Suzanne Smith likes to assign a camera operator to shoot the teams running onto the field when she directs N.F.L. games for CBS.
Those images are often used as a backdrop when the commentators welcome viewers or when the broadcast comes back from commercials. But during last month’s matchup between the Steelers and the Rams in St. Louis, they proved particularly illuminating.
As Greg Gumbel, the play-by-play announcer who works with Smith, puts it, “Who expects the field to get set on fire?”
Sparks from the pyrotechnics that accompany player introductions started a small blaze, which wound up delaying the beginning of the game by nearly 30 minutes.