Michaels was pretty critical of the officiating when calling our game with the Cowboys, and although he wasn't working for them, it might have put a scare into the execs at NBC. At 79 years old, he's kinda like a professor with tenure, doesn't feel the same threat from his superiors that a younger person might. He's not as protective of his career like a 40-year old might be.
Regardless, I've become very insulated to comments made by TV announcers, likely because I'm more preoccupied. On Sundays, I'll watch Red Zone, which cuts out the between play chatter of the announcers, and because I'm usually multi-tasking, messing around with my tablet as the game is going on or as I did last Monday night, watching both games simultaneously on two different devices. I don't find myself caring about the quality of announcers like I did in the days of Howard Cosell and Dennis Miller.