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Traina Thoughts Mailbag: Drew Brees Evaluation, NFL Flex Scheduling and More

How has Drew Brees fared after three weeks as a Fox NFL analyst?

Jimmy Traina

Drew Brees replaced Mark Sanchez as Fox's No. 3 NFL analyst after Sanchez was fired in the middle of the season.
Drew Brees replaced Mark Sanchez as Fox's No. 3 NFL analyst after Sanchez was fired in the middle of the season. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

It’s time for another “Traina Thoughts” mailbag. Thanks, as always, for submitting your questions. This edition of the mailbag will start with questions that came in via Instagram, and then I’ll tackle questions from the site formerly known as Twitter.

Here we go…

Your thoughts on Drew Brees being back in the NFL color commentary game? - @itsameandyp

Here’s what Brees told Dan Patrick in August: “So, at the end of the day, like, I chuckle because even as I look at the landscape right now, I mean, I have so much respect for a lot of guys in the booth right now, but I’d step in the booth right now and be a top-three guy.”

I finally got a chance to listen to Brees last week when he called the Rams-Panthers game. Let’s just say he has a looooooong way to go to be a top-three analyst. I didn’t hear a ton of insight. In addition, Brees doesn’t have a strong voice, which leads to a low-energy vibe. While watching the game, I kept thinking that Brees and Adam Amin was such an odd pairing because Amin is all about high energy and excitement.

But Brees has only been on the job with Fox for three weeks after replacing Mark Sanchez, who was fired after simultaneously getting arrested and stabbed, so he should be given time to improve before we make a full evaluation. He was the one who said he’d be a top-three analyst right away, though, so it’s fair game to point out that he’s far from that at the moment.

Do you think ABC should include Al Michaels in their Super Bowl coverage? @greg.fuller.520

I love Al, who was just on SI Media With Jimmy Traina, but no. The legendary broadcaster has called 11 Super Bowls in his storied career, so there’s no reason for ABC/ESPN to shoehorn him in when they air the game in 2027. If Michaels decides to retire that year, maybe a feature on the 83-hour pregame show would be appropriate, but there’s no need for anything more than that.

Do you think there will be any flexed games coming up? – rosswebermaine

I wouldn’t expect to see any flexing done when it comes to Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football.

Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen next Thursday’s Falcons-Bucs game flexed out, because Atlanta is done, but it’s too late. America will have to be subjected to the Falcons again in Week 17 when they host the Rams on MNF. That is a game I’d love to see flexed out, but I highly doubt the NFL or ESPN will do that because they will cite the Rams playing for home field advantage or something like that.

The Bengals at Dolphins SNF game in Week 16 has a chance to be a true disaster for NBC if both teams lose this week. I think that may be the best chance for a flex the rest of the season.

Who will be the first producer to have the guts to get rid of the rule analyst? - @johnkollm

The rules analyst is here to stay. While I think they are useless, for the most part, networks do not. I don’t even think the rules analyst should be eliminated. I just don’t want to hear from them unless there is a confusion about a rule. I don’t need them to tell me a ball came loose before a runner’s knee hit the ground because I can see that for myself. And I also don’t need the rules analyst to come on during a broadcast to agree with a call because they want to defend the refs when we all see that a call is wrong.

If they would just be used to explain a rule that viewers might not be familiar with, I’d be fine with the rules analysts.

Thoughts on Hal Steinbrenner’s “we don’t make a profit” routine? - @dielon1217

My thoughts are that Yankees fans should stop going to the games and paying obscene and offensive prices for tickets, parking and concessions. This way, Steinbrenner can actually suffer a loss and make his ridiculous “we don’t make a profit” claim believable.

Mount Rushmore of wrestler finishing moves? - @neil.grewal1

• I’m not sure how Steve Austin’s “Stone Cold Stunner” could not be on any wrestling fan’s Mount Rushmore. It’s probably the most iconic finisher in wrestling history.

• The People’s Elbow because it’s the Rock and it’s hysterical and ridiculous.

• The Sleeper Hold because when I was kid and still thought wrestling was real, I legitimately thought the guy fell asleep.

• The Doomsday Device from the Road Warriors, because, again, as a kid, I was legit terrified of this move.

Most underrated and overrated holidays? - @drew-nature-dogs

Overrated is Fourth of July. I hate the heat and I hate fireworks, so if that holiday was eliminated from the calendar, I’d be totally fine with it.

Underrated is probably Labor Day. Again, I hate the heat, so Labor Day signals the end of the summer and the start of the college football and NFL seasons.

Best one-time appearing Curb Your Enthusiasm character? - @mchuck16

Crazy Eyez Killa and it’s not even close. My favorite part of his episode is when Larry calls information to get his phone number and goes through all the ways to spell “Crazy Eyez Killa” and tries to figure out if “Crazy” is the first name and “Killa” is the last name.

Strahan has been with Fox since 2008. He joined ABC’s Good Morning America in 2016. So ABC likely had no choice but to let Strahan continue working on Fox’s NFL pregame show if it wanted him to join GMA.

As for the most underrated play-by-play person on NFL games, I’m not sure anyone is underrated. I think most of NFL play-by-play callers are rated properly. If anything, I think the guy who is the best at it, Joe Buck, is the one who is underrated.

I feel like all the lead play-by-play people from each network—Jim Nantz (CBS), Kevin Burkhardt (Fox), Mike Tirico (NBC) and Al Michaels (Amazon)—are excellent, with some better than others, yet I feel like Buck is clearly a level about them.

Ruocco would be an excellent choice as NBC’s lead MLB play-by-play guy, but I don’t see ESPN allowing this. As you mentioned, Ruocco’s plate is very full at the Worldwide Leader. I think for this to happen, NBC would have to completely poach Ruocco, but I don’t know his contractual status with ESPN. But this is a good suggestion on your part.

Because NFL analysts are ex-players and ex-coaches so they are used to making a certain amount of money in addition to having bigger name recognition than most play-by-play folks.

I know this isn't the popular opinion, but I don’t see Romo taking steps backwards. Romo got hurt when someone at CBS told him to stop doing the predictions. That changed Romo’s routine, but that was many years ago now. I think Romo does a very good job of evaluating plays and analyzing the X’s and O’s. My only beef with Romo is that I wish he would stop saying, “This is the game” or “This will determine the game” or “This play is the game” when it’s only the second or third quarter. He does that way too much. Other than that, I have no issues with Romo.

I think there’s maybe one or two times a season when I may catch a little bit of the Westwood One radio call of Monday Night Football if I’m in the car for whatever reason, but I’m usually home. Kevin Harlan is beyond amazing on the radio call for Westwood One, but 99% of the time, I’m home for MNF and don’t listen to the radio call.

Speaking of Kevin Harlan … I’d love to see him get a standalone NFL game at some point in his career. He’s behind Jim Nantz and Ian Eagle at CBS, so he never gets to call a playoff game. If he replaced Michaels on Thursday Night Football, he’d get a weekly standalone game and a playoff game. This would be a win for Amazon and America.

I recently said on SI Media With Jimmy Traina that I’m the best remote control worker in the nation, and I stand by that claim. The No. 1 skill you need to have is timing. You have to know when a game is coming back from commercial or when a play is about to be ran. This is more instincts than skill. Very few of us have it. It’s a gift.

You also need to be focused. When you’re balancing a bunch of games, you can’t be distracted by your phone or other nonsense. You need to be locked in. Lastly, you need sports smarts and you need to know which games should get more air time than others.

This is my beef with RedZone. This Sunday, RedZone will show you plays from the Titans-Browns game. Why?

And don’t tell me it’s so you can see how Cam Ward and Sheduer Sanders are playing? You can’t get a feel of that in a 20-second cut-in.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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