Mike Carey made his debut as the rules analyst for the NFL on CBS at the start of the 2014 season. Since then, he has become a punchline for NFL fans across the world.
Carey’s explanations for certain calls and predictions for how official reviews are going to turn out often leave viewers scratching their heads. Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, feels that the criticism Carey faces is uncalled for.
“I’ve seen some of the criticism, and I think some of it is very hurtful, quite frankly,” McManus told reporters Thursday, per Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today Sports. “But Mike is learning his craft and, I think more often than not, he has gotten it right. But I’ll also say that he has disagreed a number of times in some very high profile situations with what the (replay) officials have come back with.”
Believe it or not, Carey actually gets calls right most of the time. Steven Ruiz of For the Win looked at every replay where Carey was consulted during the 2015 season and determined that the former NFL official was right 90 percent of the time. McManus alluded to that.
“It’s funny, the vast majority of the calls that Mike has made have been correct,” he said. “I sit there on Sunday afternoon, and he’ll do sometimes, a dozen different cut-ins to our various regional games, and he’s almost always right.”
Of course, people tend to notice when Carey is wrong and ignore when he’s right. It should also be noted that Carey is simply predicting what the outcome of a replay should be. There can be — and have been — times where he correctly states that the call on the field should stand or be overturned and the official working the game makes the wrong decision.
The main issue with Carey is his explanations. He often fumbles his words and leaves people wondering what the heck he is talking about. If you want to see an example of Carey botching a replay analysis, we have one here.
“Mike has perhaps gone out on a limb more than he should in trying to guess or speculate what a call will be, but all he is giving is his opinion of what he would call if he were on the field,” McManus said. “And if it’s a different result, I think people get frustrated. But I think people would understand that Mike is only giving his opinion.”
Most recently, Carey predicted that a play in the AFC Championship Game would stand as called and thought Peyton Manning threw a forward pass. It was very clearly a lateral (video here) and the Patriots got possession. People will likely remember that Carey error before they would remember 20 calls he got right.
