Week 8 Television Coverage for the NFL and the Patriots
Be thankful for small favors, Pats Fans: no Dan Dierdorf next week. CBS will be assigning their top broadcast crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to announce the week eight game between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins. It is another early kickoff for the Pats, and the game will by far be reaching more homes than any other game on CBS this week.
There will be one game on CBS and two on FOX this week, with the exception of Boston, New Orleans, Kansas City and Cincinnati; those areas will only air one game on FOX due to NFL blackout rules. It is interesting to note that the number three broadcast team of Dick Stockton and Brian Billick get what is virtually a national early game, and the number two crew of Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston call a game with a much smaller audience.
Here is a preliminary look at what games will air throughout the United States; keep in mind that local stations do have the option to request a different game, so some of this information may change between today and Sunday.
Early Games on CBS
3-3 Miami Dolphins at 5-2 New England Patriots
Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
Available everywhere except as listed in the other CBS games below
3-4 Buffalo Bills at 5-1 New Orleans Saints
Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, western New York
3-4 Cleveland Browns at 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs
Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts
DC, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, New Mexico, Colrado, Wyoming, San Diego
Late Games on CBS
2-4 Pittsburgh Steelers at 2-4 Oakland Raiders
Marv Albert, Rich Gannon
Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, West Virginia, eastern Michigan, northern California, Houston, Reno
4-3 New York Jets at 5-2 Cincinnati Bengals
Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots
Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, eastern New York, northern New Jersey, Jacksonville
Early Games on FOX
No early game on FOX in blacked out Boston, Kansas City and New Orleans
4-3 Dallas Cowboys at 4-3 Detroit Lions
Dick Stockton, Brian Billick
Broadcast everywhere except as noted below in the two other early games on FOX
0-6 New York Giants at 3-4 Philadelphia Eagles
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston
New England (except for Boston), New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, DC
5-2 San Francisco 49ers vs 0-7 Jacksonville Jaguars in London
Chris Myers, Tim Ryan
Jacksonville and northern Florida, eastern Washington, northern California, Reno
Late Games on FOX
No late game on FOX in blacked out Cincinnati and San Francisco/Oakland
2-4 Atlanta Falcons at 3-4 Arizona Cardinals
Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch
Arizona, Georgia, Alabama
2-4 Washington Redskins at 6-1 Denver Broncos
Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikman
Broadcast everywhere else except as noted above
Night Games
Thursday: 3-3 Carolina Panthers at 0-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFLN; Brad Nessler Mike Mayock
Sunday: 4-2 Green Bay Packers at 1-4 Minnesota Vikings
NBC; Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Monday: 6-1 Seattle Seahawks at 3-4 St. Louis Rams
ESPN; Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden
A few other programming notes that may be of interest this week:
Tuesday Oct 22, 2:00-3:30 pm ET on NFLN
NFL Replay - New England Patriots at New York Jets If you can stomach it, this may be worth recording to watch later for an unemotional and objective analysis.
Tuesday Oct 22, 3:30-5:00 pm ET on NFLN
NFL Replay - Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts Similar to above, this is worth critiquing to assess possible vulnerabilities on either team.
Tuesday Oct 22, 7:00-8:00 pm on ESPN
E:60 - features a segment on Giants head coach Tom Coughlin; fortunately for him this was produced prior to the 2013 season. Repeats on Friday at 10:30 pm.
Tuesday Oct 22, 9:00-10:00 pm ET on NFLN
A Football Life - Pat Summerall The series honors the life of the legendary broadcaster with an in-depth look at his life and impact on the game of football.
Wednesday Oct 23, 8:00-midnight ET on FOX
World Series Game One - St. Louis Cardinals at Boston Red Sox
Wednesday Oct 23, 9:00-10:00 pm ET on NFLN
NFL Replay - Chicago Bears at Washington Redskins For those that don't care about baseball, here you go. A wild back and forth game that had five lead changes, 858 combined total yards of offense, 31 4th-quarter points, and a game winning score with 45 seconds left to play. Repeats at midnight.
Thursday Oct 24, 8:00-midnight ET on FOX
World Series Game Two - St. Louis Cardinals at Boston Red Sox
Friday Oct 25, 9:00-11:00 pm ET on NFLN
Playbook. This is a pretty decent X's and O's show, with the first hour dedicated to NFC teams and the second hour to the AFC. Repeats on Saturday at 11:00 am, 6:00 pm and midnight.
Saturday Oct 26, 8:30-9:00 am ET on ESPN
NFL Matchup. It's only a half hour and it's relegated to an obscure time slot, but this Greg-Cosell (NFL Films) produced X's and O's show is worth setting your DVR for; repeats Sunday on ESPN2 at 6:30 am.
Saturday Oct 26, 3:30-7:00 pm ET on FOX
College Football - #10 Texas Tech at #15 Oklahoma
Saturday Oct 26, 7:00-10:30 pm ET on ESPN
College Football - #12 UCLA at #3 Oregon
Saturday Oct 26, 7:00-10:30 pm ET on ESPN2
College Football - #21 South Carolina at #5 Missouri
Saturday Oct 26, 8:00-midnight ET on FOX
World Series Game Three - Boston Red Sox at St. Louis Cardinals
Saturday Oct 26, 10:00-11:00 pm ET on NFLN
A Football Life - Darrelle Revis. This focuses on his rehab from injury, so it may be interesting considering what has transpired in Tampa Bay this season.
Saturday Oct 26, 10:30 pm-2:00 am ET on ESPN
College Football - #6 Stanford at #25 Oregon State
Sunday Oct 27, 7:00-9:00 am ET on NFLN
NFL Game Day First. Not to be confused with their later pre-game show that features Warren Sapp, Michael Irvin, et al., this one is actually pretty good; unfortunately it is on so early it goes unnoticed.
Sunday Oct 27, 9:00 am-1:00 pm ET on CBS Sports Network
That Other Pre Game Show. If you're looking for an alternative to the blather of the more well know pre-game shows, you may want to give this one a try.
Sunday Oct 27, 8:15-midnight ET on FOX
World Series Game Four - Boston Red Sox at St. Louis Cardinals
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