ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 06: Kirk Herbstreit points to the crowd before the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Ole Miss Rebels on September 6, 2021 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tonight is not just the first Amazon Prime broadcast of an NFL regular season game. It’s also the debut of Kirk Herbstreit and Al Michaels together.
Herbstreit, ESPN’s top college football game analyst, has done some NFL work before with the Worldwide Leader. But with Amazon, he’ll be doing Thursday Night Football on a weekly basis, in addition to his weekend college football duties for ESPN.
Herbstreit has been a popular topic on football Twitter throughout the first half tonight.
“Hearing Kirk Herbstreit on an NFL game is going to take a second to get used to,” he said New York Times writer/podcaster and avowed football Jane Coaston.
“Herbstreit is so underrated! I have him right behind Aikman as 2nd best pro or college. #My2Cents,” said former Eagles linebacker and current radio host Ike Reese.
It seems like much of the reaction to Herbstreit’s performance tonight is either people talking about how well he’s doing or how strange it sounds to hear him calling an NFL game.
There’s also a few people who thought he should have done Cris Collinsworth’s patented slide in.
Our thoughts: Herbie sounds solid as always. The dude is a pro, and he should be able to handle this job well throughout the season.
.