With the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers set to take on Sunday Night Football, Cris Collinsworth will not be in attendance at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Instead, it will be Jason Garrett taking the NBC analyst’s place alongside Mike Tirico on the NBC broadcast.
Where Is Cris Collinsworth?
Collinsworth was in the booth with Tirico on Thanksgiving Day for NBC’s production of the 49ers-Seahawks game. San Francisco was able to retain its top spot in the NFC West as they took down Seattle 31-13.
Tonight, the Ravens and Chargers will play in prime time. Baltimore sits atop the AFC standings alongside the Dolphins with an 8-3 record, while Los Angeles sits at 4-6 and outside of the playoff picture at the bottom of the AFC West.
The absence of the longtime color commentator Collinsworth is due to Thanksgiving weekend.
After he was on the Thanksgiving Day call for the 49ers-Seahawks game on Thursday night, he is opting to spend time with his family throughout the rest of the weekend.
This is not the first time Collinsworth will miss a game during Thanksgiving weekend. Last year, Collinsworth was absent for the Thanksgiving matchup between the Vikings and the Patriots as Garrett and Tony Dungy took on the roles as analysts alongside Tirico for that game.
When Did Collinsworth Begin Broadcasting?
Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the NFL for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with the Cincinnati Bengals before beginning his broadcasting career. He also played college football at the University of Florida, where he was recognized as an All-American.
In his first season, Collinsworth was the team’s leading receiver and set the Bengals’ franchise record for receptions by a rookie with 67, the most by an NFL rookie wide receiver in 21 years.
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After his retirement as an NFL player, Collinsworth began a broadcasting career as a sports radio talk show host on Cincinnati station WLW.
He became a part of the NBC network’s NFL broadcasts in 1990, as well as some of the college programming. He joined the NBC pregame show in 1996.
In 2009, Collinsworth filled the color commentator role vacated by John Madden on NBC’s Sunday Night Football with Al Michaels. He is currently in his 15th season on the telecast and is now paired with Tirico, after Michaels was named the new play-by-play announcer for Amazon’s coverage of Thursday Night Football.
Collinsworth will be back in the booth next Sunday night in Green Bay when the Packers host the Chiefs in Week 13.
