If you thought that ESPN’s Monday Night Football skewed a little bit too much towards the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, you are far from alone.
While there were in fact two teams that played in the MNF showdown in Philadelphia, it seemed like the Atlanta Falcons were the forgotten team in the equation. While one might expect new signing Jason Kelce on board the Monday Night Countdown show to relive and pump up his glorious Eagles career, it also became a significant part of the game broadcast when Kelce joined the broadcast booth.
Although Kelce was only advertised for the third quarter, he stuck around much longer well into the fourth quarter to wrap up a lengthy Eagles drive. And his extended presence and the amount of Eagles-centric coverage throughout the night led many watchers, including NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt, to wonder what the “E” in ESPN stood for on Monday night.
Brandt quipped on Tuesday’s edition of Good Morning Football that it stood for “Eagles.”
Kyle Brandt speaks for a lot of NFL fans that tuned into Monday Night Football.
“The E in ESPN stood for Eagles last night.” pic.twitter.com/r2FGcVsqCV
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 17, 2024
ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast from Philadelphia last night didn’t quite reach the extreme one-sidedness of the network’s coverage of the Knicks-Pacers series earlier this year. But a little bit of the City of Brotherly Love lovefest went a long way.
Part of it is certainly understandable as the network wanted to highlight Jason Kelce as their new big named broadcaster and his connection to the Eagles is undeniable. And a quick spell in the booth might have served another purpose of seeing what he was capable of in a game analyst role. Kelce has the top sports podcast in America and is one of the most recognizable sports figures in America… even if he’s rapidly approaching the overexposure line, so why not make the most of it when he’s on your broadcast team?
But it’s one thing to acknowledge the Eagles connection and move on. It’s another to make it a central part of the presentation. The belief that the broadcast was slanted too far in the Eagles direction made it all the more ironic that the Falcons pulled off an improbable last minute comeback to win 22-21 and spoil the party for everyone in Philadelphia.
