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Al Michaels Dropped Clever One-Liner to Describe Officiating in Giants-Cowboys

The legendary broadcaster poked fun at the referees on Thursday night.

Tom Dierberger

Michaels is in the midst of his third season calling "Thursday Night Football" for Amazon Prime Video.
Michaels is in the midst of his third season calling "Thursday Night Football" for Amazon Prime Video. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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One of the best traits of legendary play-by-play broadcaster Al Michaels in the booth is he always calls the game for what it is—no matter how great or ugly it gets.

The officiating in the first half of Thursday's clash between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys gave Michaels plenty to talk about with Prime Video partner Kirk Herbstreit. There were 16 total penalties called in the first quarter, and 12 were accepted—nine on the Cowboys and three on the Giants.

"It looks like June 14th here, otherwise known as Flag Day, as you know," Michaels said to Herbstreit in the second quarter.

Those flags flew with just over two minutes to play in the first half. There somehow were seven more penalties called before the game went into halftime, including offsetting penalties on Dallas and New York with 28 seconds left.

"There are fouls by both teams on the play," the referee said.

"I'll bet," Michaels quipped in the broadcast booth.

After two quarters of play, the Cowboys led the Giants 14–9 at MetLife Stadium.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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