Mike Tirico Has Torn Achilles, Casually Mentions It During ‘Sunday Night Football’

Mike Tirico shared a surprising secret below Sunday night football.

The NBC play-by-play announcer recently tore his Achilles. Instead of mentioning it in the opener or early in the game, Tirico kept his condition a secret until midway through the third quarter, when analyst Cris Collinsworth apparently had to pull it out of him.

Collinsworth had the perfect segue that the show had been running a promo for St. Denis Medical, a new mockumentary medical sitcom on NBC.

“I have a patient for them,” said Collinsworth. “Come on man, come on man, let’s give it up, let’s tell America.”

The SNF camera cut to shot from behind Tirico, and Collinsworth used his telestrator to draw a yellow circle around Tirico’s left leg, propped up at an awkward angle.

“Hi,” Tirico said nonchalantly, waving to the camera. “Tear my Achilles, I’m fine.”

“Playing with pain out there,” Collinsworth said.

“I’m playing through it, yeah,” Tirico said. “We keep getting through the season.”

“St. Denis Medical here we come, honey,” said Collinsworth.

Mike Tirico plays through the pain and calls the games with a torn Achilles.

“St. Denis Medical, here we come, baby,” Cris Collinsworth. pic.twitter.com/8VqlGw3mrK

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) 25 November 2024

“You have to do the surgery there,” Collinsworth joked about the fictional hospital, which is located in Oregon.

“I want to go for the best hospital in Oregon, not the third best, how about that?” Tirico replied.

A torn Achilles is obviously no laughing matter, but Tirico and Collinsworth found a humorous way to share the news. And NBC execs had to be thrilled that they could get the organic promo in for the new show.

(NBC Sports)