Troy Aikman says he wanted to call Cowboys game instead of Eagles-Bucs dud

Fox broadcaster Troy Aikman was unimpressed with the NFC wild-card matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. Despite the Bucs sustaining an increasing number of injuries to key players, they ran roughshod over the Eagles, winning 31-15 and keeping Philly scoreless until the fourth quarter. 

Blowouts are fun for the fans of the winning team, but a non-competitive game isn’t fun for broadcasters. The Eagles, led by quarterback Jalen Hurts, were awful. Aikman, who was calling the game with Joe Buck, made it clear that he was not happy he was assigned to that dud of a game instead of the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. 

Aikman and Buck are Fox broadcasters, so they had no choice but to call the game that was airing on Fox. The 49ers-Cowboys game is on CBS, and is being called by the Jim Nantz-Tony Romo broadcast team. 

The NFL adopted the expanded wild-card format last year, and it’s worth nothing that this is the second straight year that CBS and its top team of Nantz and Romo have called a late afternoon NFC wild-card game. Last year, Nantz and Romo called the late afternoon matchup between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, while Buck and Aikman got the early window game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. 

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Here’s an explanation for how Aikman and Buck ended up calling the less attractive Sunday matchup:

Unfortunately, Aikman can’t hop into a time machine and prevent Fox from getting the rights to the Eagles-Bucs game. He’ll just have to hope next week’s Fox game is more entertaining. It won’t involve the Eagles, so there’s a decent chance it will be. 

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