Even with an unprecedented three Wild Card games, NBC has reportedly found no room for Al Michaels on its NFL playoff coverage.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that NBC has elected not to use Michaels on any of its three Wild Card weekend windows this season. Instead, the network’s lead team of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will call two games — including the one broadcast exclusively on Peacock — and its top college football broadcast team of Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will work the other. It is not clear whether there is any precedent for one broadcast team working two NFL playoff games in the same weekend.
Michaels, the lead voice of NFL games on NBC from 2006-22, remained under contract with NBC after being demoted in favor of Tirico. As part of his “emeritus” role with the network, he was to call one playoff game per year. When contacted by the Post, Michaels indicated that he was expecting that role to continue and had not been told otherwise.
Since moving to Amazon Prime Video as the voice of Thursday Night Football, Michaels has faced criticism for low-energy, lackluster calls. (It is not unusual for an aging announcer to begin facing increased scrutiny for their performance, as play-by-play voices from Dick Stockton to Marv Albert can surely attest.)
The criticism arguably reached a fever pitch during Michaels’ playoff game on NBC last year, when he and analyst Tony Dungy were derided on social media for failing to convey the excitement of the Jaguars’ comeback victory over the Chargers.
That game will now stand as — in all likelihood — Michaels’ final assignment for NBC Sports. Depending on whether Amazon Prime is able to acquire a playoff game in the future, it may well have been Michaels’ final playoff game as well. Considering that Michaels worked the Super Bowl less than two years ago, the change in circumstances has been nothing less than precipitous.
(News from NYP 12.12)
