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College Football Analyst Drops a Truly Horrible Take on Urban Meyer: TRAINA THOUGHTS

FOX Sports' Brady Quinn has awful theory on Urban Meyer media coverage

Jimmy Traina

1. Every single day, the sports media landscape is bombarded with bad takes. So it takes a lot for any one bad take to really stand out.

So congratulations to Fox Sports’ Brady Quinn for having the clear worst take of the day while simultaneously doing his former colleague’s dirty work.

Here’s what Quinn said on his radio show Monday about the disastrous tenure of Urban Meyer as Jaguars coach:

“I feel like the media has had it out for him in the first place. I know people who are personally and emotionally frustrated with the fact that they haven’t gotten as much access in Jacksonville. People who have worked in that market for a long time and haven’t gotten access to him, so now they have an ax to grind and that’s how they’ve handled things in Jacksonville purely because they haven’t gotten a sit-down or they haven’t gotten time with him. Think about how catty that is. But that’s how the media is now. They use the power of the pen like a vendetta just because their personal feelings are hurt instead of being professional about it.”

Holy s---! It’s truly amazing how bad this is on so many levels.

First, let’s start with this: Quinn worked with Meyer or Fox’s college football studio show for two seasons. And he knows Meyer will probably be back on Fox next season. So, Quinn’s opinion here is not even close to being objective and he clearly has an agenda.

As for the actual comments, they make no sense. The backlash against Meyer, who was a disliked figure long before taking the Jaguars job for a variety of legitimate reasons, is not the work of the “snubbed” local Jacksonville media.

I know that people won’t like hearing this, but here’s the truth: The Jacksonville media has no influence and nobody in the U.S. cares about the Jaguars. The heat Meyer is feeling is coming from the national media and social media because he’s done such an exceptionally bad job of running his team and handling his personal life.

The video of Meyer grinding on someone in a bar came from a random TikTok user. The decision to not fly back with this team after a Thursday-night game so he could party at his bar in Columbus was not the work of a vendetta by the media. The recent story about Meyer calling his assistant coaches “losers” came from an NFL.com writer and was obviously leaked by someone in the Jaguars organization. And it was Trevor Lawrence, Meyer’s own quarterback, who went public with his frustration that Meyer recently benched Jaguars running back James Robinson.

So for Quinn to blame the media, specifically the local Jacksonville media, for Meyer being on the hot seat is totally disingenuous.

Not to mention, the Jaguars are 2–11, and Lawrence has shown no growth whatsoever as an NFL quarterback. Is that the media’s fault, too?

Does Quinn think that if Meyer gave some interviews to local beat writers that there would be less criticism of the coach?

Lastly, the “Think about how catty that is, but that’s how the media is now” line is especially comical considering Quinn threw out a bad take just to defend a friend.

And a reminder for Quinn: You’re a cohost on a network pregame show and a cohost on a daily radio show. YOU ARE THE MEDIA!

2. I know the conspiracy theorists are out in full force now that Andrew Marchand has reported Michele Tafoya won't return to NBC's Sunday Night Football next season.

Tafoya has been absent from the sidelines for the past three Sunday nights and some people think there was some sort of suspension going on because Tafoya recently had a controversial appearance on The View.

The problem with that theory is that Tafoya DID work Sunday Night Football for three weeks after doing The View.

3. Here were the most-watched college football games of the 2021 season.

4. Shaq showed us last night why it's not always easy being 7-foot-1.

5. It's almost hard to believe how bad this Sean Payton "true story" movie looks.

6. The latest SI Media Podcast features an interview with ESPN’s Stanford Steve. If you are into sports betting, this podcast is for you.

Stanford Steve discusses his role on the Scott Van Pelt–hosted edition of SportsCenter and the duo’s popular weekly “Bad Beats" segment. Steve explains how they put it together, issues they run into and the biggest challenge in making the segment entertaining.

Steve also gives us his personal worst "Bad Beat” of 2021 and the worst overall "Bad Beat" of '21, weighs in on the gambling explosion and popularity of sports betting and shares his betting advice for the Georgia-Michigan and Cincinnati–Alabama College Football Playoff games.

The podcast closes with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Jimmy and Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York discuss whether NFL television rules analysts actually add anything to a broadcast, how this week's ManningCast fared by cutting one guest, how a Christmas tree enhances the NFL viewing experience, Fox's upcoming John Madden documentary and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I only learned about this Instagram account that's dedicated to mashing up The Sopranos and Seinfeld this week, and I apologize to all of you for not knowing about it sooner.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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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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