NBC Sports analyst Rodney Harrison explained his viral moment on the “Sunday Night Football” pregame show when he froze up on the air.
Harrison sparked concern when he was caught off-guard by a question about how to best attack the Washington Commanders’ defense. After getting the question clarified, he stumbled through a brief answer before cutting himself off.
Is Rodney Harrison okay? pic.twitter.com/FDVytInkKL
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) December 1, 2025
Some viewers expressed concern for Harrison and even feared he had suffered some sort of health episode. The former NFL safety said that was not the case, however, and chalked up his stumbles to just being exhausted.
“I was exhausted working on a few hours of sleep watching my son play Saturday night. I had 3 hours of sleep on Sunday and had to work all day,” Harrison said via text to Karen Guregian of MassLive. “I was suffering from exhaustion. But I’m good.”
Harrison’s son Christian is a safety for the Cincinnati Bearcats. They played TCU in Fort Worth, Tex. on Saturday night, with Harrison in attendance.
Harrison, 52, has been part of NBC’s Sunday pregame since he retired in 2009. He has garnered some attention for arguably being too tough on certain players, but he had some people worried here.
