There's a Jets game on in prime time and Al Michaels is on the call
Al Michaels, play-by-play voice for NBC's Sunday Night Football, looks on from the field before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings in an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins) Credit: AP/Ron Jenkins
When Al Michaels and his colleagues saw Amazon Prime Video’s first “Thursday Night Football” schedule, one game stood out – in a bad way.
Amid a late-season stretch of seemingly attractive matchups, there it was: Jaguars at Jets on Dec. 22.
“This thing popped up and we all sort of looked at each other,” Michaels told Newsday as he prepared to call Thursday night’s game, which also can be seen on Fox5 in New York.
“Let’s get this straight: You’ve got a team that had the worst record in the league for two years running, Jacksonville, against a team that won four games last year. In December. In New York. We were trying to figure out why.”
That no longer matters, as Amazon has a game that is plenty interesting, with playoff implications for both teams. The surging Jaguars are 6-8 and the Jets 7-7.
“It’s been a crazy year,” Michaels said.
The fact Michaels is calling a Jets game at all is a little crazy.
The last time he did so was Thanksgiving night 2012, a game the Patriots won, 49-19, in which Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez lost a fumble after running into the backside of one of his guards, Brandon Moore.
“You knew that was going to live in infamy, and it has,” Michaels said. “You never know what happens when me and my crew show up at a Jets game.”
Why has Michaels not called a Jets game in a decade? Because he previously worked on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” which does not customarily show Jets games.
When Mike Tirico succeeded him this season, Michaels landed at Prime Video as part of an entirely new operation that includes analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
Michaels said he is particularly proud of the first-class production values for the Amazon games, given all that was an unknown about the process when 2022 dawned.
“I’ll put the production of this show up with anybody right now,” he said. “The trucks are top-of-the-line, state-of-the art. It’s unbelievable what they've done. They have not spared any expense.”
That includes signing top-dollar personnel such as veteran producer Fred Gaudelli, Michaels and Herbstreit.
Michaels praised Herbstreit’s ability to toggle between the Thursday night NFL games and his other job as ESPN’s lead college football analyst.
“How he has been able to pull this off is astonishing,” Michaels said. “I am blown away by his work ethic. He has come tremendously prepared. He's been a joy to work with.
“I think he's done a stellar job. But like I say, I don't know how in the hell this guy has done it. It's amazing to me.”
Michaels has been accused of being extra-cranky on the air at times this season, but he said he merely has sought to reflect what is going on in front of him.
That was particularly evident during an Oct. 6 game in which the Colts beat the Broncos, 12-9, in overtime.
“It was a bad game,” he said. “I thought I had fun with what that game was. What was I supposed to do, be a used-car salesman and sell you a 20-year-old Mazda?
“The fans know what's going on. They see what that is, and I think most people appreciated the fact I was reflecting their feelings about that game, as opposed to trying to sell you some crap that didn't exist.”
Michaels has retained an emeritus role at NBC and will work one of its NFL playoff games in January, something he said he is looking forward to. His analyst is TBD.
Beyond that, he is enjoying the ride at 78.
On Tuesday, he took his wife, daughter and 13-year-old granddaughter to his old neighborhood in Flatbush and showed them the building where he spent his first 12 years. (After a stop in Bellmore, the family moved to California when Michaels was 14.)
From the apartment on Ocean Avenue, he and his father could walk to Ebbets Field to watch the Dodgers play.
As for football, young Michaels was a Giants fan. The Jets did not yet exist.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
