FOX Sports broadcaster Joe Buck is not exactly a favorite of New York Giants fans, and that might have a lot to do with his rather ho-hum call of the David Tyree helmet catch in Super Bowl 42.
Buck, who will call Super Bowl LI Sunday night between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, explained to USA Today the reason for his measured call:
“I mean there’s times you can’t see everything,” he told For The Win late last month. “Your eyes are wide on a play like that and so that specific play it looked like Eli was going to be sacked and then Manning spins out of this big mess of bodies and he kind of heaves it downfield. And all I could see from the booth is football, arms on it, a helmet and then they all go down to the ground. My feeling on that is you have to be right.
“You have to make sure what you’re seeing was really happening. So if you’re going to launch into this call like this was the greatest catch you’ve ever seen then they come back and say it was incomplete, well then shame on you. You have to really be careful when you’re doing really any game these days.
“It doesn’t have to be a Super Bowl, though that’s obviously the biggest stage. If you’re going to scream and yell and pull a groin when calling a catch, you have to really make sure what you’re seeing is actually what’s happening. I couldn’t discern with all of those arms and the ball and the helmet when they went to the ground if it was indeed a catch. So you kind of tread lightly. After you know it’s a catch, if you go back over and start screaming and yelling, well then you’re making it about you. And it’s not ever about the announcer.”
Whether you buy what Buck is selling or not, his explanation gave us yet another reason to post the video of one of the greatest moments in Giants’ history.
More Super Bowl stories
- How to watch Super Bowl LI: Game time, TV schedule, announcers, odds, more
- Five years ago today, Giants beat New England in Super Bowl XLVI
- Which Falcons, Patriots player would you choose for Giants?
- Ranking Giants’ Super Bowl victories
- Super Bowl 51 predictions: BBV staff picks Sunday’s winner
- Super Bowl commercials: Why we love them
- Fifty-one prop bets for Super Bowl 51
- Tyree helmet catch almost ruined by referee Mike Carey