The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30 p.m. ET as both teams battle for a playoff spot. This week, NBC will have a game on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday night, like it has been throughout the season.
The Steelers are on a three-game losing streak after losing to the Indianapolis Colts last Saturday. The Bengals also played on Saturday and had a comeback victory against the Minnesota Vikings for their third straight win.
When Does NBC’s Coverage Start?
Ahmed Fareed will host Football Night in America, which kicks off NBC’s pregame coverage at 3 p.m. ET. Former head coaches Tony Dungy and Jason Garrett and former players Devin McCourty, Chris Simms, and Rodney Harrison will provide analysis. Maria Taylor, who is the show’s regular host, is on maternity leave.
NFL insider Mike Florio, fantasy sports expert Matthew Berry, and Jac Collinsworth are also on the show.
Who Are the Game Announcers for Bengals-Steelers?
Noah Eagle will handle play-by-play, Todd Blackledge is the game analyst, and Kathryn Tappen will report from the sidelines. This crew broadcast Big Ten games on NBC during the season, and it was announced last week that this crew would do one of NBC’s NFL playoff games.
Eagle broadcast college football for CBS and FOX for two seasons before joining NBC for Big Ten games this year. Eagle, who is the son of CBS’ Ian Eagle, has called NFL games on Nickelodeon for three consecutive seasons.
Blackledge is in his 30th season as a game analyst and has worked at CBS, ABC, and ESPN before joining NBC. He was the starting quarterback when Penn State won a national championship in 1982.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Blackledge seventh overall in the 1983 NFL Draft.
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He went on to play seven NFL seasons with the Chiefs and Steelers before becoming a sports talk radio host in Ohio.
Tappen joined NBC Sports in 2014 after four years working at the NHL Network. She was the sideline reporter during Notre Dame games for eight seasons and served as NBC’s NFL sideline reporter for six games during the 2021 season.
Where Is NBC’s Main Team This Week?
NBC’s lead crew of Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, and Melissa Stark will be in Los Angeles for the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers. This will be the first-ever exclusive regular-season NFL game on Peacock.
During Wild Card Weekend, Peacock will be the first streaming service to have exclusive rights to broadcast an NFL playoff game. The Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal and the league agreed to a one-year deal worth around $110 million.
Want to predict the rest of the 2023 season with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? Looking for the most up-to-date NFL standings? What about a breakdown of team depth charts or the NFL schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with that and more!