Kevin Harlan, one of the great play-by-play announcers in football, is not given to understatement.
And yet, as the clock wound down on the Arizona Cardinals' huge, and I mean huge, 26-14 upset of the Los Angeles Chargers on the road on Sunday, Sept. 13, he simply said, "I don't think many people saw this coming."
Harlan is right about that. This was about as surprising, and delightful, a start to a season as any Cardinals fan could imagine. As his broadcast partner, analyst Trent Green, noted, the Cardinals were the biggest underdogs of the first week of the NFL season, in terms of betting point spreads. "There weren't a lot of people," Green agreed, "when you consider the Cardinals won three games last season, and the Chargers won 11."
The Cardinals' win was huge, and historic, for Mike LaFleur
It was
more than that. It was also a win for first-year Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur. It's been a while since that happened. "To begin the season as a first-year coach in this organization, you've got to go back to ... 1973????" Harlan said.
Yep.
Harlan called it "a huge win in his debut with an organization that has really been staggering of late."
OK, that's another understatement. By the end of last season, the Cardinals were a mess, and made for just dismal TV. As Harlan pointed out, the win on Sunday snapped a nine-game losing streak for the team. How big a deal was it? Announcers were talking about it during other games. After the Cardinals game ended, CBS went to the Minnesota Vikings-Green Bay Packers game, being called by Jim Nantz and former Cardinal J.J. Watt.
In an interesting bit of football coincidence, Mike LaFleur's older brother Matt coaches the Packers.
As they welcomed viewers to that game, Nantz said, "How about that win by Arizona at the Chargers? Mike LaFleur debuting as the head coach with a victory."
"I don't think many had that one picked before the season kicked off," Watt said, before noting that it was going to take a miracle for the LaFleur family to get two wins Sunday. (No miracles happened. The Vikings beat the Packers, 39-22.)
Speaking of the LaFleur family, we saw a lot of them Sunday. During the fourth quarter, CBS showed LaFleur's wife, children and parents sitting in the stands of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, cheering on the Cardinals. And once CBS started, the network didn't stop. Green even commented on it. "I just love how calm he (LaFleur's father) is, and his mom's a nervous wreck."
Who wasn't? The Cardinals just don't win games like this lately. Watching this one, and with a quarterback like the Chargers' Justin Herbert, it was impossible to watch the game wind down without a queasy feeling in your stomach, waiting for the bottom to drop out.
It never did.
That was thanks to a great performance by the Cardinals' defense, as well as quarterback Jacoby Brissett and tight end Trey McBride, whom Harlan called, "The best tight end in football!"
Kevin Harlan showed again he's one of the best announcers in football
Note the exclamation mark. If you're quoting Harlan accurately, you usually need one. Yet ― and this is not true of every play-by-play announcer, and definitely not true of analysts ― his volume and his passion come off as genuine enthusiasm for what he's seeing, not some trumped-up performance trying to convince viewers that what's happening is more exciting than it is.
Green is fine. Solid. Some analysts go all in on personality. Green's more of a just-the-facts-ma'am kind of broadcaster. Although he did say "the dominance of the Cardinals" was the big story of the game. "Really, the Cardinals have been dominating things."
Here's what I like about Harlan, in addition to his voice, which is kind of sandpaper-y, in a pleasant way. When Cardinals' kicker Chad Ryland missed a field goal in the first half, Harlan said, "In the pregame, he made every kick, at this end (of the field) and the other end. He did not miss one pregame kick. But he boinks it off the upright from 54" yards away.
That quote shows another of Harlan's strengths. I love "boink." As any good writer will tell you, say it with verbs. That's what Harlan did again when calling a fumble, saying, "The ball was crowbarred out" by the defense.
Later, when trainers were attending to McBride on the sideline, Harlan said, "Working on McBride, like working on a Ferrari ― you take your time and you pay attention."
A few things fell flat. CBS gave it a try a couple of times, but somehow I don't think showing shots of singer Madison Beer celebrating her fiancé Herbert is going to overtake Taylor Swift rooting for Travis Kelce. But you never know, I guess.
I mean, you really never know.
The Cardinals proved it on Sunday. Both Harlan and Green pointed out that the Cardinals won their first two games last season, before winning only one more game. But this, for the moment, feels different. "This is an incredible win," Harlan said.
And he usually knows what he's talking about.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for The Watchlist newsletter with Bill Goodykoontz.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals upset was jaw-dropping TV 'no one saw coming' | Opinion
