There are tens, if not hundreds, of qualified individuals who can outperform Tony Dungy on color commentary. Why NBC continues to employ the former head coach in the broadcast booth is a real mystery. Especially for high-profile NFL playoffs game. Talk about putting your worst foot forward.
By the way, this isn’t a new take. One year ago, we complained about Tony Dungy being a football equivalent to Joe Morgan on color commentary after his dreadful showing. Despite this, NBC decided to roll him back out there for the Jacksonville Jaguars comeback win against the LA Chargers.
Somehow he managed to do an even worse job this time around. Dungy was broadcasting one of the games of the season and you wouldn’t have known it from his dry, expressionless and boring approach. Thankfully, this performance has drawn widespread scorn from just about everyone watching. But why was the guy allowed back in the booth after the 2021 debacle?
Seriously NBC, stop letting Tony Dungy do color commentary.
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Why Tony Dungy is bad at color commentary?
For starters, Dungy is a human seven-second delay. That, of course, refers to radio broadcasts which actually run seven seconds behind the live feed to ensure no one says a swear word. It felt like the former coach was constantly trailing what was happening on the field throughout the broadcast. He was talking about what happened a play or two ago and the video was of something entirely different.
This would be annoying, but it is made even worse by the fact Tony Dungy doesn’t say anything interesting when doing color commentary. Half the stuff he eventually spits out are nothing more than tired football cliches from the 1990s/early 2000s that aren’t applicable to today’s game. Yes, everyone knows you wouldn’t go for it on any fourth down ever.
Those cliches are padded out with filler as if he were a high school kid trying to write a 1,000-word essay. There are no insights or interesting stories. Not once does he breakdown what’s going on. Eventually, it just devolves into repeating stuff he already said slightly differently from before or simply stating the obvious.
Thanks, Tony Dungy, for once again making an NFL playoff game nearly unwatchable. Please go back to boring Maria Taylor and stay away from the broadcast booth.
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