Grading NFL Network Total Access

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Media Watchdog - Grading NFL Network Total Access

Posted On: 9/13/07

Written By:

Scot Kleinfeld

The Commentators:

Host: Fran Charles

Co-host: Terrell Davis

Co-host: Rod Woodson

Week one of the 2007 NFL season is in the books and it’s time for me to go into “sponge mode”. There is no such thing as too much information during football season; hence the MW is soaking up as much 411 as possible from the radio, web and TV.

One of my staple media outlets is The NFL Network and the program I watch most often is “Total Access”. This show has a slew of rotating hosts and co-hosts. The night I watched was September 11th with the studio crew consisting of Fran Charles, Terrell Davis and Rod Woodson. I like the three person scheme for a show of this format. This one is based on news, injury updates, post game analysis and a lot of commentary. Three is not a crowd when in studio and it’s nice to always see a debate when a third party can be the deciding vote. I noticed on some of the game day shows on ESPN and NBC there are as many as six people. Can anybody say overkill? Does every ex-player and coach need to have a network gig?

The show opened with an update on the Patriots signals stealing controversy by lead reporter Adam Shefter. This guy is good and I like his “just the facts” style…he has no fluff in his reporting and that’s refreshing.

Injury updates on Ray Lewis, Steve McNair and Eli Manning followed, but there really was no news to report yet so it seemed like a wasted segment.

Before going to break the trade of Browns QB Charlie Frye was the topic and had some good presser video of Phil Savage explaining the decision. Both Davis and Woodson agreed Brady Quinn should be named the starting QB and I bet this will be a recurring discussion throughout the season.

The second segment was “Around The League with Adam Shefter” and featured news on number one pick Jamarcus Russell plus more injury updates on Eli Manning and Chad Pennington. This is where I got a little confused. Shefter already talked about injuries to players in the first segment that included Eli Manning. Why is the show doing it again and just adding two new players into the mix? I think doing all the injury updates together and then all the news stories in a separate segment would work better.

A “best plays from week 1” video review seemed like a safe bet but instead there was a nice highlight package on how the 2007 rookies did in their debuts. I liked this idea and I bet a lot of fans were watching highlights last week with the rookies in mind. What I think the piece needed was some kind of context. Comparing the class of 2007 to some other rookie class or some debuts of past great players would have been the icing on the cake here.

After some stats reviews of the top RBs and QBs from week 1, Davis and Woodson debated about the Chad Johnson touchdown celebration. Davis was unimpressed, yet remained fairly neutral. Woodson took Ocho Cinco behind the shed and told Chad to go “buy himself some class” with his money. Well said Mr. Woodson…keep up the good work.

The show ended with the U2 halftime performance from Super Bowl XXXVI in remembrance of the 9/11/2001 bombings. I thought this was a nice touch and they were smart enough to show the highlight song, “Where The Streets Have No Name”, in its entirety. For those that don’t know it, this is the same song the Ravens are introduced to at every home game.

Grade: A-

Not quite everything Anita – On the Anita Marks show this week after an audio clip from the Brian Billick press conference, Ms. Miami says, “Brian Billick just always says the right things.” Not so fast…have you seen the plays he calls when the Ravens get in the red zone?