When Matt Millen was hired to be NFL Network's color commentator, I vowed that I would not watch a single game in which he was an announcer. In the two seasons that he served as an announcer, I ended up watching a total of about two quarters of action on Thursday nights, and that was only because the audio wasn't working properly one time.
Many suggested that fans should get over what he did to the Detroit Lions, but let's be serious, that was not going to happen. Besides, it was impossible to take anything he said seriously after witnessing just how bad of a job he did in Detroit.
NFL Network's telecasts of games got even worse last year when Joe Theismann was added to the broadcast booth. All you had to do was fire up Twitter during a game and you would find thousands of tweets expressing how bad the color commentators were to get an idea of the hatred toward Theismann and Millen.
Thankfully, it appears NFL Network realized what a mistake that idea was. Richard Deitsch of SI.com reports that Theismann and Millen are out next season and will be replaced by Mike Mayock.
Mayock did color commentary for Notre Dame games last season, as well as one of the NFL's wild-card playoff games. He is also NFL Network's draft expert, and in my opinion he is the best draft analyst out there. He should bring a lot to the table for NFL Network's Thursday night games next season, and the upgrade he is from Millen is indescribable.
This actually might not be the only good news as it relates to NFL Network's Thursday night games. Apparently Gus Johnson is being considered to replace Bob Papa as the play-by-play announcer. I do not have an issue with Papa and think he's pretty good, but adding Johnson to the booth would certainly liven things up.