Mike Florio ,
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During the first half of Thursday night’s Vikings-Chargers game, Prime Video’s Al Michaels said the Minnesota kicker Will Reichard’s only missed field goal of the season happened when the ball struck a camera wire during a win over the Browns in London.
When Reichard lined up in the second half to attempt a field goal, Michaels offered a clarification.
“The league wants to take my lunch away because I said before that Reichard’s only miss was hitting a wire in London,” Michaels said. “They league says, ‘No, no. It was an optical illusion .’ Not what Reichard thinks. Anyway, there you have it.”
At the time, the unofficial position was that there was no clear view of the ball striking the cable, not that it was an “optical illusion.” If that was/is the position, it should have been articulated affirmatively and clearly — not in reaction to Al Michaels pointing it out, nearly three weeks later.
Transparency is the key. If Michaels hadn’t said what he said, the league never would have said anything more about it.
Whether the ball hit the wire or didn’t hit the wire, the NFL needs to be ready, willing, and able to get its version of the truth out there quickly. And not in the form of a knee-jerk reaction when someone dares to mention it well after the fact.
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