Here’s a look at the announcing assignments for Week 2 of the NFL season, with some discussion of a featured game in each slot based on broadcasters, matchups, or both. All times are Eastern.
Thursday, Sept. 12
Featured (only) game: Buffalo at Miami
Prime Video 8:15 p.m.
Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung
Spanish: Miguel Gurwitz, Rolando Cantú
Westwood One Radio: Tom McCarthy, Ross Tucker
Amazon starts their Thursday Night Football schedule (which Michaels recently hyped up as “the best of all” of their TNF slates to date) off strong, featuring two AFC East rivals that both made the playoffs last season. The Dolphins and Bills both got off to good starts with wins last week, and their high-powered offenses (first and third in the conference last year in points) should make for lots of points this one.
There will be some interesting off-field discussions for the game broadcast and studio team to handle this clash, too. That’s especially true around Dolphins’ receiver Tyreek Hill being detained and handcuffed by police outside their stadium Sunday and the fallout that’s since arisen from that.
We’ll see how the Prime Video broadcast takes that on. That may be with the studio show, or with Michaels and Herbstreit during the game, or with not much comment from either.
Sunday, Sept. 15, early games
Las Vegas at Baltimore
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, AJ Ross
LA Chargers at Carolina
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Tom McCarthy, Jay Feely, Amanda Balionis
Featured game: New Orleans at Dallas
Fox 1 p.m.
Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi
Following his announcing debut last week, Brady will again be under the microscope. This game isn’t going to quite as many homes as last week’s thanks to Fox only having the singleheader this week, but it will be viewable across much of the southern and central U.S. in particular.
Brady will have one advantage here in calling the Cowboys for the second straight week, giving him plenty of familiarity with their personnel and their offensive and defensive schemes. They’re 1-0 after last week’s 33-17 win over the Browns, while the Saints also come in perfect after a 47-10 thumping of the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. It may be particularly interesting to hear how Brady talks about Saints’ quarterback Derek Carr, an often-debated pivot who’s in his second season with the franchise.
Tampa Bay at Detroit
Fox 1 p.m.
Kevin Kugler, Daryl Johnston, Laura Okmin
Sports USA Radio: TBA
Indianapolis at Green Bay
Fox 1 p.m.
Joe Davis, Greg Olsen, Pam Oliver
ESPN Radio: Steve Levy, Mike Tannenbaum
Cleveland at Jacksonville
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Chris Lewis, Jason McCourty, Amanda Guerra
San Francisco at Minnesota
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, Melanie Collins
Seattle at New England
Fox 1 p.m.
Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Megan Olivi
NY Jets at Tennessee
CBS/Paramount+ 1 p.m.
Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn
NY Giants at Washington
Fox 1 p.m.
Chris Myers, Mark Schlereth, Jen Hale
Sunday, Sept. 15, late games
LA Rams at Arizona
Fox 4:05 p.m.
Adam Amin, Mark Sanchez, Kristina Pink
ESPN Radio: Chris Carlin, Harry Douglas
Pittsburgh at Denver
CBS/Paramount+ 4:25 p.m.
Spero Dedes, Adam Archuleta, Aditi Kinkhabwala
Sports USA Radio: Larry Kahn, Brandon Noble
Featured game: Cincinnati at Kansas City
CBS/Paramount+ 4:25 p.m.
Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson
Compass Media Radio: Chris Carrino, Brian Baldinger
The CBS top booth gets what should be a great quarterback matchup between the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes. Burrow only threw for 164 yards in his regular-season return from a wrist injury last week, a 16-10 loss to the New England Patriots, but he did complete 72.4 percent of his passes.
Meanwhile, Mahomes completed 20 of 28 pass attempts for 291 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ opening win over the Baltimore Ravens, but did toss an interception. We’ll see how these two fare head-to-head, and how Nantz and Romo call it.
Sunday, Sept. 15, Sunday Night Football
Featured (only) game: Chicago at Houston
NBC/Universo/Peacock 8:20 p.m.
Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark
Universo: Miguel Gurwitz, Rolando Cantú, Ariana Figuera
Westwood One Radio: Ryan Radtke, Mike Golic
Many of the eyes in this one will be on Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams. Chicago posted a 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in the first regular-season game for 2024 first-overall pick Williams last week, but his play left a lot to be desired; he only completed 14 of 29 pass attempts (48.3 percent) for just 93 yards while also rushing five times for 15 yards.
Now, Williams gets the bright lights of Sunday Night Football. There, he’ll go up against Houston sophomore QB C.J. Stroud, who impressed in his rookie season. Stroud also played well in last week’s narrow 29-27 win over the Indianapolis Colts, completing 75 percent of his passes and throwing for 234 yards and two touchdowns. And he and the Texans should be an interesting Week 2 opponent for Williams and the Bears.
Monday, September 16, Monday Night Football
Featured (only) game: Atlanta at Philadelphia
ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN Deportes 8:15 p.m.
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters
ESPN2: Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Bill Belichick, Guests TBA
ESPN Deportes: Rebeca Landa, Sebastián Martinez-Christensen, MJ Acosta-Ruiz
Westwood One Radio: Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner
The biggest question in this one may be about the Atlanta quarterback situation. Veteran Kirk Cousins struggled in last week’s 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, throwing for just 155 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions and a 61.5 percent completion mark. There have been questions raised about his health and about how the team minimized his full dropbacks and play-action opportunities.
Meanwhile, while Michael Penix Jr. (the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft) doesn’t seem likely to be called in yet, the discussions of when to play him will get louder if Cousins struggles against the Eagles. And the ESPN broadcast might have to get into some of that.
H/T Sammy for the listings!