NBC to change up broadcast crew for holiday

NEW YORK — NBC will use studio hosts Mike Tirico for play-byplay and Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison for analysis on its American Thanksgiving night telecast Thursday, Nov. 22, of the Falcons game at New Orleans.

They will replace the usual duo of Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels.

Tirico, of course, is a veteran of play-by-play and does Notre Dame football games for the network. Dungy, a Pro Football Hall of Famer as a coach, will be working his third game in a broadcast booth. He did two December 2016 matches: DolphinsJets on a Saturday night, and a Christmas afternoon game between the Ravens and Steelers. Those games were produced by NBC and televised on NFL Network.

It will be Harrison’s debut in the booth.

Michele Tafoya will continue her sideline reporter’s role.

The opening to “Sunday Night Football” also will change on Thanksgiving. Rather than the usual Carrie Underwood performance, New Orleans-based master chef Emeril Lagasse and voodoo rocker Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews will headline the opening.

Set at Emeril’s New Orleans, the special show opening will feature Lagasse setting the table by creating NFL-themed fare for a Thanksgiving feast. As dinner is being prepared, Trombone Shorty will play his distinctive brand of New Orleans street music, capped by his own rendition of the SNF theme song.