ESPN’s Chris Fowler on Panthers QB Bryce Young and calling ‘Monday Night Football’
The most famous Fowler in sports media is ...
Well, not me. Not by a long shot.
It is undoubtedly ESPN’s Chris Fowler, one of the cable network’s longtime stars. Fowler is widely known for his enthusiastically efficient play-by-play calls on major college football games and Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
Yes, I’ve been asked a hundred times over the years if Chris Fowler and I are related.
No, sadly, we are not — although Chris offered up in our recent phone conversation that a number of his ancestors were from Texas, and both my parents are from Texas and so, well … who knows?
Fowler also does some occasional NFL broadcasting, and he will do the play-by-play on “Monday Night Football” in Charlotte when the Carolina Panthers host the New Orleans Saints (7:15 p.m. kickoff, ESPN).
Because he called a ton of Alabama games and because he also hosts the Heisman Trophy awards show every year, Fowler has observed Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young in numerous situations. He’s a big fan of Young, as a player and a person.
But Monday night’s game, Fowler believes, will be one of the most stressful Young has ever faced.
“The Saints defense might be one of the most elite in the league,” Fowler said, pointing out that the Saints made veteran Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill “look like a rookie” with three interceptions and no touchdowns allowed in a New Orleans win one week ago. “So the challenge for Bryce, with an offensive line that is not healthy and has backups in there, is very, very real. It is going to be the biggest challenge of his life as a player.”
Two ‘Monday Night’ games at once
Fowler will call the game in a three-man booth, alongside analysts Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick, with Laura Rutledge reporting from the sidelines. This is the first of a five-game NFL package that this announcing quartet will broadcast during the season. (There are two overlapping “Monday Night Football” games in Week 2, and the 8:15 p.m. Browns-Steelers matchup has the No. 1 MNF team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman calling the game on ABC.)
Fowler, 61, was scheduled to come to Charlotte straight from Gainesville, Florida, where he called the Tennessee-Florida college game Saturday. Two high-profile games in three days may seem like a lot, but it’s not an unusual workload for him. While calling the U.S. Open tennis tournament a couple of weeks ago in New York, Fowler multi-tasked well enough to also travel and call three high-profile college football games in a 10-day span.
An NFL game is slightly less complicated to prepare for as an announcer than a college football game, Fowler said.
“This is the third NFL game I’ve prepped,” Fowler said. “And it’s simpler than calling college football, in that the sheer number of players is so much less. I mean, there are going to be three guys for the Saints, plus a tight end, that mostly touch the ball in the passing game. On my Tennessee-Florida chart, I’m writing in all kinds of names that aren’t even on the 2- and 3-deep (depth chart) but that pop up sometimes on tape. It’s just another world.”
As one of TV’s foremost play-by-play commentators, Fowler said he often sees his role as that of a point guard.
“It’s my job to make the analysts shine and put them in positions to succeed,” Fowler said, “and more importantly, help the viewer get the most out of what they can offer. That’s either setting them up, following up, pushing back, whatever you need to do in that moment. It’s the same thing in tennis, when you work with John McEnroe.”
Enthusiasm, but not ‘false authority’
The point guard idea is an interesting analogy, one that Young also uses to describe the role of NFL quarterback. Both QB and announcer ideally want to be distributors, helping their colleagues score points.
“I go into this with an approach of genuine, authentic enthusiasm,” Fowler said, “but not false authority. It’s not my goal to sound like an expert on the NFL. I’ve got two experts in the NFL right there (Orlovsky and Riddick). I plan to learn a lot from them over the course of the season, but I will try not to act like: ‘Hey, I’m going to show you how hard I worked and what I know about the National Football League.’ That’s just the wrong approach, and it’s not me anyway.”
As for Young, Fowler got to know him both when calling Alabama games and when awarding him the Heisman Trophy in 2021. Because that award presentation includes a lot of face time with the winner, Fowler said he has a connection with a number of previous Heisman Trophy recipients.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Bryce about what makes him tick,” Fowler said, “and his advanced understanding of sports psychology, and the tools that he was given at a young age that I think will serve him well in terms of dealing with adversity, being even keel about the tremendous highs and lows. … (He’s going to) experience things at the pro level that he did not experience in college, which might be taking his lumps and losing some games, being criticized and being questioned. You get to this level, you start all over, and that’s obviously something all the Heisman guys go through, no matter where they’re drafted. And when you’re drafted No. 1? That’s a whole other game.
“So I do believe in Bryce, as a person and a quarterback. I also have seen him get knocked around. And I’m not going to be naive, that being 5-foot-10 isn’t a serious challenge in the NFL. It is.”
As for Monday night’s broadcast, Fowler said fans who tune in to the Panthers-Saints game that have watched his decades of college football work will see a slightly different rhythm. While college games are “pandemonium” in numerous ways, he said, an NFL game often offers a less “frantic” pace that is sometimes more conducive to storytelling. Still, he recognizes that this is the first game he has ever worked in this new three-man booth with Orlovsky and Riddick, and so there will be something of a learning curve.
“I’m not going to be yelling and screaming if the situation doesn’t call for it and the energy in the building doesn’t match it,” Fowler said. “I think people will like how this booth sounds. I think that these guys are a good complement to each other. Dan and Louis know the sport inside and out. So I feel good about it.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
