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Monday, January 13, 2003

On the day after, the consensus among the network jockcasters was: the right call.

Poor execution overall by the officials. But the right call.

Even late yesterday afternoon, CBS types were still talking about the Steelers' penalty for running into the kicker on the penultimate play of a 34-31 AFC Divisional playoff loss Saturday at Tennessee. Jim Nantz on "The NFL Today" quoted league officiating director Mike Perreira as telling the network that he reviewed that controversial penalty, which arranged Joe Nedney's winning field goal in overtime, and the crew's refusal to permit the Steelers to call another timeout. And Perreira characterized both as correct.

Studio deskmate Boomer Esiason wasn't so certain about that final part. "Certainly, I think the Steelers have a gripe there that a timeout was not called," this former Bengals quarterback said.

Deion Sanders then howled into the Gotham wind. By some accounts, he took great glee in dissing Coach Bill Cowher and the Steelers in the Saturday postgame show that was pre-empted locally. Late yesterday afternoon, he was still nyah-nyahing. Not to sound like he's bitter about the Steelers and others blocking his waiver-wire attempt to sign on as a playoff cornerback with the Raiders.

"Bill Cowher," Esiason spoke up, "you can coach for me anytime."

"You won't win the Super Bowl," countered Sanders.

I'd tell these fellas to take it outside ... but they're already there.

Dan Marino, CBS' other resident ex-jock on the desk, and a Pittsburgh guy before he became a Dolphins quarterback, sided with the officials on the Dewayne Washington-Nedney run-in. League rules prohibit contact with a kicker, and, Marino said, "By rule, this was the right call. I would have made the call. If you're going to call it in the second or third, you've got to call it then."

On Fox, the fellas on the NFC network stopped guffawing long enough to ponder the outcome of the AFC game of the day. They, too, couldn't find fault with the call -- contact was made.

Perhaps the most interesting response came from ESPN's Chris Berman and Tom Jackson after midnight Sunday. They apparently watched for the first time the postgame interview that included Nedney's remark about "acting," and the camera returned to see two shocked studio dudes. "It's ... it's ... disconcerting," Berman stammered. Jackson, the longtime Broncos linebacker, couldn't find the words.

By the time the four-letter network crew got on the air yesterday morning, Sterling Sharpe joined Jackson in the utter disbelief that an official's call on a field-goal attempt would directly determine a playoff game. Especially one week after the NFL seemingly tried to avoid doing just that.

The overnights

Steelers-Titans scored a 20.3 overnight rating for CBS, a number 7 percent higher than the infamous "Tuck game" between Oakland and New England last year (in prime time) and 35 percent higher than the divisional playoff (in the similar early-evening time slot) two years ago.

That rating tied the highest network mark for a Saturday divisional playoff since Raiders-Buffalo 1994, at 23.9 on NBC. Pittsburgh scored a victory by more than a field goal over Nashville, Tenn., in the overnight tabulations of major markets, 52.8 to 48.9.

About the relatively commercial-free end to Steelers-Titans, with three breaks in the final hour and 15 minutes of the broadcast: The network completed its commercial rotation early.

Remote notes

For the record, in the wake of Steelers-Titans, a New York Times columnist called for full-time officials, a columnist at Nashville's Tennessean pushed for the adoption of college football's overtime system, and the Orlando Sentinel's David Whiteley wrote: "The winner of the 2003 Academy Award for Best Actor should go to Joe Nedney, Tennessee's thespian/kicker extraordinaire."

So I'm told, that soft-porn beer commercial with the fighting babes originally ended with one saying to the other in the mud-wrestling pit, "Let's make out."

Speaking of sex selling, Fox dressed up Jillian Barberie in a schoolgirl outfit for its promos for the NFC championship-game special Saturday night. What's next, leather and a whip?