According to a Tuesday morning report by Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, Al Michaels, a longstanding figure in NFL broadcasting, is set to be absent during the pro football playoffs starting on Jan. 13. This decision, reportedly unexpected by Michaels, comes as NBC makes changes to its postseason coverage.
Currently, Michaels, aged 79, is involved in calling Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime alongside former Ohio State quarterback and commentator Kirk Herbstreit, a role he has held since 2022. In the previous season, Michaels provided play-by-play commentary for NBC during the Jaguars’ 31-30 wild-card victory over the Chargers in an emeritus capacity.
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.
NBC Sports VP Greg Hughes confirmed the assignments to The Post
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As per Marchand’s report, NBC’s playoff broadcasting teams will feature regular Sunday Night Football broadcasters Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, along with college football broadcasters Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge. Tirico and Collinsworth will handle two games—one on NBC and one exclusively on Peacock—while Eagle and Blackledge will also be featured in one.
Michaels, widely recognized as one of the greatest play-by-play announcers in the history of North American sports, had been associated with NBC from 2006 to 2021 and with ABC from 1976 to 2006.
