‘Good Morning Football’ and ‘Get Up’ reacting live to Sean McDermott’s firing made for fascinating TV
Good Morning Football and Get Up

The Buffalo Bills sent shockwaves through the NFL world Monday morning when news broke that they’d fired nine-year head coach Sean McDermott.

Those shockwaves were felt by both NFL Network and ESPN, whose live shows were interrupted in real-time by the news. And in both cases, it gave the shows a jolt of excitement as audiences watched to see how they would cover it.

On ESPN, Get Up was in the middle of a discussion around the Houston Texans and whether or not they should have benched quarterback C.J. Stroud in their loss to the New England Patriots when host Mike Greenberg suddenly got very serious.

“I have major breaking news,” said Greenberg, removing his glasses and looking directly into the camera. “I’m just gonna break in with it right now. Schefty just ran out of the room, and I know now why he did. My control room may not know this yet, but it’s been on Twitter for 16 seconds. The Bills have fired Sean McDermott.”

As Greenberg dropped the bombshell, analyst Dan Orlovsky looked stunned as he digested the news. As Greenberg says what happened, both Rex Ryan and Damien Woody shook their heads in acknowledgement, as they’d previously floated the possibility. Adam Schefter, who had left the desk to go find out more about the breaking news, hustled back to join the conversation.

“Schefty, come running back in here if you can,” said Greenberg. “Let’s make sure his mic is on. We now understand why you got up, and the chair flew behind us.”

Schefter noted that there had been talk “in league circles” that this could go down, and added that this was something of a make-or-break year for the Bills. Not the most critical analysis, but it was still enough to catch audiences up as they took in the shocking move.

Over on the NFL Network, Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt and Ian Rapoport just so happened to be in the middle of a discussion around the Bills’ 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday when Rapoport’s eyes dart to his phone, his eyes go wide, and he jumps right in with the breaking news.

“And then moments later, all the air goes out of the room, and we find out the news about Bo Nix,” said Brandt. “Can you tell us the process about how you heard this and where we stand?”

“Uhhhh, no, I cannot, Kyle,” responded a flustered Rapoport, who looked back at his phone for confirmation. “I’ll be with you in one second.”

While Rapoport was doing his confirmation work, the GMFB crew bantered about the fallout from the Bills’ loss, which turned out to be fortuitously timed.

“What is Ian doing?” wondered Brandt after they watched clips of Bills players getting emotional following the loss. “I was worried it was maybe a personal issue, but I’m told it’s not,” before predicting the news was “coaching-related.”

Rapoport then reappeared at the perfect time to confirm Brandt’s hunch.

“Sources tell the Insiders that the Buffalo Bills have fired Sean McDermott,” said Rapoport to stunned faces and silence in the studio. Whereas there had been joking and jubilation a moment ago, the scene now felt almost funereal.

“It’s not exciting news,” added Rapoport. “It’s unfortunate news.”

ESPN and its counterparts have taken a lot of heat in recent years over how they’ve covered breaking news and how they use insiders like Schefter and Rapoport. In this instance, it turned out to be a perfect scenario for both networks. Schefter and Rapoport are the ideal people you want on the air to break the news and offer context, before handing it over to NFL-focused analysts who can share their insights. There isn’t much of a way to plan for these scenarios, but in terms of the TV-watching experience, something like this gave viewers exactly what they needed in the moment.

The post ‘Good Morning Football’ and ‘Get Up’ reacting live to Sean McDermott’s firing made for fascinating TV appeared first on Awful Announcing.

Espace publicitaire · 300×250