For years, Fox's depth has been inferior to CBS' among game analysts. That gap has closed, thanks to some savvy upgrades. During the 2008 offseason, Fox smartly hired Brian Billick, who has shown a knack for predicting play-calls and explains the game as if he's holding a coaching seminar.

This past offseason, Fox bolstered its group by adding Charles Davis (its lead analyst on college bowl games), former S John Lynch and ex-QB Trent Green. Dumped: Brian Baldinger and JC Pearson.

Davis delivers consistently sound, reasoned analysis. Lynch, polished for a rookie, offers credible assessment of personnel (he said Champ Bailey, Ronde Barber and Antoine Winfield are the three best-tackling corners in the league), names offensive linemen who are beaten or playing well (not enough analysts do this) and goes beyond the obvious (he alertly said Matthew Stafford should stop "throwing everything on a line" and instead loft higher throws to let Calvin Johnson use his height advantage against smaller corners).

Green, seventh and last on Fox's depth chart, is repetitive at times but makes some cogent points and — like Billick — scores points for trying to educate viewers. For example, Green noted coaches yell "poison" to remind players on the offensive team not to touch a blocked field goal. Green and Lynch did good work in Fox's studio in Week Nine while the regular cast was handling the pregame from Afghanistan.

Around the dial

CBS' Gus Johnson apologized, conditionally, after he used these words to describe a run by Tennessee's Chris Johnson: "Johnson gets his shoulders square. Watch out. He's got getting-away-from-the-cops speed. Touchdown."

Gus Johnson, who is black, said in a statement to USA Today: "If there is a perception of racism in this analogy, it is not coming from me. People of all races have run from the law."

Johnson should have avoided the analogy, but this seems mostly a case of some viewers looking for something to be offended about, rather than Johnson saying something offensive. "However, to those that were offended, I apologize," he said.

— In Week One, Fox's Terry Bradshaw said of Brett Favre, "I'll be glad when he's retired because I'm fed up with him." Naturally, Bradshaw didn't mention a word of that during a fawning Week Eight interview in which he told Favre how "great" he is. At least Bradshaw said, without Favre there, that "maybe I was wrong about Favre."

— Washington, D.C.-area broadcaster and former Redskins great John Riggins went over the line ripping owner Daniel Snyder on Showtime's "Inside the NFL."

"This is a bad guy," Riggins said. "This person's heart is dark." Pushed to offer specifics by Cris Collinsworth, Riggins was vague, saying that his "business practices" are "driven by his ego."

It's fair and justified to criticize Snyder's effectiveness as an owner, but Riggins shouldn't impugn his integrity without evidence to support it.

Barry Jackson covers sports media for the Miami Herald. 

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