Longtime NBC announcer returning for Jaguars-Chargers playoff game

While he did not call any games for NBC this year for the first time since the 2005 NFL season, legendary announcer Al Michaels is back for the Jaguars vs. Chargers Wild Card matchup.

Free agency ahead of the 2022 NFL season had somewhat of an unusual element to it: the broadcast booth.

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left Fox for ESPN to do Monday night games, replacing Steve Levy, Louis Riddick, and Brian Griese, while Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen replaced Buck and Aikman as Fox’s “A team”.

Additionally, Mike Tirico took over at NBC as the lead announcer alongside Cris Collinswoth when Al Michaels left to become the main announcer for Thursday night games at Amazon Prime Video, joining longtime ESPN college football announcer Kirk Herbstreit at NFL’s newest broadcast partner.

But Michaels is back at NBC this Saturday evening for the AFC Wild Card game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After Michaels signed with Amazon, ending a 16-year run as NBC’s lead announcer for Sunday Night Football, he was signed by NBC Sports to what was referred to as an “emeritus role” which would allow him to continue to broadcast and contributor for the network across high-profile properties such as the NFL playoffs and the Olympics.

This deal, which was announced in May, was said to include one playoff game, so his return for this game between the AFC’s No. 5 seed and No. 4 seed shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Michaels is set to call Saturday night’s game alongside Tony Dungy.

There are two playoff games set to be broadcast live on NBC this upcoming weekend. The other one, also an AFC showdown, is scheduled to take place on Sunday night, with the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals set to square off for a third time this season. Tirico and Collinsworth are set to call that game between the No. 6 seed and the No. 3 seed.

The Jaguars and Chargers met back in Week 3, with the Jaguars winning 38-10 on the road at SoFi Stadium. Saturday night’s game is set to take place in Jacksonville at TIAA Bank Field.

Fox is set to broadcast two of the weekend’s other four games, both of which NFC games, with CBS taking the other AFC game and ESPN taking the other NFC game.