‘Thursday Night Football’ makes Amazon debut; Stephen A. Smith rips ‘useless’ Dak Prescott
A number of unique features that will be available throughout the season, including alternate feeds, predictive statistics, and being able to check out replays on demand.
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The final preseason game between the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans isn’t something most Eagles fans care about. But the two teams will take the field tonight at 8:15 p.m. as part of the debut of Amazon’s Thursday Night Football
After four years on Fox, Thursday Night Football is the first NFL package to be offered exclusively on streaming. So if you want to tune in tonight, you must have an Amazon Prime subscription (the tech giant is currently offering a 30-day trial).
Fortunately for Eagles fans, when the Birds take on the Texans in Week 9 on Thursday Night Football, the game will also air locally on television. It will also be available in bars and restaurants, thanks to a deal with DirecTV.
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Calling tonight’s game will be a familiar voice — longtime NFL announcer Al Michaels, who left NBC’s Sunday Night Football after 16 years when his contract expired following the Super Bowl. Joining him in the booth is Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s top college football analyst, who will pull double duty this season by also calling college football games.
“I don’t know how he’s going to pull it off, but if anybody can do it, he can do it,” Michaels said during a conference call earlier this week.
Reporting from the sideline will be Kaylee Hartung, a former ESPN reporter who spent time most recently as a correspondent for ABC News.
Amazon will also have pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage, hosted by Charissa Thompson, who also hosts Fox NFL Kickoff on Sundays. It’s unclear who will join her tonight, but Amazon has added a group of former NFL players to their studio coverage, including Andrew Whitworth, Tony Gonzalez, Richard Sherman, and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
One former player who won’t be joining Amazon’s studio coverage is former Super Bowl champ Aqib Talib, who bowed out after his brother was arrested following a deadly brawl during a youth football game in Lancaster, Texas that left a coach dead.
As for bells and whistles during the broadcast, Thursday Night Football producer Fred Gaudelli was tight lipped, but hinted at a number of features that will be available throughout the season, including alternate feeds, predictive statistics, and being able to check out replays on demand.
“Fred can’t talk about everything yet. We have some surprises planned for you,” said Marie Donoghue, the vice president of sports at Amazon.
Stephen A. Smith rips ‘useless’ Dak Prescott
Eagles fans can certainly relate to Stephen A. Smith’s hatred of the Dallas Cowboys. On Wednesday the animated host of ESPN’s First Take narrowed his sights on a specific target — Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Smith’s over-the-top criticism wasn’t centered on Prescott’s performance on the field or during training camp. Instead, the former Inquirer columnist and reporter’s anger was directed at Prescott’s ability in front of a camera.
“Dak Prescott is the worst interview in sports. The most useless, wasted time interview in sports. He says the same thing every year. No matter what’s going on with the Cowboys!” Smith said. “‘I feel very confident in us, I think we’re gonna be very good.’ ...He gives no insight.”
“You are the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. When you speak about expectations, it’s the same answer. When you speak about hope, it’s the same answer. When you speak about who you believe in, it’s the same answer. He never changes!” Smith continued. “It is a complete waste of time to talk to Dak Prescott. The most useless interview in sports is talking to Dak Prescott.”
Of course, Prescott hasn’t exactly been shy about his approach to interviews. During an interview on Dallas sports talk radio last month clipped by Awful Announcing, Prescott said he studied Peyton Manning’s evasive approach to being interviewed by reporters.
“I’ve watched a lot of Peyton Manning interviews in my day,” Prescott said. “So I took some nuggets from him. Learned how to say a lot without saying too much, you know?”
Smith is taking First Take to Cowboys training camp in Frisco, Texas. today, where he’ll be joined by Hall of Famer Michael Irvin and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. No word if Prescott will join the broadcast.
Quick hits
Saturday night is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, the final race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. But in Philadelphia, the race will be preempted by the Eagles’ final preseason game. The race will air in progress at 10 p.m. after the Eagles game versus the Dolphins is over. It will also stream on Peacock and the NBC Sports app.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy announced the launch of the TGL golf league, a tech-infused partnership with the PGA Tour that will see golfers compete on three-person teams on virtual courses in prime time Monday nights. I think to be able to see Tiger hit golf shots and still sort of provide people with a glimpse of his genius — I think it is a really good use of his time,” McIllroy told ESPN.
Inquirer soccer reporter Jonathan Tannenwald got a behind-the-scenes peek at the English side of NBC’s English Premier League soccer coverage. “Maybe not all of the English football community is as mature about its relationship with American fans as American fans have become with us,” said play-by-play announcer Peter Drury.
The National Women’s Soccer League championship will air on CBS in prime time on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m., the first time in the game’s 10-year history it will air on broadcast television. It’ll be a busy night, with Fox airing Game 2 of the World Series and ABC airing college football at the same time.