FILE - NBC Sports commentator Al Michaels reports from the sidelines before an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills in Pittsburgh, on Dec. 15, 2019. Michaels will not be calling one of NBC's NFL 2023 playoff games for the first time since it returned to televising the league in 2006. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
Al Michaels won’t be calling an NFL playoff game for NBC for the first time since the network returned to televising the league in 2006.
NBC confirmed to The Associated Press that Michaels won’t be working the playoffs. It was first reported by the New York Post.
The 79-year-old Michaels was the voice of “Sunday Night Football” from 2006 through 2021 before leaving for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday night package when his contract expired. He has called 11 Super Bowls, including five for NBC.
Michaels retained an announcer emeritus role at NBC and called an AFC wild card game last year with analyst Tony Dungy when the Jacksonville Jaguars rallied from a 27-point, first-half deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30.
NBC has three games during the wild card round Jan. 14-16, including one being streamed on Peacock. The Sunday night crew of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth will call two games. Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will have the other.
Eagle and Blackledge, who just completed their first season together working Big Ten games for NBC, will also call next Saturday’s matchup between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
