Paul Maguire Paul Leo Maguire ( born August 22 , 1938 ) is a former American football player and current television sportscaster . Early sports career . Maguire attended Ursuline High School , then played tight end at The Citadel where he led the nation in touchdown receptions in 1959 . Professional football career . In 1960 , Maguire was selected as an original American Football League Los Angeles Charger , where he served as both a punter and linebacker . He moved with the team to San Diego in 1961 , and stayed there until 1964 when he joined the Buffalo Bills . Maguire was an ace at the " coffin corner " punt . He contributed to three Bills ' Eastern Division titles , and their AFL championships in 1964 and 1965 . He was involved in one of the most spectacular plays in Bills ' history in the 1965 American Football League Championship game against the Chargers . Butch Byrd took a John Hadl punt and with outstanding blocking , took it 74 yards for a touchdown . The last two blocks were by Maguire , crushing two Chargers . Maguire played in six of the ten American Football League Championship Games — three with the Chargers and three with the Bills , winning three AFL Championship rings , and he was the league ' s all - time punter in punts and yardage . He was one of only twenty players who were in the AFL for its entire ten - year existence . After his retirement he was inducted into the Youngstown , Ohio Sports Hall of Fame , and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame . Media career . Beginning in the 1970s , Maguire worked as a color commentator on network NFL telecasts , first with NBC and then ESPN . He also called ESPN ' s telecasts of college football , the Canadian Football League and the now - defunct USFL . Maguire re - joined NBC in 1988 as a color commentator and most often worked with Marv Albert on the network ' s # 2 broadcast team for his first seven seasons working for the network . In 1995 , Maguire and then - ESPN reporter Phil Simms joined Dick Enberg as the # 1 broadcast team for NBC , and remained paired until the end of the 1997 season when NBC lost the rights to the NFL . Maguire rejoined ESPN for the 1998 season and became a second color commentator for " Sunday Night Football " . While there he also served as a color commentator for ABC ' s Wild Card Saturday games , as the " Sunday Night Football " team would ( usually ) broadcast the early game of the day . During the time he was at ESPN Maguire called playoff games for ABC every year except for 2002 , when the network elected to use Brent Musburger and Gary Danielson , its lead college football broadcast team , on Wild Card Saturday . Maguire , who had a residence in Buffalo after his playing days , hosted a locally produced call - in show called the " Budweiser Sportsline " . Later the program was broadcast on the Empire Sports Network . Maguire worked his last regular season NFL game on January 1 , 2006 , as the St . Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys played on ESPN ' s final Sunday night broadcast . His final NFL game altogether came on January 7 , 2006 , as he worked the Washington Redskins - Tampa Bay Buccaneers opening round playoff game . However , Maguire was retained by ESPN to serve as a commentator for ABC ' s college football with Brad Nessler , former Miami Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese , and field reporter Bonnie Bernstein . In March 2007 , Maguire began to serve as an in - studio analyst for ESPN ' s " NFL Live " . Maguire did not return to broadcasting for the 2009 college football season as his broadcast team was split up , with Nessler moving to Saturday night games on ESPN with Todd Blackledge and Griese moving to Noon games on ESPN alongside Dave Pasch and Chris Spielman . He later ( 2009 – 2010 ) broadcast games for the then - new United Football League on HDNet , a cable network and streaming service .