Ben Roethlisberger’s name has been mentioned on TV millions of times, but he still got a kick out of Kirk Herbstreit’s shout out during Amazon’s Prime Video broadcast of Thursday Night Football.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans locked into a rather lackluster Thursday Night Football matchup this week, Herbstreit attempted to break the monotony with some trivia. The question came as Pittsburgh took a late lead with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Diontae Johnson. It was Johnson’s first touchdown of the season. Actually, it was Johnson’s first touchdown in a couple of seasons.
“You know who the last quarterback was to throw him a touchdown pass?” Herbstreit asked Michaels. “The big man.”
Ben Roethlisberger Reacts to Al Michaels saying “I thought it might’ve been Terry Bradshaw” 💀 Diontae finally catches a td #HereWeGo #Steelers pic.twitter.com/9uFiQt0eeR
— Dylan🔮🪼🎃 (@dillybar2145) November 3, 2023
Unfortunately for Al Michaels, he was without his sports trivia lifeline, George W. Bush, so the renowned play-by-play voice predictably struggled to answer the question. As Michaels scoured his brain, seemingly staggered by the question, Herbstreit finally gave away the answer, “Ben, Ben! That’s how long it’s been,” Herbstreit said.
“Oh yeah, Ben,” Michaels said.
But even though he wasn’t quick enough to answer Herbstreit’s question, he was witty enough to bounce back with a quip. “I thought it might have been Terry Bradshaw!” he said.
Interestingly, “the big man” happened to be watching the game on a live stream as part of his Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger podcast. And Roethlisberger didn’t seem too upset by Michaels’ inability to think of his name on the fly.
“Appreciate you Herbie, a little shoutout. Thanks buddy,” Roethlisberger said before getting a good laugh out of Michaels’ Terry Bradshaw joke. “Bradshaw, is that how long it’s been? Nice work!”
For all the Al Michaels critics out there, just to be clear, the iconic play-by-play voice didn’t really think the 27-year-old wide receiver’s playing career crossed passes with Bradshaw’s.
[Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger]
