Fox Sports 1's daily football show, Fox Football Daily, debuted on Monday. And while another NFL studio show is something that no one was really clamoring for, Fox Football Daily doesn't try to take the concept of the studio show in a new direction. There's no gimmick to the show, like with NFL Insiders, or Monday QB, or NFL 32. It's more along the lines of NFL Live, which isn't a bad thing.
Curt Menefee is the anchor of the program, and you know what you're getting out of him at this point: a knowledgeable, professional job. But then again, people don't rage against ESPN's studio shows because of people like Trey Wingo or Chris Fowler. It's the analysts that drive fans up the wall.
Fox Football Daily's analysts are mainly novices to television, but I've been impressed so far. Ronde Barber is ten times the analyst his brother Tiki was, and is extremely blunt and honest with his commentary. Brian Urlacher isn't bad, but still has plenty of room to grow. As for Scott Fujita and Randy Moss, I haven't seen enough of them to really make a comment either way. Fujita seems solid, while Moss is more of a wild card that is going to end up being either really good or really bad – no middle ground here.
Jay Glazer also has a role on the panel, and he's done his usual job, including bringing light to the Antonio Smith helmet swing with a video of the incident on Monday before anyone had even heard of it. Mike Pereira is also there, and while his analysis of the on-field play isn't anything to write home about, his knowledge of the league's rules are second to none. Hearing Pereira break down Von Miller's suspension, Smith's helmet swing, and DJ Swearinger's season-ending hit on Dustin Keller provided an insight that you just can't get elsewhere. I'd love to hear his take on the $21,000 fine of Jon Bostic today.
All in all, Fox Football Daily is nothing spectacular. It's not going to reinvent the way you look at football. But Tim Tebow hasn't been mentioned once over the first two shows, and Mark Sanchez was only discussed for one segment that focused more on Geno Smith's career. By focusing on different players and storylines than the ESPN NFL machine is, Fox has a small window in which they can grab away some viewers that aren't too impressed with hearing the same names repeated ad nauseam with some fresh perspective.