THE NFL ON CBS: WEEK 15 (SUNDAY, DEC. 20)
AUDIBLES WITH “NFL ON CBS” ANALYST DAN DIERDORF AND “NFL TODAY” ANALYST BOOMER ESIASON
The CBS Television Network, home of Super Bowl XLIV, continues its Golden Anniversary 50th year broadcasting the NFL with THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Dec. 20 (1:00-7:00 PM, ET) beginning with THE NFL TODAY, the Network’s one-hour studio show (12:00 NOON-1:00 PM, ET), live from THE NFL TODAY studio in New York City.
THE NFL ON CBS lead announce team of Jim Nantz, who this year is marking his 25th with CBS Sports, and Phil Simms call the action from the Cincinnati Bengals-San Diego Chargers game live from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif. Lance Barrow is the coordinating producer and lead game producer and Mike Arnold is the lead game director.
Throughout the 2009 season, THE NFL ON CBS will broadcast all of its games each week in HDTV, the highest definition television format – 1080i lines of picture resolution – along with 5.1 digital audio.
Sean McManus is President, CBS News and Sports, and serves as executive producer of CBS Sports’ coverage of THE NFL ON CBS. Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
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DAN DIERDORF
(On New England-Buffalo): You look at this match-up and see a quarterback in Ryan Fitzpatrick, making only his seventh start ever in the NFL; a Buffalo team with a losing record and that New England has dominated historically, and you say, ‘This is pretty much a mail it in game.’ But factor in that the New England Patriots have been a little up and down; they’ve only won one game on the road; and the game is in Buffalo, a hard place to win with the wind and the cold, a game that looks like it might be a no-brainer could end up being anything but. The conditions could be less than favorable for throwing the football and New England is a passing team.
(On Buffalo): There are some teams in this league that just aren’t competitive. Maybe once or twice a year they can muster it up, but the Bills certainly don’t fall into that category. The Bills are 5-8 but the first time that these two teams played, opening weekend in New England, it was a 25-24 ballgame. This is a much better Buffalo team than some of the bottom dwellers. They only lost to Jacksonville, 18-15. They lost to the Jets, 19-13. This is not a bad football team. It’s a team with a losing record, but this team is far from being an embarrassment.
(On weather conditions being a factor):
It’s the middle of December in Buffalo. I don’t need to say much more than that. It could be wild. It’s going to be frosty. I think the temperature is going to be somewhere in the 20s. And as we know in Buffalo, the wind will probably be blowing. Who knows what might happen. The Bills are the worst run defending team in the NFL but it will be interesting to see if New England can take advantage of that because New England is not a strong running team. They are middle of the road. They’re just not a ‘pound it at you’-type football team. They are a pass first offense. It will be interesting to see if New England is capable of taking advantage of that match-up that they have.
BOOMER ESIASON
(On Cincinnati-San Diego): The big question for the Cincinnati Bengals—can they once again find the strength, in unity, as one of their family has passed away? They did it already once this year versus Baltimore when Mike Zimmer, the defensive coordinator, lost his wife. His defensive unit probably played their best game. What will be telling here will be whether or not the Bengals come out and play an inspired first quarter? It would be understandable if they came out flat after dealing with the death of a teammate. They’re going against a team in my estimation that is presently playing the best overall football in the AFC, the San Diego Chargers.
(On Dallas Cowboys “December Swoons”): The pressure is building in Dallas because they have to continually answer questions about the December swoons they have gone through. Because of that, there isn’t a team in the league that is feeling more pressure than the Dallas Cowboys and Wade Phillips right now. Tony Romo sometimes gets unfair criticism because it’s not his fault his team has not won the games the last few weeks. They’ve blown assignments and made bad plays during the most important times of these games the last couple of weeks. Tony has actually played reasonably well during all of this.
(On Miami-Tennessee): Chad Henne is definitely starting to make people believe. He can win tough road games like he did last week. The wildcat offense has all but disappeared from the Miami Dolphins’ offense. And the reason being is because obviously Ronnie Brown is not there, but also because now Chad Henne has definitely solidified himself as a quarterback, not only for the present time but for the future of the Miami Dolphins. He’s really impressed. Tennessee’s situation is that they’re not out of it, and they don’t believe that they’re out of it. Really the bigger picture for them is whether or not Chris Johnson can get the 2,000 yards. That’s really the ultimate motivation right now for the Tennessee Titans. He is a fantastic football player. He is one of the top five football players in all of the NFL. It would be a real crowning achievement if he can get over 2,000 yards. Right now from the standpoint of motivation for the Tennessee Titans, although they’ll hold out hope for the playoffs, it’s a great opportunity for Chris Johnson to continue his unbelievable season.
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TRIP IN THE NFL ON CBS WAY BACK MACHINE…
In commemoration of THE NFL ON CBS celebrating its 50th year broadcasting the NFL, footage from historic highlights will be featured during each game. Included among the clips this week during the Miami-Tennessee game is a highlight from when Titans K Rob Bironas booted an NFL-record eight field goals in a 38-36 win over the Houston Texans on October 21, 2007.
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Following are THE NFL ON CBS assignments for Week 15 and Week 16 (subject to change).
WEEK 15 – Dec. 20
GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
1:00 PM, ET starts:
●New England @ Buffalo Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman
●Miami @ Tennessee Dick Enberg/Dan Fouts Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith
●Houston @ St. Louis Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley
●Cleveland @ Kansas City Ian Eagle/Rich Gannon Ken Mack/Andy Goldberg
4:00 PM, ET starts:
●Oakland @ Denver Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker Victor Frank/Mark Grant
●Cincinnati @ San Diego Jim Nantz/Phil Simms Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold
WEEK 16 – Dec. 27 – CBS DOUBLEHEADER
GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR
1:00 PM, ET starts:
●Baltimore @ Pittsburgh Dick Enberg/Dan Fouts Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith
●Buffalo @ Atlanta Bill Macatee/Steve Beuerlein Ross Schneiderman/Chris Svendsen
●Houston @ Miami Ian Eagle/Rich Gannon Ken Mack/Andy Goldberg
●Jacksonville @ N. England Kevin Harlan/Solomon Wilcots Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley
●Kansas City @ Cincinnati Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker Victor Frank/Mark Grant
●Oakland @ Cleveland Don Criqui/Randy Cross Steve Scheer/Jim Cornell
4:15 PM, ET starts:
●N.Y. Jets @ Indianapolis TBD
●Denver @ Philadelphia TBD
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