Broadcasting legend Al Michaels has wrapped up his first season of titled NFL Thursday Night Football games for Amazon, and the overall results have been mixed.
Michaels was his usual self, which means good. Color commentator Kirk Herbstreit was solid for a broadcaster with a background almost entirely in college football. Production values were immense aside from a few audio hiccups, which is no surprise given the amount of money Amazon has invested.
But alas, the entire crew had yet to report on “Thursday Night Football,” the primetime slate notorious for often delivering duds between ill-prepared and/or tired teams. The 2022 season did nothing to dispel that stigma, even with Michaels with it.
Michaels raised the question of the quality of TNF games in an interview with The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch published Thursday, and he didn’t sugarcoat his response, especially when it came to the dud of duds between the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts went:
“I think I’ve gotten to that point in my life and career, having watched sports since I was 6, I feel what the crowd feels. The Denver-Indianapolis (in) Week 4 game was a terrible game. No other way to describe it. No touchdowns. In fact, at one point during the game I said to (analyst) Kirk (Herbstreit), “Is it possible that this game is so bad it’s actually good?” He had never heard that from a partner and said, ‘No!'”
Michaels isn’t wrong, and he’s not the only one saying so. The game, a four-turnover, touchdown-less slog, was so unwatchable that a local Denver TV station apologized for the broadcast (TNF games still air in local markets), with one commentator saying, “It burns the retinas .”
But there were also more bad games. Michaels cited games with three first-half points, one-sided blowouts and performances so brutal they basically wiped out any optimism about a certain No. 2 overall pick. Some games were good, most weren’t.
The story goes on
According to Michaels, Amazon has embraced the problem, which is what you’d hope considering they’re paying $1 billion a year for the privilege of streaming the games through 2033:
Have you heard anything from Amazon management about this?
“Nothing but support from the Amazon people. I think they understood what that was. We make the best of it. I mean, you just can’t oversell anything. old Mazda? That’s what you’re asking of me. I can’t sell you a used car. … I’ve walked that path a bit in games that have been bad in the past. But this game it was horribly bad. What should you have done at that point? And I was gone.”
Maybe next year’s “Thursday Night Football” games will finally get better. Amazon wouldn’t be the first rights holder hoping for it.
Meanwhile, Michaels will be able to enjoy at least one playoff game, as NBC announced Wednesday that he would return to call Saturday’s wildcard game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Al Michaels’ first season on Amazon was a mixed bag, but that wasn’t his fault. (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)