Hey, now the games on Thursday nights on the NFL Network will actually be watchable, which is always nice.
The NFL Network has announced that their new Thursday night announcer team will be Brad Nessler on the play-by-play, and Mike Mayock doing the color commentary.
Nessler replaces Bob Papa, who was actually pretty good as a play-by-play guy, in my opinion. Nessler has been doing college football games for ESPN for nearly 20 years now, and is the main voice for ESPN's Saturday Night Game of the Week. Before that, Nessler. . .a native of St. Charles, Minnesota. . .was actually the voice of the Vikings for the 1988 and 1989 seasons on the radio.
The rumor had gotten out that the NFL Network had considered Gus Johnson for the play-by-play spot, but ultimately went with Nessler.
Viking fans know about Mike Mayock as well, as he's done color commentary for the team's pre-season telecasts for the past couple of seasons, and always provides an amazing amount of information regarding many of the lesser-known players that the second halves of most pre-season games are comprised of. Anyone who watches the NFL Network's draft coverage. . .and, given the alternative, why wouldn't you. . .knows what Mayock brings to the table as well.
Just as importantly, it means we can once again watch a football game on our televisions without having to hear Joe Theismann or Matt Millen, who served as the booth analysts for the NFL Network last season. To be honest, I've never been a fan of Theismann, and listening to Millen evaluate talent after destroying the Detroit Lions for almost a decade always struck me as strange.
Even though the Vikings aren't scheduled to be on the NFL Network this season. . .and I'm not sure if they've ever been involved in any of the NFL Network's games. . .it's nice to know that fans will be able to watch Thursday night football without having the urge to throw things through their television screens.