The Rams retiring Marshall Faulk’s #28 tonight at halftime of the Rams-Steelers game got a lot of hype ahead of time, particularly on NFL Network, which has Faulk broadcasting the game. Rich Eisen and I even talked it up on my show this afternoon.
Considering that this guy’s not only a legendary running back but also an employee, how many highlight clips of Faulk in action did they show as part of this big night? I watched closely so I could get an exact count, and the total was ….. zero. Sure, Bryant Gumbel kept mentioning the honor over and over, and Bob Costas was brought in to emcee the ceremonies on a midfield platform, but wouldn’t it have been nice to have NFL Films put together a five-minute montage of Marshall doing what he did so well while wearing #28? The guy played in two Super Bowls, racked up some very impressive numbers every season, and scored more touchdowns than all but three men in NFL history — there’s plenty of material for a video tribute.
Maybe there was such a montage played on the big screen at The Dome. If you were there and saw one, let me know. They should have played it for the home audience.
Update 12/21/07: Harry Hamm tells me that there was a highlights montage on the Dome video screen during halftime, and they also had tributes to Faulk throughout the game, including Dick Vermeil, Peyton Manning, and many others. But Harry also reports that at no point during the halftime ceremonies did anyone from the Rams step up to the mike to honor Faulk (considering the boos from the crowd when Costas mentioned John Shaw and Jay Zygmunt, that was probably a wise move). Still, I’m pointing my finger at the NFL Network for not showing the whole jersey-raising ceremony, including the video.