Al Michaels again blasts critics of NFL performances last season

Legendary play-by-play broadcaster Al Michaels once again sent a message to those who criticized his calls of NFL games last season. 

"Look, sometimes I’ll take some s---," Michaels recently told Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. "People say, 'He didn’t get excited enough.' What do you want me to do? Scream, holler, yell the game? That ain’t me. That ain’t [Joe] Buck, that ain’t [Jim] Nantz. I can’t pay attention to anti-social media. We live in a country with 330 million people...Now anybody sitting in a basement has a platform. You can’t let things like that distress you. I’ve been doing this for so long. And I wouldn’t be here at this point still doing a major package if I was doing it the wrong way." 

Specifically, fans and even some fellow media members ripped Michaels for lacking enthusiasm while calling the final moments of the Jacksonville Jaguars' come-from-behind playoff victory over the Los Angeles Chargers this past January. As noted by the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Jacksonville's 27-point comeback that evening was the third largest in NFL playoff history.

Michaels eventually referred to such takes about his work that night as "Internet compost." 

Earlier in the campaign, Michaels generated numerous headlines when he likened calling some forgettable "Thursday Night Football" games for Amazon Prime Video to selling "a 20-year-old Mazda." While Friend wrote that Michaels' brother warned him about publicly speaking out about the quality of those matchups, the 78-year-old responded he wouldn't get in trouble and said that David, his brother, should "watch what happens." 

Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, what happened was that Amazon now "coincidentally or not" has "better" games for the upcoming season and also up to two "flex" options from Weeks 13-17.

"And while Michaels' comments didn’t directly shame anyone into improving the 'TNF' package, his willingness to say what most were thinking might have helped the powers-that-be avoid any temptation to deny that the slate of primetime games needed to be enhanced," Florio added. 

The first Amazon Prime Video NFL contest this season features the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles, a pair of NFC playoff teams from last season, facing off at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 2 on Sept. 14. Ideally, Michaels will have little to complain about regarding how those teams perform that evening.