New Preseason Announcing Crew

[Armchair Quarterback]

1000x better, especially Fauria and Chatham with some real insight. Twitter boys Perillo and Hart are their usual useless selves and Burton kind of annoying but overall still better than those other clowns Cross and Criqui.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

1000x better, especially Fauria and Chatham with some real insight. Twitter boys Perillo and Hart are their usual useless selves and Burton kind of annoying but overall still better than those other clowns Cross and Criqui.

I like Fauria & I expect him to get past his first game jitters.
Chatham was an excellent addition.

Roche was horrible.
First he called Shane Vereen someone else, then he called him
Ben Vereen on his touchdown.

Perillo & Hart were ok, could take them or leave them.

 

[BigMike]

Time to dump Steve Burton. Rochie did okay I thought. Fauria and Chatham were very good. I would expect a major network to come calling for Matt Chatham. I could see him doing games for CBS or Fox in a heartbeat.

 

[edboc]

Time to dump Steve Burton. Rochie did okay I thought. Fauria and Chatham were very good. I would expect a major network to come calling for Matt Chatham. I could see him doing games for CBS or Fox in a heartbeat.

Agreed, I'm surprised Chatham doesn't have a job on a major network. Maybe because he's not a big name, or has other family or work obligations. Overall there was way too many people talking, and they were oftentimes behind getting on tangents about Tebow and Blount, they weren't even talking about the play going on.

 

[PatsGuy]

Agreed, I'm surprised Chatham doesn't have a job on a major network. Maybe because he's not a big name, or has other family or work obligations. Overall there was way too many people talking, and they were oftentimes behind getting on tangents about Tebow and Blount, they weren't even talking about the play going on.

I've caught Chatham on NESN last year and thought he was extremely articulate and insightful. His future looks bright.
Roche on the other hand...well

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

ben vereen

 

[fnordcircle]

Players who actually played for Belichick are always a good listen, which is why Chatham especially was great. Fauria was pretty good too once he stopped trying to provide sound effects for the high fives going on on the field and informing us that Ridley is a bruiser 3 times in 2 words.

 

[PATS16N0]

Fauria is one of the few guys from ESPN that I actually like.
I say "Welcome back to Patsville, Christian!"

He did an awesome job for his first go. I think he'll be with us for a long time.
I could do with someone else at his side though.

 

[DarrylS]

The only criticism is that they were talking too much about the overall process, and did not focus in on the play by play...

Going back to the Gillette Studio(Parillo and Hart) was a complete failure...

Too much commentary, and not enough play by play..

But they are way ahead of Criqui and Cross...

But would have liked to have seen Troy in that mix somewhere..

 

[Peachhead]

When they first announced the new format I thought it was going to suck. They said no play-by-play and a "roundtable" discussion. Which I took to mean just guys sitting around and shooting the breeze while the game was on. Just like most other fans.

I don't know if I misunderstood, or they responded to complaints about the proposed new format. But what we got was pretty damn good. Close to the old format, but with better announcers. There were some small mistakes (wrong first names, etc) but overall pretty good.

And I didn't see the Sam Adams CEO. A plus IMO.

One small complaint: They should not cut away to "the guys back at the studio" (Andy Hart and Paul Perillo) every once in awhile. It doesn't really add anything.

 

[BigMike]

Agreed, I'm surprised Chatham doesn't have a job on a major network. Maybe because he's not a big name, or has other family or work obligations. Overall there was way too many people talking, and they were oftentimes behind getting on tangents about Tebow and Blount, they weren't even talking about the play going on.

Give it a year or so and I bet we see Matt on a national broadcast.

 

[patfanken]

I've been on the Matt Chatham bandwagon for a while now. Right now he's the best of the bunch of local commentators. He avoids the obvious mostly and always seems to come up with a different slant to the game that actually ADDS to my knowledge.

Fauria, has a great TV presence, that you can see on Patriots all access. For the first time in a new format I thought he was good, with room for improvement..

My critique of Roche to be to tell him he talks too much for someone with the LEAST knowledge. His role should be to call what little play by play there is and act as the fans' voice by asking the questions that WE would ask if we were in the booth. No on is interested in Dan Roche's uniformed opinions. In other words he should be leading Fauria and Chatham. He's the straight man.

As for Perillo and Hart, I think they have something to offer, but sometimes I found the segues to them artificial and forced. It was like they went to them because the HAD to, rather than when they had something interesting to add or not. Their role needs to be ironed out a bit

Overall (and I only saw the 2nd half. I liked it. A HUGE upgrade from Cross and Crique. I'm sure (as the comments indicate, some people miss the play by play. Its understandable, because that's what we are used to. I felt it myself sometimes.

BOTTOM LINE - I applaud a brave risk by Channel 4, that was executed well for the first time out. Good job with room for improvements. Lets see how the next one works out.

 

[PatsFan37]

Definitely an upgrade. But as always, I'd prefer that they don't repeat the obvious with the major storylines and that they stay away from frat-boy talk. If there's new insight from a play that's just happened, I'd love to hear about it, and to hear their opinions and insight on the action taking place on the field right now.

As always, we're there to watch the game and their talk should enhance the on-field action.

But overall, yes, a definite improvement.

 

[Mike the Brit]

1000x better, especially Fauria and Chatham with some real insight. Twitter boys Perillo and Hart are their usual useless selves and Burton kind of annoying but overall still better than those other clowns Cross and Criqui.

I didn't have to see the broadcast to be convinced of that.

And I didn't see the Sam Adams CEO. A plus IMO.

:eat2:

 

[FCB02062]

Roche should stick to baseball...

 

[RayClay]

Missed it and am not optimistic about 6-7 people yacking, but we'll see. Anything would be an improvement over the old team - worst ever.

I did have the pleasure of the Philadelphia announcers thanks to my internet feed. Color guy was meh, but the play by play guiy actually did play by play! What a concept! I think his name was Scott graham and he announced everybodies name in the play every play. I mean he would name 7 guys on some play, including knowing every patriot player with no stumbling. So and so tied up the blocker, so that guy could make the play, assisted by that guy. Our guy missed the block, qb made a questionable call. It was fantastic.

Of course radio guys do this all the time (maybe not as well) but TV announcers are generally abysmal, even the best.

And this guy was for the other team. He had plenty of time to make asides too. It's called knowing your job and doing your homework. again, what a concept.

 

[lurker1965]

The only criticism is that they were talking too much about the overall process, and did not focus in on the play by play...

Going back to the Gillette Studio(Parillo and Hart) was a complete failure...

Too much commentary, and not enough play by play..

But they are way ahead of Criqui and Cross...

But would have liked to have seen Troy in that mix somewhere..

What, you wanted down and distance in the fourth quarter of a pre-season game?

Compared to Criqui and Cross... well that's not fair to them. A flaming turd would be an improvement over Criqui and Cross. (OK, only a slight improvement and a debatable one, but I'm on the side that would be an improvement.)

Did it hold my interest (without the blood boiling of trying to figure out who was in after Brady left and the camera focused on him on the sidelines)? Yes. Was it as good as a real game? No.

Was I supremely grateful that someone realized the other 3 quarters are important in a different way than the score? Yes.

Perillo and Hart were awesome in actually knowing what they were talking about.

BEFORE ANYONE COMPLAINS, REMEMBER IT COULD HAVE BEEN FELGER AND DEOSSIE.

 

[DarrylS]

What, you wanted down and distance in the fourth quarter of a pre-season game?

Compared to Criqui and Cross... well that's not fair to them. A flaming turd would be an improvement over Criqui and Cross. (OK, only a slight improvement and a debatable one, but I'm on the side that would be an improvement.)

Did it hold my interest (without the blood boiling of trying to figure out who was in after Brady left and the camera focused on him on the sidelines)? Yes. Was it as good as a real game? No.

Was I supremely grateful that someone realized the other 3 quarters are important in a different way than the score? Yes.

Perillo and Hart were awesome in actually knowing what they were talking about.

BEFORE ANYONE COMPLAINS, REMEMBER IT COULD HAVE BEEN FELGER AND DEOSSIE.

No, imo they had too much discussion and not enough play by play.. but were infinitely better than Cross and Criqui..

Thought Perillo and Hart added nothing, except incessant discussion about what is trending on Twitter.. which imo has nothing to do with the game.

One man's premium, is another man's dud suds...

 

[Rob0729]

I have to admit it was much better than I thought it would be. Too much Tebow talk, but other than that, it was a huge upgrade from Criqui and Cross.

 

[jmt57]

Chatham does own a business in North Attleboro, but I would think that would not prevent him from going into broadcasting. He found the time to write two columns a week for the Herald last year and regularly appear on television and radio, so it wouldn't be that much more time spent away from his company.

I thought last year his analysis in the columns for the Herald was very good and quite underrated. Whoever eventually ends up signing him - it seems to be a matter of not if, but when - will get a high quality analyst for their program.


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Matt Chatham | Boston Herald