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ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” crew is under the - panxing18 - 05-19-2019
LOS ANGELES (AP) — spotlight every week Patrick Mahomes Jersey , but attention will be further magnified when the Los Angeles Rams host the Kansas City Chiefs in a matchup of 9-1 teams.This week’s game carries more storylines than usual. It’s the first Monday night game in Los Angeles since 1985. It’s also just the second time that teams meeting on Monday night in Week 11 or later have each had one or fewer losses.While most of the attention will be focused on quarterbacks Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes, it is also an opportunity for the crew of Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland to show improvement in what has at times been a trying first year.That is especially true for Witten, whose transition from the playing field to the booth has not gone quite as well as former teammate Tony Romo’s move to CBS. Witten has had some noticeable flubs but has owned up to them.“Hell, I’m not perfect,” Witten said during a teleconference last week. “Certainly with Tony and the success that he had, I really try not to live in that world and fully embrace it and continue to get better and evaluate it. I think with the flubs, I certainly do not deny it, I don’t try to hide it and as you said, that’s really all you can do in those moments is self-deprecate and move forward.”Three-man booths can take time to develop, but time has not been on the side of recent announcing teams. The last three “MNF” booths with two analysts have lasted two or three seasons.The challenge of developing chemistry is tougher since McFarland is down on the field hovering above the action instead of next to Tessitore and Witten. “MNF” producer Jay Rothman said there are cameras set up where the announcers can see each other and that interruptions have been rare.“I think it’s going to be something unique and different that no other, no other broadcast can offer, which is offense, defense, young, old, I consider myself old, guys talking about football and having a conversation that pulls the viewer in,” McFarland said.Tessitore said the group’s biggest improvement has been late in games when they have been close.“I think that’s when the three of us are at our best,” he said. “I never doubt our ability to document, assess, talk strategy, scheme, players, in the moment quickly and just let it happen. Where I think this crew has gotten better in recent weeks, and I think it’s going to continue to get better, is having really good cohesive conversation that flows and finds a rhythm.”Both teams already have wins on Monday night this season. The Rams defeated the Raiders in Week 1 and the Chiefs rallied to beat the Broncos in Week 4. Witten said while everyone is looking at the matchup between the quarterbacks, the chess match between coaches Sean McVay and Andy Reid is even more interesting.“The Rams having a season that they had last year with a young head coach, a lot of hype, a lot of expectations and they have met that,” he said. “On the other side, it’s kind of the opposite. I mean, Andy Reid has really reinvented himself offensively in Kansas City Travis Kelce Jersey , making a decision to trade Alex Smith who had taken that team to multiple playoff appearances, and Patrick Mahomes, I mean, he’s worth the price of admission.”“Monday Night Countdown” analyst Louis Riddick said the game moving to Los Angeles from Mexico City might make it even better.“If this doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what does. Now with it being played stateside, a lot of people will be lucky to go to this game,” he said.ESPN has not been fortunate with great late-season matchups in recent years, but that isn’t the case this season. Monday’s game is part of five straight weeks of games with playoff implications. The network is also pleased with the ratings, which are up four percent from last season, averaging 11.4 million viewers.This week’s matchup has a chance to be the most widely-watched “MNF” game on ESPN. The record is the 2009 game between the Vikings and Packers, when Brett Favre’s return to Green Bay drew 21.839 million viewers.“There are those teams from a ratings perspective that are just global teams that move the meter — the Steelers, Packers, Patriots and Cowboys,” Rothman said. “Historically, Kansas City has not been one of those that move the meter … and L.A. is sort of getting there, but it’s going to be interesting to see.”The Re-Up: There’s a new reason each week to believe these aren’t the same old Chiefs It’s our Monday morning afternoon column, The Re-Up. In this column, I’ll write about some deeper thought I had about the last game and finish with some fun stuff to ponder at the article’s end. Check out last week’s column here.Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsYou could be the finest football analyst in the entire world. You could be a statistical nerd, you could be a former player. Hell, you could be a widely-respected name such as Peter King or John Madden.Regardless of who you are, what you have done or what you do, it is a nearly impossible task to correctly evaluate NFL teams prior to the beginning of the regular season. Now, I’ve only been doing this for five seasons (so what do I know, really?), but I have found that in a way, figuring out who teams are feels similar to watching a murder-mystery sitcom. Each game is an episode, and each episode provides clues to an eventual answer—Sunday, in my opinion, gave us two. Going into Sunday (using clues from the season’s first four episodes), I felt sure that if Patrick Mahomes threw more interceptions than touchdowns in any game this season, the Chiefs would lose, their defensive unit just not good enough.Sunday’s effort—one that included 12 passes defensed, 11 quarterback hits Tyreek Hill Jersey , five sacks, four interceptions and one forced fumble and recovery out of the Chiefs defense—proved me very wrong. And that was the first new clue I took away from Sunday.In case you were under a rock Sunday missed the game, it was the Chiefs’ best defensive player of 2018, Dee Ford, who forced Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles to fumble immediately after Mahomes threw his first interception of the season. “It shows what kind of team we are in every phase of the game,” Mahomes said, when asked what it means for Ford to have been making those types of plays all year long. “We can win games with everyone on this team. It’s not just the offense, it’s not just the defense, it’s not just special teams. We’re a unit and we believe that. I’m excited to just come out with a win like that where the defense just stepped up and made a ton of plays and gave us chance to make plays.”Cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who replaced David Amerson in the final hour of the preseason and has been the media scapegoat for an underwhelming Chiefs secondary, had his best game of the season.He used the game as a means to make a statement, both on the field and off.“We’re physical,” Scandrick said. “I don’t think they’re physical. I think they want to pretend they’re physical when everything is going good. But I think we’re a really physical team. I think we played a physical style of defense.”As you can tell, Scandrick didn’t take too kindly to how the Jaguars chose to play the game. As is obvious by their ejections, neither did Ford nor defensive lineman Chris Jones—two players who are as mellow off the field as you’ll find ejected because of their emotional responses to the Jaguars.With Jacksonville pushing and talking trash, according to the Chiefs, Ford took two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and Jones was ejected for punching an opposing player’s leg during an extra point.Running back Kareem Hunt was also flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for bumping helmets with Jacksonville linebacker Telvin Smith, who was no longer smiling on Sunday.As expected, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid did not approve of the ejections, but as you can infer from his statement after the game, he welcomed the message of it all with open arms.Read closely.“When two good football teams play each other, you can’t let the emotions get to you,” Reid explained. “[Jacksonville] is a team that is going to come in and be physical and try to push you around in your own place. You can’t do that either. You have to put your foot down and do it the right way. We have to learn from that. You surely cannot be ejected from the game, that’s not smart football. That’s a lesson you can learn. First of all, no one’s going to push us around, anywhere, but also be smart about it.”I have become accustomed to the coach-speak in Reid, so I appreciate those moments when he goes off-script.“No one’s going to push us around, anywhere,” could be as off-script as it gets for Reid, and that was our second clue from Sunday.This idea that the Chiefs have a we-belong-here mentality about them is new and perhaps one they didn’t have last year, when they struggled after beginning the season 5-0 Carlos Hyde Jersey , and later blew an 18-point team to what I feel was a worse team in the playoffs.So, to review, our two new clues from Sunday as to the Chiefs’ identity are:1) A defense that has it in it to will the team to victory, even when Mahomes faces adversity.2) A united front that will show toughness and grit (previously unseen) when necessary.Both items heighten that feeling that maybe this year could truly be different.STAT OF THE GAMEThis week’s stat comes from The Athletic’s Lindsay Jones:In 2018, the Chiefs have outscored opponents 59-9 in the first quarter.That means you should get to the Sunday Night Football watch party early.GIF OF THE GAMETWEET(s) OF THE GAMEFIVE QUOTES1. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes on the two interceptions not really getting to him: “I think it goes back to college and then to Coach (Andy) Reid. You can’t let that stuff bother you. He says that in football you have to have a short memory, especially when you play the quarterback positon. Like he said, the defense got the ball right back to us and we just tried to go down there and put points on the board.”2. Andy Reid on the Jacksonville Jaguars:“This is a good football team that was here today. There’s a chance we will meet them down the road. They’re physical, they are emotional, they are going to come after you and let you know they’re out there, verbally and physically. They’ve been there, they were in the championship game last year. It’s an important win, but we are talking about the fifth game of the season. There’s a lot of season left. We have an opportunity to play a good football team again this week. You have to go back through the process, learn from your mistakes to get yourself better and that’s what we will do. If you just keep the score zero to zero and keep working hard, you will be okay.” 3. Wide receiver Chris Conley on what the Chiefs’ defensive effort means for the season: “I think that this team, the sky is the limit for this team as evidenced today. I don’t put more pressure on the defense this week than any previous week. I think they just executed and were able to finish as a team. When you do that, I think this team can be pretty dangerous.”4. Center Mitch Morse on what’s different about this year’s 5-0 as compared to last year’s 5-0 team: “I think we definitely have our head on our shoulders. Not that we didn’t last year, but we definitely know a team has a lot of factors. It’s just being efficient, coming to work with a purpose and fighting for each other.”5. Safety Jordan Lucas on his interception and the game as a whole: “It was just a great feeling. My celebration was for my fianc茅 and for my son on the way. If you noticed, I was cradling the ball, gave it a kiss and did my little signature drop. The energy was at an all-time high. If we can play like that week-in, week-out and not ride the waves during the game, we’ve got a chance to do something special here.”THE BIG THOUGHTAs the Chiefs shift gears from the Jaguars to the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football, I wanted to share this quote from Tom Brady from Monday, per Pro Football Talk and WEEI:I think that maybe, just maybe, we have reached the point at 5-0 that the Chiefs, especially when it comes to the offense, are earning complete (also known as “non-Schrager”) national respect and attention. And if they don’t have it yet, they undoubtedly will with a win on Sunday night.POLL OF THE WEEK