To paraphrase a famous movie line, on Sunday, Mark Sanchez was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he didn’t stop to think if he should.
During the third quarter of Fox’s broadcast of Sunday’s game between the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, Washington receiver Dyami Brown made an impressive first-down catch, beating Seattle defensive back Tre Brown on the play.
Sanchez, who was calling the game with announcer Kevin Kugler, decided to roll the dice with a risky joke (as he is wont to do) that rubbed a lot of viewers the wrong way.
“We’ve got Brown-on-Brown crime. Right up top.” said Sanchez, while a replay of the catch was shown.
We’d love to give Sanchez the benefit of the doubt here, but using that particular phrase while describing a play involving two Black NFL players just seems like one of those things that shouldn’t be said, let alone on national television. Purposeful or not, it invokes the notion of “black-on-black crime,” a controversial phrase that has been weaponized in certain circles to justify some disturbing opinions and policies.
Sanchez clearly thought he had something with the fact that both players had the same last name, but the phrase walked a problematic line that some viewers had a strong reaction to hearing.
No way the commentator in this Commanders-Seahawks game just said “Brown on Brown crime”
— Becks (@BecksWelker) November 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/cdrizzyy21/status/1723849564803801367
https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1723850281857774066
WE HAVE WHAT MARK SANCHEZ?? pic.twitter.com/KdWDe7Gd9D
— Nicholas Perry (@whoisnickperry) November 12, 2023
Others, to be fair, read it as a simple play on words and dismissed any insinuation that it was meant as more than that.
https://twitter.com/Yankee_Hawk/status/1723850717989855482
No, Sanchez isn’t going to get “canceled” over this, whatever that even actually means, but we have to imagine someone at Fox sent him a note afterward asking that he delete that phrase from his very unique vocabulary.
[Fox NFL Sunday]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.