On Sunday, CBS airs the AFC Championship Game live from Denver, CO. Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson will be at new Mile High Stadium to call and report from the game.
The NFL Today with James Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe and its insider Jason La Canfora will be at CBS World Headquarters in New York to preview the game.
Earlier in the week, CBS’ Nantz, Simms, Esiason and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus all discussed what the game means to the Tiffany Network and other factors entering Sunday’s game.
“THE NFL ON CBS” TRAVELS TO DENVER FOR 2014 AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ON SUNDAY, JAN. 19
Excerpts from Conference Call with Sean McManus, Lead Announce Team Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, and THE NFL TODAY’s Boomer Esiason
THE NFL ON CBS, in its 54th year broadcasting the NFL, travels to Denver, Colo. for coverage of the 2014 American Football Conference Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 19 (3:00 PM, ET) as the AFC East Champions and No. 2-seeded New England Patriots (13-4) take on the AFC West Division Champions and No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos (14-3) live on the CBS Television Network.
THE NFL ON CBS lead announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms call the action, along with Tracy Wolfson reporting, live from Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Lance Barrow is the coordinating producer and lead game producer and Mike Arnold is the lead game director.
THE NFL ON CBS’ coverage begins with THE NFL TODAY, the Network’s studio show, at 2:00 PM, ET with host James Brown and analysts Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Shannon Sharpe and Bill Cowher, as well as NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, and Lesley Visser reporting, live from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. Drew Kaliski produces and Bob Matina directs THE NFL TODAY.
Sean McManus is Chairman, CBS Sports, and serves as executive producer of CBS Sports’ coverage of THE NFL ON CBS. David Berson is President, CBS Sports. Harold Bryant is Executive Producer and Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.
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And for the first time ever, CBS Sports will continue streaming its coverage of the American Football Conference Playoffs on CBSSports.com. Streaming coverage includes the national broadcasts of the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game on Sunday, Jan. 5, the AFC Divisional Playoff Games on Saturday, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12, and the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, Jan. 19. Live streams of CBS Sports’ AFC playoff games will be available to fans on laptops, desktops and tablets at CBSSports.com here: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/postseason/bracket
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Following are excerpts from THE NFL ON CBS AFC Championship Conference Call on January 14.
(On Brady-Manning rivalry)
NANTZ: I think it transcends the NFL…This is something everyone wants to see. This is tantamount to Ali?Frazier one more time. This is Palmer?Nicklaus. This is Bird?Magic. I’m not trying to create some sort of synthetic drama here, but this is what it is. This is as big as it gets. We’re going to savor it because you don’t know how many more times we’ll get it again…You say Brady-Manning, I defy anyone to say there is anything that has been bigger in this league.
SIMMS: The word legacy, all these things who they are, I have fun with them and I hear it. Somebody said their legacies, both of them, are at stake in this game at this time. I don’t care what either one of them does in this game. It will never change what I think of them. If one of them goes out and has the worst game of his career and is the sole reason why they lose, it will not bring them down one single bit in my eyes. They’ve done so much for the league, and their teams, and themselves, there is nothing that can diminish it.
BOOMER: Each one of these players this year really defines who they are. Peyton lifted and took a young group of receivers to a completely different level, and very few players are capable of doing that. And Tom Brady took a team basically that was more built around the run, broke through for 4,200 yards, and got them back all the way here to the AFC Championship game. I think really what speaks to the greatness of both of these quarterbacks, they both have, along with Bill Belichick, and I’m sure John Fox says this as well, a Ph.D. in high?level thought processes that give them the opportunity to make these championship games each year.
McMANUS: This is even more special in that I think we’re all wondering how many more times we’re going to see the two of them playing each other in a really meaningful showdown game. I think there is a certain almost nostalgia in looking at two players who are certainly maybe not at the end of their careers, but in the latter stages of their careers. You always wonder how many more times we’re going to be fortunate enough to see this.
This arguably is this generation’s greatest two quarterbacks meeting again in the playoffs. Who knows how many more times this is going to happen in the future? So I think we should all just savor this opportunity, and we are thrilled to be there to document it.
(On what makes Brady and Manning the best of their generation)
SIMMS: We have two quarterbacks that are tough guys. Tom Brady, his attitude, staying on the field, the way he conducts himself with his football team mirrors his head coach. Peyton Manning, just to play the style of football he plays…Man, I get tired watching him and all the work. You’ve got to remember he does that every day in practice.
BOOMER: The fact really is three words: longevity, consistency and success…Both of these guys have kind of been going in parallel lives to one another and now find themselves in the AFC Championship game. For Tom Brady it’s his eighth game with Bill Belichick. Nothing says greatness better or more than winning, especially at the highest level. Great moments require great people to do great things, and both of these players have accomplished that. I think I speak for Phil and every other quarterback that’s ever played the position, maybe with the exception of Joe Montana, that what you’re watching here are two guys that will go down as two of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.
(On what makes Bill Belichick so successful)
SIMMS: The thing that makes Bill so successful is that, in my eyes, it is truthfulness to his players. He tells them the truth. And it is raw, and it hurts. You’ve got to get used to that. But once you get used to it, it clarifies everything for you. You don’t have to walk around in your job and go, ‘Oh, I wonder what Coach thinks of me or how am I doing?’ They let you know constantly. It is a rough way to play.
And we’ll conclude the Conference Championship previews with Fox Sports.
