If you thought the commentary from Booger McFarland was bad on Monday Night Football, you weren’t alone. Former 49ers tight end Brent Jones wasn’t satisfied with it either, and he took to KNBR to voice his frustration.
What was wrong? Half of the commentary was asking the same question on if the 49ers had “arrived.” There were other parts where McFarland tried to break down quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and Garoppolo’s mechanics. This is interesting because McFarland is a defensive tackle. And that’s the core of Jones’ frustration when he made an appearance on KNBR’s Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks Podcast to talk about the commentary.
I was going to pull specific sentences from it, but the entire rant is both amazing and a cannonball to the Monday Night Football announce team, I need to leave it here in full. Mr. Jones, the floor is yours:
“The Garoppolo thing has me a little fired up. I really am frustrated with, you know, Snot Nose, or Loogie or Booger or whatever the guy’s name is. You know what? I try not to throw people under the bus most of the time, BUT, you are a very, very average defensive lineman your whole career and if I could pick anybody on a team that knows less about what’s truly going on offensively and defensively, it would be a defensive lineman. Rush the passer, stay in your lanes, play the gaps, tackle the guy. That’s it. You don’t care what coverage, you don’t care what linebackers are going. You might know a game or something you’re playing. You don’t know pass patterns, you don’t know what running backs are doing, you don’t know anything. So, I get it, he’s a guy that was left over because Jason Witten didn’t make it. But, dude, don’t come and bring your quarterback analysis into the prime time of Monday Night Football when you’re just a Jag on a crappy team, you’re just a guy. That got me fired up last night.
You tell me about Jimmy Garoppolo and his mechanics or whatever and he’s just a little off, while on the flipside he’s like, “Oh Baker Mayfield, oh I like what Freddie Kitchens is doing, I like what the Browns; Oh Baker Mayfield has had some ups and downs tonight.”
I’m like, “Really? Show me an ‘up.’ He got up after he was flat on his back.”
So, I was not happy with that analysis at all. I have to say, I know he’s working hard and he’s trying. But he’s a defensive lineman that doesn’t know anything about the game and it’s a travesty that that’s Monday Night Football. Sorry.”
The commentary as a whole for MNF has been in a strange transition. They had Jon Gruden and Mike Tirico for some time before the former returned to coaching, and the latter jumped to a different network. Gruden had his moments of annoyance, but so did John Madden, who many consider the gold standard even though he states the obvious.
McFarland has struggled, there’s no denying it. He came in as the No. 3 behind Jason Witten in 2018 and was gifted the “Booger Mobile,” a large contraption he drove around the field, which had the dual advantage of offering nothing to the broadcast and pissing attending fans off by blocking their view.
Only ESPN could come up with such a contraption. For 2019, the Booger Mobile was dismantled, perhaps stored in the same studio that held Jim Rome’s TV show, to never be seen again. MNF has had its longest tenures with former quarterbacks and coaches. Whenever they’ve brought in players of other positions, they haven’t lasted long.
I’m sure Booger McFarland, the person is a good dude, but viewers have not well received his commentating. I was a bit confused when I heard Booger call the 49ers “A power team [I think he meant Power run],” and that left me scratching my head.
In any case, Jones was not a fan of this. Right or wrong, listening to the former 49ers tight end rip into a commentary crew is classic. Really give it a listen, it starts at the 7:30 mark, and his emotion is a spectacle.
If you can’t hear the link above, click here.