on the field as a side judge. He was a loudmouth as a coach who constantly disrespected officials and he is a blowhard in the broadcast booth who spouts off when he doesn't know what he is talking about.

I respect his knowledge about the X's and O's when it comes to coaching and playing the game of football, but I have very little respect for him when it comes to officiating and his knowledge of the rules."

 

[butcher boy]

I really liked Jaws. He'll be missed.

Gruden is the reason they invented the "Mute" button on the remote. His cheerleading about how whoever playing that night is the "best in the league" gets old quick (and reminds me a lot of Dan Deirdorf's MNF days).

I loved it when Mike Pereira ripped him:

"I am not a fan of Gruden's. Not today, not yesterday, not when I worked for the NFL and not when I was working on the field as a side judge. He was a loudmouth as a coach who constantly disrespected officials and he is a blowhard in the broadcast booth who spouts off when he doesn't know what he is talking about.

I respect his knowledge about the X's and O's when it comes to coaching and playing the game of football, but I have very little respect for him when it comes to officiating and his knowledge of the rules."

Except I dont think it's Gruden's fault, its the ESPN writers. I've got a bridge to sell anyone who doesn't think that the ESPN football broadcasts are as scripted as they possibly can be. Gruden's doing the same cheerleading that Theisman was doing before him and whoever will end up taking his place in the future will do the same. They're all blowhards because that's how ESPN wants the presentation to be.

 

[Koya]

Jaws really good. Knowledgeable. Humble. Knew it was about the game and not him.

Gruden, well... None of these things.

Hello mute button.

 

[Dought Man]

"Let me tell you about this Andrew Luck...Mike...this guy has fingers as big as my thighs. My wife loves this kid."

 

[3nOut]

"Outstanding".

 

[Gopher State]

They got it wrong, chucky should of been kicked off

 

[B Maverick]

They got it wrong, chucky should of been kicked off

agreed. But as a CHarger fan, at least this keeps Gruden in the booth for another year so when SD fires Norv next year, Gruden is available.

 

[PizzaDeliveryGuy]

I'm pretty sure people would gripe no matter who is in the booth.

 

[cobalt_27]

Thank God.

No. Jaws is absolutely one of the better analysts on television. If you like hyperventilating hyperbole, of course, he's not your kind of guy. But, if you want straight X/O analysis, and honest assessment, Jaws is among the best.Stoopid ESPN.

 

[identikit]

Thank God.

No. Jaws is absolutely one of the better analysts on television. If you like hyperventilating hyperbole, of course, he's not your kind of guy. But, if you want straight X/O analysis, and honest assessment, Jaws is among the best.Stoopid ESPN.

Agree 100%

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

Jaws>>Gruden

 

[BRONG]

LOFL at Jaws "leaving". Yeah, he just could not handle doing Monday Night Football any longer. It's rough in the booth, people have no idea.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

None of the people they put in front of the cameras is the problem. The problem is that the people producing/directing/scripting any ESPN football broadcast has no clue how to make a good broadcast. We've seen the same cliched scripted lines, awkward exchanges, and overblown deliveries since the days of Theisman and the other two clowns he was in the booth with. ESPN needs to fire the people behind the scenes, not the guys in front of the camera.

Huh? I'm baffled.

 

[Pots]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

 

[AmosMoses]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

Jaws is a special case because he has the esteem of being a Super Bowl winning coach with the Bucs by torching his old team. People always remember that stuff. I agree with you though, Gruden breaks down the game pretty well in an objective fashion and doesn't give those ######ed superlatives every two seconds.

 

[Amused to Death]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

Professional broadcasters do the play-by-play, the ex-coaches and players do the analysis (color commentary) because they know the game. They can break down the details. The pro broadcasters can't. See Joe Buck/Troy Aikman.

 

[Mello]

Wish they would stop cycling through announcers and get rid of the producers who tell the announcers what to say and how to act.

 

[Tackling Dummies]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

Jaws is a special case because he has the esteem of being a Super Bowl winning coach with the Bucs by torching his old team. People always remember that stuff. I agree with you though, Gruden breaks down the game pretty well in an objective fashion and doesn't give those ######ed superlatives every two seconds.

 

[Fiddles]

Should still be a decent team. I'm still happy it's not the theisman crew. The problem with mon night football last year were the matchups nit the announcers.

At any rate expanding the thurs night games means more mayock which trumps the loss of jaws. Mayocks the man.

 

[saintfool]

i think it was pretty obvious that gruden is the golden boy for the network and MNF. jaws was just the odd man out really. gruden has improved in the booth enough that this isn't really much risk. this kind of positioning for gruden leads me to believe that his coaching days are pretty much over. this was a statement as much about him and his professional future as it was about ESPN and the MNF program. they're going to be together for a long time, i think.

 

[Tackling Dummies]

i think it was pretty obvious that gruden is the golden boy for the network and MNF. jaws was just the odd man out really. gruden has improved in the booth enough that this isn't really much risk. this kind of positioning for gruden leads me to believe that his coaching days are pretty much over. this was a statement as much about him and his professional future as it was about ESPN and the MNF program. they're going to be together for a long time, i think.

You crazy.

 

[saintfool]

i think it was pretty obvious that gruden is the golden boy for the network and MNF. jaws was just the odd man out really. gruden has improved in the booth enough that this isn't really much risk. this kind of positioning for gruden leads me to believe that his coaching days are pretty much over. this was a statement as much about him and his professional future as it was about ESPN and the MNF program. they're going to be together for a long time, i think.

You crazy.

i hated him in the first year. he was more tolerable, less awful this season. he could progress to mildly annoying this year.

 

[butcher boy]

None of the people they put in front of the cameras is the problem. The problem is that the people producing/directing/scripting any ESPN football broadcast has no clue how to make a good broadcast. We've seen the same cliched scripted lines, awkward exchanges, and overblown deliveries since the days of Theisman and the other two clowns he was in the booth with. ESPN needs to fire the people behind the scenes, not the guys in front of the camera.

Huh? I'm baffled.

It's not that difficult. Look back at all of the previous guys they've had in the booth. They all have the same over the top, overblown deliveries. They look and sound like cartoon characters at times. Listen to Gruden during a broadcast, for example, and ask yourself if you really think he talks like that in real life. Since whoever they throw in that booth ends up sounding this way, the problem is with the production team and their cheesy over the top style of broadcast/direction.

 

[BRONG]

The correlation of the love of Jaws, to nerd-factor, is very high.

 

[loqutis]

I thought Gruden was the problem.

Totally agree.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

None of the people they put in front of the cameras is the problem. The problem is that the people producing/directing/scripting any ESPN football broadcast has no clue how to make a good broadcast. We've seen the same cliched scripted lines, awkward exchanges, and overblown deliveries since the days of Theisman and the other two clowns he was in the booth with. ESPN needs to fire the people behind the scenes, not the guys in front of the camera.

Huh? I'm baffled.

It's not that difficult. Look back at all of the previous guys they've had in the booth. They all have the same over the top, overblown deliveries. They look and sound like cartoon characters at times. Listen to Gruden during a broadcast, for example, and ask yourself if you really think he talks like that in real life. Since whoever they throw in that booth ends up sounding this way, the problem is with the production team and their cheesy over the top style of broadcast/direction.

So let me understand this. You claim that the problem with MNF is that the production team is ordering the on air talent to deliver overblown and over the top deliveries when they are calling the game? Then the production team heads back to Bristol and reports back. Are you also saying the Chiefs at ESPN in the offices are steering the program that way as well? Would you relieve ESPN of their duties if you could and go back to ABC? Was it as bad even back then?

 

[butcher boy]

So let me understand this. You claim that the problem with MNF is that the production team is ordering the on air talent to deliver overblown and over the top deliveries when they are calling the game?

I'm sure to them it isn't over the top, but it's obvious that whoever they put in the booth is either coached or directed to sound that way. Jaws, Gruden, Kolber, Theisman, and the other two guys with Theisman all had the same cheeseball delivery, particularly when the camera was on them in the booth. The only one who doesn't has been Tirico.

Then the production team heads back to Bristol and reports back. Are you also saying the Chiefs at ESPN in the offices are steering the program that way as well?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I think the problem is only with the actual game broadcasts, not necesarily with other ESPN programming.

Would you relieve ESPN of their duties if you could and go back to ABC? Was it as bad even back then?

I would. This problem did not exist at ABC. It's been a problem with the ESPN football broadcasts.

 

[BaBastage]

I haven't been a big fan of Jaworski, but Gruden is a one-adjective pony. Everything is "Explosive"... If I were younger I'd make a drinking game around it.

 

[identikit]

Pretty spot-on article on Gruden on MNF:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/espn-exec-tip-jon-gruden-recognize-not-speak-221130800.html

 

[Daywalker]

Pretty spot-on article on Gruden on MNF:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/espn-exec-tip-jon-gruden-recognize-not-speak-221130800.html

Funny, 90% of the comments below the article trash the blogger.

 

[Spike]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

Jaws is a special case because he has the esteem of being a Super Bowl winning coach with the Bucs by torching his old team. People always remember that stuff. I agree with you though, Gruden breaks down the game pretty well in an objective fashion and doesn't give those ######ed superlatives every two seconds.

I think Amos simply reversed the names. Simple error.

 

[GoFishTN]

None of the people they put in front of the cameras is the problem. The problem is that the people producing/directing/scripting any ESPN football broadcast has no clue how to make a good broadcast. We've seen the same cliched scripted lines, awkward exchanges, and overblown deliveries since the days of Theisman and the other two clowns he was in the booth with. ESPN needs to fire the people behind the scenes, not the guys in front of the camera.

Huh? I'm baffled.

It's not that difficult. Look back at all of the previous guys they've had in the booth. They all have the same over the top, overblown deliveries. They look and sound like cartoon characters at times. Listen to Gruden during a broadcast, for example, and ask yourself if you really think he talks like that in real life. Since whoever they throw in that booth ends up sounding this way, the problem is with the production team and their cheesy over the top style of broadcast/direction.

So let me understand this. You claim that the problem with MNF is that the production team is ordering the on air talent to deliver overblown and over the top deliveries when they are calling the game? Then the production team heads back to Bristol and reports back. Are you also saying the Chiefs at ESPN in the offices are steering the program that way as well? Would you relieve ESPN of their duties if you could and go back to ABC? Was it as bad even back then?

Did you ever watch Sunday Night Football when they had it? Same stuff.

 

[butcher boy]

A good comparison to make about it is this. Close your eyes and imagine Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, and Yosemite Sam doing the ESPN broadcast. You will quickly realize that the various people they've had in the booth over the years don't really sound that much different than those characters.

 

[SacramentoBob]

He genuinely seemed to be annoyed with Gruden during the broadcasts. It's a shame because I really like Jaws as an analyst.

 

[AmosMoses]

Jaws was terrible. Gruden wasn't great but I couldn't stand Jaws. Why do they need to keep hiring ex coaches and players to do the commentary when clearly most of them can't do it?

Jaws is a special case because he has the esteem of being a Super Bowl winning coach with the Bucs by torching his old team. People always remember that stuff. I agree with you though, Gruden breaks down the game pretty well in an objective fashion and doesn't give those ######ed superlatives every two seconds.

I think Amos simply reversed the names. Simple error.

No, but I wasn't fishing. Just talking to Pots in his language. I thought Gruden must have been great and Jaws crappy, so I assumed it was Pots that mixed the two up.

 

[flapgreen]

He genuinely seemed to be annoyed with Gruden during the broadcasts. It's a shame because I really like Jaws as an analyst.

Completely agree. Jaws could break it down.

 

[flapgreen]

The correlation of the love of Jaws, to nerd-factor, is very high.

Dennis Miller fan?

 

[bills025]

Gruden is the new Madden. That's what everyone involved is working towards.

 

[Skeletore Eh]

He genuinely seemed to be annoyed with Gruden during the broadcasts. It's a shame because I really like Jaws as an analyst.

Completely agree. Jaws could break it down.

Yeah I heard jaws doing radio interviews a few times and the radio guys would joke about the fact that he couldn't get a word in cuz gruden wouldn't stop talking. Jaws obviously just deflected the comments and said he enjoyed working with gruden, but it was the truth. There were times where it seemed like jaws wouldn't speak for 4 or 5 minutes

 

[duaneok66]

agree with the last few comments - I would turn on the telecast in the little of the game, and i wouldn't hear Jaws for several plays and I would think that Jaws wasn't working the game. Then finally he would chime in.