Al Michaels has been on the receiving end of some harsh criticism following his call of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ come-from-behind win Saturday night in the Super Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs. His call of the game winning field goal has been called everything from lackluster to boring. Landry Locker of In the Loop on Sports Radio 610 in Houston took it a step further.
“This was as bad of a call in the history of ever,” he said Monday morning.
Locker added that Tony Dungy didn’t do Michaels any favors as his broadcast partner.
During the NFL’s regular season, Michaels’s work on Thursday Night Football came under some scrutiny. Many pointed out that he seemed detached from the action. He often answered that criticism by saying this year’s Amazon Prime Video slate was as bad of a season of games as he has ever called.
According to Landry Locker, Saturday night’s performance proved that there isn’t any real validity to that excuse.
“He said it was just about the quality of the game and he had to grab the audience. He lost that excuse this Saturday. One of the biggest comebacks in playoff history and Al Michaels couldn’t stay awake.”
“It’s over. It’s done. Go call Raiders games,” John Lopez added referencing Michaels’s colleague Brent Musberger, who was removed from ESPN’s biggest college football games after the 2014 season and left the network entirely in 2017. Musberger served as the voice of the Raiders from 2018 through 2021.
Al Michaels answered criticism from Landry Locker and other detractors on Monday morning. He told Andrew Marchand of The New York Post that the idea that he was not interested in the game or excited by it coming down to the final play was “Internet compost”.
