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After 700 shows, Monday Night Football remains an institution


ST. LOUIS – It's 3 hours before kickoff at the Edward Jones Dome, and Jon Gruden is fired up.

Tonight's matchup isn't the most exciting on the Monday Night Football slate. But Gruden is selling his weekly pep talk to about 55 members of the production crew, who shout back their agreement that one man can change that: unheralded St. Louis Rams quarterback Austin Davis.

"Look at this kid, throwing on the move. He reminds me of a young Drew Brees," Gruden says, pacing frenetically in front of a TV monitor while previewing a comparison he'll make on-air.

"He's got leadership, too, man. Watch him on the sideline tonight. He's going to work his teammates. He's going to bring out the best in his team, man. I see this kid doing this. This is an interesting guy with some spunk to him. This is what America needs."

It's what the 700th MNF broadcast needs, given that Davis – undrafted in 2012 out of Southern Miss, out of football for a time last season, now making his fourth NFL start in primetime – must play big for the one-win Rams to have a chance against the seasoned San Francisco 49ers.

Producer Jay Rothman isn't rooting for a winner. But he certainly wants to create a rooting interest in Davis, a protagonist of necessity in this episode of Rothman's weekly ESPN drama and one he hopes the 49ers won't kill off in the first act.

"You have the chance to make a movie. That's fun, man. I love that," Rothman told Paste BN Sports, sitting on the Monday Night Football bus outside the stadium. "We can sit here and just cover the football game down to down to down to down. That's easy. But it's the artistry, at least for me, that comes from those types of things outside of the XO."

XO is shorthand for the strategy that Gruden – the former (and perhaps future) NFL coach – imparts on the rest of the production unit all week long. It's the backbone of NFL broadcasts across all networks, now airing three days and nights a week.

This isn't just football, though. This is Monday Night Football, an institution 45 years running that changed the way Americans consumed sporting events. And it's far from a one-night affair for those charged with ensuring that if the game isn't good, the show goes on.

"We have to do our best work when the game's the worst," announcer Mike Tirico said. "Then you've got to work really hard to keep it interesting for the person at home and not just throw your hands up and say, 'Eh, this game stinks. Not our fault. Move on down the dial.'"

The question on everyone's mind tonight is, how long can the Rams and their would-be hero at QB keep people from turning the channel?

Intense study

Gruden has seen the movie before. Davis is the underdog Rocky Balboa with a chance to knock out Apollo Creed, who's played on this night by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

It's not just selling a script for Gruden, though. The Davis storyline grew out of the tape study Gruden does each week back in Tampa as if he were still coaching, with the help from some attuned friends. And he shares his discoveries with the crew Thursday nights.

"I don't want to ever be egotistical, but I know what I'm talking about, because I've studied their tapes – hard," Gruden says, clutching hand-written diagrams of plays he expects to see. "I called plays for 14 years. I have a pretty good idea based on what they're going to do."

Tirico spends the better part of a day researching each team at home in Detroit. Sideline reporter Lisa Salters pores over the 40-page packet news director Jim Carr sends out each Wednesday night, ensuring she's over-prepared for not just the game, but 15 live hits leading up to it.

"The one week you think it's the 0-5 Giants and the 1-4 Minnesota Vikings last year, it's like, 'Oh, great,'" Salters says. "But you can't let down, because you don't want to look like an idiot on national television."

Rothman and director Chip Dean review the previous week's broadcast and hold meetings on potential improvements. The four mobile production units, generator truck and two tractor trailers carrying equipment – roughly 33 cameras in use on a given night, plus 5 to 6 miles of cable to connect everything – are rolling on to the next destination.

The crew starts setting up Friday. The talent arrives by Saturday morning to spend time with each team and attend the Sunday production meeting. By Monday morning, the "toolbox" is full with video packages, graphics and animations. The opening segment with Gruden and Tirico is planned out, too, as is Salters' story about Davis' anonymous trip to a wing joint.

But there still is time for adjustments, such as Gruden's suggestion in Monday's production meeting to highlight the Rams' three top rookies. Sure enough, by the time the opening segment airs, each pick is animated separately, per Rothman's request.

Another request for the camera crew: Fresh pregame footage of injured Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, whose job Davis could take outright if Gruden's comparisons to Brees prove prescient.

"It's not Dallas and Seattle. It's not that kind of game," Dean says. "So, you have to inspire people a little bit, tell them about a couple special stories like Austin Davis being a pretty good story, hopefully. Could he be the next Kurt Warner? Who knows?"

Ready for anything

There could be a more serious storyline afoot, too. In the Monday morning production meeting, Carr provides an update on protestors in nearby Ferguson who plan to descend on the stadium. Rothman outlines enhanced security measures and possible plans for reporting on the street.

Nothing comes of it, save for a small group of protesters getting tickets and holding signs in the upper deck. But Rothman has contingency plans for everything, including one of his announcers, any member of the crew or even himself falling ill.

"If we lose our spider cam that flies over the field," Rothman says, "let's not let that take us in the tank."

The hope is all the preparation means the only thing that can derail Monday Night Football is a lousy game. And even then, Rothman and company will fight like hell to keep viewers from turning the channel. The worse the game, the more pre-planned material that makes it to air.

They can highlight a handful of key matchups out of Gruden's tape study. They can debunk excuses for Rams pass rusher Robert Quinn's zero sacks. They can discuss the future of Jim Harbaugh or the ongoing investigation into Ray McDonald with the 49ers. They can roll old video of Tirico presenting the Lombardi Trophy after Warner and the 1999 Rams won the Super Bowl.

"You've got a hundred different ways to steer the ship," Gruden says. "But if Austin Davis is the big story, we've got to make sure we cover him the best way we can. If you get the 27-3 game, you've got to keep the game alive."

Rothman and Dean sit side by side in the main control room, where there's excitement as the Rams' first drive leads to a touchdown. Davis tosses a 22-yard touchdown pass to Lance Kendricks before the quarter is over to give St. Louis a surprising 14-0 lead.

The 49ers come back, though, and lead by seven when Davis gets a final possession. Tirico rereads the hero's origin story once more – and Davis promptly throws an interception to Dontae Johnson, who runs 20 yards for a touchdown that seals the 49ers' 31-17 win with 53 seconds to go.

As one close-up after another rolls of Davis jogging to the sideline, Tirico says: "Austin Davis' story that could have been, will not be."

It was for 59 minutes of game action and over 3 hours of TV time, though, which is really all Rothman needed. Now it's on to another script at Pittsburgh, where Steelers-Texans isn't a headline matchup either – but there's surely another story to sell.

"There's Thursday night. There's Sunday night. But Monday's got that unique spot on the calendar," Tirico said. "It's the worst day of the week, and people want something to feel better."