SI

Mike Tirico Deserves All the Praise for His Ravens-Steelers Broadcasting Clinic

The NBC play-by-play man gave as a good a performance as you’ll ever hear during the NFL’s season finale.

Jimmy Traina

NBC's Mike Tirico showed why he's one of the best broadcasters in sports during the Ravens-Steelers season finale.
NBC's Mike Tirico showed why he's one of the best broadcasters in sports during the Ravens-Steelers season finale. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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1. Welcome to the first edition of Traina Thoughts for 2026. Even though this is kind of old news now, I would be a terrible person if I didn’t acknowledge Mike Tirico’s performance on Sunday night during the Ravens-Steelers season finale.

Tirico was strong for the entire game, which is par for the course for him. But he took things to another level over the final minute.

Everyone has focused, and rightfully so, on Tirico’s unbelievably thorough and pitch-perfect call on rookie kicker Tyler Loop’s missed field goal to close out the game.

What should not be forgotten, though, is Tirico’s call of Chris Boswell’s missed extra point less than minute earlier, which kept Pittsburgh’s lead at 26–24 instead of making it 27–24. Tirico was basically telling the viewers that the Ravens were going to have a chance to win the game with a field goal without actually saying those words. He did it all with tone and urgency and shock and bewilderment in his voice.

“The extra point from Boswell, twisting, NO GOOD, NO GOOD! He missed the extra point. He had not missed one all year. It’s the second missed extra point in his last four years. And an unbelievable time to do that.”

It would’ve been nice if Cris Collinsworth followed up on Tirico’s call, but he ignored the missed extra point and robotically went into analyzing the replay of the touchdown, but I digress.

As for Tirico’s call on the final play of the game—Loop’s missed 44-yard field goal—it would be impossible for anyone to do it better. Every single second from the NBC veteran was perfection.

In a span of 30 seconds before the attempt, Tirico mentioned that a) Baltimore used to have the automatic Justin Tucker as its kicker; b) that this could’ve been the final moments of Aaron Rodgers’s career; c) that the Ravens decided Loop had the “right stuff” after scouting kickers throughout the country; d) noted it was the final play of the regular season and e) the kick would determine the final spot of the playoffs.

“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.”

This was all before the kick. Once the snap was made from center, Tirico then delivered an all-time call.

“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 was a simply a pure broadcasting clinic by Tirico.

2. ESPN college football reporter Laura Rutledge has gone viral the past couple of weeks thanks to video of her sprinting from the field after a halftime interview to the set to host the halftime show.

Rutledge got the ultimate acknowledgment on Monday from the legendary Chris Berman, who gave Rutledge the “could go all the way” treatment.

Side note: Rutledge will be the guest on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina, out on Thursday morning, so subscribe here.

3. Speaking of SI Media With Jimmy Traina, a new episode dropped last week. It was the Sixth Annual Year-End Extravaganza episode with Peter Schrager and Andrew Perloff. We covered everything from our Sports Media Person of the Year to the best shows, podcasts and games of 2025.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

4. Warriors coach Steve Kerr got ejected in the fourth quarter of his team’s game against the Clippers on Monday night. Snoop Dogg just happened to be on Peacock’s commentary team for the ejection. And it was AWESOME.

5. All anyone in the college football world does is complain about the playoff and complain about the bowls. It’s relentless. It never ends. And then the ratings come out.

The Rose Bowl, featuring Alabama and Indiana, drew 23.9. million viewers.
The Miami-Ohio State game on New Year’s Eve night pulled in 19 million viewers.
Ole Miss-Georgia on New Year’s Day was watched by 18.7 million people.
Oregon-Texas Tech, played at noon on New Year’s Day, drew 15.9 million viewers.

6. I understand that the Jets are a pathetic franchise and pretty much always have been. So maybe it’s not worth pointing out their faults. But I don’t understand how it wasn’t a bigger story that the team WENT THE ENTIRE SEASON without recording one single interception.

I honestly think that’s the most insane stat of my lifetime as a sports fan.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: If you are an old-school wrestling fan, you have a great appreciation for “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. WWE knows this because it recently dropped a four-hour compilation video of Piper matches, promos and unseen footage.

Here’s small sampling.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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