A changing of the guard is underway with NBC's NFL Playoff coverage — which has left Al Michaels on the outside looking in.
In a recent report by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, NBC has decided that broadcaster Al Michaels — who may be the greatest NFL TV play-by-play commentator of all-time — will not be covering any of the four NFL Playoff games that NBC is broadcasting next month. What's more, Michaels is being replaced by a younger announcer that NBC is eager to thrust into the spotlight.
REPORT: Legendary broadcaster Al Michaels is out of NBC?s NFL playoff coverage, "In a move he wasn't expecting", per @AndrewMarchand
From the report:
"NBC has three playoff games next month. The network?s No. 1 team, ?Sunday Night Football?s? Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth,? https://t.co/Mkfwk6gpht pic.twitter.com/qouiYtuALi— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 12, 2023
Per Marchand's report: "NBC has four playoff games next month. The network's No. 1 team, "Sunday Night Football's" Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, will handle three of them, including one that will be exclusive just to the network's streaming service, Peacock. When NBC has two games on the first weekend of the playoffs, its No. 1 college team, Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge, along with sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen, will be on the call." Which leaves no available opportunities for Michaels.
Noah Eagle is a 27 year old announcer that NBC is seemingly intent on making Michaels' long-term replacement for the future; proven by Eagle being scheduled to call play-by-play during the Super Bowl, on Nickelodeon's SpongeBob telecast.
While Michaels hasn't mustered an official response to this shocking news, we know that he wasn't expecting to miss out on Playoff coverage this year. Just last month, he told the New York Post that he believed the plan was for him to work his normal Playoff coverage. Then, after New York Post's reporter told him that they were hearing the broadcast coverage crew wasn't set in stone, Michaels responded with, "It's in my deal. Where are you hearing that from? That's part of my deal. Are you hearing something that I'm not hearing?"
If we have indeed seen Michaels' final NFL Playoff game, it ends what might be the greatest NFL network broadcast play-by-play career of all-time. As it stands, Michaels is tied with Pat Summerall for the most Super Bowls called on television, with 11. Yet, considering that Michaels still has one more year on his Amazon deal — and apparently plans on resigning with them — it's likely that Michaels' time in the booth isn't over quite yet.
What's for certain is that NBC is excited about their young, up-and-coming duo of Eagle and Blackledge; who'll be calling the Steelers and Bengals game on December 23rd.
Although it's unclear which playoff game(s) Eagle and Blackledge will cover, Al Michaels will be watching it from the couch like the rest of us.
