ESPN Previews Week 1 of the 2014 NFL Season

ESPN has a big weekend in store. It begins with Sunday NFL Countdown in a new studio that is located in the new 100 square mile wide Death Star Building (kidding about the square mileage … maybe not). The NFL programming including Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown will be produced in the new 9,000 square foot studio.

And on Monday night, ESPN will carry a live NFL doubleheader with the New York Football Giants taking on the Detroit Lions at 7 p.m. ET called by the usual Monday Night Football crew of Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters, then the late game of San Diego at Arizona called by Chris Berman, Trent Dilfer and Lindsay Czarniak.

Details of ESPN’s weekend are below.

ESPN NFL Content Update – 2014 Kickoff Weekend

ESPN Debuts New NFL Studios on Sunday NFL Countdown, Kicks Off 45^th Season of Monday Night Football
New NFL Studio Debuts with Season-Opening Sunday NFL Countdown; Features: Tony Romo Conversation, Celebrity Quarterbacks, Frank Caliendo Returns, and more

ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown will preview the first weekend of the 2014 NFL season beginning at 10 a.m. with host Chris Berman and analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson and Insiders Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter. Sunday’s show will mark the debut of the Countdown’s new, state-of-the-art 9,000 square foot NFL studio.

Reporter/host Wendi Nix will make her in-studio Countdown debut as host for select segments with Ron Jaworski. Correspondents – Josina Anderson, Ed Werder, Bob Holtzman, Michele Steele and Sal Paolantonio – return, and will be joined by new arrivals Michelle Beisner (features reporter), Jim Trotter (reporter) and Britt McHenry (Washington, D.C. bureau reporter). Each week, the show’s film room gurus Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworski will alternate in-studio appearances, while the other travels to one of the marquee 1 p.m. games for live reports with either SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak or Paolantonio. Countdown’s week 1 game assignments:

Browns at Steelers (Paolantonio and Hoge)

Raiders at Jets (Anderson)

Redskins at Texans (McHenry)

Patriots at Dolphins (Steele)

49ers at Cowboys (Werder)

Colts at Broncos (Holtzman)

Week 1 Countdown features:

Tony Romo Conversation: Tony Romo is set to make his first regular-season start Sunday following successful off-season back surgery. The Dallas Cowboys quarterback sits for a one-on-one conversation with new Countdown reporter Michelle Beisner.

The Return of Frank Caliendo: Impressionist and comedian Frank Caliendo plays Cowboys owner Jerry Jones overseeing the construction of ESPN’s new Countdown studio in Bristol. Other characters in the piece include Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

Browns’ Kickboxing Gloves: As NFL defenses learn to adjust to the renewed emphasis on defensive holding infractions, the Cleveland Browns have found a unique training tool – kickboxing gloves for their defensive backs to use in practice. ESPN analyst and three-time Super Bowl champ Darren Woodson finds out how Browns defensive backs Joe Haden and Justin Gilbert are coping with their new gloves.

Celebrity Quarterbacks: On the heels of quarterback Johnny Manziel’s first season on an NFL team roster, Jim Trotter, in his first report for Countdown, takes a look at the impact of celebrity quarterbacks through the years, including interviews with Joe Namath and others.

Where You At?: Countdown’s Cris Carter returns with his hard-hitting, weekly recurring segment during which he points out players who are performing below the Hall of Famer’s acceptable standards.

Season-Opening MNF Doubleheader: Giants vs. Lions and Chargers vs. Cardinals

ESPN kicks off the 45^th season of Monday Night Football on September 8 with a doubleheader: Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions host Eli Manning and the New York Giants at 7 p.m. ET, and Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers face Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals at 10:15 p.m.

MNF play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico, analyst Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters will call the early game from Ford Field, while Chris Berman, analyst Trent Dilfer and reporter Lindsay Czarniak cover the Chargers-Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium, which will host Super Bowl XLIX in February. Both games will be available on ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN.

Trey Wingo will host a two-hour Monday Night Countdown pregame (5 p.m.) with analysts Carter, Ditka, Jackson and Johnson and Insiders Mortensen and Schefter from the ESPN studios. Suzy Kolber and NFL analysts Ray Lewis and Steve Young will join from Detroit. In addition, game crews will report from both sites.

Monday Night Countdown highlights:

Gruden’s Grill Session with Reggie Bush: MNF’s Super Bowl-winning coach will conduct an in-depth interview each week this season with a marquee player in the MNF matchup. Monday’s debut of the series will feature Lions running back Reggie Bush, fresh off a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2013.

Tom Coughlin Conversation: Salters interviews two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin as he begins his 11^th season with the Giants.

Rick Reilly Feature – Rashard Mendenhall: Rashard Mendenhall always viewed himself as much more than a football player. He proved it this past spring when he walked away from millions of dollars in the prime of his career. The former running back is now writing the second chapter of his professional life as a writer for a new HBO series, reports Monday Night Countdown essayist Rick Reilly.

Denzel Washington Interview:Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington joins the show live from Ford Field to discuss his love for the NFL and his upcoming movie, “The Equalizer.”

MNF Debuts Virtual On-field Graphics Using SpiderCam

For the first time, ESPN will utilize virtual on-field graphics from SpiderCam beginning with the Giants-Lions MNF game. The graphics will appear in three-dimensional form on the field. They will initially appear coming out of commercial breaks and during other breaks in the action.

An ncam camera tracking system will be attached to the SpiderCam, which travels on cables from the top of the stadium to field level. The multi-sensor ncam bar uses two-wide angle lenses and sensors to determine the SpiderCam position relative to the field. The camera information is sent to a server where ESPN Chief Technologist Michael Gay interprets the data and places the virtual graphics in the correct on-field positions.

This is the first time the ncam camera tracking system has ever been paired with a suspended camera, like SpiderCam. ESPN first tested ncam during the 2014 X Games in Austin, paired with a SteadiCam.

ESPN Radio Kicks Off 2014 NFL Season: Sunday Game, Mike & Mike in Detroit

ESPN Radio’s coverage of Sunday afternoon NFL regular-season games will kick off its second year with an AFC East matchup as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots take on Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 1 p.m. Marc Kestecher, Louis Riddick and reporter Ian Fitzsimmons will call the game, the first of 17 regular-season games on ESPN Radio this year.

On Monday, ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike will broadcast live from Ford Field (6-10 a.m.) as part of the third annual, nine-stop ESPN Audio Fall Football Tour. Hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic will be on site to preview the evening’s Giants-Lions matchup, as well as recap and discuss the weekend’s top sports headlines. The broadcast will be open to the public (Gate G entrance opens at 5:30 a.m.).