Snow globe stifled Steelers, Browns, and Al Michaels on ‘Thursday Night Football’

‘Thursday Night Football’ took place in a snow globe as the Steelers and Browns fought Mother Nature and each other.

The Pittsburgh Steelers visited the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night, and the weather report heading into the game called for rain and 40 degrees at the start of the game with the temperature dropping throughout the night. The weather was pretty good at kickoff, but deteriorated in the second half.

At about 9 p.m. Eastern, late in the second quarter, the snow started falling. It was just a few flakes. No big deal.

By the time the third quarter started, it was hard to see the field. Over the course of the period, the field was covered.

It got so bad, announcer Al Michaels began misidentifying players on the drive, calling Browns TE Blake Whiteheart by David Njoku’s name before correcting himself. He was also cracking jokes through the flakes:

• “Everything but the Zamboni out here.”
• “Welcome to the Winter Olympics.”
• “Boswell’s kick, if you can find it, is good.”

The Prime Video team reported that players were changing out their cleats and on the streaming broadcast, they switched to artificial hashmarks and yardage markers, using technology to help viewers.

The visuals were impeccable for the first snow game of the 2024 season.