Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

In the world of sports media criticism, there’s a tendency to skew negative. Fans think an announcer has it in for the other team. They get upset at the amount of commercials, or how the broadcast didn’t show a replay. Things that annoy any typical sports viewer.

So it’s rare when a broadcast receives near-universal praise. But Game 272 of the 2025-26 NFL season reached that threshold for NBC on Sunday night.

From start to finish, NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast featuring the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers battling for the AFC North crown and the final remaining spot in the postseason delivered. Truly, it began prior to kickoff, when an on-site edition of Football Night in America set the scene for viewers at home. For this game, that wasn’t a particularly challenging task; everyone knew the stakes were extraordinarily high. Win or go home, with the losing team (and head coach) waking up Monday morning to a future that is anything but certain. It’s great to see networks realize the importance of bringing studio shows on-site, especially for games like this. You simply are not able to capture the energy of certain games from a studio environment.

But let’s get to the actual game. Right from the get-go, NBC was thrown some curveballs. Rules analyst Terry McAulay was tapped in on the very first play from scrimmage, a Derrick Henry run that he appeared to break for 41 yards, until it was called back for a phantom illegal blindside block.

After a weekend filled with questionable officiating, and various rules analysts doing their usual water carrying for the zebras, McAulay proved once again why he is the best in the business, offering a no-nonsense explanation for why the call was wrong. And he did it mere seconds into the game. We should’ve known right then and there we were in for a funky one.

From that point until midway through the fourth quarter, it felt like your typical Ravens-Steelers game. Three yards and a cloud of dust. Low scoring. Physical. Announcers Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth treated the game as such; they’ve been on the call for quite a few of those Ravens-Steelers games after all.

Collinsworth, particularly, had a keen sense for how the game was going. In the first half, when Henry and the Ravens were moving the ball well on the ground, jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead, the longtime Sunday Night Football analyst could feel the game sitting on a razor’s edge. The Steelers defense had shown little resistance to that point, and the offense, sans two of its biggest playmakers in DK Metcalf and Darnell Washington, was performing at a less-than pedestrian clip. It didn’t feel so different from last season’s Wild Card matchup between the two teams 51 weeks ago.

This tension was perhaps best captured during a key play in the second quarter. The Steelers had stopped the bleeding a bit, forcing the Ravens to punt and putting together a drive of their own, primarily on the ground. Then, on first-and-10 from the Baltimore 43, the Steelers ran a hard play-action out of the I-formation that got tight end Jonnu Smith wide open, only for star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to overthrow him.

“That’s terrible. That was their big home run play, and it was there,” a borderline dejected Collinsworth said, feeling the game, and it’s entertainment value, could be slipping away. “You had MVS going to clear out down here, and then you got the route coming over. Look how wide open this is. Look at this space. And they can’t hit that play?!”

But then things started to turn around for Pittsburgh, and so did the tone of Tirico and Collinsworth. The Steelers began to figure out the Ravens on both sides of the ball, and after a failing to stick a potential tying run in from the one-yard line to end the first half, the Steelers opened the second half with a touchdown drive to tie the game. Quickly, the NBC booth shifted from blowout watch to “we have a game” mode.

And boy did the game deliver. Midway through the fourth quarter, with the Steelers holding a narrow 13-10 lead in what felt like a classic AFC North battle of attrition, a flurry of unbelievable touchdowns gave Tirico all of the ammunition necessary to show once again why he’s the best play-by-play announcer doing it right now.

First, a 50-yard touchdown pass from Lamar Jackson, shirking off two defenders, to Zay Flowers to take the lead.

“JACKSON GOT AWAY, NOW RELOADS, AND THROWS TO FLOWERS DOWNFIELD! HE’S GOT IT FOR A TOUCHDOWN! THEY HAD JACKSON, TWO STEELERS! HE ESCAPED AND FOUND FLOWERS, AND THE RAVENS TAKE THE LEAD!” Tirico said, meeting the moment.

“This is unbelievable! You are going to see a meeting at the quarterback, and somehow Lamar splits ’em! I’ve never seen anything quite like that!” Collinsworth followed up.

The Steelers would quickly respond, taking the three-point lead back. But then, with just over two minutes to go, Jackson hit Flowers for a second time, this one good for 63 yards, with the wide receiver once again wide open down the field.

“They did it again! They did it again!” Collinsworth belted during the play as Flowers streaked open.

“Jackson, SHOT DOWNFIELD! ZAY FLOWERS, INSIDE THE 20! HE’S GOING TO GO!… And the Ravens get the Steelers the same way, for the second time in this quarter! UNBELIEVABLE! ZAY FLOWERS BEHIND THE DEFENSE AGAIN!” Tirico called.

The craziness didn’t stop there. Pittsburgh would march right back down the field and Aaron Rodgers would find Calvin Austin III for a touchdown. But the ever-reliable Steelers kicker Chris Boswell would miss the extra point, meaning Jackson and the Ravens had a chance to win the game by getting into field goal range. With 55 seconds and all three timeouts, it seemed all but certain how this game would end.

And with just 21 ticks remaining, the Ravens faced fourth-and-seven from midfield, needing a first down to get into field goal range and save their season. Lamar Jackson found Isaiah Likely near the 25-yard line for what appeared to be the game-winning play.

That’s when Tirico set the scene how only he could, as Ravens rookie Tyler Loop trotted on to attempt a 44-yard field goal to send Baltimore into the postseason.

“Harbaugh is telling Likely how special that play was to set up this moment for the rookie out of Arizona. The Ravens, of course, had Justin Tucker for so long. The most accurate kicker in the history of the league. Rodgers can’t believe what he has just witnessed in what might be the end for him. But [the Ravens] went around the country and spoke to a lot of the kickers who were coming out, and they decided Tyler Loop was made of the right stuff for moments like this.

“He now has the chance to win the division for the Ravens! The final play of the regular season, for the final spot in the playoffs! Tyler Loop from 44! Snap good, hold good, THE KICK IS NO GOOD! IT IS WIDE RIGHT! AND THE STEELERS ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE NORTH!”

That 52 seconds of television is exactly why Tirico is the best in the business. In less than a minute, Tirico explained the entire backstory behind the Ravens’ kicking situation, the possibility that this could be the last moment of Aaron Rodgers’ NFL career, and that the result of this kick sends one team to the playoffs and the other home. It was a true masterclass in storytelling.

Tirico didn’t over-explain, he said just enough and let NBC’s brilliant pictures do the talking for him. Tight shots on Tyler Loop and Aaron Rodgers in the lead-up. Kick missed. Pandemonium. Cut back to a devastated Loop, then an elated Rodgers. Then to both coaches, Tomlin and Harbaugh. Lamar Jackson. Back to Tomlin pounding his chest and blowing a kiss to the camera. Cinema.

If there’s ever a moment that should go straight onto the Emmy reel, that is the moment for the Sunday Night Football crew.

But it didn’t even stop there. During Tirico and Collinsworth’s postgame coverage, NBC found a gem. A priest spreading holy water on the end zone two hours before kickoff. The same end zone that saw Loop miss the 44-yard field goal.

“So it’s not Tyler Loop’s fault,” Collinsworth quipped.

“As with everything in football, it’s at a higher power,” Tirico replied.

From the big, weighty moments to the small details of Sunday’s broadcast, NBC nailed them all. The network should be feeling really good about its entire team as it heads to the Bay Area five weeks from now to broadcast Super Bowl LX. And after last night, NFL fans should be feeling pretty good about that too.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner