Best and worst from the Eagles-Giants telecast: Al Michaels’ slipup, Jaxson Skywalker, and more

What a bad night to be a sports fan in Philadelphia.

There’s really not much else to say. The Phillies got eliminated, the Eagles got beaten by the New York Giants for their second straight loss — not to mention the Flyers losing their season opener — just a brutal night.

“Right about now, there might be a run on Tums and Alka-Seltzer about 80 miles south of here,” Al Michaels said on Prime Video’s telecast of the Birds’ loss at MetLife Stadium.

“Between the Phillies out in LA and what’s happening right now,” Kirk Herbstreit added.

But if you skipped the first half of the Eagles game to watch the Phillies and want to catch up on what you missed from the telecast, we’ve got you covered.

» READ MORE: The Eagles are a mess, and things just might get worse | Mike Sielski

It’s not Thursday Night Football (or College GameDay, for that matter) without Kirk Herbstreit’s massive golden retriever.

Peter (the second of Herbstreit’s globe-trotting dogs, after his first, Ben, died last year) took to the field for warmups, hanging out with Cooper DeJean and a few of the Giants on the sidelines.

Play-by-play man Michaels is a legend. He’s been in the broadcasting game forever, and he’s had so many iconic calls.

But at what point can we tell the guy to hang it up? He doesn’t have anywhere near the same vision he once did. He also neglected to notice that Saquon Barkley was signed as a free agent, not traded to the Eagles.

“And then, the trade. The infamous deal. Off he went to Philadelphia, of all places.” Michaels said, before later recovering. “I said a trade; he signed as a free agent. The Giants only wish they’d gotten something for him.”

He again referred to it as a trade later in the telecast. Look, he’s not the only commentator to make mistakes — Tony Romo made tons of them last week. But Michaels is 80 years old and doesn’t have the enthusiasm he once did. Let’s get someone young like Noah Eagle in this spot.

That said, Michaels was correct when he said the penalty for taunting these days is way too severe.

“Taunting is a felony,” Michaels said. “Don’t you agree? It should be like 7 yards. Fifteen yards for taunting?”

» READ MORE: NFL’s taunting crackdown miffs some Eagles

Barkley was everywhere Thursday night except on the score sheet. Has there ever been an Eagles player to appear in more commercials? If you didn’t already know that Little Caesars has cheesesteak muffins, you know now.

Part of the reason Barkley was quiet (58 rushing yards) was, of course, the offensive line’s injuries, but the Eagles did emphasize the passing game. Jalen Hurts threw the ball around to A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert, but he also threw his first interception of the season.

» READ MORE: Grading the Eagles' loss to the Giants

“Last week, the first pass of the game was a pass to Brown, almost as if to assuage him,” Michaels said in the first quarter.

“Let’s get you the ball early, keep you happy, make sure everybody has what they need to settle into the game,” Herbstreit said.

Deep into the red zone in the second quarter, the Eagles ran four straight Tush Pushes, because of course they did, and scored a touchdown, because of course they did.

“The only way you stop it is to outlaw it, right?” Michaels said.

“If you’ve got Dexter Lawrence over the middle there and you can’t stop it?” Herbstreit added. “That’s the Broad Street Bullies right there.”

In high school, Jaxson Dart started doing one stripe of eye black in honor of Anakin Skywalker, who had a large scar on his eye in the final movie of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Michaels, on the other hand, isn’t a big fan of the franchise.

“Except for John Williams’ music, I’m not a Star Wars guy,” Michaels said, passing it off to Herbstreit to explain the connection.

Dart was the story of the night, with him and rookie running back Cam Skattebo bringing good vibes back to the Giants. After Dart got hurt in the third quarter, Brian Daboll and Skattebo tried to peek into the medical tent to get updates on how the quarterback was doing, and Skattebo had to be forcibly removed from the tent. According to sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung, Dart kept trying to peek out of the tent to get a look at how his teammates were doing.

Dart was back in the game on the next drive, though. Daboll knocked him right on the head after he got out of the tent, which feels ill-advised, but hey, it worked out.