Beginning Thursday, September 9, at 7 p.m., Comcast SportsNet is debuting New England Football Night, a new night of on-air and online football coverage featuring three distinct shows that cover the Patriots from every conceivable angle.

Each Thursday night will lead with a new Comcast SportsNet original production – Quick Slants – which will give CSNNE.com’s Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran a weekly chance to sound off on the Patriots and interact with fans on the week’s hottest NFL topics.

Quick Slants will highlight Curran’s experience covering the Patriots and his passion for talking football.  Curran will share his insights, spar with fans, and speak each week with Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo.  Quick Slants will also feature CSNNE.com’s Mary Paoletti, who will incorporate web coverage of the NFL, fan Tweets, CSNNE.com and Facebook posts, and text messages into the show.

Following Quick Slants is a totally redesigned Patriots Football Weekly (PFW) that will bring to life the publication’s insider coverage of the three-time Super Bowl Champions. Shot entirely on-location at Gillette Stadium, Comcast SportsNet will make Patriots Football Weekly a highly visual and compelling TV news magazine show that focuses solely on the Patriots’ players and coaches.

The 2010 edition of PFW features an all new look to showcase the top stories from the pages of the popular team publication and the contributions of Fred Kirsch, Paul Perillo and Andy Hart.  As a weekly publication, PFW is well regarded by Patriots fans for its insider access and comprehensive coverage.  PFW can be seen each Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Completing the night is New England Tailgate hosted by WEEI afternoon host Glenn Ordway and featuring two NFL standouts Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie. Each week, Smerlas and DeOssie will use their NFL experience to provide an in-depth breakdown on each Patriots win and loss and a detailed preview of the upcoming game.

Following Quick Slants’ completion, Curran and Paoletti will interact with fans on CSNNE.com throughout PFW and New England Tailgate.  During the on-line version of Quick Slants, Patriots fans can chat with Curran and Paoletti and react to PFW and New England Tailgate with Tweets, posts and text messages. Curran will also highlight the best online feedback with live Quick Slants television cut-ins during the remaining hour of New England Football Night.

Fans can interact with Quick Slants by Tweeting @TomECurran, posting comments at CSNNE.com, posting Facebook comments on Facebook/CSNNE or texting.

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My thoughts:

I didn’t see the names “Michael Felger” or “Ron Borges” or “Gary Tanguay” listed with any of these shows, so to me, that’s a win for Patriots fans right there.

I’m intrigued by the new Curran show, as he’s got the ability to the informative and also engaging and funny. The PFW and Tailgate shows have both been around (off and on in the case of PFW) for awhile, so we know what to expect there. They’re solid shows.

I think if these shows can stick to football and avoid some of the other nonsense that tends to surround this team, this could be a very good night of programming for Patriots fans. I’m eager to check it out.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

18 thoughts on “Comcast SportsNet Launches New England Football Night on Thursdays”

  1. The beginning of your closing paragraph hits the nail on the head:

    "I think if these shows can stick to football and avoid some of the other nonsense that tends to surround this team,"

    Real football fans want real football analysis. Curran is great. PFW is fine. Smerlas and DeOssie are actually better in the taped/edited version of their thoughts and observations.

    What's more interesting is the online follow-up shows. Do any other shows offer this version of extended programming via the internet? Might be a hint about the future of broadcasting.

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  2. yeah, Curran isn't too bad…..now and then he'll go off the deep end. (like about Brady's knee) but he's a helluva lot better than Felger……we'll see

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  3. The tailgate show offers nothing–senior citizen Ordway and the other 2 will be as predictable as always, and as Joe Morgan proves every Sunday, being a pro athlete doesn't translate to being a pro analyst. If Belichick was on the tailgate show,it would be well worth it.

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  5. "featuring two NFL standouts Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie" Are you kidding me??? Standouts, as in "hey you to dumbsh*ts go stand in that field"?

    Do they come any dumber than those two? Has there ever been an insightful comment on Tailgate? Just wondering.

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    1. They're ex-players and they're not named Felger or Borges so yes, there are people dumber than Smerlas and DeOssie. While Smerlas and DeOssie (who's son is a current player so he knows what's still going on in the NFL) can be annoying and perhaps a bit too fan-boyish, they still have much more credibility and Curran clearly loves football. Hopefully the producer will keep them from inserting their politics and they WEEI type talkovers, if so then the program can stick around a while.

      If you've ever heard Mayo talk he's very good and a pure football player. That alone will have me watching.

      Has Felger said anything the past three years that isn't Jay Mariotti-ish?

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      1. "Has Felger said anything the past three years that isn't Jay Mariotti-ish?"

        That gets a gold star. Well put

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    2. To be fair, the release seems to be talking about their NFL careers and not their radio careers. While DeOssie certainly wasn't a "standout" he did have a fairly long career, while Smerlas was probably the best nose tackle in the NFL during the 80s (5 Pro Bowls).

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  6. Where does CSNNE send DeOssie's checks now that he's out on the street? A P.O Box? Jose Canseco's garage rental?

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  7. "We're going to get right into it today, folks. Tom Brady's contract, Tom Brady's haircut, and the Spinks sex tape. It's football day right here on the Tailgate Show."

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  8. Completing the night is New England Tailgate hosted by WEEI afternoon host Glenn Ordway and featuring two NFL standouts Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie.

    Whenever these 3 bimbos are on the air together I have to turn off my radio. My car only makes right hand turns.

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  10. Felger and Borges have such obvious agendas, that I don't see how anyone could take either of them seriously, even if you agreed with them . With these two, there is nothing close to objectivity. Borges is a bitter jerk and everything Felger says should be preceded by "Hey look at me!!!!"

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  11. Smerlas and DeOssie, in small segments, are just as informed — IMO — as the rest of the local football analysts around. The problem is they drone on and on on EEI and the conversation turns stupid after a few minutes. When they're on TV and forced to deliver their points quicker, I think they actually might know what they're talking about.

    At this point I'd rather hear them over Felger and Mazz, with their daily 4-hour dose of Pat Bashing. Felger desperately needs someone to counteract his off-the-wall "I'm a Contrarian and Hate the Patriots!" analysis, and Mazz's half-hourly (if not more regularly!) "you're absolutely right Mike" ought to become the new local drinking game of choice.

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  12. I'm really looking forward to watching Curran's new show, I really hope it has a different look than the usual talking-head stuff and allows Tom's personality to shine. For years I've thought TEC would make a great sports radio morning show co-host if paired with the right on-air partner. Perhaps someday his career will move in that direction, but in the meantime I do hope 'Quick Slants' has a long sustained run and not a three-and-out.

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