"But, if you want to know what it feels like to do this and you're happy to do this, go open your freezer and talk into it for four hours...with 20 million people listening to it."
"I try to always look forward, but that night forced me to look backwards and really appreciate how lucky I am to have the kind of people I have in my life."
Tirico said the NBC Sports crew did their pregame interviews with Smith as he worked with an athletic trainer in an attempt to play on Thanksgiving night.
The "Sunday Night Football" broadcast team of Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark will call the Bills-Chargers game exclusively on Peacock.