Courtesy Pro Football Weekly

(January 21, 2010) Playoff views: It's a shame more of the top play-by-play announcers aren't as diligent as CBS' Kevin Harlan in disseminating viewer-friendly information before and after plays. Harlan isn't calling NFL playoff games on TV, but some of the announcers drawing those assignments have been sloppy and lazy in their calls.

Is it too much to expect play-by-players to consistently identify who made the tackle or who was in coverage on a long pass play? Fox's Kenny Albert and NBC's Tom Hammond do it only when the mood strikes. CBS' Greg Gumbel remains the worst in this regard, failing to identify the tackler on the first 14 plays of the Ravens-Colts game, and doing it only sporadically after that. Gumbel only occasionally specified yards gained on a play. He rarely said who was beaten on a pass. He didn't say how many yards were lost on sacks. At least Dan Dierdorf covers for Gumbel at times.

But when Arizona players missed tackles on Reggie Bush's touchdown run, neither Albert, Daryl Johnston nor Tony Siragusa identified the guilty Cardinals defenders. And several times, Albert didn't bother identifying what Saints defenders knocked Kurt Warner to the ground.

When Arizona's Michael Adams stripped Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers in overtime of their wild-card game, resulting in Karlos Dansby's game-winning 17-yard return, why did it take Fox's Joe Buck nearly a minute to identify either of the Cardinals' defensive players who made that play? But Buck was very sharp in the Cowboys-Vikings game.

• One of the biggest irritants is announcers not identifying injured players before going to commercial. Hammond and Albert were guilty of that in playoff games, and it was particularly egregious in Albert's case, because it was Pro Bowl CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, whose departure badly hurt Arizona. Hammond called the Jets' Darrelle Revis "Reeves" several times vs. the Bengals.

• Siragusa does a lot of hollering but rarely says anything viewers wouldn't know. He likes to describe plays as "unbelievable" — one of the most abused words in sports — and often simply repeats what Johnston said, using slightly different words. One snippet from the Saints game: "He got hit hard," Johnston said of Kurt Warner. To which Siragusa said, "Boy, did he get hit!" Of course, neither immediately identified who hit him.

• Among the biggest postseason disappointments was Charles Barkley's cameo in NBC's studio. Barkley said nothing remotely amusing.

• Buck and Troy Aikman made a big deal about Brett Favre throwing for a TD while ahead 27-3 late against Dallas. "Salt in the wound," Buck said. But Fox didn't show the postgame coach's handshake, which might have shown if Wade Phillips was angry.

• More counterfeit analysis: ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson saying "Arizona doesn't go after the quarterback like Green Bay does." Arizona was 11th in sacks per pass play this season, Green Bay 12th.

• CBS mishandled the Bills' pursuit of Bill Cowher by ignoring it rather than asking Cowher to address it. ESPN, Fox and NBC reported Cowher spoke to the Bills, but CBS apparently was afraid to ask Cowher about that on air.

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