| | Associated Press
CANTON, Ohio -- The most-watched rookie won't be on the
field at Monday night's Pro Football Hall of Fame game.
Dennis Miller, whose schtick deals more with irony than
interceptions, moves into the ABC Monday Night Football booth
alongside analyst Dan Fouts and play-by-play man Al Michaels.
"You know I only have one monkey trick and that's being me,"
Miller said. "Over the years, any job I've had, I've been me. I do
know football reasonably well. I know well enough that I didn't
play the game. So therefore I would defer on most things to people
who had the guts to play it.
"I watch it as much as anybody and I can bring a little humor,
hopefully. I just want to make it entertainment to some extent."
MNF's Nielsen ratings have gone down each of the past five
seasons. Like the coach of a team going nowhere, producer Don
Ohlmeyer hired Miller to shake things up.
Many will tune in to see if he succeeded.
"We live in this age where everyone wants instant gratification
and there will be a lot of attention focused on Monday night even
in the preseason," Michaels said. "Everybody will make a certain
judgment after 5 or 10 minutes of the game and that's going to be
unfair. I think over the course of the season it will get better
and better, it'll get smoother and smoother."
Miller's debut adds some spice to the kind of matchups that hurt
the MNF ratings -- the New England Patriots against the San
Francisco 49ers, a pair of teams that finished fourth in their
divisions and missed the playoffs last year.
The kickoff was moved up an hour to 7 p.m. ET so the game would
not conflict with the network's coverage of the opening night of
the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
The game concludes a weekend of festivities. More than 100
members of the Hall were on hand for a reunion, and were joined by
new inductees Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Howie Long, Dan Rooney and
Dave Wilcox on Saturday.
Patriots' quarterback Drew Bledsoe will start but is unlikely to
play more than one series. New England coach Bill Belichick said he
wanted to take a long look at young backups Tom Brady, a rookie out
of Michigan, and second-year player Michael Bishop.
Bledsoe also won't play much in the Patriots' second exhibition
game against Detroit. The Patriots plan to save him until veteran
offensive linemen Bruce Armstrong and Max Lane fully recover from
knee injuries and several prospects gain experience.
"I'd be happy with two preseason games. I'd be ready to go,"
Bledsoe said. "Five preseason games is a lot and I don't feel I
need to play all those games to be ready for the season. So I'll
see a little bit of time in the first two and then we'll pick it up
for the last three."
The 49ers will also be sorting out their quarterback situation.
Future Hall of Famer Steve Young, who missed most of last season
because of concussions, retired after 13 superlative seasons with
the team.
Jeff Garcia, who started 10 games filling in for Young last
year, is expected to be the starter with Rick Mirer backing him up.
Rookies Tim Rattay of Louisiana Tech and Giovanni Carmazzi of
Hofstra may also see action.
Young is gone, but his 37-year-old batterymate, Jerry Rice,
returns for another season.
The 49ers face bigger questions on defense, where they ranked
last in the NFL a year ago.
San Francisco went 4-12 and finished a distant fourth in the NFC
West. New England was 8-8 and tied the New York Jets for fourth
place in the AFC East.
Belichick, who replaced Pete Carroll in the offseason, will be
coaching his first game with the Patriots -- and is expected to get
a strong reaction from Ohio fans. Belichick coached the Cleveland
Browns from 1991 to 1995 and was there when owner Art Modell moved
the franchise to Baltimore after the '95 season. | |
ALSO SEE
Murphy: It's Miller time
Golden weekend in Canton
San Francisco 49ers
New England Patriots
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dennis Miller and Dan Fouts talk with ESPN's Mike Tirico.
RealVideo: 28.8
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