Release

UNDEFEATED NEW ENGLAND vs. UNDEFEATED INDIANAPOLIS HIGHLIGHTS WEEK 9 COVERAGE OF "THE NFL ON CBS" ON SUNDAY, NOV. 4

AUDIBLES WITH "NFL ON CBS" LEAD ANNOUNCE TEAM

JIM NANTZ AND PHIL SIMMS, AND "NFL TODAY" ANALYST BILL COWHER

  

Excerpts from Conference Call Previewing Rematch of 2007 AFC Championship Game -

New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts

  

The CBS Television Network continues its 48th year broadcasting the NFL with doubleheader coverage of THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Nov. 4 (1:00-7:00 PM, ET) beginning with THE NFL TODAY, the Network's one-hour studio show (12:00 NOON-1:00 PM, ET), live from THE NFL TODAY studio in New York City.

 

THE NFL ON CBS lead announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms call the historic regular-season action as the undefeated New England Patriots (8-0) visit the reigning Super Bowl champions and undefeated Indianapolis Colts (7-0) live from the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Ind.  The Patriots-Colts game is the latest in the season that two undefeated teams have met since 1921.  Lance Barrow is the coordinating producer and lead game producer and Mike Arnold is the lead game director.

 

Throughout the 2007 season, THE NFL ON CBS will broadcast five-to-six games each week in HDTV, the highest definition television format - 1080i lines of picture resolution - along with 5.1 digital audio.

 

Sean McManus is President, CBS News and Sports.  Tony Petitti is Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, CBS Sports.  McManus and Petitti serve as executive producers of CBS Sports' coverage of THE NFL ON CBS.

 

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Following are excerpts from THE NFL ON CBS conference call held on Tuesday, October 30:

  

Opening remarks on New England-Indianapolis game:

 

SEAN McMANUS, President, CBS News and Sports

These are the kind of games that come along every once in a while during the regular season schedule that you just pray they are going to be on your network.  We got a good break with the two teams being undefeated going in and I can't remember anyone at CBS Sports whether it is the announcers or the pregame crew or the producers and directors being more pumped up for a regular season football game.  I thought we were pretty excited about the Cowboys Patriots game, but this exceeds even that.  So if Football Gods are willing and we get a good game, I think we are set for a pretty good Sunday afternoon.

  

PHIL SIMMS

What intrigues me, how both of these teams will view their opposition this week and how they will go about trying to win the game.  History has showed us, and has showed me as an analyst, that they are both willing to do something different, especially the New England Patriots.  So I can't wait to find out and can't wait to watch on Sunday.

 

BILL COWHER

Just watching these first eight weeks has been fun to watch.  These two teams separate themselves from the rest of league and that is how they are playing right now.  These two teams are playing at a higher level than any other team in the league is playing.  That we can get a match-up like this halfway through the year is great for the fans. 

  

JIM NANTZ

What we have here is the rivalry of its time - the rivalry of its era.  It has been this way for a long time since New England had Indianapolis' number and Peyton couldn't beat them.  Of course they have turned that around in the last three match-ups, coming off the AFC Championship game.  We have Dungy and Belichick, Manning and Brady, two high-powered offenses, both undefeated - it is just spectacular.

 

(On similarities and differences between Indy Head Coach Tony Dungy and Pats Head Coach Bill Belichick and their teams):

  

COWHER

These are two guys that have great respect for the game, a great knowledge of the game, and you can just tell by looking at them that the players respond to them.  Tony is probably a guy that you will see a little bit more animated on the sideline than Bill.  But again, I think these two teams are a little bit different from the standpoint of how the teams were built.  Indianapolis built their team through the draft, and New England, a lot of their skill positions were filled through free agency.  It is interesting the approach that these two coaches have taken and these two organizations have taken.  Both coaches are very much viewed as the cream of the crop as far as the coaching profession in the NFL is concerned.

  

  

SIMMS

We go to the Colts practices and you never hear the coaches say anything in practice.  The only person you really hear at an Indianapolis Colts practice is Peyton Manning because he is telling everyone what to do.  His style (Tony Dungy) is so different from Bill Belichick's.  I asked Bill Belichick once before the Super Bowl in Houston, how would you describe your coaching style?  And he responded, 'I coach through fear.  I tell people they better play better or I'll bench them or it will cost them their job.'  That is how he learned.  I don't know if he still coaches exactly that way but he definitely has a different style than Tony Dungy.  Their teams, the way the players act you see it all.  That is why it has caught the attention of America over the years because even if you don't follow football you can see the differences in the personalities of the coaches and the teams.  You want to watch and see what is going happen.

 

(On strength of New England's offensive line):

  

COWHER

When you look at New England and Indianapolis, but particularly New England, that has always been a strength of theirs.  The thing that gives credence to that is when you look at both of these quarterbacks.  The amount of verbiage they give, and certainly it is well documented with Peyton Manning's calling plays, you cannot do that unless you have a veteran offensive line who understands it.  Tom Brady does the same thing.  He is always pointing out the connections and he was one of the toughest guys to get to blitz-wise because he did a very good job of orchestrating that line.  You have to have a line that communicates and works with one another.  That is something that both of these coaches understand and recognize.  I don't care if you run the ball or pass the ball, if you don't have an offensive line you can't do either.  It starts right there with the offensive line.  That is a big part of the success that both of these teams have had.

 

(On Patriots allegedly running up the score):

  

COWHER

This is a football team that plays with a tremendous sense of purpose and focus.  I'm not so sure that when they're out there they are even looking at the scoreboard.  The fact that you have some of your premier players in the game with the margins being what they are is Bill's (Belichick) prerogative.  That is his decision.  The risk that he's taking is that one of those guys could get hurt in those situations.  That is his decision as a coach and he has the right to do that.  This is a team that is playing with a tremendous sense of purpose every time they step on the field and Bill has them playing that way right now. 

 

SIMMS

I played for a coach in Bill Parcells and he always said to  us, 'I'll coach my team. That's all I can do and focus on.  Let them worry about themselves.'  A lot of coaches believe you don't worry about injuries, you play your guys and you can't protect them.  It is bringing up some controversy and I think that always feeds in to helping the New England Patriots.  They love controversy...They look forward to the battle and they're willing to battle from start to finish.  You've got to prove as the opposition that you are willing to fight that long.  All of this really feeds into what they love.  They like the turmoil.  They like the action.  As my dad once said to me, 'Be careful when you get into a fight with someone who

 

doesn't care about winning or losing, they just like the action.  Be leery of those guys.'  The Patriots love the action.  All of this stuff that you read about, everything that has gone on this year, I truly believe feeds into the atmosphere that they love.

  

(On "Spygate" controversy fueling New England this season):

 

NANTZ

I don't think that there is any question that what they are doing on the field is totally related to what happened at the end of Week 1.  All of us in the media took that opportunity to go back and review and somehow attach what happened in the "Spygate" episode and try to take it so far as to say that this stained their three championships.  How did they win? Oh, no wonder they won, because they cheated.  So now they have had their championships, their integrity, called into question.  Maybe it is not verbalized in the sacred setting of the locker room, where it is just the coach and staff and 53 players, maybe it is not something that has to be talked about, but I think they have all internalized it.  I think they are inflicting that punishment on a weekly basis with that right at their very core.

  

(On Brady and Manning):

  

SIMMS

When these two guys play each other it is awesome.  Tom Brady said we need all week to get ready for this game because you want to cover all of your bases and make sure you're ready.

  

(On keys to victory):

  

COWHER:

The quarterback comparison is an easy one to go to, but if you look at both teams' defenses, the key is going to be what their approach is to stopping the other team's offense.  Because you have two of the most potent offenses in the National Football League, their defenses are going to have to match that and slow each team's offense down to some extent.

  

SIMMS

What could be the difference, and I NEVER say, because I am not just one that is all about the quarterback, I just don't fall into the trap, but it could come down to which quarterback is just in a groove that day.  It could be that close.  By in a groove, I mean throwing it into windows that are not big, the velocity, the accuracy, it's all there...Quarterbacks are a lot like pitchers.  They have days when they can't get that rhythm or they're just missing a little bit.  Peyton Manning down in Carolina last week.  Physically it took him a while and he had some throws that you just don't see him make.  Look at Tom Brady last year in the playoffs at times.  In Indianapolis he didn't throw the ball physically as well as he is capable of throwing it. There are so many great components to this game, that it just might come down to which one of them is having that great day.

  

  

    

(On whether Patriots have become a team that people love to hate):

  

NANTZ

If there is a good guy and a bad guy set up in this game, I really think the bad guy would be New England with the whole running up the score chatter that is out there today...They've gone from that team that was very likeable and the underdog to where now there is this awe factor.  I know that all coaches and players are programmed not to look ahead, but sometimes I can't help myself as a fan.  And if you start thinking about New England, if it gets past this game, there are a couple of spots there that they are going to be tested, they've got Pittsburgh at Foxborough in December, but now would be the proper time to start thinking about this team in some sort of context.  They have the chance to be the ultimate super team...How well though it sets up for Indianapolis?  You win 12 games in row including beating New England in the AFC title game.  You win the Super Bowl.  You're undefeated this year.  The last two weeks you have been pressed to go on the road in a six day stretch, both against teams with winning records, and you blow them out on both occasions.  Now you get to come home to your own building and you're a 4 ½-point underdog.  You want somebody to give you a chip on the shoulder?  Well, there it is.

 

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            Following are THE NFL ON CBS assignments for Week 9, Week 10 and Week 11 (subject to change).

  

WEEK 9 - Nov. 4 - DOUBLEHEADER

 

GAME                                    PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

1:00 PM, ET starts:

·Cincinnati @ Buffalo                Ian Eagle/Solomon Wilcots                   Bob Dekas/Cathy Barreto

·Denver @ Detroit                    Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon                    Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley

·San Diego @ Minnesota          Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf                   Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman

·Jacksonville @ New Orleans   Dick Enberg/Randy Cross                    Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith

 

4:15 PM, ET starts:

·New England @ Indianapolis   Jim Nantz/Phil Simms               Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold

·Houston @ Oakland                Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker                    Victor Frank/Mark Grant

 

WEEK 10 - Nov. 11

 

GAME                                    PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

1:00 PM, ET starts:

·Denver @ Kansas City*          Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf                   Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman

·Jacksonville @ Tennessee*      Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon                    Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley           

·Buffalo @ Miami*                   Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker                    Victor Frank/Chris Svendsen

·Cleveland @ Pittsburgh*         Jim Nantz/Phil Simms                Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold

 

4:05 PM, ET starts:

·Cincinnati @ Baltimore*          Dick Enberg/Randy Cross                    Ken Mack/Suzanne Smith

 

WEEK 11 - Nov. 18

 

GAME                                    PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

1:00 PM, ET starts:

·Cleveland @ Baltimore                        TBA                                                     TBA

·New England @ Buffalo         

·Kansas City @ Indianapolis    

Oakland @ Minnesota 

·Pittsburgh @ N.Y. Jets                       

·Miami @ Philadelphia 

·San Diego @ Jacksonville

 

4:05 PM, ET starts:

·TBA   

 

 

* Games broadcast in HDTV