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Sunday Morning Quarterback
Going Deep on the Strategies, Myths & Mayhem of Football
Chapter One "The Quarterback Threw into Double Coverage" and Other Observations Worth Tuning Out
"As Shakespeare once said, 'Even an idiot is a genius after the fact.'"
-- Tom Moore,
Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator
TV absolutely can lie. Invariably, when our production crew sits down for our first meeting before a game, one of the guys I work with will say, "Well, so and- so was horrendous last week." That's an opinion based largely on what he saw while watching a broadcast tape of the game. Let's say the quarterback was 10 for 24. That means the announcers who called the game most likely pointed out that the quarterback didn't have a good day because of those unimpressive statistics. Then, on Sports Center that night, the anchors said the same thing, only reinforcing an opinion forged several hours earlier.
But when we get together to watch the coaches' tape, that critical member of our crew is stunned to see that the guy he thought was "horrendous" actually played a much better game because he can see the whole picture. The coaches' tape provides an overhead view of each play from the sideline and end zone. For the most part, TV cameras only follow the ball and zoom in on the players throwing it, catching it, and running with it, and don't give you a true sense of what's going on everywhere else.
"Wow! Look at that!" our resident critic says. "He didn't have time to throw there."
Right away, you find out that you didn't realize the quarterback was under so much pressure, because TV didn't document it well enough. You realize it was, in fact, all because of the quarterback when he did make some completions. Under pressure, the guy's not open, and he makes the perfect throw. All of a sudden, of those 10 completions, 5 end up being great plays. Now your whole perception changes of what that quarterback did in the game.
You have to be careful with wide receivers, too. You might be watching a broadcast tape of a receiver who catches only two passes and your first conclusion is that he isn't doing a good enough job of getting open. Then you watch the coaches' film and see that he is getting open, but the quarterback's not seeing him or is not getting the time to find him or is not making good throws.
I believe it is every bit as important to prepare to broadcast a game as it was to prepare to play in one. A broadcaster who goes into a game unsure about the topics he is going to address would almost be like a quarterback who goes into a game unsure about the plays he's going to call. My gosh! I couldn't sleep if that happened. It would drive me crazy. If I didn't prepare for a broadcast it would be on my mind the whole time that my new partner, Jim Nantz, and I were standing in that announcers' booth on Sunday afternoon. The viewers depend on me to get it right. And I know what it means to the players, the coaches, their families, their lives, for me to be as accurate and as truthful as I can. Like it or not, what I say and what my fellow broadcasters say during a game can affect careers one way or another.
You always can tell if the announcers had or even took the time to study and get thoroughly prepared for a game. Many times they will make observations or blanket statements as if they were indisputable facts, even when they aren't. So many times when I'm doing games I'll make a statement, and when we run the replay, I'll say, "Uh-oh, that's not what happened." The replay gives me a view where I see that I was wrong. A lot goes on out there and you can't see it all, but when you're wrong you should correct yourself as you see the play a second or third time. What choice do you have? There's visual evidence that says you're a liar, so you might as well go ahead and say, "Yeah, okay, I was wrong." And you just move on.
Sometimes when you're broadcasting a game it's hard to admit you've made a mistake. I've listened to announcers insist that a play unfolded a particular way, even when the replay will show something completely different, but that doesn't matter. They're going to stick with their story. It happens all the time.
If all of this sounds a little pompous, so be it. I'm like everyone else: I think my opinion is the only one in the world that counts. That's why I doubt I'll ever sit in the booth with another ex-NFL quarterback -- because we all think that we know it all. I'm sure other announcers listen to me and hate a lot of stuff I say. That's fine.
But for everything we say, there are consequences. I'm reminded of it every time people come up to me and say something about a football team or a player, and I'll say, "That is not true. Why would you think that is true?"
Almost without fail, the answer is, "Because I heard it on TV ... Because I read it in the paper ... Because I read it on the Internet."
"Just because you heard something on TV or on the radio or read it in the paper or on the Internet doesn't make it true."
"Well, how else will I know? I have to believe what I read and what people tell me in the media."
With that in mind, I've come up with a list of examples of blanket statements and clichés that announcers and writers have thrown out there so often through the years that they are accepted as gospel when, in fact, they often have nothing to do with reality ...
Sunday Morning Quarterback
Going Deep on the Strategies, Myths & Mayhem of Football. Copyright © by Phil Simms. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
