SI

Here's a Candidate for Worst NFL Take of the 2024 Season

This ESPN personality somehow blames Joe Burrow for 38–33 loss to Commanders.

Jimmy Traina

ESPN's Chris Canty blamed Joe Burrow for a 38–33 loss.
ESPN's Chris Canty blamed Joe Burrow for a 38–33 loss. / ESPN

1. I usually try to stay away from highlighting terrible takes from sports shows because A) getting coverage is what the people on those shows want, even for bad takes and B) I could literally cover terrible takes every single day.

But every now and then, I see or hear something so bizarre and so nonsensical, I can’t help but share it because it just doesn’t seem real.

Joe Burrow completed 29 of 38 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns against the Commanders last night. He did not throw an interception. The Bengals scored 33 points and did not punt in the game. In fact, they scored on every single one of their possessions except for one, when Evan McPherson missed a field goal.

But, as those who watched Monday Night Football know, the Bengals lost 38–33 because Jayden Daniels had his coming out party and the Cincinnati defense was awful.

So the take from ESPN’s Chris Canty this morning was, “I’m tired of all the excuses for Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow let Joe Burrow down. Joe Burrow let the offense down. Joe Burrow let the team down.”

What are we even doing here?

Naturally (and sadly), Canty’s show actually promoted the surreal take on its Twitter account because that’s how the social media game works these days.

2. This was outstanding stuff from Joe Buck, who wanted to get credit from viewers for unleashing the dreaded "Broadcaster Jinx" after McPherson missed a field goal and not before.

3. The long-awaited, six-part Netflix documentary on Vince McMahon drops on Wednesday.

McMahon released a statement on Monday criticizing the doc, which A) must mean the show does a number on McMahon and B) only made me want to watch the documentary even more.

One fascinating aspect about this situation: Netflix is going to air this apparent burial of Vince McMahon. Netflix will start airing Monday Night Raw beginning in January. Even though McMahon is no longer with the WWE, it wouldn’t have been totally shocking if Netflix took it easy on him or decided to scrap the doc after making a multimillion-dollar agreement with the WWE. Good for Netflix for going forward with the piece.

4. Here is this week’s installment of the best segment on all of sports television, "Bad Beats."

5. The Phillies clinched the National League East on Monday and then turned their clubhouse into a nightclub to celebrate.

6. The newest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with CBS’s lead college football play-by-play voice, Brad Nessler.

Nessler talks about CBS losing the SEC and landing the Big Ten, replacing the legendary Verne Lundquist and the one college football stadium he has never called a game in.

Nessler also shares stories about the various analysts he’s worked with through the years, reveals the one event he hasn’t called but would like to, weighs in on what he thinks of Tom Brady and Nick Saban as television stars, and much more.

Nessler also talks about his friendship with wrestling icon Ric Flair and reveals whether Flair or Bill Raftery is the bigger partier.

Following Nessler, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. In this week’s segment, we discuss ESPN’s Jason Kelce–heavy Monday Night Football broadcast of Falcons-Eagles game, the trend that NFL bettors should be aware of, Saturday Night’s Main Event returning to NBC, whether The Bear is a comedy, and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: If you’re an NFL fan, a staple of your Sunday afternoons during the season is hearing the 60 Minutes clock tick away while one of CBS’s broadcasters promotes the upcoming episode following the conclusion of the game (except on the West Coast).

It's a staple of your NFL Sundays because the show has been around for 56 years! It debuted on this date in 1968. Here’s how the first episode looked.

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 Google. 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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