Rodney Harrison’s Strange On-Air Moment Had Fans Worried — Here’s What Really Happened
NFL analysts says he was working with just three hours of sleep after watching his son play college football on Saturday
NBC analyst Rodney Harrison had NFL fans doing double-takes Sunday night after an odd on-air moment that quickly lit up social media.
During the Football Night in America pregame show before the Broncos and Commanders kicked off, Jac Collinsworth asked Harrison how Denver should attack Washington’s defense. Harrison started to answer, paused, lost the thread completely, and apologized a couple of times while trying to reset.
It didn’t take long for people online to start speculating.
Some were genuinely concerned, wondering whether something serious had happened. Others went the lighter route, comparing it to that familiar moment when you walk into the kitchen and immediately forget why you’re there. A few blamed the chilly Maryland weather — low 30s will scramble anyone’s focus — while others joked that maybe a producer was chirping too much in his earpiece.
On Monday, Harrison cleared everything up. No drama, no health scare — just the reality of being a dad with a fall schedule that looks like someone spilled coffee on a calendar.
"I was exhausted working on a few hours of sleep watching my son play Saturday night," he told Karen Guregian of MassLive. "I had 3 hours of sleep on Sunday and had to work all day. I was suffering from exhaustion. But I’m good."
Rodney Harrison travels frequently during football season, watching his two sons playing in college and broadcasting from different locations around the country for Sunday Night Football. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Harrison’s travel routine would flatten most human beings. His oldest son, Christian, plays safety at Cincinnati — a hard-hitting defender very much cut from the family mold. The Bearcats were in Fort Worth on Saturday to face TCU, and Harrison made the trip like he always does.
His younger son, R.J., is a cornerback at Wofford, which adds another full slate of games and flights to juggle. Harrison spends most autumn weekends zig-zagging across the country trying to catch both kids’ games before hustling back to wherever NBC needs him on Sunday.
So by the time he reached NBC's pregame show in Washington, running on fumes after a late-night game and long travel day, a brief on-air brain freeze probably shouldn’t have surprised anyone.
Harrison bounced back, finished the broadcast smoothly, and the game itself turned into a wild one — Denver edged Washington 27–26 in overtime to stretch its win streak to nine.
In the end, nothing alarming at all. Just a tired father trying to be everywhere at once, and occasionally proving he’s human like the rest of us.