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01st Oct 2017

Commentator takes shot at Spurs during NFL London broadcast

Zing

Darragh Murphy

We heard you, Kevin Burkhardt.

The NFL returned to London on Sunday, when the Miami Dolphins took on the New Orleans Saints at Wembley Stadium.

Seven days after the Jacksonville Jaguars racked up an astonishing 44-7 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, touchdowns were hard to come by.

It wasn’t until the final kick of the first half that points were put on the board, courtesy of a Saints field goal and the low-scoring nature of this week’s game frustrated the 80,000 in attendance, with the lack of action on the scoreboard dominating the discussion in both the studio and the commentary booth.

Penalty flags were far more prevalent than scoring opportunities in a stop-start opening 30 minutes and, with little else to talk about, the commentators decided to get creative.

FOX announcer Kevin Burkhardt rolled out a line which was likely lost on the majority of American viewers but was not appreciated by Spurs supporters who happened to be watching.

“Appropriate that we’re playing on the pitch of Tottenham that we have a scoreless game,” he said after an earlier missed field goal attempt.

The reference was aimed at Spurs’ less-than-amazing home record this season but, in reality, Maurico Pochettino’s side have only been involved in one scoreless draw this season, their 0-0 meeting with Swansea last month at their new home.

We should have expected at least one reference to the Premier League during the coverage and while neutrals appreciated the little dig, some sensitive Spurs fans weren’t having it.

https://twitter.com/mattlindner/status/914495856577056769

https://twitter.com/kye_ill/status/914496073540014080

https://twitter.com/reevesg55/status/914496678350159872