TV Commentator Rankings

Don Criqui or Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein, CBS
Criqui's an old pro who knows what he's watching and gives you an honest day's work. Beuerlein isn't afraid to be critical. I have trouble with reliance on clich� observations, however, such as, in Tennessee- Jacksonville, Week 1, about how you can't run on the big Jaguars tackles, Stroud and Henderson. Except that the Titans were on their way to 282 yards rushing, and MLB Peterson was getting absolutely murdered because those big tackles couldn't keep anyone off him.

And when Macatee worked the Baltimore- Seattle game with Beuerlein, the nuances of line play were basically lost. Darryl Tapp, having a career game against Jonathan Ogden, puts on a furious rush and beats the big tackle, plus the tight end, Sypniewski, and all we hear is that Peterson, the linebacker, is causing a problem with his blitzes. But you know what it's like when announcers are playing out of position.

A blanket grouping, which I've never done before, but I'm getting tired of leveling the same criticisms at the same people, who are doing the best they can and make some errors, get some things right, don't really tell me anything I don't know. This group includes the following:

J.C. Pearson and either Matt Vasgersian or Matt Devlin, Fox

Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker, CBS

Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser, ESPN

I thought that bringing in Jaws for Joe Theismann would change the whole landscape, even one that included the depressing figure of Tony K., but I was wrong. The seeds of hype, of sloppiness and shallow promotion are too deeply sown.

I love Jaworski's Sunday morning blackboard show with Merrill Hoge. Always have. And I know that Jaws spends a lot of time at NFL Films, getting this baby of his absolutely tip top. But is it possible that someone, with days to prepare, can get things right, but miss out when he's under the gun? It certainly seems that way, because for a guy who knows as much football as Jaworski does, he lets too much get by him in the most crucial game situations.

The two biggest contests he worked in the regular season were both near-upsets that ended dramatically, Dallas-Buffalo and New England-Baltimore. Both had the same climax -- the favored team pulling it out at the end against a defense that had gone passive and allowed itself to get worked over. Surprisingly, none of this registered with Jaworski

It was especially apparent at the end of the Dallas game, when the Cowboys recovered an onside kick and had only seconds left, and the only place they could work the ball was the short sideline, and yet the Bills didn't defend it. They pulled back and gave the Cowboys the game. Friends of mine were calling, wanting to know what the hell was Buffalo thinking. But all this escaped Jaworski