Legendary sports commentator Al Michaels will begin his third season of “Thursday Night Football” coverage on Amazon Prime Video with Kirk Herbstreit when the Miami Dolphins welcome the New York Jets to Hard Rock Stadium.
Al Michaels joined Amazon Prime Video in 2022 after wrapping up his contract with NBC Sports, where he called “Sunday Night Football” from 2006 to 2021. Michaels’ final game with the network before his transition to Amazon was Super Bowl 56 between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.
You may recall that in 2022 and 2023, football fans complained about the surprisingly large number of dull games placed on the TNF schedule. For example, people outside of Chicago and Washington weren’t exactly counting down the days for the Commanders-Bears Thursday night games in 2022 and 2023.
During an interview with Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, Al Michaels opined that the league purposely strengthened the “Thursday Night Football” schedule with more compelling games to accommodate the booming live-game streaming business:
“Early on, the first year, it was not so much my displeasure with the actual schedule, but the way the games were turning out. We had that Indianapolis-Denver game and a Washington-Chicago game and they were not games that will ever be remembered by NFL Films.
Last year was considerably better, and this year is even better than that — by far the best of all, and I think a lot of it has to do with where the business is right now. Streaming is more and more important.”
I’m my Q&A, I asked Al Michaels what it’s been like to have @KirkHerbstreit‘s dog, Ben, around for the games. Al’s answer was classic. https://t.co/dheurTE6zs pic.twitter.com/Ca7LXWqHlk
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 11, 2024
The Bills and Dolphins both qualified for the postseason in 2021 and 2022. The duels between Josh Allen and Tua Tagovailoa have been thrilling theater, so this should be a dandy for Amazon.
Buffalo and Miami have both finished above .500 every year since 2020, and it’s not a stretch to say that tonight’s game will go a long way in determining who wins the division.
Al Michaels Has A Plethora Of Exciting Games To Call This Year
Other enticing games on Amazon’s schedule this year include the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6, CJ Stroud’s Houston Texans vs. Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets in Week 9, the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Baltimore Ravens in Week 10, and the Green Bay Packers vs. the Detroit Lions in Week 14.
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit get the call for the Kansas City Chiefs-Las Vegas Raiders Black Friday Game on Nov. 29.
