‘The fans deserve more’: Behind the scenes with Brian Baldinger and his impassioned X’s and O’s breakdowns
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — It’s a Tuesday morning at NFL Films headquarters and Brian Baldinger is trying to explain that he was a film junkie during his 12-year NFL career. But as Baldinger describes how he had a projector at home during his playing days, his eyes can’t escape the footage of Sunday night’s Bears–Rams game playing on the 80-inch television monitor on the wall of his office.
“(Rams quarterback Jared) Goff can’t run this play into this. You don’t have enough blockers,” Baldinger says. “What happens is, I’m guessing, (Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio) is changing this late. He’s got (cornerback Bryce) Callahan right there to take away the weakside run, but (the Rams) might be out of time. Why would you run that play into this?”
Without missing a beat, Baldinger finishes his thought about how he always wanted to carve out an X’s and O’s niche when he got into broadcasting. As he laments the fact that television executives don’t value that type of in-depth analysis, he again becomes distracted by the failed run play that he has been re-playing on a loop while he talks.
“There’s no reason for Goff to run this play,” Baldinger says. “He actually can’t run this play.”
Baldinger then grabs his iPhone and records the monitor as he narrates what went wrong for his 132,000 Twitter followers. The one-minute clip is one of 17 plays he’ll post on Tuesday that will garner a combined 471,000 views.
.@bears hold the @NFL 2nd leading rusher to 11/28, his lowest rushing yards since his rookie season . Sometimes the play is doomed from the start. Case in point! #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/atmhtum3ji
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 11, 2018
“Baldy’s Breakdowns” have become a social media phenomenon. The clips are appointment viewing each week for an audience that craves a deeper knowledge of the game.
“There’s a gap between what gets reported and what is actually happening,” Baldinger said during a six-hour film session/interview. “The fans are just so hungry for real football that you have to feed their appetite. I always say to (NFL) Network that they’re missing out on all this stuff. They think if you just give them X’s and O’s that they’re just going to turn it off. But I think the fans actually watch this stuff. That’s all they want.”
Baldinger played offensive line for the Cowboys, Colts and Eagles from 1982-93. After his final season, Baldinger, Mike Golic, Merril Hoge and a handful of other players attended a week-long broadcasting seminar led by player-turned-analyst Craig James.
“As soon as I went, I knew what I wanted to do,” Baldinger said.
Baldinger started his broadcasting career by volunteering for radio stations, going to Knicks and 76ers games to record soundbites. He then started a monthly magazine, “Football Stories,” which allowed him to get press credentials to NFL games.
“I was saying it was for the magazine, but I was just going there to watch everybody interview these guys to see how you do it,” Baldinger said.
Baldinger got his break when Fox hired him as a game analyst for NFL Europe in 1997. He began calling NFL games for Fox the next year and joined NFL Network in 2005, where he was an analyst on the X’s and O’s-driven “Playbook” show for five years.
“I loved the X’s and O’s and the strategy and all that, but then the executives just didn’t put enough value on it, so then I kind of meandered through the network doing all this stuff that wasn’t really valuable to me,” Baldinger said. “I felt like you just didn’t do anything. You were on TV for an hour, but you just didn’t do anything.”
“Baldy’s Breakdowns” were born during the lowest point of Baldinger’s professional career. The NFL Network suspended Baldinger for six months without pay for saying the Eagles “should put a little bounty on (Cowboys running back) Ezekiel Elliott” during an interview with a Philadelphia radio station in the fall of 2016.
Baldinger continued to spend eight-to-10 hours a day in his office at NFL Films watching tape during his suspension. With no outlet to share his observations, Baldinger began posting video clips with his analysis on Twitter. The informative, entertaining and easy-to-consume clips were a hit with fans, so Baldinger ramped up the production last year. The popularity of the breakdowns has continued to soar. Baldinger has added 50,000 Twitter followers since the start of this season.
“It was just fun for me. Then it got to the point where I was doing this Chiefs-Ravens game on Sunday and people were tweeting at me during the game asking for these breakdowns of their team,” said Baldinger, who also works as a color analyst on national radio broadcasts for Compass Media Networks. “They’re watching like, ‘What’s wrong? Why do we suck?’”
Baldinger doesn’t take any shortcuts in finding those answers for fans. If he broadcasts a game within driving distance of NFL Films, he’ll arrive at his office on Sunday night to start breaking down that day’s games.
Immediately after each game, the visiting team sends its coaches tape to NFL Films to be processed. Each play is indexed (time, down, distance, result) and sent to all 32 teams within hours. The value of the coaches film is that it shows all 22 players, first from a high sideline angle and then from an end zone angle. Viewing every player allows for a far greater understanding of what happened on a play than is possible from watching the television copy.
If travel prevents Baldinger from getting to his office on a Sunday night, he’ll start watching tape as soon as he gets to his house in Marlton, N.J., where he has access to the same film and editing tools. Regardless of his Sunday schedule, Baldinger typically is in his office at NFL Films by 7 a.m. on Monday.
The windowless office is tucked into a corner on the third floor of the three-story building, which limits distractions for coworkers when Baldinger’s voice starts booming about a missed block or a great catch. There are two large TV monitors, three laptops, two desktop computers and not a single photo or other personal touch in the office. Two shelves are stocked with NFL media guides and a whiteboard features a diagram of the responsibilities in a Cover 3 defense, drawn by former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
It’s the ideal setting for Baldinger to spend about 14 hours each Monday breaking down film from the previous day’s games. He watches four-to-six games during that marathon viewing session. It takes two hours to get through an average game, watching some plays eight-to-10 times to get a handle on what happened.
Baldinger in his office at NFL Films. (Dan Duggan)
Baldinger’s schedule is similar on Tuesdays, as he makes his way through the rest of the weekend’s games. Between Monday morning and Wednesday night this week, Baldinger tweeted breakdowns of 12 of the 15 games from the weekend. During the college football season, Baldinger mixes in college film study on Tuesday nights and Wednesdays because he’s also a color analyst for FS1’s Big 12 coverage. He usually spends Thursdays previewing the upcoming weekend of NFL games before traveling to his college assignment on Friday.
Calling college games on Saturday and NFL games on Sunday can create some logistical travel challenges. He’s made overnight drives, chartered a helicopter and received a four-legged escort to make his schedule work.
“I jumped on the back of a horse one time at Oklahoma State,” Baldinger said. “A state trooper on a horseback got me out of the area. It was all congested around Boone Pickens Stadium and I had a getaway car. So I went by horseback through all the traffic to get to the getaway car to get to the airport.”
Baldinger rarely has the opportunity to watch the live television broadcast of a game, so he often uses the box score to guide the focus of his reviews, such as how the Giants held Redskins running back Adrian Peterson to 16 yards on 10 carries in their 40-16 win on Sunday. Or he was curious how Giants running back Saquon Barkley was able to rush for 170 yards in that same game behind an offensive line that struggled earlier in the season, so he cued up the tape.
“I want to see what they did and how they did it,” Baldinger said.
Despite his love of the game and appetite for film study, Baldinger never had a strong desire to coach. He was the offensive line coach for a team in the Italian Football League in 2010 and “that was enough.”
“I see those coaches on Sunday and it’s the only time they come out to breathe real air,” Baldinger said. “Who would want to put themselves through that?”
Baldinger produces videos for NFL.com throughout the week, but his Twitter breakdowns generate the most attention. A five-play clip highlighting Giants receiver Sterling Shepard’s blocking against the Redskins drew 80,000 views on Tuesday.
“It’s truly been a grassroots thing,” said Ross Ketover, senior vice president at NFL Films. “There’s no promotion to it, there’s no advertising directing people there. It’s just people have heard about it and passed it along.”
.@Giants @sterl_shep3 gets a game ball Sunday for his 2 catches for +17 yards and a TD. WHAAT? Does anyone get a game ball? Nope; only if you block your ass off. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/yo98EpCrJ5
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 11, 2018
Baldinger, who turns 60 in January, is an unlikely internet sensation.
“I had a flip phone until two years ago,” Baldinger said. “I’m kind of late to the game. But I just saw there’s a pretty good format.”
Baldinger’s passion is evident when he narrates his breakdowns. There’s no telling what will come out of his mouth as he gets revved up during a string of plays.
“I don’t want to script anything. If it comes out stupid or corny, whatever, it just comes out that way,” Baldinger said. “If I thought of something clever, I’d probably fuck it all up.”
The replies to Baldinger’s tweets are uncommonly positive. His 14,000 tweets are almost exclusively film breakdowns or retweets of radio interviews (he did four across the country on Tuesday).
“I don’t really do anything else but football-type stuff on it,” Baldinger said. “I never would say anything political about anything. It’s just football. I’ve never read anybody’s feed. I’ve never even looked at what anybody else says on Twitter.”
Baldinger said he gets the most fervent response from Saints fans, but that doesn’t mean he spends more time on their games.
“If you watch a lot of networks, they talk about eight teams. Some networks just talk about one, the Cowboys,” Baldinger said. “If you’re a fan of the Raiders or you’re a fan of Buffalo or you’re a fan of some team that’s struggling, you’re not getting any attention. It’s not fair. There’s good players on bad teams.”
It’s not just fans who have taken notice of Baldinger’s work. A scan of his Twitter followers reveals a who’s who of NFL figures, including Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., 49ers general manager John Lynch and Colts owner Jim Irsay.
“I can tell he’s very passionate about football,” Beckham said. “I feel like he focuses on the football standpoint and not where other people might focus on the politics or whatever it is. He watches the film and focuses on it. He knows what he’s talking about.”
Baldinger’s breakdowns often draw instant reactions from players. Giants tight end Scott Simonson retweeted a clip praising his blocking within minutes on Tuesday.
“I haven’t played since 1994,” Baldinger said. “You’ve got to stay current with all these players. This is a great way to stay current with a lot of these younger players because they grew up watching Twitter.”
I have so much LUV & respect for you Mr. Baldinger! Thank you! https://t.co/ckvcuNLcN3
— Jamal Adams (@TheAdamsEra) December 5, 2018
Baldinger said Eagles vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas made the team’s scouts watch a film breakdown Baldinger did with former Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas as part of a seven-part web series “Film Session” last summer.
“It’s easy for me to watch a show and tell who knows what they’re talking about and who is just pulling at straws. Baldy knows what he’s talking about,” said Spagnuolo, who has spent one day a week watching tape at NFL Films to stay up to speed while taking the season off from coaching. “I think he does go far beyond just the surface of reporting on a game or on a play. I think he digs deeper and I think that’s what makes him really good.”
Spagnuolo’s point materialized on Thursday when ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith previewed a matchup between Chargers tight end Hunter Henry and Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson in Thursday night’s game. Henry hasn’t played this season after tearing his ACL in May, while Johnson is out of the league.
“I think the fans deserve more,” Baldinger said.
One X’s and O’s show made it onto the airwaves of a major network and has survived — barely. “NFL Matchup” debuted in 1984 and is still broadcast by ESPN. But the half-hour show airs at 5:30 a.m. ET on Sundays.
“I would say for probably a decade the conventional wisdom was that people didn’t care about that stuff and that was dead wrong,” said Ron Jaworski, who was an analyst on “NFL Matchup” from 1990-2017. “People do care about ‘why.’ It’s not just watch a game and see a play made — they want to know why.”
Jaworski co-hosted episodes of “Film Session” with Baldinger last summer that featured Spagnuolo, Eagles coach Doug Pederson and Packers defensive tackle Mike Daniels. The 20-minute features provided deep dives into techniques and philosophies.
Baldinger and Jaworski are planning to team up again this offseason to film more breakdowns with players and coaches at the Pro Bowl, Super Bowl and scouting combine. The goal is to get the show broadcast by the NFL Network, but convincing skeptical television executives will be a challenge.
“The problem is, and I’ve dealt with a lot of people in this ilk — producers, directors — is they have this built-in feeling that no one cares about it because they don’t understand it,” Jaworski said. “They’re TV producers. They’re not football producers. I don’t think they really understand the want and the need out there for more X’s and O’s football. It’s not for everybody, but there’s a demand for it.”
Count Ketover as an executive who believes there’s a place on television for an X’s and O’s-based show.
“I think the percentage of avid football fans, while it’s smaller than the total amount of fandom, it’s still more passionate than any other sport we have in this country,” Ketover said. “I think with fantasy football and maybe with some legalized gambling that might be coming our way, I think people want to know as much as they can, consume as much as they can and if Brian is telling people things they can’t get just from reading headlines, then I think there is an appetite for it.”
Maybe “Film Sessions” — or “Baldy’s Breakdowns” — will become a hit show. Or perhaps it will remain relegated to the internet where only hardcore fans will watch. Either way, you can expect Baldinger to return each week to his office, remote in hand, watching hours of film and providing analysis in his never-ending quest to educate fans.
“It sure beats working,” Baldinger said.
(Top photo of Baldinger in 2015: Kyle Terada / USA TODAY Sports)
