Fox Sports NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira on Sunday said that he "could be out for the whole season with an injured back." Pereira tweeted, “Bad back and soon to come surgery keeps me from traveling and keeps me home. You are blessed not to see me on the tube for the possibly the season." In N.Y., Ryan Glasspiegel noted Pereira joined the net in 2010 and has "thrived in the role ever since." Fellow rules analyst Dean Blandino "handled the gap left by Pereira on Sunday" (N.Y. POST, 9/11).
IRON MEN: THE RINGER's Bryan Curtis noted at the end of this season of ESPN's "Monday Night Football," Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will have been with each other for 22 years, which is a "significant number." It means they "will have been partners longer than Pat Summerall and John Madden." Buck and Aikman started calling games together in 2002. At year’s end, Aikman will have "stood next to Buck in the booth a full decade longer than he stood under center" for the Cowboys. Buck and Aikman have "been together a decade and a half longer than any top network NFL team." They also "became actual, non-TV friends" (THE RINGER, 9/11).
SUCCESSFUL DEBUT: SI's Jimmy Traina wrote YouTube "exceeded" his expectations, and Sunday Ticket’s debut on YouTube "was a clear success." But there were "two negatives about YouTube’s presentation." The "minor negative" is that YouTube "didn’t put up the multiview options until 10 to 15 minutes before kickoff." The "major negative" is that YouTube "doesn’t allow viewers to choose the four games they want in the multiview." Viewers "overwhelmingly want the multiview to be customizable." But everything else about Sunday Ticket "was a home run." The "biggest change and the most important change was the presentation," and YouTube "could not have done a better job" (SI, 9/11).
