Super Bowl 2025: Saquon Barkley puts Michael Strahan on spot during pregame programming
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley warms up before the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game against Kansas City, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. Credit: AP/Matt Slocum
Michael Strahan was a natural choice to interview fellow former Giant Saquon Barkley on Fox’s Super Bowl LIX pregame show.
But that made for a plot twist that likely caused some Giants fans indigestion at their Super Bowl parties as Barkley prepared to play for the Eagles against Kansas City.
The two sat down to chat during the week on a paddleboat on the Mississippi River. When the interview ended, Barkley asked Strahan to wave an Eagles flag.
“You’re not going to make me do it; I might burn!” Strahan said, laughing. He then waved it anyway.
“We’re going to ‘fly Eagles fly’ for Saquon Barkley because I respect and love this man so much,” he said.
When the show returned to the live set, Strahan jokingly said, “Anybody needs some real estate in New York, I have to sell my house. It is available.”
The emotional highlight of a long Sunday of pregame programming came three hours before Fox’s 5 ½ hours even began.
It was 10 a.m. when ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” featured the dramatic return of a cast member.
Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss announced on Dec. 6 that he was on a leave of absence for what he later said was treatment for bile duct cancer that included surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
On Sunday, he returned. ESPN welcomed him back with a two-minute video tribute that included words of support from the likes of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Justin Jefferson, Jerry Rice, Kevin Garnett and Giants receiver Malik Nabers.
Brady, a former teammate of Moss with the Patriots, said, “You’re a brother to me. I love you more than anything in this world, and it’s so great to have you back.”
When the video was over, Moss was in tears.
“I couldn’t do it alone,” he said. “Hey, guys, it’s been hard, but I got a lot of love and a lot of people believing in me, man, so I’m happy to be here.”
Moss, who will turn 48 on Thursday, has been on “Countdown” since 2016.
Fox’s pregame show began at 1 p.m., and a half-hour into it, insider Jay Glazer broke through the usual time-fillers with a news bombshell.
He reported that Aaron Rodgers had met with the new Jets leadership and was told they were moving on from him.
“It’s better to do it now than to do it later,” Strahan said, “because now Aaron Rodgers has a chance to go out and find another team and the Jets have a chance to let everybody know we’re going in a different direction.”
Fox’s pregame show was centered on Bourbon Street, which was packed with revelers in advance of the big game.
Peyton and Eli Manning squared off in the “FanDuel Kick of Destiny.”
Both missed from 25 yards out. Then Peyton doinked a kick off the right upright from 20 yards and Eli drilled his from the same distance to win.
“It’s unbelievable,” Eli told Cooper, his other older brother, who was calling the event. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment. Just been grinding, been working so hard. Finally, to be a kicker just feels right.”
Tom Rinaldi hosted an emotional segment on former Princeton football player Tiger Bech, one of those who died in the Jan. 1 terrorist attack on Bourbon Street.
The feature included interviews with his family, including his younger brother, Jack, an NFL hopeful who caught the winning pass in the Senior Bowl.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said in his interview with Erin Andrews that the first two congratulatory texts he got after winning the NFC Championship Game were from Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter.
At 5 p.m., Fox showed a retrospective on studio analyst Jimmy Johnson’s life and career, using artificial intelligence technology to recreate how he looked when he played at the University of Arkansas in the early 1960s.
Johnson, 81, was in tears when the piece ended and was lauded by his colleagues. It sure looked like a farewell.
When host Curt Menefee asked if the feature was a “goodbye,” Johnson did not deny it, saying only, “One day at a time, Curt. One day at a time.”
The pregame show ended with a tribute led by Brady and Strahan to victims of and responders to recent tragedies across the country — natural and man-made — and the resilience of their communities, with Lady Gaga performing on Bourbon Street.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.