‘Sleepy Al Michaels on the Broadcast’ — NFL Fans React to Legendary Announcer’s Rough Preseason Outing

Brandon Astreicher Fri, August 28, 2026 at 1:07 AM UTC

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‘Sleepy Al Michaels on the Broadcast’ — NFL Fans React to Legendary Announcer’s Rough Preseason Outing

The New England Patriots and the Cleveland Browns are getting their final preseason action underway on Prime Video with Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on the call.

Michaels didn’t have the best of starts, as he struggled with names and had some buttons undone on his shirt, which caught the attention of the NFL world.

Al Michaels Gets Trolled for Early Struggles on Broadcast

Michaels didn’t look ready to go when the broadcast started in preseason Week 3. His shirt was undone at the top, and NFL fans were telling him to button up.

“Al Michaels needs to button up that shirt on Thursday Night Football. Nobody needs to see that chest,” said one fan.

Another fan echoed the sentiment, saying, “Hey, Al Michaels, can you button up your shirt?”

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Michaels didn’t look ready for his call today, with his unbuttoned shirt, and one fan took the opportunity to joke about his sleepiness on social media.

“Sleepy Al Michaels on the broadcast tonight, gotta love it,” said the fan.

There are plenty of names that Michaels needs to be ready for because of the expanded rosters in the preseason. But he struggled with some of them early, and fans felt they’d be in for a long one.

“We’re one minute into the game and Al Michaels is already struggling with player names. This is going to be a looooooong night,” added one fan.

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Michaels is 81 years old, but he’s still doing his job, and he’s doing it during the preseason. One fan poked fun at whoever told Michaels he had to call this game, in which the teams are resting starters and other important players.

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“Hate to be the person who told Al Michaels he had to come here to do a preseason game,” said one fan.

Another fan took it a step further, jokingly insinuating Michaels might be more interested in dinner plans after the game.

“Candidly, Al Michaels is probably more interested in his dinner plans than this game,” said one fan.

Although Michaels has been focused on the game in the broadcast so far, he did take some time to go after Donald Trump for renaming lakes.

“Back we are now in Cleveland, that is Lake Erie, we think it is still called Lake Erie on the right, we’re not quite sure at this point,” said Michaels.

It’s been a wild ride taking in the Michaels experience tonight, and NFL fans were going to dissect every part of it, given the lack of starters actually playing.

Michaels will get some time off until he hops back on the microphone for his first call of the season in Week 2.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.

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Source: “AOL Sports”