NBC play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico repeatedly talked about the “surprising” score as the heavy underdog New York Giants led the Buffalo Bills for much of the “Sunday Night Football” game at Highmark Stadium.
But it was no surprise that Tirico was terrific documenting the Bills’ 14-9 victory that wasn’t assured until a pass from Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor intended for tight end Darren Waller fell incomplete in the end zone with the Bills’ Taron Johnson draped all over him.
Tirico has a great voice and enthusiasm level and his preparedness was on display throughout the game as he provided details about lesser-known Bills special team players Siran Neal and Cam Lewis.
But the highlight came on Tirico’s call of the game-winning 15-yard touchdown pass from Bills quarterback Josh Allen to tight end Quintin Morris.
He didn’t miss a beat noting that Morris was “a second-year man out of Bowling Green who hasn’t been targeted all year.”
How many play-by-play announcers other than CBS’ Andrew Catalon, who does Bills preseason games, instantly would have that detail?
NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth added to Tirico’s call by comparing Allen’s throw in an extremely tight window to “sort of like a little tube in the bank where it slides up and through. There is no way to fit this in.”
“Drive-thru tellers are going crazy,” added Tirico. “Collinsworth knows what we do.”
As usual, Tirico was very complimentary of Western New York and Allen. “One of the best fan bases in the league,” he said. He said he “could watch Allen throw all day.”
There was one surprise coming out of the telecast.
Collinsworth, who generally gets as much verbal abuse from Bills fans as offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, was relatively untouched on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Bills Mafia.
That illustrates as much as anything that Collinsworth had a strong game.
He spread the praise around to Bills players – especially…
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