Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium was supposed to be just another NFL regular season clash between the Carolina Panthers and the New York Jets. Instead, it became a case study in how a technical hiccup can steal the spotlight from the action on the field—at least for a quarter of an hour. As fans settled in for Week 7’s matchup, they were met not with the familiar energy of a modern NFL broadcast, but with audio that seemed to have traveled through time, landing somewhere between the Great Depression and the golden age of radio.
The trouble began just minutes into the first quarter. As Carolina’s offense took the field on its opening drive, the Fox Sports broadcast—helmed by veterans Chris Myers and Mark Schlereth—suddenly dropped out. For a few moments, there was only silence. Then, when the sound returned, it was anything but normal. The commentary was muffled and distant, crackling with a static-laden quality that evoked memories of 1940s radio broadcasts. For viewers expecting high-definition clarity, it was a jarring throwback.
Social media erupted almost instantly. One viewer mused, “Why does the audio on the Panthers Jets game sound like it’s from the Great Depression?” while another quipped, “We doing a Tin Can broadcast for the Panthers vs Jets game today, Fox? Audio sounds like it’s straight from the 60s.” Others likened the experience to listening to a local radio station or even a 1930s record player. The jokes came thick and fast, with one fan asking, “Does the audio on the Panthers-Jet sound like it’s coming from a $5 mic in a recording studio 5000 feet underwater for anyone else?”
It wasn’t just casual viewers who noticed. Trey Wingo, a prominent NFL analyst, tweeted, “The audio of the Jets/Panthers game sounds like a radio broadcast from the 1940s…” Another fan put it bluntly: “As if watching the Panthers vs Jets game could get any worse, I feel like I’ve been sent in a time machine to the 1950s with this garbage audio.”
The technical difficulties lasted between 10 and 15 minutes, spanning most of the first quarter. During that time, the broadcast booth sounded as if Myers and Schlereth were calling a long-lost Olympic event rather than a 2025 NFL game. One viewer joked that it sounded as though the commentators were “talking on potatoes,” while another compared the experience to the 1947 World Series. Even the usually stoic RedZone channel, which had to rely on the same audio feed, got caught up in the retro vibe, with one fan noting, “Panthers @ Jets on Redzone is using the local radio broadcast for audio. This should be an option for every game. Gives the old school 70s feel…”
The impact was more than just comedic. NFL fans expect a certain standard from multi-billion-dollar entities like Fox and the league itself. “@NFLonFOX fix the damn audio to the Jets v Panthers game. This is embarrassing. Come on!” one frustrated user demanded. Others wondered aloud if Fox was intentionally experimenting with a retro broadcast, though the network itself made no mention of the issues on-air.
Ironically, Fox has a bit of history with this type of broadcast blunder. Back in 2022, the same announcing team lost audio for more than two minutes during a Giants-Jaguars game. Mark Schlereth later joked that his unaired commentary was “my best work by far in all the years I’ve been doing this.” This time around, the duration was longer, and the effect even more pronounced—giving everyone watching an unintentional crash course in broadcast history.
But this wasn’t an isolated incident for Fox. Just the previous week, viewers of the Jacksonville-Seattle matchup were treated to similarly glitchy sound. One broadcaster was even heard saying, “I can’t hear the producer,” as chaos unfolded behind the scenes. Seattle-based journalist Mookie Alexander summed up the frustration: “This was a pretty big game and the production values were a step above public access… The audio cut out, the video froze, it was just terrible to watch.”
Following Mark Sanchez’s controversial exit from Fox earlier in the season, the network has been scrambling to stabilize its commentator lineup and production teams. Though Myers and Schlereth are veterans, even their experience couldn’t overcome the gremlins in the audio booth. For the second consecutive week, fans were left wondering if Fox’s infrastructure was falling behind in an era when even smaller streaming platforms deliver crisp, reliable coverage.
On the field, the game itself threatened to be overshadowed by the broadcast woes. The Jets, still searching for their first win of the season, squared off against a Panthers team aiming for a third straight victory. Adding to the drama, a second-quarter skirmish broke out after a late hit on Jets quarterback Justin Fields, momentarily shifting attention back to the gridiron. Still, for many, the main event was the surreal soundscape emanating from their televisions.
Eventually, by the time the second quarter rolled around, Fox managed to restore the broadcast to its usual high-definition standards. The muffled, underwater, and retro audio was replaced with the crisp commentary fans have come to expect. But the damage—at least to Fox’s reputation for flawless production—had been done. The incident sparked broader questions about the network’s ability to deliver consistent quality, especially as technical glitches have become an unwelcome trend in recent weeks.
For some, though, the episode offered a bit of levity in an otherwise lackluster game. “Watching #Jets football is hard enough. Adding in AM radio quality audio is just mean,” joked Matt O’Leary, encapsulating the mood of many viewers. Others suggested, only half in jest, that Fox should offer a retro audio option for every game—though most agreed that nostalgia is best enjoyed in moderation.
As the game continued under normal conditions, it was up to Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Jets signal-caller Justin Fields to provide the real entertainment. Whether they succeeded or not, one thing was certain: for 10-15 minutes on October 19, 2025, everyone watching Panthers-Jets got a broadcast experience they won’t soon forget. The audio may have returned to 2025, but the echoes of the past lingered long after the final whistle.
With Fox quickly correcting the issue, fans could finally focus on the football. Still, the incident serves as a reminder that, in sports as in life, sometimes the most memorable moments come from the unexpected—and, occasionally, from a glitch that sends you back in time.
