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Millen stays busy

Matt Millen has had no trouble finding work since he was fired by the Detroit Lions.
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Matt Millen

Matt Millen has had no trouble finding work since he was fired by the Detroit Lions.

Millen is adding analyst duties for the NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football” games to his commentator job at ESPN. NFL Network announced Monday that Millen would replace Cris Collinsworth, who’s joining NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” booth.

The architect of the league’s first 0-16 team was fired in September. Millen was a successful commentator at CBS and Fox before taking over the Lions in 2001 — and leading them to one of the worst eight-year stretches in NFL history. “My tenure was not good; it was very poor,” Millen said on a conference call. “So it’s been said that you learn a lot from failures, and I learned a ton. So I can bring that to the table. I think I view my experience in Detroit as a positive just in terms of — not in terms of winning and losing, obviously — but having gone through it and having been exposed to every level of the National Football League.

“Yeah, I think that’s something that could help with the telecast.”

Millen will work alongside play-by-play announcer Bob Papa on NFL Network.