Talking Heads Ready to Roll

With the NFL season ready to kickoff Thursday, Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated had a great article previewing the television analysts and pre-game shows. Of course, the big news is that John Madden has retired after perhaps the greatest career in NFL broadcast history (with some help from Pat Summerall).

But on the plus side, Matt Millen returns to the booth. Millen had a disasterous tenure running the Detroit Lions, but he was a great broadcaster for many years after his NFL retirement. His addition to the NFL Network games (in addition to his work on ABC's college football) is a welcome upgrade over previous NFLN teams, especially Bryant Gumbel.

Lots of changes in store for NFL announcers, and if you are so inclined you can do you own comparison of every one this weekend. DirecTV is running a free preview of its NFL Sunday Ticket package.