Times are hard for Bill Simmons right now. His HBO show Any Given Wednesday was canceled last week after ratings continued to tank, and Sunday night his beloved Patriots were beaten at home by the Seattle Seahawks in front of the nation on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Bill was tuned in, as usual, and was in poor spirits. After the Seahawks ran the ball against the Pats defense with ease for most of the night, Bill took the opportunity to criticize the broadcast crew of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.
Somebody needs to gently break the news to Collinsworth that the Pats have a weak front 7 and that's why Seattle's o-line looks good.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) November 14, 2016
That’s to be expected, as criticizing broadcast teams has become more a part of Bill’s post-ESPN schtick than it ever was while he was with The Worldwide Leader. Well, Cris was obviously busy so he didn’t have time to offer a retort as he was announcing the game, but he appeared on Twitter Monday afternoon to shoot a zinger at Simmons that had to sting.
Cris, of course, deleted the tweet almost immediately but that’s hitting him below the belt. If Simmons’ past is any indication, he’ll mend fences and get a few hours of podcast material out of it. Collinsworth and Simmons have been friendly in the past, and Michaels appeared on Simmons’ podcast just as recently as February, so chances are things won’t be catty between the two parties for too long.