Watch: Al Michaels was tired of seeing one referee on 'TNF'

NFL referee Clete Blakeman. Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Al Michaels was tired of seeing referee Clete Blakeman on 'TNF'

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/1/23

Referee Clete Blakeman ended up stealing the show in the Dallas Cowboys' 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks on "Thursday Night Football," with his crew throwing 25 flags with 19 accepted penalties for a season-high 257 yards.

This not only did not sit well with either team, or fans at home watching on TV, but it also seemed to get on the nerves of legendary announcer Al Michaels.

Following a defensive holding penalty on Seattle in the third quarter -- the Seahawks' fifth penalty of that series -- Michaels quipped to analyst Kirk Herbstreit that he was going to take the night off and simply allow Blakeman to call the remainder of the game.

Al Michaels, like everyone at home, had enough of seeing referee Clete Blakeman during the Seahawks-Cowboys game. pic.twitter.com/vp0MqisbHM
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 1, 2023

Michaels has taken his share of criticism for the way he has handled these Thursday night games on Amazon, but nobody could seriously blame him for that comment. The parade of penalties was a lot to get through if you just wanted to watch a good football game between two playoff contenders.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was unhappy with the calls, saying it is something the league has to get out of football.

“It’s unfortunate. It feels like there’s a whole other factor in this game. I don’t know. You guys saw it a lot better than I did, but there were just way too many penalties in this game from both sides, and we’ve got to get out of that kind of football.”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones also called it "frustrating."

It is frustrating. There is also a fine line between not calling anything and referees being too involved in games. Unfortunately, the league seems to be trending toward the latter. You want penalties to get called when they happen, but it seems that every kickoff or punt that takes place in an NFL game now comes with a guaranteed flag. You can't watch a big passing play or run without immediately looking at the TV screen to see if there is a yellow "flag" indicator somewhere on the broadcast.

It annoys fans. On Thursday, it annoyed one of the greatest play-by-play announcers ever.

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