Brian Spurlock — US Presswire
It has been widely speculated that the NFL schedule will be released Tuesday April 16th. The NFL has not confirmed or denied this report, but we’ll assume this will be the release date since many sources are mentioning April 16th as the date. It is already known who the New York Giants will play this season as only the dates remain a mystery.
The Giants are set to take on the teams from the NFC North and the AFC West, in addition to the Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks. Since the Giants are playing the teams in the AFC West, they will face the Denver Broncos at home. The Broncos have a quarterback by the name of QB Peyton Manning, who just so happens to be the older brother of Giants’ QB Eli Manning.
The two have faced each other twice before when Manning was a member of the Indianapolis Colts. The elder statesman has gotten the best of the younger in both matchups, but both games were highly anticipated and televised on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. So this brings up an interesting question. Will the league schedule them on Sunday Night Football again?
I believe the league should switch it up for a couple of reasons. To make the game more interesting, they can’t keep scheduling it on the same channel with the same commentators. The first game was called by Al Michaels and John Madden. However, the last one was called by Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. Hearing Michaels call another one is just old and tiresome.
Since the Broncos will be the road team, the game can only be played on CBS, ESPN’s Monday Night Football or NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football. I believe CBS should carry the game, as CBS and FOX are the best in their football coverage. However, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms would most likely be calling the game as it would be a premier showdown. If we could get the CBS heads to realize Greg Gumbel is much better than Nantz, then it would be perfect.
Another possibility is playing the game on Thanksgiving night. Usually those games are on the NFL Network (which is awful). However, last year’s Thanksgiving night game between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets (anyone remember the butt fumble?) was on NBC. If that remains a trend, we’re stuck with listening to Michaels yet again.
Monday Night Football’s coverage is just too plain and boring to televise a game with this story-line So, by process of elimination, the game should be played on CBS. We’ll see, however, what the NFL decides next Tuesday.
