The CBS Television Network continues its 49^th year broadcasting the NFL with coverage of THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Dec. 14 (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 action from the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game, live from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.  Lance Barrow is the coordinating producer and lead game producer and Mike Arnold is the lead game director.

Throughout the 2008 season, THE NFL ON CBS will broadcast virtually all of its 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, and serves as executive producer of CBS Sports' coverage of THE NFL ON CBS.  Harold Bryant is Vice President, Production, CBS Sports.

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BILL COWHER

(On No. 1 Pittsburgh defense vs. No. 2 Baltimore defense): I don't think there is any question that the defenses are going to be the storyline of this game.  It may come down to which defense can score the most points.  They are obviously two defenses that have the same mantra of stopping the run and pressuring the quarterback.  Nobody does it better than these two defenses...(On Baltimore's Ed Reed vs. Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu): Not taking anything away from Bob Sanders, but this game features two of the best safeties in the game today in Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu in terms of playmaking and playing the defender run and the play-to-pass.  These two excel in that.  Ed Reed is a guy that Pittsburgh will certainly have to be aware of.  You have to make sure that you are moving him with your eyes.  If he can get a jump on the ball, he's as good as anybody in the league in anticipating things.  Based on what Pittsburgh does, you're going to find Troy Polamalu up near the line of scrimmage a lot.  The thing that Pittsburgh wants to do is make Joe Flacco become the guy that beats them.  A lot of the run defense that Pittsburgh will employ will have Troy very close to the line of scrimmage.  He's going to be a lot closer to the line of scrimmage than Ed Reed...(Keys to game for Pittsburgh): The bottom line for the Pittsburgh offense is third down.  That is going to be a big key for them.  They can't get involved in third-and-long situations.  If they can keep it at third-and-short, it will nullify the Baltimore blitz...(Keys to game for Baltimore): They have to get their running game going.  It's going to be very important for them to be patient with their running game because they don't want to put it all on the rookie quarterback

in this type of game with this type of magnitude.  Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they came out and threw on some of the running situations, but ultimately it's going to be important that they establish the run and be patient...(On magnitude of game in AFC North division standings): Even if Pittsburgh loses, they will still be able to control their destiny to a degree.  A Pittsburgh loss just makes it tougher because they still have to go down to Tennessee.  Obviously a Pittsburgh win locks it up.  If Baltimore wins this game, it puts the pressure back on Pittsburgh's shoulders, but they will still control their own destiny.

PHIL SIMMS

(On Pittsburgh-Baltimore): They have a lot in common. Both teams play "3-4" defenses that rely on confusion as much as anything - moving around the lot trying to confuse the quarterback and offensive lineman.  Who's going to block who? No matter how much you prepare and work on it, the offense is going to lose some of those battles. When you think of it that way, the question is which quarterback handles it better?...(On Roethlisberger vs. Flacco): Regardless of what numbers, numbers don't always tell the story with the quarterbacks. The last four or five weeks Ben Roethlisberger has been very, very good at just seeing the big picture for his football team and playing accordingly.  Joe Flacco's numbers have been tremendous.  But this is a rookie going against a guy who's played a lot of games now.  So can the Baltimore Ravens overcome the lack of experience of quarterback when they play against a team that's every bit the equal to them physically?...(On Motivation for Both Teams): This is for the division.  You're hoping you end up with the bye, the number two seed - there's a lot going on in this game. The motivation for both teams and where they're at for the season is the same. That is big and that's why we're going to see the best team win this game...(On Ravens Coach John Harbaugh): The one thing that I've noticed about the Baltimore Ravens this year when people talk about them is that you hear more about the team.  You don't just hear about the defense and then the offense like separate teams. John Harbaugh has been one of the great stories this year in the NFL.  He has combined both sides and made them a football team. For the first time in eight years I'm not listening to the Baltimore Ravens defense like it's a whole different company away from the Baltimore Ravens.

DAN DIERDORF

(On Buffalo being AFC East "spoiler"): Amazingly there is some mathematical permutation in which the Bills can still make the playoffs, but that's pretty much what is left for Buffalo at this point - to be the spoiler...(On Jets):  The Jets need to right the ship and there is a lot of pressure on them.  You go from sailing along at 8-3, to all of a sudden being 8-5 and question marks are everywhere, especially after a couple of poor offensive performances.  There is a lot of pressure square on the shoulders of the Jets this week...(Keys for Jets righting the ship): Offensively they have to find a way to play better football.  They've had two really poor performances back-to-back against Denver and San Francisco with too many three-and-outs and putting their defense in bad field position - the kind of fundamental mistakes that they hadn't been making prior.  It's funny how confidence can come and go in such a short period of time.  Sometimes doubt starts to creep in and that is where the Jets are right now.  They need to get out of the box in a hurry against Buffalo.  If they struggle early against Buffalo, those question marks and doubts are going to be harder and harder to push back in their minds and keep from bubbling up.  But the Jets still have a lot of things going for them.  They can still run the football.  They are defending the run well.  It's just their passing game that has been out of sync the past couple of weeks...(On AFC East race): The AFC East got a little more complicated with Matt Cassel leaving the Patriots due to the death of his father.  When your starting quarterback leaves the team for a situation like this, all of sudden you don't know how long he's going to be gone or what kind of condition he's going to be in when he comes back.  The Jets and Miami control their own destiny - if either one of them wins out, they win the division.  The Patriots are kind of on the outside looking in at this point.      

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Following are THE NFL ON CBS assignments for Week 15 and Week 16 (subject to change).

WEEK 15 - Dec. 14 - DOUBLEHEADER

GAME                                    PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

1:00 PM, ET starts:

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

·San Diego @ Kansas City       Ian Eagle/Solomon Wilcots                   Ken Mack/Andy Goldberg

·Buffalo @ N.Y. Jets                Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf                   Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman        

4:15 PM, ET starts:

·New England @ Oakland        Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon                    Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley

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

·Denver @ Carolina                 Dick Enberg/Randy Cross/Dan Fouts    Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith

WEEK 16 - Dec. 21

GAME                                    PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

1:00 PM, ET starts:              

·Cincinnati @ Cleveland            Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon                    Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley

·Miami @ Kansas City Dick Enberg/Randy Cross/Dan Fouts     Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith

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

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

4:05 PM, ET starts:

·N.Y. Jets @ Seattle                 Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker                    Victor Frank/Mark Grant

·Houston @ Oakland                Bill Macatee/Steve Beuerlein                 Ross Schneiderman/Chris Svendsen

·Buffalo @ Denver                    Ian Eagle/Solomon Wilcots                   Ken Mack/Andy Goldberg