The broadcast of the Bengals-Ravens game on “Sunday Night Football” made for a unique outing in Cris Collinsworth’s tenure.

As the AFC North matchup got underway in Baltimore, the “Collinsworth slide” — a move made famous in years past, when cameras would expand to Collinsworth after a solo shot of former NBC play-by-play announcer, Al Michaels — was nowhere in sight. Although the “slide” briefly appeared in Week 4, Mike Tirico, who replaced Michaels in the booth this year, explained in the lead-up to Sunday’s game why he’s a proponent of a different approach.

“Here’s the deal: I prefer opening the broadcast on the two-shot because it gives Cris 30 more seconds to talk about the game,” Tirico said in a recent interview with Glenn Clark, according to Larry Brown Sports.

Tirico later added, “In an earlier time, I thought the 30 seconds to set up the matchup was significant. In 2022, everybody pretty much knows the story of the teams on a national level, so I don’t think you need that.”

The slide wasn’t the only thing missing in action on Sunday, however, as Collinsworth also misplaced his telestrator pen in the second half of the game.

“Hey! Down there, can you get me Cris’ pen that he threw?” Tirico could be heard saying at the end of the third quarter, per Awful Announcing.

Collinsworth, who initially thought the pen landed in a fan’s hair, was later reunited with the piece, only to give it to the supporter originally in the crosshairs. The veteran broadcaster signed off from the Ravens’ 19-17 win with a playful warning to the folks planning to attend next week’s Eagles game in Philadelphia.

“I’ll be throwing stuff out in Philadelphia, too,” Collinsworth remarked.

The undefeated Eagles will host the Cowboys in an NFC East matchup this coming Sunday.