Inside The Vikings

Vikings inflicted pain on Jets fan Rich Eisen as he called their loss on TV

Eisen, who called the London game on NFL Network, is not shy about being a Jets fan.
Will Ragatz|
Sep 12, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Rich Eisen emcees the SoFi Stadium opening ceremonies.
Sep 12, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Rich Eisen emcees the SoFi Stadium opening ceremonies. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Vikings

NFL Network studio and talk-show host Rich Eisen, who did play-by-play for Sunday's Vikings-Jets game in London, is openly a Jets fan. So even as he did his best to remain professional and lead a neutral broadcast, he was undoubtedly disappointed by the results of the game — a 23-17 Vikings victory that moved them to 5-0 and dropped New York to 2-3.

Here's how he called each of the Vikings' three interceptions against Aaron Rodgers:

And here's how he called a few of the Jets' biggest plays of the game:

Whether or not you think there's a difference there is up to you. Some viewers who were watching the game — most of them Vikings fans, unsurprisingly — believed Eisen's pro-Jets bias was showing at times.

Eisen, a longtime host for NFL Network, has done play by play before, but it isn't his usual role. He was joined in the booth by Kurt Warner, who typically does color commentary on Westwood One radio. There was also some criticism on the internet about Eisen that was unrelated to any potential Jets bias.

And lastly, there were those who weren't pleased with the production of the NFL Network broadcast, which seemed to be worse at showing replays than the typical channels that carry games each week.

Eisen and Warner will be on the call for NFL Network again next Sunday when the Jaguars and Bears play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They'll also call Giants-Panthers in Munich in November. A different crew, with Chris Rose and Joe Thomas in the booth, will have the Jaguars-Patriots game in London in Week 7.

Vikings fans were spoiled with the quality of the broadcasts on CBS over the last few weeks, with Kevin Harlan (twice) and Ian Eagle calling their three previous games. After the bye, they'll host the Lions in a huge NFC North game that will be televised on FOX — unless it gets flexed to Sunday Night Football on NBC.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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