The NFL’s doing something a little different on Christmas Day this year. The league will head somewhere new this time around, as both of its games — Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans — will be broadcast on Netflix. It’s a fascinating move to put a pair of marquee games on a streaming service by the league, which has dominated ratings for years, in no small part by putting almost all of its biggest games on network television.
Doing this meant that Netflix had to figure out the basics, like who was going to call these games. To do that, they turned to the Eagle family, as veteran broadcaster Ian Eagle will call Steelers-Chiefs and his son, Noah, will handle Ravens-Texans. It’s the latest marquee game that the 28-year-old Noah will call in his broadcasting career, as he is NBC’s lead for Big Ten football and called Olympic basketball this summer in Paris, this time with Greg Olsen alongside him and the duo of Jamie Erdhal and Steve Wyche on the sidelines.
Ahead of the game, Uproxx Sports sat down with the Eagle to discuss doing a game with a brand new crew, the matchup itself, Beyonce’s halftime show, talking about games with his dad, his nascent darts fandom, the best game he saw this year, and much more.
Just generally, how did you calling a game on Netflix come together?
I think that the NFL obviously made this deal with Netflix to have these two Christmas Day games and make it a global event, which I think the NFL has done a great job the last couple of years here of globalizing the sport even more. I think they’ve seen that basketball has had a legit impact around the world, and felt that football could do the same. And so, we’ve seen the international games really grow in popularity. I got to go in Brazil this year, and it was really impressive how many fans there actually are down in South America. And so I think, with that in mind, they wanted to make this easy for a global audience in that sense. So, that’s I would assume, from the NFL perspective.
And then for me, it was really just the Netflix people reaching out to my agent, and my agent coming to me and saying, is this something that you’re interested in? I said, yeah, I love the NFL, and it’s definitely a cool opportunity, and then we wanted to make sure that NBC was going to be okay with it, so went to them, made sure that we had clearance through them, they’ve been nothing but wonderful with any of this type of stuff with me, just allowing me to continue to grow and continue to get opportunities. So, a lot of credit to them for giving the okay, and then we move forward with it, and here we are.
Obviously, you and your dad calling games on the same day is nothing new, but is this the first time he’ll ever wrap up and kick it to a game that you’re going to be calling after he’s done?
I think so, yeah, I think so. We’ve had the moments where we’ve been on the call for the same game. So, back when I was in college, that was the first time it happened, when he was doing a Syracuse basketball game in Miami. And then when I was with the Clippers for four years, there were a number of times where he got a call of, whether it was Nets versus Clippers or a TNT game that I also was on the call for, including playoff games, which was always really cool when we’re in the building. He actually was there for the last game I ever called as the voice of the Clippers, he was doing it for TNT. So, just random when stuff like that works out. And then the craziest one so far, up until this one, was last year. I got to do the Texans and Browns Wild Card game with Todd and my college football crew on NBC, and he happened to get that game on Westwood One radio. So we’ve had a couple where we’ve linked up like that, but nothing quite like this.
What’s it like when one of you is calling a game and the other one’s done with whatever they’re doing? Is your phone lighting up with text from the other? Is it taking notes for a postgame debriefing? Or has it gotten to the point where it’s just like, alright, you’re both kicking your feet up, just watching the game, and it’s cool that he’s calling a game but you’re not focusing on it.
Bill, I hear enough of his voice. Why do I need to listen to him more in a much more produced way? [laughs]
No, it’s cool. I mean, it was funny, because I think it’s like any kid, when, let’s say your parent is a doctor or a lawyer or whatever they might be, it’s normal to you. If it’s a lawyer, then you’re used to a courtroom. It’s not abnormal in any way. It’s not strange. If it’s a doctor, you’re used to an operating room or the waiting room, whatever it might be. For me, it was just always normal that he was on TV. That was almost an expectation at a very young age, because he’s been doing it my whole life, and so it’s the same, even if we do games on the same day. I mean, even this past weekend, I had a game on a Saturday, he had a game on a Sunday, and we made sure to watch one another as much as we could. I know he had meetings at one point during my game, but when those were done, I think he popped on our game in the third quarter and watched the rest of the way. And same deal when it’s reversed.
So, yeah, I think we always check out, and then we always chat about, it’s less about what was said or how we did anything. It’s more just about our crews and our partners and catching up about what’s going on in their lives and little things that might have happened, or talking to the players and coaches and some funny comment they made. It’s things like that that’s the real conversation starter.
Is this going to be your first time doing a game with Greg and with Jamie?
Yes.
All three of you, you have a ton going on in general — you’re all good at your jobs, you’re all pros. But what’s the process like of getting on the same page with a new cast of characters ahead of a marquee game, even regardless of the fact that it’s a short turnaround from Saturday and Sunday this week?
Yeah, and we take it a step further, and this happened to me a couple years ago, but we’ve got the two sideline reporters. We’ve got Steve Wyche NFL Network, and so with all of us — two years ago, I did the Vikings and Colts game on NFL Network, and we had, it was me and Nate Burleson. And fortunately, at that point, I had done some Nickelodeon with Nate, so I kind of had the vibe and we knew each other and had gotten to know just our own tendencies, but we had Lindsay Czarniak and Tom Pelissero, who I’d never worked with. And so it was just quick, and similarly, we were all in season. We all had our other jobs. And so it was a quick hey, hit the ground running, and just good luck, it’s a one off, have fun, and it went really well.
And so what I learned from that is, whatever limited time you do have together, really take advantage of it. And it’s like anything else in life when you get to meet somebody — and I’ve known Jamie, I’ve chatted with her before, and I’ve met Greg before and had interactions with him, and same with Steve. And so it’s not like it’s the first time I’m ever meeting all of these people. And same with our producer, Craig Silver, who I’ve known for a long time. So, I think having some semblance of a personal relationship is already going to help. And then for us, we just did our calls with the teams, and so already now we’re joking around and getting a feel for personalities. By the time we’ll get there, Greg has mandated for all of us that we do some kind of drink the night before the game, all of us together. He said, Noah, you’re buying, I said, okay, I get it, I’m the youngest, cool, no problem, I will assume the role, I’ll be ready to rock. But I think that type of stuff is important, and just trying to cram everything into a small period for what should be a fantastic couple of hours, and NRG Stadium is going to be great.
And on those fantastic couple of hours, what’s the thing that excites you most about this game between the Ravens and the Texans.
Outside of Beyonce at halftime, you’re saying?
Yeah, I will obviously note that you said that first.
[laughs] The game itself is awesome. I think that in the NFL, anytime you get elite quarterbacks, you have a chance to have just a fun game, because those guys make plays. And Lamar Jackson, right now, is playing as well as anybody in the league. He’s coming off an MVP season, and you could argue he’s playing even better this season than he did last, which is saying a lot, because, I mean, we’ve seen things out of him that we’ve never seen on a football field before. And for CJ Stroud, I mean, he took the league and the football world by storm last year with his rookie season, and while his numbers haven’t necessarily been as gaudy, he still is a playmaker. Even last week in a loss to the Chiefs, there were a couple throws that made you kind of take a step back and say, what did I just watch? And so knowing you have two guys that control so much of the game, and can do that at any given moment is massive.
And then you’ve got two teams that believed coming into the season they were going to compete for Super Bowl. They’re going to have that opportunity. Both are playoff teams already, one a division winner and one competing to win their division. So there’s still a lot at stake in terms of seeding and trying to maintain, potentially for the Ravens, a home game in the playoffs, and for the Texans, trying to improve their path all the way through. But the reason you know that both believe they can compete for a Super Bowl coming into the season is what they did in terms of moves for their team. Both of them brought in marquee running backs who were willing to pay for them, Joe Mixon on one side and Derrick Henry on the other side. And then Stefon Diggs, who, of course, got injured early this season, you bring him in — that was telling with the Houston Texans along with Danielle Hunter saying, hey, this is a team that we think can win a Super Bowl right now. And even though they’re pretty injured in some respects, they still have so much depth and talent that they can beat literally anyone on any given day. And for the Ravens, it feels like they’re playing their best football on both sides of the ball right now. And so anytime you get to be a part of that and get to see it up close, it’s going to be a fun day.
You packed in a lot over this over this year. Just for you personally, what’s this year been like between you have football, and you have basketball, and you have tennis, and you have the Olympics — for all I know you’re going to show up at the darts next and start calling the darts — and all these other things that you have going on right now?
Dude, don’t joke about the darts. I watch videos, I want to go badly.
It is the best $10 I spend every year, getting DAZN so I can watch.
Oh, have you been?
I’ve never been, but I watch it every single year.
It’s so awesome. Like, the energy in the place is unreal. I would love to go. So, that’s a separate thing, I was just telling my crew about that the other day and showing them some of the clips that recently came out. I’m like, this is amazing!
But yeah, to answer the question, I don’t know if I’ve really given myself the proper time to reflect on everything from this year yet. I think probably by the time basketball season ends, and I really have some time to sit and think back on everything, I’ll really look at it and just think back to each aspect and each step. I really look at it from when I joined NBC, which was in August of 2023, and the first assignment I got with them was to fly out in less than 24 hours notice to Dublin from L.A. to do a Notre Dame game. And so from that moment on, it just feels like it’s been this constant, what’s next, what’s going to pop up, and unknown, which I love. I mean, that’s why I think any of us get into this, is because not every day is going to be the same. In fact, there will be no two days that are the same. Everything is going to find some way to be different, and I really think I’ve embraced that this year, I’ve embraced whatever challenges come with it, and I’ve enjoyed it all. I mean, it’s been a blast, how could you not?
This is really what I got into this for, was to do marquee events. And I’ve really been blessed this year to do a lot of that, whether it’s the NFL playoffs, whether it was a Super Bowl on Nickelodeon, whether it’s now Netflix and being a part of this first-ever streaming extravaganza. And then, as you mentioned, doing Roland Garros and the Olympics, and trying and failing to learn French over 40 days in Paris, and doing Big Ten games, probably what I think is the game of the year in college football. It’s been really, really cool. So, I don’t take any of it for granted, I really try to soak up every moment best I can in the moment, but when the time comes, I’ll try to reflect on all of it.
My final two questions, I’m gonna ask for a tiny bit of reflection. What was your favorite call of yours that you made in 2024, whether it was something that was spontaneous or whether it was something that you maybe thought and planned out a little bit, but you didn’t know for sure if you were gonna get to use it and the moment popped up?
I think I would have to say the Steph Curry three [against France in the Olympic gold medal game]. I said golden dagger, and that was not … a lot of people asked if I had planned that one ahead of time. In all honesty, I didn’t. It came into my head the beginning of the position, and I got really lucky that it seemed to resonate. You just don’t really know, in those moments, what will resonate with people, and it seemed like that one did. So, it would be hard to say anything else because of the magnitude of the moment. I’ll never forget the feeling — that shot, Dwyane Wade basically giving me a piggyback ride, or really me giving him one, I should say, as he jumped on my back as I made the call. LaChina Robinson was with us, who was doing the women, and she was right behind us, and like, the whole game, she was trying not to be a fan, and that shot literally made her jump up and down. So, it was just pandemonium, and it’s a moment that I think will live in my brain forever. So it’d be hard not to say that one, but like I said, I was really lucky to have a lot of amazing moments, and a lot from the Olympics, from Roland Garros, getting to see Carlos Alcaraz win his first French Open title was really cool. But that one would be hard to top.
And it’s not like you can plan, oh, Steph Curry is going to go supernova in the craziest ending to a basketball game you’re going to see.
Yeah. I mean, if you could guess it would be anybody, I guess he would be a good bet to place. But yes, I had, especially with the way he started the tournament, we had no idea.
And then my last question, I have a hunch, but what was the best game that you called this year across every sport?
It’s probably really close between the the semi-final game with the U.S. and Serbia, which was the crazy comeback. It would be hard to say anything else, although, really, any of the three games for the Olympics, between that, the gold medal men’s game, and gold medal women’s game, were all phenomenal. But the the other one I think would be Oregon and Ohio State. I mean, comes down to last play and Will Howard slides down, time runs out. So I think it would probably be between the semi-final and that. I’d probably give the edge to the semi-final, just given the stakes and given the history behind it, but man, that Oregon-Ohio State game, that’s another one that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. So, pretty cool to be on the call, that was my first time at Autzen Stadium, too, and experience that was pretty amazing. But yeah, I think the edge probably still goes to the Olympics.
Yeah, that’s maybe the best basketball game I’ve watched in my entire life. So I had a hunch.
The crazy thing is, I talked to my dad after all of those games, the last three and he was like, yeah, really, awesome. I’m like, oh, thanks. He goes, you could call basketball for 40 years, you’re never getting games like that again, so hopefully you enjoyed it. I’m like, thanks, I appreciate it. But he’s not wrong. He’s spot on.
He’s called a few pretty good games in his day. Still, you get to say that you did it, and he got to watch you do it. So, that’s pretty cool.
Yeah, no doubt.