Al Michaels has caught a lot of flak from the peanut gallery this football season.
First he had gall to acknowledge how crappy the on-field Thursday Night Football product is during his first year for Amazon Prime. And now he’s taking haymakers for not being enthusiastic enough while calling the Jaguars’ epic comeback win over the Chargers in Saturday’s AFC wild-card game for NBC — specifically the walk-off field goal by Jacksonville’s Riley Patterson.
Michaels has since fired back in a text exchange with The Post’s Andrew Marchand, calling the criticism “internet compost.”
“Read some comments that we didn’t sound excited enough,” he told Marchand. “You know me as well as anyone — no screaming, no yelling, no hollering. It’s TELEVISION! Ellipses and captions are [sufficient] when pictures tell the story.”
You know what? Michaels is right. He called the game the same way he has always called the game. It’s not his fault NBC paired him with Tony Dungy in the booth — a wonderful coach and man who is clearly best suited for a studio — instead of someone who brings more offsetting energy like old partner Cris Collinsworth. And the idea Michaels should hang it up after somehow disgracing the sport is asinine.
Michaels called the play and reported on what the viewer could not see — that there was a flag down. He then clarified the flag was on the Chargers and the kick would stand. Gus Johnson would have just screamed and we never would have known there was a flag. Michaels’ approach is better. Hopefully the legend calls games for many more years to come.
GIANTS ON ESNY:
• Giants-Eagles: Looking back at epic, but short, playoff history
• Giants said they could contain Vikings’ Justin Jefferson. And they did
• 12 hilarious memes, gifs, and reactions to Giants’ wild-card win vs. Vikings
• Giants’ Kayvon Thibodeaux celebrates playoff win with preposterous outfit
• Knicks’ Tom Thibodeau has high praise for Giants’ Brian Daboll
• Giants legend Michael Strahan’s post-football fame reaches new heights
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
