BECK PLAYS NEIL FOR NBC, NFL

NBC is using Beck’s cover of Neil Young’s “Old Man” to tease the next edition of Sunday Night Football. The logic behind the song selection is a little, er, obscure.

If you’re thinking, “Yeah, a bunch of old guys sit around watching the NFL on Sundays, hence it’s a perfect song to promote the games,” you’d be wrong. As anyone who's worn out multiple copies of Harvest over the last 50 years can attest, “Old Man” is told from the perspective of a younger man noticing his similarities to his elder.

It contains the line “24 and there’s so much more,” and NBC’s NFL trivia experts found it appropriate considering that the quarterbacks on the two teams, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, won their first Super Bowls at the age of 24. Got it?

Capitol has released the song on all DSPs. Check out the spot here.

In two weeks, NBC and the NFL will need a lyric to connect Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson. Good luck with that one.