Former Cincinnati Bengals receiver Cris Collinsworth commemorated his 500th career broadcast during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Los Angeles Rams game on Sunday Night Football, and NBC brought back the “Collinsworth slide” for the occasion.
The NFL’s official Twitter/X account shared video of the slide as Collinsworth was introduced by play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico just before the game started.
Collinsworth appeared on former Bengals Ruler of the Jungle Kay Adams’ “Up & Adams” show in 2022 and explained that the slide went away because his partner in the broadcast booth, Tirico, doesn’t do an opening monologue.
“What am I gonna do? It’s like, I’m sitting there. I could lean out, and then – but it’d just be like stupid. So what do you do?” Collinsworth said to Adams, before suggesting that the slide could make a return.
Collinsworth tweeted video in March 2022 of his slide with long-time broadcast partner and former Reds radio play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, with the caption, “One final time with the greatest of all time!”
Michaels and Collinsworth were in NBC’s broadcast booth in Feb. 2022 for Super Bowl 56 between the Bengals and Rams.
Collinsworth, 66, was a three-time Pro Bowler for the Bengals who spent his entire NFL career (1981-88) with Cincinnati. He started at NBC shortly after his playing career ended.
Collinsworth started working with his son, Jac – a former Highlands High School football player and University of Notre Dame graduate – in 2020 when Jac left ESPN for NBC Sports.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘Collinsworth slide’ returns for former Bengals WR’s 500th broadcast
Reporting by Dave Clark, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
