The death of Cowboys LB Jerry Brown led all NFL pregame shows this morning. CBS’ “The NFL Today,” which garnered widespread criticism for not leading its broadcast last week with the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, began today’s show with a somber opening and host James Brown reading a statement from Cowboys DT Josh Brent, who was arrested yesterday for intoxicated manslaughter. Cowboys radio analyst Babe Laufenberg then appeared from Paul Brown Stadium and discussed the Cowboys players’ reactions and emotions (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 12/9).
The Albany Times-Union’s Pete Dougherty on his Twitter account wrote, “CBS learned from its error of last week and led its pregame show with the Dallas Cowboys tragedy.” Deadspin’s Timothy Burke wrote, “Looks like CBS is responding to the criticism of their tone-deaf response to Belcher by doing the first ten minutes about DUIs.” SI.com’s Richard Deitsch wrote, “The NFL Today treated its viewers like adults at the top of its show today. As it should be.”
ESPN’s Frank Caliendo reported on his Twitter feed that the net would be "pushing back the ESPN comedy segment another week because of tragic NFL news” (TWITTER.com, 12/8). The segment was to feature Caliendo playing ESPN’s Bob Ley and Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones (ESPN).
