“THE NFL ON CBS”
CONTINUES AFC PLAYOFF COVERAGE WITH
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAMES – DENVER vs. NEW ENGLAND ON
SATURDAY, JAN. 14; AND HOUSTON vs. BALTIMORE ON SUNDAY, JAN.
15
AUDIBLES WITH “NFL ON CBS” LEAD ANALYST PHIL SIMMS AND
DAN DIERDORF
THE
NFL ON CBS, continues its 52nd year broadcasting the NFL with
coverage of the 2012 American Football Conference Playoffs with the national
broadcasts of AFC Divisional Playoff games on Saturday, Jan. 14 (8:00 PM,
ET) and Sunday, Jan. 15 (1:00 PM, ET) live on the CBS Television
Network. The AFC West Champions and
No. 4-seeded DENVER BRONCOS (9-8) travel to play the AFC East
Champions and No. 1-seeded NEW ENGLAND
PATRIOTS (13-3) on Saturday night, while the AFC South Champions and No. 3-seeded HOUSTON TEXANS (11-6)
visit the AFC North Champions and No.
2-seeded BALTIMORE RAVENS (12-4)
on Sunday afternoon.
THE NFL ON CBS’s coverage begins with THE NFL TODAY, the Network’s studio
show (7:30 PM, ET) and (12:00 Noon, ET), respectively, live from the
CBS Broadcast Center in New
York City.
THE NFL ON CBS lead announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms call the action live from
Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. on Saturday night. Lance Barrow is the coordinating
producer and lead game producer and Mike
Arnold is the lead game director.
Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf call the action live from
M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.
on Sunday. Mark Wolff is the producer and Bob Fishman is the director.
Sean
McManus is Chairman, CBS Sports, and serves as executive producer of CBS
Sports’ coverage of THE NFL ON CBS.
Harold Bryant is Executive
Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
* * * * *
PHIL SIMMS
(On
Denver-New England): Rematches that happen
in the NFL always intrigue me, especially when talking about good football teams
that played each other not long ago.
I saw a lot of plays the Denver
Broncos run every single week, but they gave them a little twist this past
weekend against the Steelers. When
you see it in a game, you know that the other team is prepared for the original
play. When you give it that twist,
you see what it does. Can the other team adjust or does it turn into something
big?
There were probably three plays in the
Broncos-Steelers game that turned out to be big. So the Broncos’ preparation, new
thinking, and a new twist to an old play were the difference in the game. We are going to see new twists with two
staffs that come up with a lot of different ideas on both sides of the
ball. I am spending most of my week
watching their last game so that when it does happen, I will know why they did a
certain thing. That intrigues me
more than anything.
The Broncos and Patriots defenses could play much
better than we think, because they will be able to stop the bread-and-butter
plays from the other team’s offense.
There is something to the one less day for the Denver Broncos, traveling,
and the Patriots get the extra time and preparation and rest. Also, the Patriots have lost their last
two playoff home games. I am not
going to under-sell that fact at all.
How much do you think that has been talked about in New England between the organization, players and
staff? To me, those are big
things. Their emotional level has
to be incredibly high because of the previous two years, and the fact that all
anybody talks about is their bad defense.
They don’t even talk about Tom
Brady. Then you have the
Broncos and Tim Tebow, and we have some storm
brewing.
DAN DIERDORF
(On
Baltimore): The last several times that Baltimore has been in the
playoffs they’ve been eliminated by either Pittsburgh or Indianapolis. They are gone. Baltimore has a confidence that with who
remains really sets up well for them.
They are the team that can win this game and go into New England
and beat the Patriots, if that is what has to be done.
(On
Houston): Congratulations to the Texans for making the playoffs for the
first time ever and winning a playoff game, but they are in for a rude
awakening. It is one thing to beat
Cincinnati at home, and
quite another to go to Baltimore and
play a rested, extremely balanced football team.
(On
playing in Baltimore): M&T Stadium in Baltimore is becoming like
Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City – an
unbelievably loud outdoor stadium.
Arrowhead was the only outdoor stadium that I thought could really rival
a dome in terms of the sheer ferocity of the crowd with the noise almost
becoming a physical thing. But
M&T is really joining Arrowhead in that regard.
(On
Houston-Baltimore): The quarterbacks are always the starting point in a
playoff game like this. Joe Flacco has more playoff starts than
T.J. Yates has total starts. That is a big deal and is a huge, huge
advantage for Baltimore. T.J. Yates has been impressive. He’s done well. But this is going to be unlike anything
he’s ever seen before. He didn’t
experience anything at North Carolina that is
quite going to prepare him for what he’s about to see Sunday afternoon in
Baltimore.
Houston has a
puncher’s chance because of their ability to run the football and play
defense. But running the ball
against Cincinnati is different than
running the ball against Baltimore in Baltimore. If they’re able to run the ball against
Baltimore, they
will have a chance.
* * * * *
AFC
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAME #1 – Saturday, Jan. 14
8:00 PM, ET
starts:
Denver @
New England
Jim Nantz/Phil Simms
AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF GAME #2 – Sunday, Jan.
15
1:00 PM, ET start:
Houston @
Baltimore
Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Sunday, Jan.
22
3:00 PM, ET
start:
TBD
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