Yesterday marked the return of NFL pregame shows following an offseason dominated by off-field issues, and CBS “leaned hard” into the social justice and political storylines, according to Jay Busbee of YAHOO SPORTS. The net’s “The NFL Today” opened with a montage that “smoothly segued into a brief NFL summer recap,” touching on topics like Joe Burrow being the top pick in the NFL Draft and Tom Brady moving to the Buccaneers. The CBS crew then “went straight at one of the more compelling stories from Thursday night’s opener: the way fans in Kansas City booed the teams’ show of unity long after the national anthem.” Pro Football HOFer Bill Cowher “took the most direct approach.” ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” offered the “least direct focus on the protests.” Over on Fox, two of the network’s commentators, Michael Vick and Howie Long, said that they “regretted the approach they’d taken during Colin Kaepernick’s initial kneeling.” Long was “more forceful.” He admitted, “I’m embarrassed to say that the very first time Colin Kaepernick took a knee I thought, ‘Why during the national anthem?’” The game broadcast teams “generally spoke with one voice.” Busbee noted for the “most part, once the players took the field, the focus was football alone.” It is “likely that the networks will gradually scale back their coverage of the protests” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/13).
TWO STAND ABOVE THE OTHERS: THE ATHLETIC’s Richard Deitsch notes Fox had an “excellent montage to start its show” yesterday -- “images of fans wearing masks, quick shots of protests in America, players training in non-traditional ways during the pandemic, football highlights, and then a shift to fans wearing jerseys of their favorite players.” CBS’ montage was an “attempt to put the last six months in perspective -- images of social justice and the pandemic within a larger football context.” Both were “well done.” ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” had a “surprising bland open (shots of stadiums and storylines from around the league), which was unexpected given the quality of opening montages that usually come from ESPN.” NFL Network’s "NFL GameDay Morning" went "very heavy on football highlights from the previous season" (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/14).
