The way that the NFL allocates broadcast rights to CBS and FOX for the early and late afternoon Sunday time slots is a bit of a mystery to me. Prior to a couple of years ago, CBS exclusively carried games between AFC teams while FOX had the NFC. For inter-conference games, the network which covered the visiting team got to carry the game. That's why a FOX broadcast team would come to Orchard Park twice (and only twice) each year - for the two Bills home games against NFC opponents. While the network allocations are still made mostly according to this formula, there are now "cross-over" games where some all-AFC match-ups, like yesterday's game in steamy south Florida, are carried by FOX. CBS also gets a few all-NFC games each year. I'm not sure why the league and the networks made this change but it means that some Bills games are broadcast by crews which Bills fans rarely, if ever, have seen or heard before.
The NFL produces a "broadcast map" for both afternoon time slots each Sunday, showing the regions where each game is shown. Every NFL game is a "national network" game but some are carried by more network affiliates than others. Yesterday's game in Miami was shown only in south Florida and western New York (and eastern Pennsylvania) and, with a relatively small regional viewership, the broadcast crew which FOX assigned to the game was possibly the lowest one on their depth chart (with the team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman occupying its top spot). The play-by-play yesterday in Miami was handled by someone named Brandon Gaudin who was joined by the much better known former NFL linebacker and team executive Matt Millen.
Millen is a somewhat controversial figure in NFL circles. As a player, through 12 NFL seasons, he won four Superbowls with three different teams - two with the Raiders, one with the 49ers and one with Washington. As an executive, his record couldn't be more diametrically opposed. From 2001 to 2008, Millen was President and CEO of the Detroit Lions who posted a 31-84 record over that period. The 2008 Lions became the first NFL team to lose all 16 regular season games (a record later matched by the 2017 Browns) but Millen was fired in September of that year after an 0-3 start. He has been a broadcaster since 2009. I guess FOX encourages him to make "controversial" statements and yesterday, Gaudin, his partner in the booth, egged him on. I just found his commentary to be generally poor. After he described a particular player as "one of the best out there" for about the sixth time, I said "too bad Matt Millen isn't one of the best colour commentators out there". There is a reason why FOX has relegated him to the bottom of its NFL broadcast depth chart and I hope not to have to listen to him again any time soon.
The fact that the Bills cruised to an easy 35-0 win obviously gave me more time focus on the shortcomings of the broadcast crew. Although the Bills offence, and Josh Allen in particular, still haven't matched their quality of play from last season through two weeks in 2021, a few key plays were all they needed yesterday. Last season, the Bills pass rush was probably the area most in need of improvement and yesterday, first round pick and south Florida native Greg "Jean-Jacques" Rousseau and the rest of the Bills front seven had a strong game with six sacks including one by AJ Epenesa which bounced Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagavialoa from the game early in the first quarter.
Although Devin Singletary had more rushing yards, gained mostly on a long touchdown run on the first possession, running back Zach Moss, another south Florida native, had a strong game after being a healthy scratch in week one. He scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and earned another key first down with strong second and third efforts on each run. The Bills have now beaten the Dolphins six straight times. No wonder so many Bills fans travel to Miami every year.
Up next: Washington, the team that only dropped its offensive name after a threat from its major sponsor, FedEx, to either drop the name or lose their sponsorship, comes to Orchard Park on Sunday.
In Canada, we apparently have a federal election today. Most voters cast their ballots by mail, voted in the advance polls last weekend or have lost interest entirely. Tonight, I'll mostly be watching the Blue Jays who open an important series in Tampa.
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