'SNL' Perfectly Sums Up The Perverse Way The NFL Covers Injuries

It wouldn’t be an NFL weekend without an injury report the size of a novella featured at the bottom of every game recap and box score. And while there’s nothing humorous about the injuries themselves, "Saturday Night Live" took it upon itself over the weekend to point out and parody the way that football coverage seems to -- paradoxically -- both condemn and thrive on the types of breaks and tears we see on the gridiron every Sunday.

With all eyes turned to the league’s divisional playoff games this weekend, SNL used its Jan. 16 show to make a statement -- mocking up a skit in which a fake Al Michaels and a fake Cris Collinsworth are both horrified and enthralled by just such an injury. In the faux “Green Bay-Arizona” contest, the Packers’ top three quarterbacks are all hurt, paving the way for a fourth-string signal caller to check in and get hurt in a brutal fashion.

And despite saying they’ll never replay the footage of the injury again, fake Michaels and Collinsworth proceed to do that, over and over. And over again.

The broadcast’s reactions include:

• "Folks, this is one of the worst injuries I’ve seen in my 40-year career."
• "That’s just devastating. I think watching that made me sick."
• "Absolutely. No one should ever have to witness something that shocking. Let’s see it again."
• "I do pray for him, I do. Let me assure all the viewers at home that we aren’t going to subject you to that again -- from that angle -- this new angle is much better. This new angle makes me think this is CGI or something."
• "OH LORD, TAKE MY EYES. BLIND ME, LORD. OH HE’S DONE, HE’S DONE FOREVER."
• "Remember, the play is dead when the front of your knee touches the ground." "Sure, but what about the back of the knee?"

Considering that in the actual Packers-Cardinals matchup that night, marquee receiver Randall Cobb was indeed sent to the hospital, this skit was timely, to say the least.

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