The next Madden? Rex to get his shot on Week 1
ESPN loves them some Rex TV. Can he be the next John Madden in the booth? By the time the Chargers and Broncos kick off the second half of the opening week Monday night doubleheader on Sept. 11 in Denver, even the most devoted NFL fan starved for football might be throwing in the towel after 15 games in the previous 96 hours. Rex to the rescue. SI.com reported Sunday that ESPN plans to give Beth Mowins the playby-play assignment for Game No. 16 of the 2017 season. It’s a big deal because the only woman who has ever called an NFL regular-season television game was Gayle Sierens in 1987 for NBC.
It’s progress when this news can be looked at as, “Okay, fine, no big deal.” Mowins is certainly as qualified, and probably more qualified, than some others ESPN has used in the second game of the doubleheader. The same can be said about her credentials compared to many play-by-players used on a weekly basis by CBS and Fox.
The interesting news is that SI.com reported that Mowins’ likely partner for the Broncos-Chargers game will be rookie broadcaster Rex Ryan. He will be the far bigger wild card in the booth. Ryan has some familiarity with Mowins — they recently did the Florida State spring game together — and he obviously did well enough to get another game. He has the potential to be the next Madden.
Ryan has no television experience other than playing to the cameras in his daily press conferences with the Jets and the Bills and his nondescript guest appearance on ESPN’s Super Bowl pregame show in February. Now they are counting on him to revive the revamped NFL Countdown show on Sunday mornings and perhaps be the next star in the booth.
I think he will be much better doing games than in the studio. He has a lot of Madden in him: Entertaining, an everyman appeal, a big, jolly guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously and loves to talk football. If Ryan excels in what could be looked at as a one-game audition, maybe ESPN adds him to some Monday Night games this year to prop up Jon Gruden, who has grown stale, and who knows, maybe replace Gruden next year. Or perhaps CBS or Fox make a run at him.
In his six seasons with the Jets, you could always count on Rex to produce one or two memorable lines in each press conference. He was not Jimmy Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon. Compared to his predecessor, Eric Mangini, and his successor, Todd Bowles, or Tom Coughlin up the road in East Rutherford or Mr. Personality in Foxborough, let’s just say Rex put on quite a show.
He was not afraid to guarantee Super Bowls or criticize Tom Brady’s work ethic compared to Peyton Manning. He dressed up as his twin brother, he made fun of himself, he was lots of fun.
His personality got him the job on ESPN. Now his personality is being counted on to bring life to ESPN’s Sunday show.
The expectation is Ryan will have viewers peeing in their pants because they will be laughing so hard. They will be disappointed. It’s one thing to have a 25-minute press conference and produce a couple of good lines. The pressure will be on Ryan to be entertaining in the studio but not scripted. He is a funny guy, but he’s not hilarious. Can he work his one-liners into the context of the show?
Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Cris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson and Mike Ditka were the five guys on the desk in 2015. Berman, on a victory lap, worked last year with Matt Hasselbeck, Randy Moss, Charles Woodson and Trent Dilfer. This year, Samantha Ponder replaces Berman and Ryan replaces Dilfer.
Where is the juice for this year’s show? It’s all on Rex.
Name one thing Hasselbeck, Moss or Woodson said last year that you remembered after the ball kicked off for the 1 p.m. games, or was provocative enough to be talked about the next day.
Enter Rex. Schtick is his strength. The studio, however, may not be.
But the booth could turn out to be his thing. The environment will make him more spontaneous. He will have more time to talk during a three-hour game. He doesn’t know much about offense, but can fake it, just like he tried to do with the Jets for six years and two years in Buffalo. He does know defense and can talk about it. He will also get off his share of one-liners and not be afraid to be critical. Ryan is likely done as head coach. After the debacle on Buffalo, I don’t see any team giving him a third chance and don’t think he will go work for anybody as a defensive coordinator. He doesn’t have the patience to be a head coach in college and have to deal with recruiting.
He could be the next Madden, however, and maybe one day even have his own video game.