List of NFL on NBC commentator pairings

The first name that's slated is the play-by-play man while the color commentator or commentators are slated second.

Contents 1 1960s 1.1 1960[1] 1.2 1961[2] 1.3 1965[3] 1.4 1966[4] 1.5 1967[5] 1.6 1968[6] 1.7 1969[7] 2 1970s 2.1 1970[8] 2.2 1971[9] 2.3 1972[10] 2.4 1973[11] 2.5 1974[12] 2.6 1975[13] 2.7 1976[14] 2.8 1977[15] 2.9 1978[16] 2.10 1979[17] 3 1980s 3.1 1980[18] 3.2 1981[19] 3.3 1982[20] 3.4 1983[21] 3.5 1984[22] 3.6 1985[23] 3.7 1986[24] 3.8 1987[25] 3.9 1988[26] 3.9.1 Footnotes 3.10 1989[27] 4 1990s 4.1 1990[28] 4.2 1991[29] 4.3 1992[30] 4.4 1993[31] 4.5 1994[32] 4.6 1995[33] 4.7 1996[34] 4.8 1997[35] 5 2000s 5.1 2006 5.2 2007 5.3 2008 5.4 2009 6 2010s 6.1 2010 6.2 2011 7 Surrogate professional football programs on NBC 7.1 Arena Football League 8 See also 9 References 10 Sources

1960s

1960^[1]

1. Lindsey Nelson/Frankie Albert (NBC only covered Colts and Steelers home games during this particular period)

1961^[2]

1. Lindsey Nelson/Frankie Albert

1965^[3]

• From 1965-1969, NBC covered the American Football League.

1. Curt Gowdy/Paul Christman
2. Jim Simpson/George Ratterman
3. Charlie Jones/Elmer Angsman
4. Herb Carneal/Andy Robustelli

1966^[4]

1. Curt Gowdy/Paul Christman
2. Jim Simpson/George Ratterman
3. Charlie Jones/Elmer Angsman
4. Lou Boda/Lee Grosscup

• Simpson and Ratterman would provide radio coverage for Super Bowl I.

1967^[5]

1. Curt Gowdy/Paul Christman
2. Jim Simpson/Kyle Rote
3. Charlie Jones/George Ratterman
4. Jay Randolph/Elmer Angsman

1968^[6]

1. Curt Gowdy/Kyle Rote
2. Jim Simpson/Al DeRogatis (DeRogatis would join Gowdy and Rote for Super Bowl III)
3. Charlie Jones/George Ratterman
4. Jay Randolph/Elmer Angsman
5. Bill Enis/Chris Burford

1969^[7]

1. Curt Gowdy/Kyle Rote
2. Jim Simpson/Al DeRogatis
3. Charlie Jones/George Ratterman
4. Jay Randolph/Elmer Angsman
5. Bill Enis/Chris Burford

1970s

• From 1970-1997, NBC covered the American Football Conference.

1970^[8]

1. Curt Gowdy/Kyle Rote
2. Jim Simpson/Al DeRogatis
3. Charlie Jones/George Ratterman
4. Bill Enis/Chris Burford
5. Jay Randolph/Johnny Morris
6. Ross Porter/Willie Davis
7. Bill O'Donnell or Dave Martin/Dave Kocourek

• After this season, Al DeRogatis and Kyle Rote swapped positions; resulting in DeRogatis being the #1 color commentator and Rote being the #2 analyst.

1971^[9]

1. Curt Gowdy/Al DeRogatis
2. Jim Simpson/Kyle Rote
3. Charlie Jones/George Ratterman
4. Jay Randolph/Johnny Morris
5. Bill Enis or Bill O'Donnell/Paul Maguire

1972^[10]

1. Curt Gowdy/Al DeRogatis
2. Jim Simpson/Kyle Rote
3. Charlie Jones/Johnny Morris
4. Jay Randolph or Bill Enis/Paul Maguire
5. Ken Coleman or Ross Porter/Dave Kocourek
6. Bill Enis or Ross Porter/Willie Davis

1973^[11]

1. Curt Gowdy/Al DeRogatis
2. Jim Simpson/Kyle Rote
3. Charlie Jones/Willie Davis or Sam DeLuca
4. Jay Randolph/Johnny Morris or Dave Kocourek
5. Ross Porter or Bill Enis/Paul Maguire
6. Bill Enis/Sam DeLuca
7. Ken Coleman/Dave Kocourek or Alan Miller
8. Al Michaels/Sam DeLuca or Mike Haffner

• Two days before he was assigned to call the regular-season finale between the Houston Oilers and Cincinnati Bengals, Bill Enis died from a heart attack at the age of 39. Al Michaels was brought in to replace Enis in the booth with Dave Kocourek.

1974^[12]

1. Curt Gowdy/Al DeRogatis and/or Don Meredith
2. Jim Simpson/John Brodie
3. Charlie Jones/Willie Davis
4. Jay Randolph/Paul Maguire
5. Ross Porter/Johnny Morris
6. Bill O'Donnell/Mike Haffner
7. Al Michaels/Sam DeLuca (This was the final season of what would be Al Michaels' first stint with NBC)

1975^[13]

1. Curt Gowdy/Don Meredith
2. Jim Simpson/Al DeRogatis
3. Charlie Jones/John Brodie
4. Jay Randolph/Willie Davis
5. Ross Porter/Paul Maguire
6. Bill O'Donnell/Sam DeLuca
7. Tim Ryan/Mike Haffner

1976^[14]

1. Curt Gowdy/Don Meredith (Meredith would return to Monday Night Football at the end of the season)
2. Jim Simpson/John Brodie
3. Charlie Jones/Paul Maguire
4. Jack Buck/Len Dawson
5. Tim Ryan/Lionel Aldridge
6. Jay Randolph/Floyd Little
7. Dick Stockton/Mike Haffner

1977^[15]

1. Curt Gowdy/John Brodie
2. Jim Simpson/Merlin Olsen or Al DeRogatis
3. Charlie Jones/Paul Maguire or Len Dawson
4. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
5. Jack Buck/Len Dawson or Floyd Little or Paul Maguire or Andy Russell or Jimmy Johnson (After this season, Buck would return to CBS Sports, primarily calling games for CBS Radio)
6. Jay Randolph/Lionel Aldridge
7. Dick Stockton/Paul Maguire or Mike Haffner (After this season, Stockton would return to CBS Sports.)
8. Marv Albert/Paul Maguire or Jimmy Johnson

1978^[16]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen (Olsen would be joined by Curt Gowdy and John Brodie for that season's AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XIII)
2. Curt Gowdy/John Brodie
3. Jim Simpson/Paul Warfield or Bob Trumpy
4. Charlie Jones/Paul Maguire or Len Dawson
5. Jay Randolph/Mike Haffner
6. Sam Nover/Bob Trumpy or Paul Warfield

1979^[17]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui or Jim Simpson (Jim Simpson left for the then brand new ESPN after Week 2)/John Brodie
3. Charlie Jones/Len Dawson
4. Sam Nover/Bob Trumpy
5. Jay Randolph/Gene Washington
6. Marv Albert/Dave Rowe
7. Stu Nahan or Merle Harmon or Jay Randolph/Paul Maguire or George Kunz or Mike Haffner

1980s

1980^[18]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/John Brodie
3. Charlie Jones/Len Dawson
4. Bob Costas/Sam Nover/Jay Randolph or Bob Trumpy/Gene Washington
5. Merle Harmon/Carl Eller
6. Mike Adamle/Mike Haffner

• The December 20 game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins was broadcast without announcers, a one-time experiment by NBC executive producer Don Ohlmeyer.

1981^[19]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/John Brodie
3. Charlie Jones/Len Dawson
4. Bob Costas/Bob Trumpy
5. Phil Stone/Rocky Bleier or Gene Washington
6. Jay Randolph/Mike Haffner
7. Merle Harmon/George Kunz or Jim Turner

• The December 12 New York Jets/Cleveland Browns game was handled by Dick Enberg working solo without usual broadcast partner Merlin Olsen. To fill the gap, interviews from both teams would be used where Olsen's commentary would have been fitting.

1982^[20]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/John Brodie or Bob Trumpy
3. Marv Albert/Bob Griese
4. Bob Costas/John Brodie or Bob Trumpy
5. Charlie Jones/Len Dawson
6. Gary Gerould/Mike Haffner
7. Merle Harmon/Dave Rowe
8. Jay Randolph/Jim Turner
9. Phil Stone/Gene Washington

1983^[21]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Marv Albert/John Brodie or Bob Trumpy
3. Charlie Jones/Bob Griese
4. Bob Costas/Bob Trumpy (this was Bob Costas' last season in the booth before being promoted as the new host (replacing Len Berman) of NFL '84)
5. Don Criqui/Jim Turner or Ahmad Rashad or Bob Chandler or Gene Washington
6. Gary Gerould/Dave Rowe
7. Merle Harmon/Dave Rowe or Bob Chandler
8. Jay Randolph/Gene Washington or Reggie Rucker or Bob Chandler
9. Phil Stone/Reggie Rucker or Bob Chandler or Gene Washington

1984^[22]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Marv Albert/John Brodie (this team called almost all New York Jets games on NBC that season)
3. Charlie Jones/Bob Griese
4. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
5. Todd Donoho/Harvey Martin
6. Gary Gerould/Dave Rowe
7. Marty Glickman or Phil Stone/Reggie Rucker
8. Jay Randolph or Bill Wilkerson/Gene Washington

1985^[23]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
3. Marv Albert/Bob Griese (Griese would work the 1985 AFC Championship game as a field reporter and would serve as a third commentator for Super Bowl XX)
4. Charlie Jones/Jimmy Cefalo
5. Len Berman/Bob Kuechenberg
6. Phil Stone or Gary Gerould/Dave Rowe
7. Tom Hammond or Jay Randolph/Reggie Rucker
8. Gary Gerould, Bob Lobel, or Fred Roggin/Sam Rutigliano

• During this and the season that followed, #2 team broadcasters Criqui and Trumpy were the lead broadcast team on NBC Radio.

1986^[24]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
3. Marv Albert/Bob Griese
4. Charlie Jones/Jimmy Cefalo
5. Len Berman or Bob Lobel/John Hannah
6. Tom Davis or Mel Proctor/Butch Johnson
7. Gary Gerould or Jay Randolph/Dave Rowe
8. Steve Grad or Fred Roggin/Reggie Rucker
9. Tom Hammond or Phil Stone/Sam Rutigliano

1987^[25]

1. Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen
2. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
3. Marv Albert/Joe Namath
4. Charlie Jones/Jimmy Cefalo
5. Mel Proctor/Reggie Rucker
6. Gary Gerould/Sam Rutigliano
7. Tom Hammond/Dave Casper or Michael Jackson
8. Sam Nover/Michael Jackson
9. Gayle Sierens/Dave Rowe (on the December 27 game between the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, Sierens from NBC's Tampa affiliate WFLA (then WXFL-TV) would become the first female play-by-play announcer in NFL history)

1988^[26]

1. Dick Enberg or Curt Gowdy/Merlin Olsen or Al DeRogatis (This would be Olsen's final season as the main color commentator)
2. Marv Albert or Marty Glickman/Paul Maguire (During the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Maguire replaced Ahmad Rashad as part of the NFL Live! pregame show)
3. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy (Did not work during Olympics)
4. Charlie Jones/Jimmy Cefalo (Did not work during Olympics)
5. Tom Hammond or Chuck Thompson or Ray Scott/Joe Namath
6. Jim Donovan/Lyle Alzado or Larry Csonka
7. Joel Meyers/Joe Namath or Dave Rowe
8. Merle Harmon/Paul Hornung (Worked during Olympics)
9. Chuck Thompson/Jerry Kramer (Worked during Olympics)
10. Sam Nover or Gary Gerould/Reggie Rucker (Worked during Olympics)

Footnotes

• Olympic replacement: During the 1988 season, in order to fulfill Olympic obligations, NBC brought in legendary announcers to fill in for the regular play-by-play men, while they were covering the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Replacement announcers during the Olympic period included Ray Scott, Merle Harmon and Marty Glickman.
  • Albert was off in Seoul during the Olympics doing boxing: Marty Glickman did mostly New York Jets games.
    • Criqui and Trumpy were off in Seoul during the Olympics. Criqui called swimming and Trumpy called volleyball.
      • Jones and Cefalo were off in Seoul during the Olympics. Jones called track & field and Cefalo served as the daytime host.
        • Enberg was off in Seoul during the Olympics: Curt Gowdy

1989^[27]

1. Dick Enberg/Bill Walsh
2. Charlie Jones/Merlin Olsen (Merlin Olsen would move over to CBS the following season)
3. Marv Albert/Bob Trumpy
4. Don Criqui/Ahmad Rashad
5. Joel Meyers/Paul Maguire
6. Tom Hammond/Joe Namath
7. Jim Donovan/Jimmy Cefalo
8. Fred Roggin or Jay Randolph/Lyle Alzado

1990s

1990^[28]

1. Dick Enberg/Bill Walsh
2. Marv Albert/Paul Maguire
3. Charlie Jones/Todd Christensen
4. Tom Hammond/Joe Namath
5. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
6. Joel Meyers/Ahmad Rashad
7. Jim Donovan/Cris Collinsworth or Paul Maguire
8. Fred Roggin/Jim Laslavic

1991^[29]

1. Dick Enberg/Bill Walsh (Bill Walsh left NBC after this season to return to coaching at Stanford)
2. Marv Albert/Paul Maguire or Bill Parcells
3. Charlie Jones/Todd Christensen
4. Tom Hammond or Mel Proctor/Joe Namath
5. Joel Meyers/Dan Hampton
6. Don Criqui/Bob Trumpy
7. Mel Proctor or Jim Donovan/Cris Collinsworth, Jim Laslavic, or Beasley Reece
8. Kevin Harlan/Ahmad Rashad

Note: Dick Enberg and Bill Walsh did not call any games during Weeks 9-12 of the 1991 NFL season due to being assigned to covering Notre Dame home games on NBC (this being the network's first season as the home of Fighting Irish home games).

1992^[30]

1. Dick Enberg/Bob Trumpy
2. Marv Albert/Bill Parcells (Parcells left after this season to take the New England Patriots head coaching job)
3. Charlie Jones/Todd Christensen
4. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth or Joe Namath
5. Joel Meyers/Beasley Reece
6. Don Criqui/Paul Maguire
7. Jim Donovan, Jim Lampley (Jim Lampley would replace Bob Costas as the host of NFL Live! for the 1993 season before being replaced by Greg Gumbel in 1994), or Dan Hicks/Dan Hampton or Ahmad Rashad

1993^[31]

1. Dick Enberg/Bob Trumpy
2. Marv Albert/Paul Maguire
3. Charlie Jones/Todd Christensen
4. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth
5. Don Criqui/Beasley Reece
6. Dan Hicks or Bob Costas/Joe Gibbs or Mike Ditka (Both Gibbs and Ditka would move to NFL Live! the following season. After this season, Costas' role on The NFL on NBC would be reduced to presenting feature stories and interviews.)
7. Drew Goodman or Jim Donovan/Dan Hampton or Ahmad Rashad (Ahmad Rashad would return to NFL Live! as co-host with Greg Gumbel after this season)

1994^[32]

1. Dick Enberg/Bob Trumpy/Hannah Storm
2. Marv Albert/Paul Maguire
3. Charlie Jones/Randy Cross
4. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth
5. Jim Lampley, Mike Bush, or Jim Donovan/Todd Christensen
6. Don Criqui, Mike Bush or Jim Donovan/Beasley Reece
7. Dan Hicks or Jim Donovan/Bob Golic
8. Mike Bush/Dan Hampton

1995^[33]

1. Dick Enberg/Phil Simms and Paul Maguire
2. Marv Albert/Cris Collinsworth (Collinsworth moved to the pregame show to replace Joe Montana after the season)
3. Charlie Jones/Randy Cross
4. Tom Hammond/Bob Trumpy
5. Jim Lampley or Jim Donovan/Bob Golic
6. Don Criqui or Jim Donovan/Beasley Reece (this duo called almost all of the Jacksonville Jaguars games airing on NBC that season)
7. Dan Hicks or Jim Donovan/Tunch Ilkin or John Dockery

1996^[34]

1. Dick Enberg or Marv Albert/Phil Simms and Paul Maguire
2. Marv Albert or Dan Hicks/Sam Wyche (Sam Wyche would replace Mike Ditka on the NFL on NBC pregame show for the 1997 season)
3. Charlie Jones/Randy Cross
4. Tom Hammond/Bob Trumpy
5. Jim Lampley or Jim Donovan/Bob Golic
6. Don Criqui/Beasley Reece
7. Dan Hicks or Scott Graham or Jim Donovan/Bart Oates

1997^[35]

1. Dick Enberg/Phil Simms and Paul Maguire
2. Marv Albert, Tom Hammond, Charlie Jones, or Joel Meyers/Randy Cross (Following sexual assault charges being filed against him, Albert was dismissed by NBC during the season and replaced by Hammond)
3. Charlie Jones, Dan Hicks, or Jim Donovan/Bob Trumpy
4. Tom Hammond, Dan Hicks, or Joel Meyers/Jim Kelly
5. Mike Breen or Jim Donovan/James Lofton
6. Don Criqui or Dan Hicks/Jim Mora
7. Dan Hicks, Joel Meyers, or Jim Donovan/Beasley Reece
8. Bob Fitzgerald/Jim Laslavic

Note: There was no NFL on NBC program produced from the 1998-2005 NFL seasons. CBS had replaced them as the AFC rights holder following the 1997 season.

2000s

• Beginning in 2006, NBC returned to the NFL for the first time since 1997 (when they last had the AFC package) to broadcast Sunday night games. NBC replaced ESPN as the Sunday night broadcaster.

2006

1. Al Michaels/John Madden/Andrea Kremer
2. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth/Bob Neumeier (Wild Card Saturday)

2007

1. Al Michaels/John Madden/Andrea Kremer
2. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth/Bob Neumeier (Wild Card Saturday)

2008

1. Al Michaels/John Madden/Andrea Kremer
   • During Week 7 (Seattle at Tampa Bay), Cris Collinsworth substituted for Madden. Madden was given an off-week to alleviate a hectic coast-to-coast bus travel schedule^[36] which would have taken him from Jacksonville to San Diego to Tampa in three weeks.
2. Tom Hammond/Cris Collinsworth/Tiki Barber (Wild Card Saturday)

2009

1. Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer
2. Tom Hammond/Joe Theismann and Joe Gibbs^[37]/Tiki Barber (Wild Card Saturday)

• Cris Collinsworth was promoted to the lead color commentator slot following the retirement of John Madden. This marks the second time Collinsworth had replaced Madden as a lead commentator, getting bumped to the top slot on Fox coverage alongside Joe Buck and Troy Aikman following Madden's departure for Monday Night Football.
• The announcement of Joe Gibbs as one of the color commentators for the Wild Card Saturday playoff games marks Gibbs' return to NBC's NFL coverage; where following his first retirement from the Redskins, he served as an occasional commentator on regional coverage during the 1993 NFL season before becoming a panelist on NFL Live!/NFL on NBC between the 1994 season until NBC lost NFL coverage after Super Bowl XXXII.

2010s

2010

1. Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Andrea Kremer
2. Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan (Wild Card Saturday)

2011

1. Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth/Michele Tafoya
2. Tom Hammond/Mike Mayock/Alex Flanagan (Wild Card Saturday)

Surrogate professional football programs on NBC

Arena Football League

From 2003-2006, NBC covered Arena Football League games.

The pre-game, halftime, and post-game studio show was anchored by Al Trautwig and analyst Glenn Parker since its inception. In 2003, Michael Irvin also provided studio analysis, but that role was subsequently filled with guest analysts, including Ray Bentley, Danny White, Tommy Maddox, and Kurt Warner.

Game commentary was provided by two major teams, with the lead consisting of play-by-play announcer Tom Hammond and analyst Pat Haden, with sideline reporter Lewis Johnson. The other included Bob Papa (play-by-play), Ray Bentley (analyst) and Marty Snider (sideline reporter). Additional talent included (often in different pairings) play-by-play announcers Eli Gold, Bill Weber, and Allen Bestwick, as well as color commentators Mike Pawlawski and Charles Davis, and sideline reporter Steve Wrigley.

See also

• List of NFL on CBS commentator pairings
• List of NFL on FOX commentator pairings

References

Sources

1. Sports Broadcast History Forums Sports Broadcast History Archives Football Archives
2. 1996 NFL Commentator Crews
3. 1997 NFL Announcing Teams
4. Hammond & Collinsworth Named Commentators for NFL Wild Card Game on NBC
5. Eye On Sports Media: NFL Broadcast Assignments

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