Steve Tasker is the worst TV commentator the Patriots have ever dealt with

[vyrago]

Not to mention every dropped pass was "a terrible throw by Brady"

Noticed that too and it enraged me. If not for the real problem of Gronk's knee, I'd have been grumbling about the announcing all game, but that hit shut me up.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

If I remember correctly, didn't Tasker get the rules and strategy of the onside kick completely wrong?

1. He said that no Patriots player could touch a Browns player until the ball has traveled 10 yards. Isn't that incorrect? I thought the ten yard rule only applied to a Patriots player touching the ball, not an opposing player.

2. He said that it is common strategy for the receiving team to bat the ball out of bounds. Really? Never heard of, or seen, this, ever.

3. He then mistakenly believed that Gostkowski touched the ball first despite seeing it from about seven different angles.

4. Wasn't he a special teams player himself???

 

[upstater1]

I just rewatched the game on DirectV's Sunday Ticket shotcuts app.

On the int'l grounding for Campbell, the instant the ball hit the ground, the sideline ref who was standing a foot or two away from the ball immediately whipped his head around to look at the marker showing the LOS. This was not a call that the refs had to convince themselves into (after int'l grounding on Brady earlier). The ref immediately knew the ball fell two feet short of the LOS.

So Tasker got that totally botched.

And he was complaining that a Patriot had knocked the Browns receiver to the ground prior to Campbell throwing it away. He doesn't seem to understand 2 basic rules.

1. If the QB is outside the tackles and running, defenders have the right to chuck receivers prior to the ball being thrown. Otherwise, how could they shed blocks in case of a QB run?

2. AND, even if the QB was still in the pocket, the receiver was within the first 5 yards beyond the LOS, which makes chucking legal regardless of what the QB is doing.

 

[BradyBranch39]

It really is. But what is so bizarre is I actually have a memory of reading a story in some magazine about how he (Tasker) got a bunch of fan mail of people thanking him for being their inspiration and not giving up specifically because of that play. Either that was actually Beebe in the story or Tasker got a whole bunch of useless fan mail.

I wouldn't be surprised if people think it was Tasker because Tasker thinks it was Tasker... clearly the man's brain isn't all there.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I just rewatched the game on DirectV's Sunday Ticket shotcuts app.

On the int'l grounding for Campbell, the instant the ball hit the ground, the sideline ref who was standing a foot or two away from the ball immediately whipped his head around to look at the marker showing the LOS. This was not a call that the refs had to convince themselves into (after int'l grounding on Brady earlier). The ref immediately knew the ball fell two feet short of the LOS.

So Tasker got that totally botched.

And he was complaining that a Patriot had knocked the Browns receiver to the ground prior to Campbell throwing it away. He doesn't seem to understand 2 basic rules.

1. If the QB is outside the tackles and running, defenders have the right to chuck receivers prior to the ball being thrown. Otherwise, how could they shed blocks in case of a QB run?

2. AND, even if the QB was still in the pocket, the receiver was within the first 5 yards beyond the LOS, which makes chucking legal regardless of what the QB is doing.

I believe Hightower was the guy who did it, and it was very clear that it was something that he had been coached to do. As soon as Campbell rolled out to the right, the very first thing Hightower did was basically body check the receiver who was drifting over in that direction (and yes, it was within 5 yards of the LOS). This is a designed play that pretty much every team with a QB who's even remotely mobile has in their playbook. It's also a play that's burned the Pats a bunch of times this season, and it looks like the coaching staff's answer to it is "get physical with the WRs early and often, as soon as the QB breaks outside". When your linebackers can't cover, especially, it's pretty much the only way to defend that play. And it's 100% legal. Too bad Tasker rides the short bus to his announcing gigs.

 

[oldskool138]

I know this is slightly off-topic but what happened to the Pats 2nd timeout? I know they lost one on the failed challenge but then suddenly, it seemed, they only had one left and I don't remember them taking one after the challenge.

And the announcer didn't say anything about it (see, maybe it is on topic).

 

[Froob]

Just watched the game on nfl rewind because I missed it live. I don't complain about commentators usually but, wow this dude was awful. Man was he mad about that pass interference call James Boyce drew.

 

[Rob0729]

3. He then mistakenly believed that Gostkowski touched the ball first despite seeing it from about seven different angles.

It was sickening that he was almost rooting for Gostkowski to have touched the ball. He wanted the Pats to get an illegal touching penalty and was not afraid to hide his feelings. Not even Dan Dumbledorf goes that far.

 

[primetime]

I assumed it was the Steve Tasker of the early 90s Buffalo Bills. Special teams player who made a name for himself chasing down Leon Lett and preventing yet another touchdown during one of the Cowboys-Bills Superbowl slaughters. The first one, I believe, in '92.

That was actually Don Beebe, the Bills' WR, who chased down Lett.

Tasker is the greatest special teamer to ever play the game (Matt Slater, for what it's worth, might be number two). He should be a Hall of Famer, but much like Ted Washington he played an underappreciated position that lacks statistical accumulation and thus will not make it.

That said, he was laughably awful as an announcer yesterday. So was his partner. I just laughed when I heard "Ryan Logan" and the constant mispronunciation of Amendola.

edit: Whoops, missed that there were 9 pages

 

[chasa]

I know this is slightly off-topic but what happened to the Pats 2nd timeout? I know they lost one on the failed challenge but then suddenly, it seemed, they only had one left and I don't remember them taking one after the challenge.

And the announcer didn't say anything about it (see, maybe it is on topic).

I too was curious about this, as i dont remember it every being called.

 

[JMC00]

They called the timeout right after the play McGahee got his bell rung.

 

[primetime]

2. He said that it is common strategy for the receiving team to bat the ball out of bounds. Really? Never heard of, or seen, this, ever.

Speaking from experience, he wasn't wrong here. This is actually something you're taught to do on onside kicks. It's actually why onside kicks in the pros tend to be towards the center of the field.

 

[oldskool138]

They called the timeout right after the play McGahee got his bell rung.

That seems kind of silly. I mean, if a guy on the other team is hurt, why take a timeout. Play is stopped until the player is removed from the field, right?

 

[JMC00]

That seems kind of silly. I mean, if a guy on the other team is hurt, why take a timeout. Play is stopped until the player is removed from the field, right?

Really? Did you even watch the game?

They had to take a timeout to stop the clock to have time left. Guys were still in a pile when the timeout was called. It wasn't until the pile was clear that people noticed McGahee wasn't getting up.

 

[BradyBranch39]

Speaking from experience, he wasn't wrong here. This is actually something you're taught to do on onside kicks. It's actually why onside kicks in the pros tend to be towards the center of the field.

I've seen this happen this year. Don't remember who it was, but I know I've seen it recently.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

That seems kind of silly. I mean, if a guy on the other team is hurt, why take a timeout. Play is stopped until the player is removed from the field, right?

Yes, play is stopped, but the problem is the clock. On an injury time out taken with the clock running before the two minute warning, the clock begins again after the injured player is taken off the field. (Reference: Rule 4, sec. 3, Art. 2(c).)

The time out was called with about 2:43 on the clock. If the Patriots had not called time out, the official would have stopped the clock for the injury. Since the play that led to the injury was a run in bounds, once they were ready to play again, the clock would have started again and the Browns could have burned whatever was left on the 40 second clock (probably about 30 seconds at that point). So the injury would not have helped the Patriots stop the clock.

After the two minute warning, the clock stops for the injury and doesn't start back up (unless it's a so-called "fourth time out," because the injured team is out of time outs).

 

[Dutchmaster617]

They gave gronk the catch! They gave the catch to gronk!!!!

No he made the catch buddy lmao. I found it more funny than annoying imo.

 

[SVN]

Rewatched a bit of the game. Hilarious moment when refs dont call intentional grounding on brady and replay shows browns DL clearly holding vereen's jersey and tasker points it out and laughs "Thats a good play by him..haha"