NBC’s Football Night in America Previews Week 9

NBC’s Sunday Night Football has what in other seasons would be a huge marquee matchup, the Dallas Cowboys traveling to Lambeau Field and taking on the Green Bay Packers. The Packers have held up their end of the bargain, but with the Cowboys having a losing record, one would think the ratings would drop, but this is the NFL and the Cowboys still draw ratings. As long as you have shots of Jerry Jones growling in the owner’s box, it’s always interesting.

So this is what NBC is saying about Sunday night’s game.

50 YEARS OF COWBOYS-PACKERS RESUMES AT LAMBEAU FIELD ON “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” – COVERAGE BEGINS WITH “FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” AT 7 PM ET

“For better or worse, for richer or poorer, the Cowboys always make for great TV.” – “Sunday Night Football’s” Al Michaels

“They haven’t used that as an excuse.” – “Football Night’s” Tony Dungy on the Packers’ injuries

NEW YORK – November 3, 2010 – The first-place Green Bay Packers renew their 50-year-old rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field on “Sunday Night Football.” This is the 30^th meeting between the two teams with the Cowboys holding a 16-13 series edge, including six postseason games. The Packers won the first-ever game, 41-7, at Lambeau on November 13, 1960, nearly 50 years ago to the day of Sunday’s matchup.

Calling Cowboys-Packers will be six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), who is in his 25^th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 11-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who last year, his first in the SNF booth, won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst; and sideline reporter Andrea Kremer about whom TV Guide said is “one of TV’s best sports correspondents.”

Coverage begins with “Football Night in America” at 7 p.m. ET Sunday with Bob Costas, who won the outstanding studio host Emmy last year, hosting live from inside the stadium. Dan Patrick will co-host “Football Night” from NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach and Emmy-nominated Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. Alex Flanagan will report from Lincoln Financial Field on the Colts-Eagles game.

“Football Night” (7:30-8:15 pm) is averaging 8.2 million viewers through its first seven weeks, its most ever for that time frame and up 15 percent vs. 2009’s 7.1 million viewers.

DUNGY ON THE MATCHUP: “The Cowboys are going up to Green Bay against a very potent passing attack. They have to get some pass rush going. Dallas has to get going early to give themselves some spark…The Packers have had a ton of injuries. They’ve lost key personnel all the way through, but they haven’t used that as an excuse. Other guys have filled in and the guys who are healthy have stepped up and made plays.”

MICHAELS ON THE MATCHUP: “The whole question with Dallas is if they can get this thing turned around. I think they are going to ratchet it up this week because this is more than a crossroads for them. This is it, right now, on the road in a hostile environment in Green Bay…The Cowboys are always a storyline team, but now it’s a different storyline than we’ve seen from them in a very long time. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, the Cowboys always make for great TV.”

That is it.