Al, Tony, and the Jags

 

Al Michaels has been stuck in a purgatory known as Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime all season.

Michaels is 78 and has numerous iconic calls under his belt. Obviously, just say, "Do you believe in miracles?" and you know what we're talking about.

Until Al moved over to Amazon, he was most recently the lead on the NFL for NBC. Now he has "emeritus" status with NBC Sports, keeping him involved with the Peacock as needed, specifically on the Olympics and NFL Playoffs.

So Al called last night's San Diego/Jacksonville wild card playoff game on NBC. Kirk Herbstreit has been his color analyst for the TNF games on Amazon. Last night, Tony Dungy -- who works in the studio virtually all season, save for Thanksgiving this year -- joined him in the booth.

I'll admit I found the pairing to be odd but a good (and, in Al's case, great) broadcaster can adjust.

I have said too many times I believe that chemistry is so important in a booth. Personalities matter immensely. Two low-key or amped-up announcers make for a difficult mix. A ying and yang can be a great thing. Think of Pat Summerall and John Madden, for instance.

Last night, there was Al (who happens to be from the school of Vin Scully) and Dungy (who is not excitable). It went exactly how I sort of thought it would.

The modern sports fan wants more energy. Many want the histrionics of Gus Johnson and, to be sure, I've seen more than a few "critics" say Gus would have made last night's game better.

The social media "experts" would have exploded at, say, the broadcast crew of Super Bowl VIII when Summerall and Ray Scott -- two word economists -- worked together. Their style was simplistic: "Starr. Dowler. Touchdown, Green Bay," Scott would intone. Summerall was virtually identical.

God forbid they hear Scott's call of the last out of the seventh game of the 1965 World Series as Sandy Koufax struck out Bob Allison.

"He did it. Sandy Koufax gets his tenth strikeout. His second consecutive shutout of the Twins. On Monday, on a four-hitter. Today, on a three-hitter."

It's another moment before Scott says it was the seventh game of the World Series. The pictures are showing the glee -- not a dogpile, mind you -- of the Dodgers, who have won the 1965 title.

Pictures. Ah, yes. Last night's football game was on TV. You know, as in there's a picture. The announcer fills the holes. So Al was Al. He gives a technically solid broadcast diced with lots of sarcasm and asides. But with Dungy, well it's not Tony's fault, but it made for a booth that many found lacking energy.

I thought it was fine overall. Not great but I also could see where all of the "broadcasters" on Twitter were going to have a say.

This had the feeling of Bob Costas in the Yankees/Cleveland series of October in terms of the social media heat.

Now the fact is the game turned out to be quite memorable. The Jaguars were down 27-0 and I admit I kept the game on just sort of because. 

Dungy took heat at the start of the second half because his analysis -- after the Jaguars cut the game to 27-7 at halftime -- was to say that the Jags needed a defensive stop and then a score.

Of course, that's Football 101 but he wasn't wrong either. It's simplifying the idea of bringing football down to the basics. However, the Chargers had looked unstoppable.

Now, they weren't. The Jags' defense stepped up and quarterback Trevor Lawrence looked like a different player.

Suddenly, 27-0 and 27-7 became 30-28 Los Angeles (and not San Diego). The Jags went on a 10-play, 61-yard drive over the final 3:09 of the game. Jacksonville sent their field goal unit in the for game-winner.

This is where Al really gets beaten up.

Michaels used whatever time he had to set up the field goal to talk about a "likely" matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs next week. In that regard, the potential game-winning field goal, in a memorable comeback for the ages, seemed like an afterthought.

There was no tension in his voice. No sense of this being a big deal.

But it was. Very much.

"Here we go," Michaels said. "For the win."

The ball tailed to the right but went through the uprights. The crowd -- which was supposedly loud for part of the night -- seemed poorly mixed by NBC's audio. Producer Fred Gaudelli announced that this would be his last game and he picked a heck of a finish for this portion of his career. However, it will be with a cloud of noise.

Much of which we didn't hear from the crowd, though they were back in full throat as the Jags completed the comeback. Michaels, in the meantime, did what any play-by-play announcer should do. He noticed a flag had been thrown.

But he obsessed a bit.

With little energy, Al continued.

"Got it but there's a flag down. There's a flag down as everyone is running out onto the field. But there's a penalty marker."

Lawrence was seen running onto the field, looking for a teammate to hug as the scene was euphoric. Finally, the referee could be heard announcing an offside call.

"And they call it on the defense," Michaels said.

To be clear, the call was factually correct. It wasn't botched. There was nothing wrong. Al had the right teams and players and circumstances.

It just wasn't particularly memorable or great.

Al has a series of calls that are iconic. "Miracles," obviously, stands up top. He's made a career off of that call. Yet I'd add many others, including the 1986 ALCS and the 1972 NLCS, as well as his cool demeanor as Candlestick Park shook -- literally -- before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series. Al won a news Emmy for his part in ABC's coverage as he relayed the scene.

For me, though, my favorite call is the game-winning (and house-shaking) touchdown catch by Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLIII. 

"Roethlisberger ... has time. Throws to the back of the end zone and it is ... CAUGHT FOR A TOUCHDOWN. BY HOLMES!"

Michaels, working with John Madden (in his last game), calmly noted the need to make sure Holmes caught the ball and stayed in bounds on his toe-tap on the sideline.

All of that was lacking last night with the game on the line.

I think a lot of vitriol Al is facing today (and Dungy as well) is over the top but, let's face it, isn't that what we do? That doesn't explain it nor do I excuse it. 

The idea that Al Michaels, 78, should never do another game is ludicious. That's not happening. He'll be back next year with Amazon and, in all likelihood, on NBC for a playoff game. He'll also be with the Peacock on their coverage of the 2024 Olympics from Paris.

He's going nowhere.

The best thing about Al to me? He doesn't care literally at all about any of the heat today. At least, that's my opinion based on years of listening to him.

There could be an explanation for Al being "off" last night if he thinks he was or not. He could be totally different next time.

But give me Al Michaels calling a football game over most of the "voices" working today.

He'll be back.

No miracles are required.