Last week during the Sunday Night Football showdown between the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, legendary broadcaster Mike Tirico revealed that he’s dealing with a severe injury that is typically a season-ending ailment for players.
Mike Tirico Recently Suffered a Torn Achilles
After an ad read for the NBC show “St. Denis Medical,” Cris Collinsworth joked that Tirico needs to visit the fictional hospital for a surgery.
“I got a patient for them! Come on, let’s give it up,” Collinsworth said with a laugh. “Tell America! … St. Denis Medical, here we come, baby!”
At that point, Tirico revealed his injury, and the camera showed that he was wearing a boot.
“Hi, I tore my Achilles,” Tirico explained. “I’m okay. Gonna keep going and make it through the season.”
Mike Tirico is playing through the pain, calling the games with a torn Achilles.
"St. Denis Medical here we come, baby," Cris Collinsworth. pic.twitter.com/8VqlGw3mrK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 25, 2024
While Tirico didn’t say how the injury occurred, Associated Press sportswriter Joe Reedy reported that Tirico tore his Achilles when he missed a step while walking on a staircase in his house.
Reedy also noted that Tirico was using a mini bike to get around SoFi Stadium.
Tirico is a fan-favorite broadcaster who often brings insightful commentary and has a knack for engaging the late-evening NFL audience. He and Collinsworth clearly have good chemistry, which was on display during this exchange about Tirico’s injury.
Cris Collinsworth Taking Off Thanksgiving Broadcast
However, Collinsworth won’t be on tonight’s Thanksgiving broadcast between the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers.
Since this same crew will be on the normal Sunday Night Football broadcast this weekend when the Buffalo Bills take on the San Francisco 49ers, Collinsworth is getting Thanksgiving off rather than pulling double duty.
Jason Garrett will be filling in for Collinsworth and serving as Tirico’s partner during the Dolphins-Packers broadcast. Garrett is the former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, so he knows a thing or two about working on Thanksgiving.
Across 10 seasons as the Cowboys’ head coach, Garrett recorded an 85-67 (.559) record in the regular season and a 2-3 (.400) record in the postseason. His final season with Dallas was in 2019 and then he made the transition to broadcasting.
It is somewhat surprising that Tirico isn’t also taking off tonight’s game given his injury. Despite his torn Achilles, Tirico hasn’t missed a game, and he’s also expected to call Sunday’s Bills-49ers contest. That means Tirico will call two games in four days.
Dolphins vs. Packers Game Preview
Miami has allowed under 20 points in three straight games – since 2011, they’ve run such a streak up to four straight games just once (Weeks 9-13, 2021). Tua Tagovailoa’s average depth of throw in touchdowns in 2022 was 14.1 yards. Last season, that number was 13.2 yards. This season? 4.5 yards.
The Dolphins have averaged over 2.0 points per drive in five straight games (their peak this season prior to this run was 1.8). Defensively, Miami has not allowed a run of over 20 yards since Week 7 (five straight games).
Green Bay was 3-6 last season before winning six of eight games to close the regular season, a run that started with wins in Weeks 11-12, one of which was a road divisional victory. They’ve won in Weeks 11-12 this season, one of which was a road divisional game.
Jordan Love misfired on six of seven deep passes in the win over the 49ers last week, the first time he has failed to complete multiple deep passes since Week 5 of last season (he was six-of-six on such passes in Week 11 against the Bears).
Green Bay scored a touchdown on all five red zone drives against San Francisco, which is nice growth for a team that scored a touchdown on just six-of-15 (40%) red zone trips over their three games prior.
Defensively, the Packers allowed the 49ers to average just 0.5 yards per carry before contact on Sunday, a category in which they rank sixth best in the league this season.