Jim Williams: Taking a pass at coverage

Both Redskins TV and Ravens TV are first-class, award-winning operations that offer quality broadcasts. The Redskins kick things off at 6 p.m. on CSN with Chick Hernandez and the “Redskins Pregame Live” crew. There will be coverage of the Ravens from Brent Harris, who follows the team full time for the network, so Ravens fans outside Baltimore will get solid reporting on their team from CSN.

WBAL TV 11 in Baltimore will have the Ravens pregame show, anchored by the station’s sports director, Jerry Sandusky. There will be no Ravens pregame show in Washington, with DC50 taking the game live at 7 p.m.

Also at 7 p.m., the Redskins’ TV broadcast team of Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann and Rick “Doc” Walker will handle the game coverage. The only place to watch the game in high definition will be on CSN.

Those who choose to watch the Ravens’ telecast will have the quality team of Sandusky, Stan White and one the best new broadcasters in business, Qadry Ismail. The TV broadcasters double as the Ravens’ radio team (Baltimore simulcasts its preseason games). The Ravens are only team in the NFL to do this, but they feel it keeps consistency between the radio network and the TV broadcasts.

I prefer separate TV and radio broadcast teams. While I have nothing against the Ravens’ broadcast crew — which does a fine job on the radio — the show simply is not as crisp as the Redskins’ crew of Patrick, Theismann and Walker.

CSN has “Redskins Postgame Live,” with Harris again covering the Ravens’ side of the story, and WBAL will have the postgame action in Baltimore.

Most fans know the two flagship radio stations — ESPN 980 AM in Washington and WBAL/98Rock Ravens Radio — offer a three-hour pregame show and take postgame call-ins. Kevin Sheehan handles the 980 pregame show, and Al Galdi is on postgame. Meanwhile, Ravens Radio has Keith Mills doing the honors on both shows.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!