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NFL RedZone Live Journal: 7 Straight Hours Of Football

Mary Grace Montemayor |
September 21, 2014 | 9:02 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

I got up Sunday morning psyched about watching NFL RedZone all day. What could be better than watching a day's worth of football highlights?  

I've never watched RedZone for seven uninterrupted hours before, so this was a first.

I started at 10 am and here's how my day went:

Hour One:

10:24 What! Seriously? Andy Dalton just played receiver and scored on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Mohamed Sanu! Sick, sick play. Bengals coming out strong. 

10:28 Here comes Chris Polk on special teams for Philly…he goes for a 102 yard return! This kid just broke a record somewhere. Amazing. This Sunday's looking action-packed so far. Love it.

10:35 Uh oh. LeSean McCoy just got hit hard in a helmet-to-helmet. He looks dazed. It looked brutal. Hope he’s not seriously injured.

10:39 Is LeSean McCoy is done for the day? He’s headed to the locker room...

10:40 Wow. A 51-yard pass from Austin Davis to Brian Quick. The Rams are steamrolling the Cowboys. This may end up being a blowout if they keep it up.

10:45 Bad news for Matt Cassel. He’s getting carted off with one shoe off. He’s said to have injured his foot, which means Teddy Bridgewater’s NFL debut. I really like this kid. Hoping he does well.

10:49 There go the Ravens with their running plays - Kubiak loves ‘em. Lorenzo Taliaferro looks like he’s the only running back on the Ravens right now. Can’t blame 'em. He’s hot.

10:53 Now the Cowboys are really in trouble. St. Louis scores another TD and they’re up 21-0. Bridgewater keeps the ball and runs for a first down! This kid is making the most of the spotlight so far. He does end up losing his shoe during play. A timeout is called so he can re-lace.

Lots of great highlights. So far, I'm not particularly invested in any of the games. Plenty of non-stop action. I'm glad it’s all just getting started. Pumped up for more... 

Hour Two:

11:00 Reggie Bush can still get it done, folks! First and goal, Detroit. After a nice 26-yard catch, Victor Cruz's salsa moves are back in the end zone. This makes me happy. Giants are up 7-0 against Houston. 

11:02 Green Bay linebacker Mike Neal takes down Matt Stafford, almost leaping at him from behind for a sack! Insane. I love a good sack and this one is a monster. 

11:04 Thanks to DeMarco Murray, the Cowboys are no longer scoreless. A short one-yard run gets them on the board.

Finally stepping away from RedZone for a quick break. 

11:11 Upon return, Dennis Pitta is getting carted off and Baltimore is out a tight end. Not good.

11:12 Meanwhile, Ryan Fitzpatrick gets intercepted at the 2-yard line...nearly a touchdown. Ouch. 

11:17 Kicker Justin Tucker gets set for a 59-yard field goal. It was just trickery though, and they end up punting away on 4th down.

11:20 On 3rd down, TomBrady can't keep the ball and throws it away. He's not happy with himself. 4th down. 

11:27 Andrew Luck to Coby Fleener for another touchdown and they're up 30-nil against Jacksonville. (At this point, this game looks to be done, so not feeling as invested any longer in Colts highlights. Jacksonville doesn't look to have a chance).  

The highlights in this hour are feeling a little mundane until this next play...

11:39 The Browns have Manziel in the game. However, he's facing Kyle Shanahan, his offensive coordinator, with his back turned away from the action on the field. He catches a 39-yard ball from Hoyer which gets me back in on the action again. What a crazy play! When does this happen? Unfortunately, it was too deceptive of a play and the refs call some kind of penalty here. This play may have been illegal, but nice to see something a little different on the field every once in a while.

11:41 Chad Henne is on the sidelines and looks injured. Looks like Blake Bortles will join Teddy and have his NFL debut today as well.

11:51 A highlight of Andre Johnson dropping the ball is rare. Houston is 3 and out for the 247853rd time. 

11:59 A slick play by Julius Peppers, sacking Stafford and forcing a fumble. This guy has still got it!

After two hours of RedZone, I'm still fully immersed.

Hour Three:

12:00 DeMarco Murray takes off for 44 yards! He's carrying the team...

12:03 Alfred Blue for the Texans with a sweet 46-yard run! Then a 44-yard beauty to Demaris Johnson for a Texans touchdown. Two huge plays here for the Texans. Nice to see O'Brien's calling some gutsier plays.

My attention is starting to wane. I'm watching, but few plays are getting me excited.

12:23 Meanwhile, Reggie Bush has legs!! He runs for 26 yards, no one even near catching up to him. And Hoyer throws a 71-yard pass to Gabriel who is wide open...a beauty. 

12:30 Ravens special teams do not slack! They block a Browns field goal attempt. Meanwhile, the Redskins throw a touchdown to Jackson, accompanied by a little dance. The more dancing and entertainment on the field, the better. 

Break time.

12:36 Linebacker Bruce Carter with a nice interception for a 25-yard return! 

12:51 Derek Carr with the Raiders is intercepted and the Patriots survive in the end with a win. Good effort by the Raiders.

I'm glued back into the action. Many games are on their two-minute warnings. The highlights have picked up the pace again. This is when they matter most. 

12:57 Flacco to Steve Smith with a nice stutter step and go for 32 yards! 1:28 left in the game. They're fighting 'til the end.

12:58 Justin Tucker with the game-winning field goal! He does it again! Reliability is underrated. Baltimore wins.

A couple games have wrapped and I'm beginning to feel more lethargic. Getting up from the couch and walking around helps.

Hour Four:

It's definitely hard to keep my attention at this point, but interested in seeing how the Redskins-Eagles game turns out.

1:13 Cousins pass intercepted by Malcolm Jenkins!

1:20 Helu for a TD gets the Redskins right back in it! 34-37. Last play of the game. Philly wins.

1:31 We're told that there is nothing live to show at the moment. (I could easily shut off RedZone at this point.) 

Most of the highlights shown early in a game are nice to see, but they seem to matter less now. RedZone is golden when games are ending. I'm finding myself only sporadically watching. Early in the day, I was watching every play. Now, only the noteworthy plays are grabbing my attention.

Hour Five:

2:08 Denver tight end Virgil Green taken to the locker room for concussion-like symptoms. 

2:24 Russell Wilson bombs it to the endzone...nice 39-yard touchdown by Ricardo Lockette!

In desperate need of a 20-minute break.

Hour Six:

3:37 Denver's Ward attempts to tackle Marshawn Lynch, but grabs his hair instead. He picks up his braid off the turf and looks at it. Hilarious!

3:41 Not the highlight you see every Sunday... Peyton Manning throws a duck of a pass. It goes way over Demarius Thomas's head. He has yet to score a touchdown pass. Wow. Not his day.

3:39 Denver's defense with a nice 2-point play! Ware tackles Lynch in the end zone.

In the home stretch, I'm anxious to see how these games end. But I'd almost much rather see the game itself and not the highlights.

Hour Seven:

4:00 Manning to Thomas for a touchdown!! Finally, a Peyton Manning touchdown in this game.

4:20 But then he throws a pick on 3rd down courtesy of Kam Chancellor. 2:12 left in the game.

With just two games left, it's a little easier to stay tuned in.

4:25 One last snap for Cyrus Gray for a 6-yard touchdown. Kansas City wins.

The RedZone recap is on and the best highlights of the day are being re-run. The Denver-Seattle game is still on, but this is the end of RedZone.

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Although I didn't miss a beat and saw every major highlight of every game, I think RedZone is ideal only when it's playing in the background while watching other games. After two hours, highlight after highlight can be monotonous.

I personally want to feel the ups and downs of a games. When I can only see the highs moments of a game, it no longer feels special. As the hours passed, I started becoming disensitized to the plays no matter how great they were.

After this seven-hour experiment, I've concluded that I'd much rather watch a full game or two over RedZone. I don't necessarily need to stay glued to RedZone to see every single play of the day. But the games I'm most interested in, I'd like to see everything that led up to that highlight-worthy play.

Too much of a good thing can really be just that.

Reach Sports Reporter Mary Grace Montemayor here. Reach her via email here.



 

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