The Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans kick off the playoffs on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The Browns are in the postseason for the second time in 20 years, while the Texans enter the playoffs as division champs for the first time since 2019. Cleveland defeated Houston, 36-22, in Week 16, though Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was out with a concussion.
The second game on Saturday, the Miami Dolphins at the Kansas City Chiefs, will be exclusively on Peacock at 8 p.m. ET. It will be the first NFL playoff game only available on a streaming service. NBC will have another game in the normal Sunday Night Football slot, with the Detroit Lions hosting the Los Angeles Rams.
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 coach Tony Dungy and former players Devin McCourty, Chris Simms, and Rodney Harrison will provide their 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 Browns-Texans?
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 this crew did the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals game in Week 16.
Eagle broadcast college football for CBS and FOX for two seasons before joining NBC for Big Ten games this year. Eagle has called NFL games on Nickelodeon for four consecutive seasons. Noah Eagle will be calling this game on NBC, and his dad, Ian Eagle, will be calling the game on the radio for Westwood One.
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. He completed 12 of 21 passes for 80 yards with two interceptions in his only playoff appearance, a loss to the New York Jets in 1986.
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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.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!