During the recent Thursday Night Football match between the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders, legendary broadcaster Al Michaels voiced his discontent with the performance of Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw. Crawshaw”s struggles were evident as he failed to help his team gain any momentum against the Raiders.
In a particularly painful moment during the game, Crawshaw misplayed his third punt, resulting in a hang time of only 1.56 seconds. Michaels, who joined Amazon Prime”s coverage of Thursday Night Football in 2022, reacted with a visible “ugh” when witnessing the replay of the poorly executed kick. His candid response resonated with many fans who were watching the game.
Throughout the first half, Crawshaw had four punting attempts but did not manage to place any inside the Raiders” 20-yard line. His longest kick was 51 yards, but his average was a disappointing 38.8 yards due to various mistakes. In addition, he dropped the ball before another punt, and one of his kicks went directly out of bounds, marking a truly challenging start.
In stark contrast, Raiders punter AJ Cole excelled, delivering exceptional punts and pinning the Broncos at their own one-yard line on two occasions. Fans took to social media to point out the disparity, with one remarking, “AJ Cole is having the best punting game of all time in the same game Jeremy Crawshaw is having the worst game of all time.” Another fan humorously noted, “AJ Cole vs. Jeremy Crawshaw isn”t a fair fight. This shouldn”t be televised. It”s too graphic. Brutal.”
Criticism for Crawshaw continued as one viewer stated, “That”s one of the worst-looking punts I”ve seen in my life.” After his fourth punt, which boasted just 3.88 seconds of hang time and went straight out of bounds, he faced boos from the crowd. The situation felt reminiscent of preseason performances, with a net punting average of 38 yards.
Crawshaw, who was the only punter selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, had previously garnered attention for his impressive college career at Florida. Originally hailing from Australia, he gained recognition after his time at Nathan Chapman”s ProKick Australia academy.
As the season progresses, it remains to be seen how Crawshaw will respond to this challenging outing and whether he can improve his performance in upcoming games.
