The 2026 season opened with a Super Bowl rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots on NBC Wednesday night. The broadcast also marked Mike Tomlin’s regular season broadcast debut.
Previewing the game on the “Football Night in America” pregame show, Tomlin made a rookie mistake as he mixed up the order of wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and called him “JNS” multiple times. Host Maria Taylor had to step in an correct him.
“JSN. I’m not gonna let you do it again,” Taylor interjected. “I’m not gonna let you do it again. JSN.”
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Maria Taylor correcting Mike Tomlin after repeatedly calling JSN, JNS. 🤣 — Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot)While many people would have been embarrassed, Tomlin was unaffected. And once he understood what she meant they shared a laugh. You would think it had been a while since Tomlin was corrected by someone so definitively at work. Of course, he did coach Aaron Rodgers last season so that’s probably not true.
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As for Tomlin’s prediction that “Sam man” and “JNS” would have a big affect on the game, that didn’t work out either. in the first quarter. Smith-Njigba had five catches through three quarters, but the Seahawks punted on five of their first six drives with the other one ending when time ran out in the first half.
So Tomlin obviously wasn’t the only one still figuring out early in the season.
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