Tampa Bay Buccaneers-New Orleans Saints: Tom Jones' Two Cents

Times staff writer Tom Jones looks back Sunday's Bucs-Saints broadcast on Fox.

Worst jumping the gun

. We love Fox's Sam Rosen, below, whom we consider one of the most under appreciated announcers in the biz. What we like about him is he rarely jumps the gun by saying something he shouldn't. But he broke that Rosen Rule when he wasted no time pinning a second-quarter interception on Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

The play was over for a fraction of a second when Rosen said, "That was a poor throw by Josh Freeman.''

Replays, however, revealed receiver Antonio Bryant slipped on the play. That's what caused the interception. And Fox analyst Tim Ryan pointed out it wasn't Freeman's fault at all.

Worst use of replay

. Bucs coach Raheem Morris, below, wasted his two replay challenges in the first half on plays that appeared to have no chance of being overturned. And neither was.

"Seems like Raheem Morris is a little too impulsive,'' Fox announcer Sam Rosen said.

But Fox analyst Tim Ryan did a good job pointing out Morris likely had no choice but to rely on his players or someone in the booth before deciding to challenge.

Worst use of microphones

. It's great that Fox has microphones on the field to pick up all the pad-cracking sounds of the game, but it needs to be careful. Twice, the granddaddy of all curse words was heard. If it's Friday at midnight on HBO, that's one thing. But it's Sunday afternoon on network television.

Best compliment

. At halftime, Fox studio analyst Jimmy Johnson had high praise for Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman.

"He's going to be a fine quarterback,'' Johnson said. "He converts on third downs, has good mobility, makes good decisions. … I think they have found their quarterback.''

Wildest prediction

. Fox studio analyst Terry Bradshaw, during the pregame show, picked the Bucs to upset the Saints. It's not that he had faith in the Bucs. He figured the Saints are going to lose one of these days.

Best analyst

. While analysts such as NBC's Cris Collinsworth, Fox's Troy Aikman and CBS's Phil Simms get all the accolades as the best, Fox's Tim Ryan, left, is underrated and might be as good as any. Few are better at immediately dissecting a play on replay, such as Sunday when Ryan pointed out how wide open Kellen Winslow was on a play in which Josh Freeman threw an interception by trying to hit Michael Clayton in triple coverage. That's just one example of the dozens of plays Ryan collects and disperses to viewers during a game.

A question that popped into my head

. Anyone else think it was kind of a jerk move by the Saints to go for it on fourth and 1 with five minutes left and a 38-7 lead?