Sunday night, NBC will air the AFC East Division showdown between the New England Patiots and the New York Jets from the New Meadowlands in New Jersey. This will be for first place as both teams are 5-3 going into the game. The Jets have a bunch of momentum going into this contest while the Patriots have lost their last two. So many observers feel this is the time for the Jets to step up.
Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya will be on hand for the game broadcast. Bob Costas will host Football Night in America from the stadium and most likely leave before halftime so he can do his commentary from a warm 30 Rockefeller Center NBC Sports studio and wrap up the game from there. Earlier this season, that’s exactly what Costas did when SNF did a game from the New Meadowlands.
We’ll be watching to see if Costas pulls The Great Escape once again.
Here’s the press release from NBC.
A BATTLE FOR FIRST PLACE IN THE AFC EAST AS THE JETS HOST THE PATRIOTS ON “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”
COVERAGE BEGINS WITH FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA AT 7 PM ET
NEW YORK – November 9, 2011 – In what has become one of the fiercest rivalries in the NFL, Rex Ryan and his New York Jets (5-3) host Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots (5-3) in a battle for first place in the AFC East on Sunday Night Football.
Calling Patriots-Jets will be six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 26th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 12-time Emmy Award-winner Collinsworth, who won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst in both of his seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, in her first season on SNF.
Coverage begins Sunday with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET with 22-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas hosting the program live from inside New Meadowlands Stadium. Costas is joined on site by Michaels and Collinsworth for reaction to the afternoon games.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Alex Flanagan will report from Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on the Giants-49ers game.
ON JETS
Dungy: “The Jets are catching fire at the right time. They have the type of team that could give these Patriots a lot of problems. They’re running the ball well, they’ve got some explosive receivers, and they can bring a lot of different pressure on that New England offensive line.”
Harrison: “The Jets defense is starting to play with a lot more confidence. You look across-the-board they’re playing more man-to-man coverage, they’re disguising, they got outside linebackers dropping and covering, creating turnovers.”ON PATRIOTS
Harrison: “It’s tough right now because you can only play with the personnel that you have. Your offense can’t score 30 points a game. You can’t expect them to, especially now that it’s starting to get cold and the ball gets affected by the wind and the temperatures and everything outside.”
ON TOM BRADY
Dungy: “I think he’s pressing because he feels like he’s got to score a lot of points. I don’t know if he has the confidence in that defense the way he used to.”
Harrison: “He doesn’t.”
That will do it for the Sunday NFL previews.
