People in sports often say there is no such thing as a moral victory.
You win, or you lose, simple as that. There's some truth to that, but dang, after watching the Arizona Cardinals keep fighting back against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Sept. 27, only to lose 36-30, you kind of wonder. Especially after last week's 31-7 shellacking
at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, in which they just gave up the ghost.Not Sunday. "You’ve got to credit Mike Lafleur and his team," Daryl "Moose" Johnston, the Fox Sports analyst, said after the game. "That was not a great performance last week, especially the second half. And they come out here to San Francisco and their home stadium and they have played well. They’ve battled all afternoon long."
Moose Johnston talks like he gets paid by the word
Ah, Moose.
As far as I know, networks don't pay their analysts by the word, but if they did, Johnston would make more than Tom Brady. (Note: Nobody makes more than Tom Brady.) He races along, as if he is late for a flight or something, which means that sometimes he misses some good opportunities.
More on that momentarily.
Johnston was joined by Kevin Kugler, who is a solid play-by-play announcer. Nothing fancy, though he's given to some groaners when he does things like engage with the music that's played as the game goes to commercial. The 49ers' first touchdown came on a hook-and-ladder play, where a receiver catches the ball and pitches it back to another player who runs behind him. It's backyard stuff, but great when it works.
As Fox went to commercial, "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen played, with its "having a good time" lyrics. "Bringing the flair!" Kugler said. "They are having a good time."
How about the rest of us?
But Kugler does bring enthusiasm to the game, as when, late in the 4th quarter, the Cardinals' Trey McBride stiff-armed the 49ers' Upton Stout after catching a pass. "McBride planting Upton Stout down into the turf!" he said.
Then again, after the Cardinals kicked a field goal to get within 6 points of the 49ers, so that a later touchdown would win the game for them, Kugler said, "Important in the path of a comeback, but might not be important in the path of a win."
Dude, it's a football game, not a fortune cookie. Just spell it out.
Jeremiyah Love had a breakout game
In addition to just their all-around gumption, there were other bright spots for the Cardinals. One was Jeremiyah Love, their rookie running back, who had 90 yards on 21 carries and, more important for our purposes here, is a lot of fun to watch. Elusive, explosive, all that.
"If you were wondering when the Jeremiah Love breaking game was going to be, it might be today," Kugler said.
But the big story for the Cardinals was the lackluster start to the season for wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., highly regarded but so far a bust; he had caught only one pass in the first two games this year. This is an easy ― and compelling ― storyline for announcers. With a little more than 5 minutes left in the first half, Cardinals' quarterback Jacoby Brissett finally threw Harrison a pass.
And Harrison was called for offensive pass interference.
Kugler wisely jumped on the chance to talk about Harrison's frustrating season.
"It's been all the talk in Arizona," he said. This is called offering your broadcast partner an opportunity on a platter. And Johnston either didn't recognize it or just decided to ignore it. Instead, he went back to how he disagreed with the pass interference call against Harrison. It's a forest-for-the-trees broadcast situation, and Johnston came up on the short end of it.
Harrison eventually caught three passes for 40 yards, and after one nice catch, Kugler said, "Marvin Harrison Jr. quiets the crowd ― and maybe quiets the crowd in Arizona!" That may be a bit much, but at least Kugler was on top of one of the biggest stories of the Cardinals' season so far.
In the end, when the 49ers needed to score, they did. But it was a much better effort ― and a lot more fun to watch ― than the week before. Johnston noted the inconsistency in LaFleur's team.
"Your first year coming in and trying to change the direction of this franchise and this organization, you’re going to have those letdowns from time to time," he said.
At least this week there were fewer of them.
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 regained some TV dignity in their loss to 49ers | Opinion
