Press Coverage: NFL's Red Zone - What CBS and FOX Don't Want You To See

Press Coverage is a new feature on TSB that will (usually) run every Monday covering what you missed in the world of sports media over the weekend.

A day late and a few meals short, but Press Coverage is back today. If this were Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call, the lede might be Man vs. Food, but that’s a show on the Travel Channel and a totally different blog post altogether.

The NFL was gracious enough to give me full access to their online game center this weekend. In addition to having access to watch every game, the reason to log on to the NFL’s media site was to get a chance to watch their new Red Zone channel. After watching a few hours of the channel, one thing is abundantly clear – there is no way FOX and CBS want you to know this channel exists.

I spoke with Scott Hanson, the excitable host of the network, leading up to the season. I took his exuberance at the format of the channel to be the hard sell of a TV guy trying to get people to watch him on TV. And it was probably part of that, as Hanson continues the hard sell even while you’re already watching the network. But here’s the thing – he has every right to be excited.

The channel is amazing. When I interviewed Hanson, I called it football for those of us with ADD ... and that was before I had a chance to watch it. This network whips around from game to game so fast I think I got a little dizzy. And I didn’t even have any beer in me.

“The way I like to tell people is this: if you’re not watching your game, watch every game,” Hanson told me in the interview. “If you’re an Eagles fan, we know you’re going to be watching the Eagles. If you’re a Cowboys fan, fine. But if you don’t have your game on at that time, or if you’ve got your game on one TV and you want to roll another TV next to it, this will let you watch, virtually every game, simultaneously.”

I actually did have the Eagles game on my TV, and watched Red Zone on my computer, finding myself watching the computer screen more and more. In fact, the channel isn’t just plays in the Red Zone. They’ll just show you football, so I was watching a good amount of the Eagles game on my computer through the Red Zone channel. If every game is at mid-field, they’ll pick the game they think you’ll be most interested in watching.

Now, the network isn’t without faults. With nine games in the early slot this weekend, it just became too much for the network to handle. At one point in the first half, four teams were in the Red Zone at the same time, and the network decided to toggle to two of those games, giving you verbal updates on the others and cutting to those games if there was a score. But in trying to give you everything, it runs the risk of missing most things. The network missed a carry by Michael Vick inside the red zone because it was showing play from Washington at Detroit. Had Vick scored on that play, it would have been his first touchdown since coming back. Frankly, I was surprised that every single play by Vick wasn’t on the screen the entire game, shown live.

The other thing the network really needs to understand is the fact that replays are a good thing. Basically the channel is just repackaging FOX and CBS feeds into one amalgam of smash mouth, with the network cameras, announcers and replays. That said, with nine games going on at once, their focus is getting as many highlights and scores as possible as quickly as possible. At one point in the early games, the network cut into the feed of a game – I want to say Baltimore – halfway through a play, missing the snap. We saw a player cross the goal line, spike the ball and as soon as the replay started, Red Zone switched us to another team that was putting points on the board. We technically got to see the touchdown (maybe even two), never got to see the whole play, be it live or in replay.

So yes, the network is not without its faults. But in the late games when there wasn’t as much action going on, and during halftimes, the network did do a good job of updating fantasy numbers, scores and highlights of the other games.

Oh, and the biggest thing I noticed? Commercials. There aren’t any. From 1 p.m. until the late games end, you’re watching commercial-free football, from both networks, all on one channel. I don’t see how anyone would want to watch football any other way. And I can’t see how CBS and FOX will be happy about this, once more and more cable providers pick up the channel.

It’s an amazing channel. Now where’d I put my Ritalin?

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.