NFL Wild Card 2016: Announcer pairings
By John Buhler
The NFL will be in Wild Card Weekend from Saturday, Jan. 7 to Sunday, Jan. 8. Here are the announcer pairings for the four NFL Wild Card games.
This weekend will be Wild Card Weekend in the 2016 NFL Playoffs. There will be four must-win games on tap for everyone’s enjoyment this upcoming weekend. All four games will be nationally televised.
ESPN/ABC will have the Oakland Raiders at the Houston Texans on Saturday afternoon. NBC will have the Detroit Lions at the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night.
On Sunday, CBS will have the Miami Dolphins at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sunday afternoon will feature the New York Giants at the Green Bay Packers. FOX will have that final NFC Wild Card game.
The four NFL playoff teams that will be on byes this week are the Atlanta Falcons, the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the New England Patriots. Dallas and New England have home-field advantage in their respective conferences. Atlanta and Kansas City have earned No. 2 seeds in their conferences.
The lowest advancing teams from Wild Card Weekend will play in either Dallas or New England. The highest advancing teams from Wild Card Weekend will play in either Atlanta or Kansas City.
Here are the four announcer pairings for the nationally televised games for NFL Wild Card weekend. The Raiders at Texans game will be simulcast on both ESPN and ABC. NBC, CBS, and FOX will each carry their lone Wild Card game.
Saturday, Jan. 7
4:35 p.m. ET ESPN/ABC
No. 5 Oakland Raiders at No. 4 Houston Texans: Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden
8:15 p.m. ET NBC
No. 6 Detroit Lions at No. 3 Seattle Seahawks: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Sunday, Jan. 8
1:05 p.m. ET CBS
No. 6 Miami Dolphins at No. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms
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4:40 p.m. ET FOX
No. 5 New York Giants at No. 4 Green Bay Packers: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman