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THE NFL ON CBS: WEEK 16 (SUNDAY, DEC. 21) AUDIBLES WITH "NFL ON CBS" LEAD ANALYST PHIL SIMMS

The CBS Television Network continues its 49th year broadcasting the NFL with coverage of THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Dec. 21 (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-Tennessee Titans game, live from LP Field in Nashville, Tenn.  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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PHIL SIMMS

(On advantage of "home-field advantage" throughout playoffs): Nothing these two teams do in this game should be based on the fact that you must have home-field advantage, providing that you get to the championship game. The last 36 championship games have seen the visitors win 18 and the home team win 18.  In this day-and-age athletes don't care where the stage is.  And, there is a little something about being on the road that rallies you together.  Sometimes that evens out the playing field...(On Tennessee): The big thing for the Tennessee Titans is where they will be as a football team when the playoffs start. Of course if they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers they wrap up home field and that answers a lot of questions. Then they can do whatever they need in the following weeks to get ready for their first playoff game. The Titans lost two premier defensive linemen but their defensive line is probably the deepest spot on their whole football team. So I think they can overcome that...(On Pittsburgh-Tennessee): There are a lot of teams that are big in the NFL and there are teams that rely on speed. What strikes me first about this game is that these are two teams that have it both.  They are big and fast, which explains their records. It will be a game decided on who can out-hit the other one.  There are no tricks in the philosophy on either side. If you are a "purist" you are going to like this game a lot...(On Titans Offensive Line): The Tennessee Titans' offensive line, regardless of the situation, has shown they can handle it.  If they are behind, they give the quarterback very good protection. If they throw only on third downs when everybody knows they are going to throw, they give Kerry Collins good protection. That is a sign of a very, very good offensive line...(On Ben Roethlisberger): I make the argument that Ben Roethlisberger is the Most Valuable

 

Player at this juncture in the NFL.  To me, when you say MVP, there is the word "valuable" in there.  He has been that for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has had some wonderful stat years and won a Super Bowl. But the way things have transpired this year has to be one of the most rewarding stretches of football he has ever had. He has had back-to-back-to-back incredible fourth quarter rallies.  To play as well as he has played late in fourth quarters - as an NFL quarterback you hope to have one-or-two games like that a year.  He is at a stage now when you say he has absolutely matured.  He understands everything about their team.  He understands his role and he carries it out perfectly. It is a great honor to him that he is getting it done mentally and is also good enough to get it done physically.

 

 

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

  

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

 

  

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CBS Sports Contacts:             

LeslieAnne Wade         212/975-5171              lwade@cbs.com

Robin Brendle              212/975-1533              rlbrendle@cbs.com

Jerry Caraccioli            212/975-7466              gwcaraccioli@cbs.com