Kevin Harlan went viral on Sunday, but it wasn’t for what you might think.
The NFL on CBS play-by-play extraordinaire is known for his versatility and electrifying calls, but Sunday’s moment even caught people’s attention like Lane Kiffin. While calling the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, the network cut to an in-studio update.
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) September 16, 2024
With Nate Burleson unable to hear anything, Harlan quickly stepped in. The clip below shows Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley making an incredible catch on a Will Levis pass to tie their Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets at 17.
Although initially behind the action and unsure of who had possession, Harlan expertly pieced it together in real time.
Kevin Harlan kicked it to Nate Burleson for a studio update. Burleson couldn’t hear.
So Harlan did the update himself, impressing Trent Green.
“You have called two games at one time. And now you’ve called a studio and a game at the same time.” pic.twitter.com/Pj3Dxvfc5C
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
On Monday, Harlan appeared on Outkick’s Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich and spoke about the viral moment. He hasn’t actually seen the clip in question and isn’t sure how it’s being portrayed, joking that he’s almost afraid to look, before walking Dakich and those at home what transpired during Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET slate on CBS.
“When we throw it to the studio in New York for an update, it gives me usually about 10 seconds where I can see what the substitutions are after the play that’s just happened while they have it, and I can start to figure out, ‘Okay, who’s in the game now? What’s the situation where you know what’s going on?'” Harlan said.
“I never pay attention to those things and literally only listen to about the last sentence the guy says,” he said. “Whether it’s Nate Burleson, who was on with us yesterday doing updates, or James Brown or Bill Cowher, or whoever it is. We then try to play off of that…something generic that can kind of link the two reports and show some synergy with our broadcast.
“Yesterday, I go, ‘Let’s go to Nate Burleson in New York in our CBS studios,’ and then I immediately start looking for notes and what am I going to talk about next? And thinking about what Trent Green, who played at Indiana, by the way, is saying, wants to say, where he wants to go with the next segment when we get it back.
“Now, I can hear that they’ve got technical problems and we have a small monitor on the floor that occasionally will back up and look at if there’s an important play coming up or whatever. And I didn’t do any of that. I wasn’t really listening. I just heard him kind of saying, ‘Uh oh, hey, I can’t hear anything.’ I think that’s what he said. Then there was just blank, and I thought, ‘I hear you. Let’s go.’
“Then I’m leaning back, and I don’t even know what game he’s doing. I don’t know what update he’s doing. I don’t know the teams he’s going to talk about. I don’t know what’s going on with the game. And literally I’m in my chair just like this and back up and catch this ball in mid-flight. I see at the bottom it’s caption Jets and Titans, so it’s Aaron Rodgers, and I really don’t even know what I said, but my daughters, who monitor things like that for me, said that there’s been a lot of talk about it.”
Harlan’s quick thinking and ability to roll with the punches only further his place as a fan favorite and one of the best announcers CBS (and the NFL) has to offer. Let’s hope there are no more technical difficulties this season, but if there are, you know Harlan will be ready for anything.
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.