Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will see more than their share of challenges this year on NBC’s Sunday Night Football but they don’t think that it will be a problem for either the teams or the fans. They were clear to me this week that
Michaels: “I don’t think it’s going to be that big of an issue because most of the scoring plays will not involve anything more than somebody looking at it upstairs and confirming what was called on the field. From time to time, you will see a delay, but what you would have seen in those circumstances anyway is probably a challenge from a coach. So you are going to have that delay to begin with, this takes that away and saves the coach from having to challenge the scoring. I think that’s good, and I think what you are going to see here is much ado about nothing. I don’t see it being a very big factor by the end of the year.”
Collinsworth: “I do think you’ll see a couple of things a little different. One, the whole idea of did they cross the goal line or not? Something ordinarily that coaches wouldn’t challenge- is that something you want to challenge? Now we’re going to get a full look at that so we may see a few touchdowns brought back or maybe a few touchdowns added on. From a television standpoint, it takes a little pressure off of television people to feel obligated to get the replays bang, bang, bang up to the coaches to take a look at it. You may want to get a reaction shot from the quarterback jumping up and down or the head coaches doing a back flip or all the sort of TV-ish kind of things, as opposed to the entire obligation being on us to jam in all the replays possible so that the coaches can get a look at it.”
Highlights of the 2011 “Sunday Night Football” schedule:
* Sixteen of NBC’s 17 scheduled games involve at least one playoff team from last season; 11 of 17 include two playoff teams.
* The last two Super Bowl Champions, Saints and Packers, meet in the Thursday night NFL opening game.
* A rematch of last year’s NFC Championship game between the Packers and Bears on Christmas Night in Green Bay, the oldest rivalry in the NFL. The only other time Bears-Packers met on Christmas Day was in 2005 with the Bears winning 24-17 at Lambeau Field.
* Peyton Manning goes home to New Orleans as Saints host Colts in Week 7 in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIV.
* Rex Ryan’s Rivals: Meets brother Rob (Dallas defensive coordinator) and the Cowboys in Week 1 in New York on the 10th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001; Ryan faces his old team, the Ravens in Week 4; and his nemesis the Patriots in Week 10, in a rematch of last year’s AFC Divisional playoff game.
* Three matchups among bitter NFC East rivals: Cowboys-Eagles, Eagles-Giants, and Giants-Cowboys.
* Eagles QB Michael Vick goes back to Atlanta to face his former team for the first time as an opposing starting quarterback in Week 2.
* Traditional “Sunday Night Football” rivalries: Colts-Patriots (Week 13), Ravens-Steelers (Week 9).
* The first “NBC Sunday Night Football” trip to Kansas City as Chiefs host Steelers in Week 12.
