Chris Brown Play-By-Play

[Bangarang]

Both are absolutely terrible 

[Since1981]

Brown and Murphy aren’t the best

it sure feels like they’re picking “buddies” or hallway Bills employees to do it. When an actual professional sportscaster could do better. Radio requires a natural ability. Chris hits highs like a teen girl at Taylor Swift/Prom.  

Edited January 16, 2023 by Since1981

[BillnutinHouston]

5 hours ago, RiotAct said:

last year I’m 100% sure Murph and Wood were behind us (over half the games I go to, I sit with my uncle in Section 133 about 15ish rows down from the broadcast booths).

 

Pretty sure nothing changed for this season but I could be wrong.

 

In the last set of renovations about 5 years ago, "regular media" got moved to the corner to use the prime real estate at midfield for suites, but the radio staff never moved from midfield.

[sullim4]

5 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Steve Tasker sounds like the biggest Bills Homer on OBL right now. It is okay to point out the flaws like Chris Brown is doing. 

 

I agree with this take, which is crazy because Brown was the Bills' equivalent of the Iraqi Information Minister for years.  Brown's leading softball questions at press conferences and his nauseatingly positive website articles were pure propaganda during one of the worst stretches of failure in the franchise's history.  I can only think that Russ Brandon and Scott Berchtold must have made it clear that honest assessments of the team's performance were not permitted.

 

Brown now seems to be at least partially objective, at least in comparison to Tasker who is drunk on Bills Kool-Aid every afternoon.  I think Brown has done a very good job with the play-by-play gig considering the circumstances, although I tend to agree with others that I would rather see someone else hired full-time.  Assuming Murph can't go on, the franchise is good enough that they should be able to attract national talent for the play-by-play position.  Scraping through the communications department for someone willing to take the gig should no longer be necessary.

[mjd1001]

I like Murphy.  Don't think he's great but I like him.

But, same for Brown. Like him.  He's not great, but I think he's at least above average.

I honestly don't have a preference between them.

[Chaos]

1 hour ago, Bangarang said:

Both are absolutely terrible 

You are a unifier not a divider. 

[DallasBillsFan1]

What made Van Miller popular was that he was distinctive.  He had a remorable voice and delivery.  I hate to say it but Murph does not have that.  I don't understand why he was heir apparent.  Also, Murph doesn't look healthy ... it's no surprise he had a stroke.  He's clearly not taking care of himself.  He is 67.  Time to retire and relax.  Whomever makes the decison needs to find a personality with a voice with character, and better delivery.

The answer is not Chris Brown.  CB is good interviewer and does the podcast format well ... like with Steve Tasker.  CB is good in those formats ... not on radio.

[Xwnyer]

I was concerned but he has done a good job.   Murphy makes a lot of mistakes and doesn’t have the same level of enthusiasm 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

To me, Brown feels over the top and a little forced energy wise, but I agree that in general the call comes with more energy, and Brown has improved over the years relaying real football terms and formations to the mic.

3 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

Reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff Dan Dunleavy says during Sabres games...."DC is marvelous" after a Dylan Cozens goal.  Just seems a little forced and cringey...which is also funny to me because RJ always had a lot of sayings and phrases but with him it never felt forced and always seemed organic.  I think it's just one of those things where some guys are naturals for the role and a lot of people are not but they try their best.  

RJ had a timeless voice, more bass.

 

Brown really has to ramp it up to overcome his bland delivery. 

[Matt_In_NH]

I like the yelling to a point but the highlights from yesterday have a bunch of corny crap that makes me cringe.  Off the top of my head:  
 

Get a fire extinguisher Milano is hotter than a firecracker

 

he fired a 23 yard missile

 

Cook scores we are cooking with gas

 

he also likes to use the word city to describe a lot of something.  For instance “turnover city”

 

he needs to knock that off

[chaccof]

7 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

lol i totally disagree.  I think he’s absolutely terrible.  Just yells and says stupid sayings after a big play.  There’s a reason he’s just a fill in

Couldn't agree more - I find him almost unlistenable.  More normal game day process is to listen to the game on GR and synch it to the game on TV with the sound off (assuming the game is on here in VA).  I'm seriously thinking about not doing that for the game Sunday and just going with the TV.  But then my OCD kicks in and says I have to do what ever I've done the rest of the games (they've won).  Get well soon Murph, please!

[Matt_In_NH]

3 hours ago, Stanley Lombardi said:

Chris Brown's  play by play is like his daily radio show:  while he screams into the mic, listeners are supposed to (I guess) equate volume with enthusiasm.

Unlistenable.  

I hate when he does that in OBL.   I have heard highlights and I like the screaming for the PBP but the corny sayings just kills it

[jamiezzz]

Both seem like great guys, but not a fan of either for radio, actually.  Just my opinion.

[JohnNord]

8 hours ago, jimmynunn said:

First, I truly hope the best for John Murphy's health. He seems like a nice man, I'm sure his heart is in the right place, and get well Murph.

But in my opinion, he deserves to be Wally Pipped. I've listened to the game broadcasts the last 2 weeks, and the improvement is significant. Chris Brown brings more enthusiasm, is nowhere near as bland, and his voice conveys the excitment of a big play without cracking. He also seems way more accurtate in his down and distance calls. Too often, Murph will say something like"Singletary off tackle, picks up 7...........and it's 2nd and 8 for the Bills."

 

I'd be interested in the opinions of others who have listened to our radio play-by-play.

 

I don’t listen to the radio broadcasts but from what I’ve heard of Chris Brown as an announcer, he sounded overly excited and kind of forced.  Like he was trying to be a parody of a play-by-play man.  

 

I prefer Murph and hope he gets back in the booth next season

28 minutes ago, chaccof said:

Couldn't agree more - I find him almost unlistenable.  More normal game day process is to listen to the game on GR and synch it to the game on TV with the sound off (assuming the game is on here in VA).  I'm seriously thinking about not doing that for the game Sunday and just going with the TV.  But then my OCD kicks in and says I have to do what ever I've done the rest of the games (they've won).  Get well soon Murph, please!

How are you able to sync it?  Because the delays on both radio and TV make it impossible 

[JohnNord]

2 hours ago, Since1981 said:

Brown and Murphy aren’t the best

it sure feels like they’re picking “buddies” or hallway Bills employees to do it. When an actual professional sportscaster could do better. Radio requires a natural ability. Chris hits highs like a teen girl at Taylor Swift/Prom.  

It wasn’t really picking buddies.  In the case of Murphy, when he had his stroke they needed someone ASAP to call the game in Cincy.  There wasn’t time for a formal interview process.  
 

The members of the Bills radio team are Murphy, Brown, Wood, Tasker, Sal Capaccio, and Maddy Glab.  
 

Brown probably makes the most sense to replace him internally, though I guess that could have gone to Sal as well.  
 

Of course, if Murph decided to retire for good, I do anticipate they’ll look to external candidates with broadcast experience 

[foreboding]

I agree that Wood is super boring and John is ok I suppose, but really, I just miss Van, why can't we find a colorful local guy? Van was so great. "It's Fandamonium!!!"

Edited January 17, 2023 by foreboding

[Michael1962]

I like them both but I guess I am easy to please

[Buftex]

12 hours ago, Punch said:

I'll always have a soft spot for Murph, he's been involved in Bills broadcasts my entire life! His voice is as inextricably linked to Buffalo Bills football as anything, as far as I'm concerned. HOWEVER--- I haven't been a big fan of his PBP. I can't really think of a single memorable call since he took over for Van 20 years ago (although, arguably, it's been slim pickings until the past 5 years!).

I think that "little boy exuberance" thing he does, where his voice cracks is a forced attempt to create a "signature" style. It is just awful...I don't think he did it 10 or 15 years ago.  

[Buffalo03]

They should keep Chris Brown but replace Eric Wood with Gus Johnson so the booth can be an all out scream fest

[Buffalo_Stampede]

I like the energy from Brown but we don’t need the punch lines. Just make the call. Keep the energy.

[US Egg]

Does a broadcast shuffle mean more Maddie?

 

[Richard Noggin]

I find it fascinating that Brown was SO excellent as a calm, concise, and controlled reporter for BB.com for so many years, someone I really appreciated, and then suddenly his performances on One Bills Live took on this hyperbolic, animated, shrill tone that caught us all off guard...

 

And now this loud, excitable, shrill persona might actually be effective on the radio play-by-play? I believe it. Especially given Wood's super flat affect, the Bills need an animated play-by-play guy. 

[chongli]

14 hours ago, jimmynunn said:

Too often, Murph will say something like"Singletary off tackle, picks up 7...........and it's 2nd and 8 for the Bills."

 

 

Actually, he would say "Motor Singletary", and this drives me crazy. Use his real name.

[Dr.Sack]

The firecracker comment got me good. Brownie is pure gold. 
 

As much as I love Murphy, I miss Van Miller. That man was pure gold. “High drama, UnBillievable” the man had so many epic cliches.

[Richard Noggin]

22 minutes ago, Dr.Sack said:

The firecracker comment got me good. Brownie is pure gold. 
 

As much as I love Murphy, I miss Van Miller. That man was pure gold. “High drama, UnBillievable” the man had so many epic cliches.

 

Some of that signature "high drama" came from Van's relatively minimalistic play-by-play: he'd often call the snap and dropback on a passing play, but not say more until the ball (and on-site fans in the background) completed the play. He actually did a great job of slow-playing a lot of high intensity moments in favor of only REALLY amplifying the best moments. His inflection was legendary. Such a fan with such an iconic voice. 

[billsbackto81]

15 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

lol i totally disagree.  I think he’s absolutely terrible.  Just yells and says stupid sayings after a big play.  There’s a reason he’s just a fill in

Don't think he's terrible but he is a little over the top and I can do without all the yelling. 

[Chandler#81]

16 hours ago, T master said:

I haven't listened to yesterdays game but did last weeks game & i have to agree Browny is much better & more animated as far as his excitement . Some people are just better suited for things than others i just can't stand when Murphs voice cracks when he get's excited about a play .

 

I've never been a huge fan of Murphs i think he was better suited to be a TV sports caster radio is a totally different deal & there are a few out there that portray the games great Browny seems to have that excitement that is missing to the radio broadcast & has done a excellent job .

 

I too hope Murph get's back to full health & if he wants to continue calling the Bills games then good for him but Browny has definitely surpassed him when it comes to calling the games & hosting the One Bills Live pod cast .

Brown has a voice for television and a face for radio. He sounds like an excited school boy. I’ve never liked Murphy behind the mic, but Brown makes me miss him..

[Xwnyer]

10 hours ago, JohnNord said:

I don’t listen to the radio broadcasts but from what I’ve heard of Chris Brown as an announcer, he sounded overly excited and kind of forced.  Like he was trying to be a parody of a play-by-play man.  

 

I prefer Murph and hope he gets back in the booth next season

How are you able to sync it?  Because the delays on both radio and TV make it impossible 

First ya need the ability to pause one or both feeds.  For years I have  used a DVR to pause the video feed waiting for the SiriusXM OTA feed to synch up usually pause when kicker approaches the ball.  I am good at it and get lip synch perfectly.  If using a streamed audio the delay is much longer but be patient.   If both audio and video are streamed and don’t have pause on the stream never gonna make it work.   The onky time I have had major issues was the Saturday game on NFL network I would get synced and than notice that the radio was ahead because NFL net likes to show all sort of Camera angles etc finally gave up .   I really wish you could subscribe to a service that would synch the sources for ya.   Now that NFLST is moving to YouTube TV will have to experiment with how to get this working with DTV a and Sirius OTA radio pause was like 10:seconds.

[JohnNord]

3 hours ago, Xwnyer said:

First ya need the ability to pause one or both feeds.  For years I have  used a DVR to pause the video feed waiting for the SiriusXM OTA feed to synch up usually pause when kicker approaches the ball.  I am good at it and get lip synch perfectly.  If using a streamed audio the delay is much longer but be patient.   If both audio and video are streamed and don’t have pause on the stream never gonna make it work.   The onky time I have had major issues was the Saturday game on NFL network I would get synced and than notice that the radio was ahead because NFL net likes to show all sort of Camera angles etc finally gave up .   I really wish you could subscribe to a service that would synch the sources for ya.   Now that NFLST is moving to YouTube TV will have to experiment with how to get this working with DTV a and Sirius OTA radio pause was like 10:seconds.

Yeah I have tried that before.  It’s a lot of trial and error and it never seems that you can get it perfect, so I just give up.  
 

The sync would be awesome.  If I had a choice, I’d listen to the Bills radio broadcast over the national TV  broadcast most weeks

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

9 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

Does a broadcast shuffle mean more Maddie?

 

Toss up between her and Donny. ("Knock it off with the €%¥£ing guns!!!")

[HomeskillitMoorman]

I've never liked Chris Brown since the old site, back when he was shilling for the Bills and went as far as defending them for bringing Jauron back for year #4 because of how important continuity was. 

 

He's just as bad at play-by-play as he is everything else. 

 

 

[Xwnyer]

9 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Yeah I have tried that before.  It’s a lot of trial and error and it never seems that you can get it perfect, so I just give up.  
 

The sync would be awesome.  If I had a choice, I’d listen to the Bills radio broadcast over the national TV  broadcast most weeks

Been doing this for years

[pocoboy]

Nothing against Brown, but I feel like my level of discomfort & stress was heightened with his exuberance.

 

Of course, it might have just been the fact that the Bills were trying the same dish that Chargers got on Saturday night.

12 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Yeah I have tried that before.  It’s a lot of trial and error and it never seems that you can get it perfect, so I just give up.  
 

The sync would be awesome.  If I had a choice, I’d listen to the Bills radio broadcast over the national TV  broadcast most weeks

 

Syncing up DVR with the Bills app used to be horrible. For some reason, their application of the commercials to the radio broadcast was out-of-sync with the TV timeouts, so you would have to resync the video multiple times a game.

 

Now with the NFL+ (if you subscribe), the broadcast stays extremely consistent in terms of temporal sync. So once you get the video set (unless your damned dog wants to walk on the remote), it's good for the entire game.

[Not at the table Karlos]

22 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

I thought they got moved to the corner several years ago.

Tasker is in this pic so it could have been moved since. But this looks to be around the 40 closer to tunnel. 

[DC Greg]

22 hours ago, MJS said:

Good guy. Horrible PBP. He just blandly describes the game.

 

Every TD is "Touchdown! Touchdown Buffalo! The player caught the ball and crossed the goal line, which means he scored a touchdown. Wow!"

 

He has no wit. He provides no color or imagination.

 

This is the most perfect description of a Murph call I've ever read 

[machine gun kelly]

Murph, Brown, and the great Van Miller were just different.  There is no need to compare personalities.  Murph is a bit more straight like Van, and Brownie likes the animated thing.

[JohnNord]

5 minutes ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

I've never liked Chris Brown since the old site, back when he was shilling for the Bills and went as far as defending them for bringing Jauron back for year #4 because of how important continuity was. 

 

He's just as bad at play-by-play as he is everything else. 

 

 

I always found this annoying and even somewhat insulting to the fan base.  We know he’s a Bills employee, but it came off like he was doing damage control for the team.  

 

I remember that he would try to defend or talk up any coach or GM that was on the seat including Dock Jauron, Chan Gailey, Buddy Nix - despite the fact their lack of success.  He’d go so far to post links to his “reports” in the old BBMB and you weren’t allowed to criticize him.   He was very quick to block you on Twitter if you disagreed with something he said - which was quite often when made these kinds of statements.  
 

It wouldn’t surprised me if he was ordered to do this, at a time when Bills leaderships was very concerned about their impression and focused on “selling hope.”  It just always came off as disingenuous.  
 

He blocked me years ago and I don’t listen to Brown much but he seems to be doing a better job with this over the past few years, so maybe he figured things out.  

 

[HomeskillitMoorman]

7 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

I always found this annoying and even somewhat insulting to the fan base.  We know he’s a Bills employee, but it came off like he was doing damage control for the team.  

 

I remember that he would try to defend or talk up any coach or GM that was on the seat including Dock Jauron, Chan Gailey, Buddy Nix - despite the fact their lack of success.  He’d go so far to post links to his “reports” in the old BBMB and you weren’t allowed to criticize him.   He was very quick to block you on Twitter if you disagreed with something he said - which was quite often when made these kinds of statements.  
 

It wouldn’t surprised me if he was ordered to do this, at a time when Bills leaderships was very concerned about their impression and focused on “selling hope.”  It just always came off as disingenuous.  
 

He blocked me years ago and I don’t listen to Brown much but he seems to be doing a better job with this over the past few years, so maybe he figured things out.  

 

 

That is just so petty. 

 

I understand he's got a great gig with the Bills and that's the argument some would make for him. I personally could just never sell out like that, even if it meant landing a cool job. I'd have to be able to speak my mind and not sell out for the organization no matter where I work. He can probably do that now and I don't know if he does...but back then he was basically state-run radio. 

[Shaw66]

23 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

Just listening to the radio highlights I agree with you. IMO play by play was never Murphy's forte, he was excellent at color commentary.

I heard only highlights, too, from the Pats game, and I thought it was night and day.  Love Murph, but his play by play is bad.   His signature call -  "TOUCHDOWN!!  TOUCHDOWN!!!  TOUCHDOWN BUFFALO!!!" - really is just filler while he tries to figure out out who scored and why.  He doesn't so much call the play as it happens as he tells us what happened after it's over.  Brown calls it as it's happening, which is what a radio play-by-play guy is supposed to do.  

[JohnNord]

9 minutes ago, HomeskillitMoorman said:

 

That is just so petty. 

 

I understand he's got a great gig with the Bills and that's the argument some would make for him. I personally could just never sell out like that, even if it meant landing a cool job. I'd have to be able to speak my mind and not sell out for the organization no matter where I work. He can probably do that now and I don't know if he does...but back then he was basically state-run radio. 

Exactly… it seems like the current team (including Brown) has the right approach now.  They mostly stay neutral and share information rather than opinion as it pertains to the Bills.  They don’t criticize the Bills or their opponents very often.  It leads to bland one-sided “reporting” but that is their job.