Atlanta Falcons

NBC to use studio personnel to announce Thanksgiving game

Published Nov. 15, 2018 2:24 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC will use studio hosts Mike Tirico for play by play and Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison for analysis on its Thanksgiving night telecast of the Falcons game at New Orleans.

They will replace the usual duo of Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels.

Tirico, of course, is a veteran of play by play and does Notre Dame football games for the network. Dungy, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a coach, will be working his third game in a broadcast booth. He did two December 2016 matches: Dolphins-Jets on a Saturday night, and a Christmas afternoon game between the Ravens and Steelers. Those games were produced by NBC and televised on NFL Network.

It will be Harrison's debut in the booth.

Michele Tafoya will continue her sideline reporter's role.

The opening to "Sunday Night Football" also will change on Thanksgiving. Rather than the usual Carrie Underwood performance, New Orleans-based master chef Emeril Lagasse and voodoo rocker Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews will headline the opening.

Set at Emeril's New Orleans, the special show opening will feature Lagasse setting the table by creating NFL-themed fare for a Thanksgiving feast. As dinner is being prepared, Trombone Shorty will play his distinctive brand of New Orleans street music, capped by his own rendition of the SNF theme song, backed by the New Breed Brass Band.

"What better place to celebrate Thanksgiving than in a city that perpetually revels in food, family, and football," Lagasse says. "We're so happy to be a part of this Thanksgiving special and bring our traditions home to you. Who Dat?!"