CLEVELAND, Ohio – We break down the broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Cleveland Browns Thursday Night game at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns won, 29-17.
It was a different network than usual, with Amazon Prime airing the game, though the booth had a pair of familiar faces. Amazon Prime is paying about $1 billion a season to broadcast games in a multi-year deal, CNBC reported.
Calling the game
Pregame team: Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Richard Sherman. On the game: Al Michaels (play by play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Kaylee Hartung (sideline reporter). By the way, Herbstreit will still call college games for ESPN.
Overall
A veteran duo called a fairly solid game. Herbstreit in particular was excellent in explaining various plays and moments during the game. Graphics were clean and not frivolous. A couple of missteps here and there.
The storyline
The classic rivalry we all know too well.
Whoops!
“We’ve got ourselves a good old-fashioned NFC North rivalry game,” Thompson said in the pregame chat. Only one letter off.
New tradition
A “brand new tradition” of smashing a guitar with the opponents’ colors and logo was shown, and probably will be shown regularly as long as it is a thing. A made-for-television moment. Newly acquired Cleveland Cavalier Donovan Mitchell smacked and splintered a black and gold guitar with Steelers logos Thursday. Former Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas, who this week was named among the 129 modern-era nominees for the 2023 Hall of Fame class, had the honors last week.
The numbers game
• In his career, former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went 25-3-1 against the Browns, Fitzpatrick said in the pregame setup.
• Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season, Michaels noted. What should be added, though is that Pittsburgh finished .500 three times in his 16-year-reign. Later a graphic flashed showing Tomlin is one of only four head coaches without a losing season in 15-plus seasons; the others are Tom Landry, Bill Belichick and George Halas.
• Michaels pointed out the No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, was going up against the No. 2 pick, Mitch Trubisky, who was taken by Chicago. (Also drafted in that first round was Browns tight end David Njoku at No. 29.)
Great catch, great shots
• Good replays on the incredible, one-handed acrobatic catch by George Pickens, a la Odell Beckham Jr. Herbstreit noted receivers practice that type of catch. Later, parallel shots of each of their catches were shown.
This and that
• After the network returned from the commercial after the Browns took a 7-0 lead, Hartung said the pole with a flag in a corner of the stadium was installed at the behest of former kicker Phil Dawson since it was the best place for him to gauge the wind.
• Herbstreit quickly explained what Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett meant when he yelled, “Louie, Louie!” It was an alert to his linemen to be ready for a rush from the left – and they were. Later Brissett yelled “rip, rip, rip!” alerting his line to pick up a defensive rush from the right side.
• We saw ads for Draft Kings, Las Vegas and FanDuel. The commercial wave of the future is here now as sports books are legalized. Get ready for more.
• Hartung did one of the best jobs as a sideline reporter I’ve seen for football. Smart stories like a good recap on the Deshaun Watson case. She needs to slow down a bit, but the observations are sharp.
Michael’s misses
• On a fourth and one in the third, Browns offensive lineman Jedrick Wills went down; Michaels called him Willis.
• When Browns linebacker Sione Takitaki was mentioned in the fourth quarter, Michaels chimed in with a sophomoric comment, aligning his name and TikTok in the same sentence, before saying, “I couldn’t help myself, I’m sorry.” Advice for broadcasters: If you have something funny to say, say it. If it’s not funny, don’t.
Did you catch …
… the music on a bumper to commercial in the third quarter was Funk #49 from Cleveland’s own, James Gang?
Should have seen this coming
The slow-motion, zoomed-in angles on replay are called “AmaZoom.”
Quotes of the game
• “It started out good, faded like a screwball to the right.” – Michaels on Steelers kicker Chris Boswell’s missed field goal with 5:59 remaining in the first quarter. Wind speed was listed as hitting 24 to 25 mph. in the stadium.
• “Brissett has command of this offense of (Kevin) Stefanski’s.” – Herbstreit in the first half.
• “Kaylee, if $230 million doesn’t motivate you to do the things you need to do, then I give up.”– Michaels, after Hartung recapped Watson’s suspension and what is required of him upon his return this season. Watson was suspended this year after sexual misconduct allegations.
Finally
As the game ended on Pittsburgh’s multiple-lateral desperation play, Michaels said, “It’s the old Stanford band play.” That famous play that ended a Stanford-Cal game in dramatic fashion is coming up on its 40th anniversary. For those who aren’t familiar, here’s the video.
Next up: Sunday, Oct. 2
For the Browns: Cleveland (2-1) travels to Atlanta to play the Falcons at 1 p.m.
For the Steelers: Pittsburgh (1-2) hosts the New York Jets at 1 p.m.
Sports betting comes to Ohio on Jan. 1, 2023: Your questions answered
I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.
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