Marshall sounds a little bit like Dan Shulman of the Jays broadcast team . Strong voice and easy to listen to , plus he played the game recently . The absolute worst has got to be Matty Mumbles and his "Getter done"
Marshall is a good new voice for the game. He appeared to be completely unbiased....mentioned Dane's fables more than once...which is fair.
The CFL on TSN needs new voices; more energetic; more crisp and less folksy like most of the current commentators. The league caters too much to the folkiness of the prairies and less to the urban centres.
I like Marshall’s calls but I feel like he tries to come off as some football genius when calling the games. He needs to remember he’s calling the games for a large audience, a lot of whom aren’t as knowledgeable as he is. Other than the “smarter than you” vibe I get I think he does a pretty good job.
I honestly believe that Mr. Dunnigan’s head may be too damaged from his MANY concussions; and it’s only going to get worse with time. I believe he has already donated his brain for CTE research.
Unfortunately, by half-time as a Colour Commentator, it seems as if he can barely string two words together. I can totally empathize; as sometimes, when I start to get a migraine, my mouth simply cannot say what my mind is trying to make it speak. It’s called “aphasia” and it can happen with migraine auras. It is so incredibly frustrating, and I see that on Matt’s face at times during the broadcasts.
I think Dwayne Forde is the best colour commentator of the bunch. His knowledge and passion for University and amateur/Junior football is off the charts. I don’t need to repeat to anyone that Suitor is BY FAR the worst colour commentator in the football WORLD. He’s nothing but an embarrassment for TSN and the League.
I can easily see BLM step right into the colour commentary role immediately after his retirement from playing. Or, take over from one of the talking heads on the panel (Dunnigan - as the obvious QB perspective). I am beyond tired of Milt’s shtick (out-yelling, can’t distance himself from either the Bombers or his playing days), and Sanchez takes minutes to get his point across. There are FAR better Canadian defensive players that would be great on that panel. The best one ever, IMHO, was Chris Schultz (RIP).
TSN really needs to step-up their game on TV broadcasts. We have seen their capabilities in Grey Cup games. How much more difficult would it be to do something similar on their “marquis” Friday Night Football show? maybe not to the extent of a GC broadcast, but close. I hate to point out the No Fun League, but they broadcast the HECK out of the Sunday and Monday night games.
Well one of the main complaints against Rod Black was that he talked to the audience like we were a bunch of 5 year olds watching our 1st football game. At times it felt like we were watching Sesame Street or Romper Room.
That’s why Marshall Ferguson is a nice change of pace for fans that understand the game and follow the league closely.
Marshall is sharing his knowledge with the viewers . He’s not talking down to people , he’s educating many of them . That’s what good teachers do .
The TSN panel definitely needs new blood with spark & energy. The overall broadcast could use higher level production value to overcome the folkiness.
Need a colour commentator like Tony Romo, who almost takes you into the coach/Qb's thinking and predict what will happen next.
The QB target charts Ferguson posts every week are really insightful. For one thing, it has caused me to adjust my perception of the CFL as a free-wheeling passing league with lots of big exciting plays. Most games appear to have relatively few long passes.
Examples from last week's games:
Cornelius completed just 1 pass longer than 20 yards.
T.Harris completed nothing over 20 yards.
BLM had 1 completion longer than 15 yards.
Collaros had 3 greater than 20, of which two were TDs. He also went 10 of 13 between 10 and 20 yards.
Fajardo had just 2 completions to go along with 2 INTs beyond 15 yards.
Macbeth had 5 completions of 20+ including including 2 TDs.
C.Evans had 2 completions just beyond 20, plus 1 INT.
D.Evans looked as good as anyone: 4 for 5 beyond 20, including a TD. Also 8 for 9 between 10 and 20, with another TD. His worst category was 5 yards and less, going 9 of 13.
I'd really like to see the offence get more aggressive and push the ball downfield. Dane has the arm for it. When it was do-or-die in the last minute of the game we went for it. Maybe we should treat the entire game as do-or-die.
I'd rather try to win and come up short than throw pointless no-chance short balls that set us up for a punt.
The average quality of the current crop of QBs is, I feel, far inferior than in years past. I would say that the one dominant QB in this league is Collaros, and the runners-up are Roarke and BLM. The prototypical "CFL-style" QBs are now being signed by NFL teams, and the USFL/XFL/Spring League/etc are also diluting the source.
Defences have gotten better, probably as a result of the extra player on the roster that pretty much every coach uses for an American DB of some form. The guys on Ticats TV (or whatever they call it these days) do a great job of breaking down the plays, and it's come down to leaving the intermediate-range open for short gains, but locking down anything deep with better coverage.