NBC debuted the Green Zone feature during last night's Cardinals-Cowboys preseason telecast, and it was widely panned on social media. On third downs, the feature makes the on-screen grass between the spot of the ball and the first down marker a darker shade of green. Warriors broadcaster Tom Tolbert tweeted, "The Green Zone? Are you serious NBC?" Boston-based WEEI-FM's Mark Dondero: "What a waste of technology. ... The viewer doesn’t need a warning track." Seattle-based KJR-AM's Dave Softy Mahler Show: "The yellow line pretty much showed you all you had to know." Arizona Republic's Kent Somers: "Green Zone, yuck." N.Y. Sports Day's Gershon Rabinowitz: "Instead of wasting time coming up with 'The Green Zone', NBC should focus all their efforts on bringing back 'The Glow Puck' for their NHL telecasts." Cowboys blogger RJ Ochoa: "Nobody took a harder L tonight than NBC's The Green Zone and I say that knowing the Cowboys are trailing 24-0 and have turned the ball over seven times. ... What would happen if NBC had to do a game at Boise State would the green zone be the blue zone or would the universe self destruct" (THE DAILY). Meanwhile, SI.com's Jimmy Traina writes the Green Zone "unnecesasry overkill, but harmless." Traina: "Twitter reacted as if NBC put the game in black-and-white and brought Dennis Miller back to do commentary" (SI.com, 8/27).
FOOTBALL FEVER: ESPN.com's Mike Reiss noted Patriots-Panthers on Friday drew a 14.0 local rating in the Boston market on WBZ-CBS, up 11% from last year's third preseason game. The Patriots second preseason game against the Eagles on Aug. 16 also was up 48% compared to last year's second game (ESPN.com, 8/26). In Boston, Kevin Duffy noted Patriots-Panthers "ranked No. 1 in the Boston market" among all telecasts last week (BOSTON HERALD, 8/26).
HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS: In DC, Norman Chad writes "somewhat incredibly," three former Cowboys players "not only got a broadcasting job with virtually no broadcasting experience, they got the top job" in three respective NFL booths. Troy Aikman "ascended to the Fox top spot in his second year out of the NFL" in '02, while Tony Romo (CBS) and Jason Witten (ESPN) were "gifted their lofty status in their first year out of the game." Aikman is "palatable, Romo was critically acclaimed in his debut season" in '17 and Witten is "expected to excel" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/27).
