Beth Mowins and Rex Ryan are getting non-televised practice reps for Monday Night Football

ESPN announced earlier this year that Beth Mowins and Rex Ryan will call the Los Angeles Chargers-Denver Broncos game on Monday, September 11. As it will be the only game they will call together this season, both Mowins and Ryan are getting prepared. There are ways to do it, in the studio by calling a taped game, but there’s nothing better than being at a game and calling it live.

So ESPN has had them call the Florida State spring game. They’ll also call the Tampa Bay-Jacksonville game and also the New York Giants-Cleveland Browns contest. The key is that the American public won’t be able to hear Mowins and Ryan call those games. Those practice sessions won’t be televised and they’ll allow the pair to get the kinks out and get comfortable working with one another.

In addition, Mowins has visited the Chargers and Broncos camps to get some background.

Mowins becomes the second woman to call play-by-play on a NFL game. Gayle Sierens called one in 1987 for NBC and it’s been 30 years in-between. To prepare, Sierens also practiced calling preseason games with partner Dave Rowe.

In order to get their announcing teams ready for the season, networks bring their staffs together to call practice games. This isn’t the only high-profile team to get reps. Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be calling the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game so they can get acquainted with one another:

Al Michaels said on @PFT_Live that Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be calling the Hall of Fame game tonight on a practice basis.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 3, 2017

Mowins has been hoping for this opportunity. She’s been calling college football games for ESPN and also did Oakland Raiders preseason games.

“I understand the significance of it and the importance of this moment and I hope there are a lot of young girls and young boys out there who not necessarily see me as a play-by-play announcer but as a kid who had a dream and had wonderful support from family and friends to pursue that dream and put in a lot of sweat equity to get the opportunity,” Mowins said.

The season opening games are just a little more than a month away, but there’s never enough time to prepare.

[Associated Press]