Tag: Al Michaels

Al Michaels’ lack of enthusiasm on Thursday Night Football continues to be a problem for NFL fans

NFL fans are mad that Al Michaels continues to show a lack of enthusiasm on the air this year.

Sports fans have been known to call out broadcasters if they’re not feeling the excitement, and that’s the case of late with Amazon Prime Video’s Al Michaels.

Before we go on, let’s say this: Michaels is a legend, a first-ballot Hall of Fame play-by-play voice who has decades of amazing calls under his belt and has been there for some of sports’ biggest moments (also, dude has never eaten a vegetable, which is wild).

But the complaints about his low energy continue to dog him this year during Thursday NFL games, and there are definitely examples of some calls that are less than exciting. What gives? Who knows?

Here’s a roundup of some of the complaints from Week 8’s Buffalo Bills win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

This was a question asked by a fan last week:

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were aghast at how slowly the Buccaneers’ offense moved in the fourth quarter

Even Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit were shocked by how slowly the Buccaneers moved.

From the jump, it was pretty clear it wouldn’t be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ night in Buffalo on Thursday. Between punters swinging their helmets and Josh Allen actively taunting Buccaneers defenders, it looked like the Buffalo Bills were going to outclass Tampa Bay for all 60 minutes.

But that doesn’t mean the Buccaneers helped their cause. If anything, while trying to make a comeback down by 14 late in the fourth quarter, Tampa Bay couldn’t stop nonchalantly stepping on rakes.

Down 24-10, the Buccaneers’ offense took over at just above the 10-minute mark in the final stanza. They proceeded to take their sweet time dinking and dunking their way down the field. The approach while down two touchdowns was so confounding that announcers Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit started questioning just what the Buccaneers were thinking to move so slowly with the game on the line.

Then, with only a few minutes left, Tampa Bay still sat just outside of the red zone on a key fourth down. It is here where Michaels — a long-time NFL announcing veteran, mind you — called Tampa Bay’s possession one of the “weirdest” drives he’s ever seen.

That’s saying something:

Fortunately for the Buccaneers, they would score on this sequence on a ridiculous deep lob to Mike Evans. Unfortunately, there was just 2:44 left on the clock by the time they finally got back on the scoreboard. That left little breathing room for the defense to get the Bills off the field and get the ball back. No wonder they’d eventually lose and have to settle on a Hail Mary (one that, yes, Chris Godwin still probably should’ve caught).

Michaels and Herbstreit had every right to be confused because this Tampa Bay fourth-quarter approach made zero sense.

NFL fans ripped Al Michaels for a terrible call on Christian Kirk’s thrilling touchdown

NFL fans did NOT like Al Michaels’ lackluster call here.

We know a few things about the legendary Al Michaels: He winks to NFL viewers about the spread, he has never eaten a vegetable in his life, and if there’s a terrible game in front of him on Thursday Night Football, he might be a little low energy.

That last one wasn’t really the case on Thursday with the New Orleans Saints eventually coming back against the Jacksonville Jaguars before Christian Kirk scored an incredible 44-yard touchdown that with just over three minutes left to give the Jags the lead.

But Michaels’ call? Not great — he may have thought Kirk stepped out somewhere? — and fans let him know it:

Fans didn’t love these calls either:

Twitter reacts to the Chiefs’ 19-8 win over the Broncos on Thursday Night Football

The Kansas City Chiefs squelched the Denver Broncos 19-8. Here are some of the best Twitter reactions to Thursday Night Football Week 6.

Even though the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs are in two different places, no football fan can resist an entry in that storied AFC West rivalry.

Thursday Night Football visited GEHA Field at Arrow Stadium, and the Chiefs defended home turf with a 19-8 victory over the Broncos, extending their winning streak over Denver to 16.

Patrick Mahomes was pedestrian by his standards, going 30-of-40 for 306 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and a 94.4 passer rating.

Russell Wilson was pedestrian by any standard as he completed 13 passes on 22 attempts for 95 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions, and a 46.6 passer rating.

Fans were quick to comment on the Thursday night affair, and not just about the football game. Here are some of the best takes from Twitter.

Al Michaels has apparently never eaten a vegetable in his entire life

Al Michaels has apparently never eaten a vegetable before.

Legendary NFL broadcaster Al Michaels has accomplished a lot in his life, but apparently eating a vegetable isn’t on the list.

While speaking with CNN’s Chris Wallace, Michaels confirmed the longtime rumor about him that he’s never, to his knowledge, ever eaten a vegetable in his lifetime.

Yes, Michaels has apparently never had a vegetable, not a carrot, not a stalk of broccoli, not even a bit of lettuce. The longtime NFL broadcaster has never actually had any sort of vegetable enter his mouth as far as he’s aware.

Why, might you ask? From a young age, Michaels just never had a taste for them.

“I always pushed the vegetables away,” Michaels told Wallace. “To this day, no.”

Wow. Like, Michaels has never even had, like, a green bean? What about cauliflower? Even a green pea?

While we here at For the Win do not advise a diet that lacks in greens and other vegetables, it sounds like it’s working for Michaels.

Twitter reacts to the Lions’ 34-20 Thursday night beatdown of the Packers

Here is a look at some of the best Twitter reactions from the Detroit Lions’ 34-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The Detroit Lions went to Lambeau Field Thursday night to collect the rent.

From 1992-2014, the Lions were losers of 21 straight at Lambeau, including playoffs. Since 2015, Detroit is 5-4 against the Green Bay Packers in their house and now riding a two-game winning streak.

Jordan Love couldn’t escape the Lions pass rush. The Packers’ signal caller took five sacks as he went 23-of-36 for 246 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.

David Montgomery carried the load for the Lions as he tallied 121 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries.

Twitter was full of takes and reactions throughout the game. Here are among the best.

Al Michaels’ description of a Lions’ Step Brothers sweater made it clear he’s probably never seen the movie

This movie reference went right over Al Michaels’ head.

It’s not Citizen Kane in terms of quality by any means, but Step Brothers is probably one of the more memorable films of the 21st century. Who could possibly forget the movie where Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play two man-children in the silliest “turf war” about refusing to grow up?

Well, if you’re Al Michaels — who was already having a wild Thursday night — you’ve probably never seen the 2008 movie, somehow. At least, that’s what Michaels’ bizarre description of a Detroit Lions sweater said.

The clothing — clearly a meme — featured Lions head coach Dan Campbell and starting quarterback Jared Goff posing like Ferrell and C. Reilly for the Step Brothers’ movie poster. And the reference went right over Michaels’ head on the Thursday Night Football broadcast:

Look, I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy to keep up with culture as a working adult. But it’s still kind of wild to me that Michaels didn’t know this Step Brothers reference. It was pretty popular! I feel like a lot of people saw it — over $128 million at the box office, and for a comedy!

I guess the time spent announcing football comes first.

Al Michaels whiffs on Step Brothers meme and Twitter won’t let it go

Thursday Night Football play-by-play Al Michaels missed a reference to the movie Step Brothers during the Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers game.

Everyone knows about the movie “Step Brothers” starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly.

Most everybody.

Count Al Michaels among the number who, not only have never seen the film, but have no concept of the memes that were borne out of the 2008 classic.

A fan at Lambeau Field was caught on Thursday Night Football’s cameras wearing a mashup of Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell and quarterback Jared Goff’s heads replacing Ferrell and Reilly’s in the movie’s cover.

Michaels had no reference.

“Everything is a parody, everything is a joke these days,” Michaels said. “There’s Campbell and Goff — high school graduation pictures or something similar.”

Twitter did not let Michaels off the mat. Here are some of the best reactions.

Al Michaels introduced Jordan Love on TNF by recalling Aaron Rodgers’ night of drinking when he was drafted

Only Al Michaels would even attempt this wild introduction.

Thursday night was a momentous occasion for Jordan Love. With a key divisional matchup against the Detroit Lions on deck at Lambeau Field, that meant the first-year full-time starter was set to enjoy his first-ever home night game. When it comes as a member of the Packers, that is no small feat. Because of their rich tradition, the Green Bay faithful expect many occasions like this.

So, of course, Al Michaels had to put his own unique spin on Love’s milestone.

As Love took the field for the Packers’ first possession, the legendary announcer referenced how Aaron Rodgers immediately (and infamously) took to the “liquor cabinet” after Green Bay drafted the young signal caller in 2020.

Not the moment I’d choose to highlight, that’s for sure. But I guess that’s what Michaels does. And it’s not like he told a lie — that is indeed what happened when Rodgers realized he’d have a backup the Packers were grooming to play behind him.

But still. What an outlandish thing to say on live television.

Al Michaels wondered why TNF still showed shots of San Francisco because it’s so far away

Technically, the 49ers don’t play in San Francisco, so he’s got a point!

They’re called the San Francisco 49ers, but they don’t actually play within the city limits of San Francisco. Their stadium resides in Santa Clara, California, which is approximately 43 miles south of The Golden City. At this point, though, it just makes more sense — semantically, anyway — to call them the San Francisco 49ers. After all, the Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, but no one questions that.

Al Michaels might not agree with this sentiment.

As Thursday’s broadcast of the 49ers’ home matchup with the New York Giants returned from commercial late in the game, it showed a bunch of lovely aerial shots of San Francisco. Here, Michaels veered off script and openly questioned why they were still showing San Francisco because it’s “44 miles away.”

Folks, technically, he’s not wrong!

As a person who doesn’t love when the NFL moves teams out of cities that adored them into overpriced suburban stadiums, I’m all for this. I would love for more announcers like Michaels to call out this weird discrepancy. If only more broadcasters broke Football Guy character and told it like it is under these circumstances.