It isn’t easy calling a game that’s over before the first quarter ends. The Patriots walloped the Jaguars 50-10 at Gillette Stadium Sunday, leaving CBS broadcasters Andrew Catalon and James Lofton with little actual football to talk about as the dreary afternoon progressed. But that was probably for the better. Lofton’s vapid performance in the booth matched Jacksonville’s ineptitude on the field.
One of the more positive traits about Lofton — the D-level analyst who’s probably called more Patriots games this season than his entire career — is that his banalities can largely be tuned out as white noise. But sometimes it’s hard to miss his verbal missteps, such as when he said Trent Brown would be a “big screen television” if he were wearing all white.
I can’t even begin to guess what that means.
The best NFL analysts, such as Greg Olsen or Tony Romo when he isn’t just yelping into the microphone, take viewers beneath the surface level and actually explain why certain plays happen. Lofton, meanwhile, just repeats what everybody can see for themselves. When the Patriots were clearing the way for a Damien Harris run, Lofton informed the audience the key to blocking is running “with speed, so the runner doesn’t have to slow down behind you.”
After Kristian Wilkinson’s first touchdown — a nice leaping grab in the back of the end zone — Lofton explained why it behooves receivers to stay in the end zone when the ball is thrown their way.
“Just running to the back of the end zone. You don’t want to go out of bounds. You’re also cautious about going up in the air, knowing that may carry you out of bounds,” Lofton said. “But a nice job from Mac Jones, putting enough just air on the ball, putting it softly enough, so you can come down and work your feet.”
These barbs aren’t mean to belittle Lofton’s football acumen. The Hall of Famer was one of the greatest wideouts of his generation, and as we saw during the telecast, earned the well-deserved praise from John Madden.
Then the camera cut back to live action, which allowed Lofton to make observations about the length of Trevor Lawrence’s hair and say the No. 1 overall pick was “breathing a sign of relief” after throwing a garbage time touchdown that closed the gap to 40 points. There was no hint of that Madden broadcasting magic.
When the game ended, Patriots fans breathed a sigh of relief knowing they’ve survived another game with CBS’ “D” team.