As much as Mike Tirico is looking forward to calling the NFL season opener Thursday night, so does he "look forward to not having all of Detroit hating me on Friday morning after the opener this year," he cracked Thursday on 97.1 The Ticket. "That’ll be great, look forward to that, that’ll be a lot of fun."
Tirico, of course, drew Detroit's ire on opening night last year when he remarked moments after the Lions defeated the Chiefs in Kansas City that the victory came with "an asterisk" due to the defending champs playing without stars Travis Kelce and Chris Jones.
Tirico will be back on the call for the Lions' season-opener this year, on Sunday Night Football against the Rams. And the longtime Michigan resident plans to offer a truce of sorts to Lions fans if their team pulls out the victory.
"I don’t plan out calls, but if the Lions win Opening Night, I’ve got one for you, for everybody who had a little fun at my expense, and rightfully so, last year," Tirico said. "I’ve got one for you Sunday night if they win. So it’s up to your team. If the Lions win on Sunday night, I’ve got one just for all of you to kind of wink back at Metro Detroit."
Tirico, NBC's lead NFL play-by-play man since replacing Al Michaels in 2022, says the Lions are "right there with San Francisco" as "the teams to beat in the NFC."
"When you look at this team, it’s the same team on offense, where they were a top-five offense (last year), for the most part. And they are better on defense," Tirico said. "They’re just better. Linebacker questions are answered, they’ll improve. Inside, if healthy, they will be better up there. And the secondary remake is, on paper, fabulous. You look at all of those things, you cannot walk away and say the team is just as good as the team that was within a quarter or a defensive stop or a fourth down conversion of the Super Bowl."