NBC’s Sunday Night Football bid farewell to Maria Taylor, who is going on parental leave after covering the Jacksonville Jaguars-Baltimore Ravens match in Week 15. The broadcast was an emotional sendoff for the expecting mother.
The NFL on NBC crew put a video together for Maria Taylor.
Sunday night’s game will be Taylor’s last of the season before she heads out on maternity leave. pic.twitter.com/1QDQgnMXZb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 18, 2023
While it was long anticipated that he would be the choice, NBC announced Monday that Ahmed Fareed would host Football Night in America on NBC and Peacock for the remainder of the 2023 NFL season.
Fareed, who currently serves as a host and reporter on various events and properties across NBC Sports, covers everything from horse racing to the Olympics and even some rugby. Fareed has previously hosted Football Night in America on a fill-in basis, but this will be his first time in 2023.
He will take over for Taylor this Saturday, Dec. 23, on a special edition of Football Night in America at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. This will lead into NBC Sports’ NFL doubleheader. The Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers will face off at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. This will be followed by the Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers game, which will exclusively serve as the first Peacock exclusive game this season.
Fareed recently appeared on Awful Announcing’s Short and to the Point podcast and embraced being the sportscaster who doesn’t know everything. While this isn’t Fareed’s first time hosting, he certainly will be able to lean on the likes of Rodney Harrison, Tony Dungy, Chris Simms, Jason Garrett, Devin McCourty and Mike Florio, among others.
Although Taylor’s departure may have evoked tears, Fareed’s debut promises an exhilarating Football Night in America as it prepares for an action-packed NFL weekend.
[NBC PR]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.