\n<\/p>\n
Together, he and Esocoff were engaged in a collaboration that invites superlatives and mixed metaphors. When Dick Ebersol first saw Gaudelli and Esocoff at work in a production truck, he said: \u201cThis is like watching the frickin\u2019 ballet.\u201d Hyland and Esocoff choose football analogies: They liken their roles to those of a coach who puts a game plan in place and a quarterback who executes it. Other comparisons spring to mind: Their ratatat back-and-forth \u2014 Hyland summoning replays for Collinsworth\u2019s Telestrations (\u201cComp-Tele! And clear it \u2026 play it!\u201d), Esocoff\u2019s near-constant recitation of camera numbers and wipes and dissolves \u2014 calls to mind a rapper\u2019s bars or an auctioneer\u2019s chant. The effect is enhanced when you realize that this patter represents a gigantic game of telephone, a conversation ricocheting between Hyland, Esocoff and the more than 100 individuals who are \u201cin their ears\u201d at any time.<\/p>\n
On the possession that followed the Lions\u2019 touchdown, the Chiefs stalled, punting with 5:07 left. \u201cThey have a chance to take the game right now,\u201d Collinsworth said. But it wasn\u2019t to be. After one first down, the Lions came up short on their next three plays, and Campbell rolled the dice again, trying a fourth-down pass that was batted away at the line of scrimmage. Tirico said, \u201cThe Lions hand the ball to the league M.V.P. at the 45-yard line with 2:29 to go.\u201d The Chiefs had a chance to steal a win, needing perhaps 20 yards to move into field goal range.<\/p>\n
And then drama turned to farce, as Mahomes\u2019s receivers let him down and penalties pushed the Chiefs backward. A dropped pass. A completion nullified by a holding penalty. Another pass, another drop. A near-interception. A fourth-and-20 that became fourth-and-25 when Jawaan Taylor was flagged for a false start. In the control room, the sequence rolled out in a blizzard of quick cuts, Skycam close-ups and split-screens, as Hyland and Esocoff blurted commands with rising urgency: \u201cGimme dejection on Mahomes.\u201d \u201cField to right tackle, 4K.\u201d \u201c5 left, 11 right! \u2026 Preview effects. Take effects.\u201d For the professionals in the A-Unit, it was merely a heightened version of what they had been doing for hours. To an untutored lurker, the whole thing seemed like \u2026 a frickin\u2019 ballet, or some less dainty choreography, a headlong dance of astounding precision.<\/p>\n
On fourth-and-25, the Chiefs went for it again. Mahomes took the snap, rolled left and launched a throw that arced across the line to gain, reaching the fingertips of the receiver Skyy Moore, who couldn\u2019t clasp it. Detroit was getting the ball back. NBC went to commercial with its \u201cfinal act,\u201d a slow-motion montage of jubilant Lions and doleful Chiefs. Esocoff said, \u201cGood stuff, guys\u201d and, for the first time since the half began, rose and stretched. Just over two minutes later, Detroit converted a third-and-two for a first down. Barring a catastrophic fumble, the Chiefs weren\u2019t getting the ball back. On the air, Tirico said: \u201cThe Detroit Lions are right there<\/em>.\u201d In the truck, Hyland\u2019s pronouncement was less circumspect. \u201cGame over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n One measure<\/strong> of the success of \u201cSunday Night Football\u201d is how \u201cSunday Night Football\u201d-ish the competing broadcasts are looking. If you tune into \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d or the big Sunday late-afternoon games on CBS and Fox, the rhythms and aesthetics of the broadcasts show a clear debt to \u201cS.N.F.\u201d For the \u201cS.N.F.\u201d team, Hyland says, the challenge is to \u201ccontinue to distinguish our presentation from all others.\u201d He and Gaudelli had talked about this, he said later. \u201cThere\u2019s really not a lot that separates the A-level shows anymore. Everyone is trying to do the exact same show.\u201d Competitors are certainly throwing money at the problem. In addition to the billions they pay the N.F.L. for rights, the networks in recent years have shelled out huge sums to re-sign top broadcast-booth talent and lure glamorous new announcers. In May 2022, Fox Sports announced that it had landed Tom Brady as the lead analyst for its N.F.L. broadcasts, in a deal said to be the most lucrative in television sports history, a reported $375 million for 10 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n