and the NY Jets beat the ATL Falcons 31 to 16 tonight in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The game was televised by NBC.

I also saw some of the game (broadcast by CBS) between the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills. The Bills won, 13 to 10.

For a play by play of the Jets vs. Falcons game, please click here.

For a play by play of the Saints vs. Bills game, please click here.

I’m not going to write too much in this entry, but I wanted to point out some aesthetic differences or particulars regarding NBC, CBS, and Fox. The score board for graphic in the NBC telecast appeared on the top and middle of the screen. CBS has one that switches upper corners depending on the game-play (so as not to obscure anything). Fox’s score board graphic is located in the upper left corner of the screen.

NBC also maintains a kind of minimalist aesthetic, staying with the standard high angle, press box view of the field and changing to an on-field camera or a close-up of the side-lines between plays or for instant replay. Just when I was beginning to believe NBC wouldn’t incorporate any new graphic tricks like the Fox picture-in-picture device, here comes the National Broadcasting Company with its own picture-in-picture/split-screen application: two squares within the screen, each square containing a different point-of-view of a slow-motion sequence. NBC copies the Fox graphic in the bottom of the second quarter after the referee has reviewed and confirmed the touchdown that Jets tight end Sean Ryan made. The ref is in the smaller square in the upper portion of screen-right and Sean Ryan is in the other, bigger square that is diagonally below the smaller square. NBC also included two regular split-screens, the first occurred after Falcons Billy Cundiff kicked a 45-yard field goal (Falcons quarterback Joe Harrington and Cundiff’s backs faced the cameras, each player occupying one side of the split screen), the second appeared with two minutes left in the second quarter (new Falcons head coach Bobby Petrino was on screen-left and in profile; a Falcons player was on screen-right, facing but not looking directly at the camera).

I don’t recall CBS having a similar picture-in-picture contraption, though it could be too early to tell. The CBS aesthetic is ostensibly livelier, though. One of the side-line cameras actually followed the ball after a kick-off in the top of the second quarter. I know I haven’t watched enough televised football to assert this thought so definitively, but in all of the games I have seen in the last couple of years, I had not seen on instance where a camera followed the ball’s trajectory in the air during actual game-play. Instant replays incorporated it from time to time. At any rate, it certainly makes the CBS aesthetic more NFL Films than the other telecasts, and thus, somehow more stylized. There was also a very touching tribute to the late Bill Walsh during the half-time report in the Saints vs. Bills game.

I’d say that Fox is somewhere in between.

Two more observations, both Fox and CBS featured the 1st and 10 line on screen; NBC did not. CBS even had a blue line to mark the line of scrimmage. If memory serves, Fox might have had a red line, but I don’t remember for what purpose.

Post-script:

1. Not only do the Falcons have a new head coach in Bobby Petrino, but they also have a new offensive coordinator (Hue Jackson) and a new defensive coordinator (Mike Zimmer).  The special teams coordinator (Jerry Rosburg) is new too.

2. I saw Noriaki Kinoshita on the side-lines. He’s too adorable. Falcons corner back DeAngelo Hall is also very adorable (the NBC half-time report included a segment on his car collection, hosted by 11alive’s Sam Crenshaw); he strikes me as the kind of person who appreciates a good laugh.  He’s also 23 years old, which would make him three years younger than I am. Let me tell you, I do not look any older than he–but then, I am Asian; and Asians tend to look much younger than their age.

Observe:

DeAngelo Hall


Me (photograph taken Thursday August 9, 2007–brand new!)

For the prime-time schedule of televised games, please refer to NFL’s schedule page here.

For more information on NFL TV & Radio broadcasts, click here.

Next Friday, August 17, NBC will broadcast the Falcons vs. Bills game at 7pm.

pic creds: google image search