“Without Collinsworth it’s an L” - NFL fans left disappointed by NBC’s choice of color commentator in Al Michaels’ return to network

By Ian Van Roy

Modified Jan 16, 2023 04:25 GMT

Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth before they split

Fans everywhere mourned the loss of the Al Michaels-Chris Collinsworth duo that concluded NFL Sundays with Sunday Night Football. When the announcement of Michaels joining Amazon Prime was made, there were reports of the commentator potentially returning to NBC to call a playoff game.

Those reports became a reality as Michaels will be returning to the network. However, most assumed he would be paired back up with Cris Collinsworth. According to Field Yates, that will not be happening as Michaels will instead be joined by Tony Dungy.

Put simply, fans were overwhelmingly against the move. Here's what some of them had to say:

Al Michaels will call the playoff debuts of quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence

Tonight's matchup between Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence will be the first playoff matchup in both players' careers.

Herbert, interestingly, is coming off a career-low in touchdown passes after throwing for 25, along with 10 interceptions in the regular season. Trevor Lawrence is coming off a similar level of production, although it marked the best of his young career. In the regular season, he threw for 25 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

The two quarterbacks faced off earlier this year and if neutrals were to know that a repeat was on the cards, they would be hard-pressed to watch. Trevor Lawrence dominated Justin Herbert, with the Jaguars winning 38-10. In the September 25 matchup, Lawrence threw for three touchdowns, zero interceptions and completed 28 of 39 passes for 262 yards.

Meanwhile, Justin Herbert completed 25 of 45 throws for 297 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Jaguars running back James Robinson reached 100 yards on the ground and earned one touchdown, while the Chargers failed to get anything going on the ground. Their leading rusher was Sony Michel, who rushed five times for 22 yards.

While both quarterbacks are getting their feet wet in the playoffs for the first time, the same is not true for one of their head coaches. Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory with quarterback Nick Foles in 2018.

On the other sideline, Justin Herbert will be led by Brandon Staley, who has never coached a playoff game before. Staley came under fire from Chargers fans for playing his starters in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos despite having already sealed a playoff berth, losing both the game and wide receiver Mike Williams due to injury in the process.

This should be a real spectacle and the NFL world awaits kickoff with excitement.

About the author

Ian brings with him more than 6.5 years of sports writing experience to the Sportskeeda NFL team. He played offensive line in middle school and high school, and also made it to the top 0% matchmaking ranking in MUT play in Madden.

He possesses the quality of identifying unique story angles from quotes in press conferences, social media and interviews. He assimilates facts for his stories with a lawyer-like precision and verifies each and every piece of information.

Ian admires Peyton Manning for his ability to beat teams with his mind despite not being the best athlete, and is also a fan of Tom Brady. The Denver Broncos are his favorite team, and their Super Bowl 50 win in Manning’s last game is etched in his memory forever. Bill Belichick is his all-time favorite coach.

He has also grown to admire the Los Angeles Rams mainly because he and Cooper Kupp went to the same college, Eastern Washington University, with both finishing their college careers at the same time.

In his career so far, Ian has had the privilege of exclusively interviewing Los Angeles Rams General Manager Les Snead, Kwity Paye of the Indianpolis Colts and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jamari Thrash. When not writing, he likes to play video games and be outdoors.

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