The legendary Al Michaels is out of NBC’s NFL playoff coverage, The Post has learned.
Michaels called last year’s incredible Jaguars comeback win over the Chargers, but he and analyst Tony Dungy were widely panned for a perceived lack of enthusiasm.
Michaels, 79, maybe the greatest NFL TV play-by-player of all-time, had a storied run at ABC and NBC calling prime-time football before moving to “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon Prime Video last season.
NBC has three playoff games next month. The network’s No. 1 team, “Sunday Night Football’s” Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, will handle two 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. Michaels did not return messages.
The move continues a dramatic rise for the 27-year-old Eagle, who will also call the Super Bowl as the play-by-player on Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob telecast in February.
Michaels’ swap-out by NBC has been in the works for awhile, though Michaels was apparently caught off guard.
During an early November interview with The Post, Michaels said he believed that he was still going to call the game on NBC, but did not know whom he would be working with.
When informed by The Post about it being in limbo, Michaels sounded unaware of the possibility.
“It’s in my deal,” Michaels said. “Where are you hearing that from? That’s part of my deal. Are you hearing something that I’m not hearing?”
There has long been tension between Michaels and top NBC executives, though they have done their best to hide it from public view, even giving Michaels an emeritus title when he was replaced. There was a failure to truly define what the emeritus role really meant, except for calling the playoff game.
NBC decided to move on from Michaels, even though he longed to stay at the top perch on “Sunday Night Football.” NBC had long promised Tirico the lead role, and kept true to its word even after Michaels went out with a tremendous performance for NBC in the Super Bowl in February 2022.
During the broadcast shuffle, Michaels had interest in replacing Joe Buck when he left for Fox. Michaels was also ESPN/ABC’s second choice if it failed to land Buck for “Monday Night Football.”
Michaels landed at Amazon Prime Video, where he has called “Thursday Night Football” for the streaming service.
With Michaels not returning for the playoff game, it ends what is arguably the most storied NFL network broadcast play-by-play career of all-time. Michaels and Pat Summerall are tied with 11 Super Bowls called on television.
Michaels still has one more year on his Amazon deal and told The Post in November he plans on returning.
Meanwhile, NBC is very high on Eagle and Blackledge following their first season calling the Big Ten. The duo will have NBC’s call of the Steelers and Bengals on Dec. 23. That day, Tirico and Collinsworth will be in the booth for the Bills and the Chargers that is exclusively on Peacock.
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