FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 30th, 2019

TOM BRADY & UNDEFEATED PATRIOTS VISIT LAMAR JACKSON & FIRST-PLACE RAVENS THIS WEEK ON NBC’S SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Brady and Jackson Meet for First Time as Patriots Seek Their First 9-0 Start Since 2015

Coverage Begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET; Followed by 8:20 p.m. ET SNF Kickoff

NBC’s Sunday Night Football Viewership off to Best Start Through Week 8 Since 2015

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App to Live Stream All Sunday Night Football Games to Desktops, Tablets, Connected TVs, and Mobile Devices

Leading Up to Sunday’s Game, Fans Can Play NBC Sports’ New ”Sunday Night 7” Free-to-Play Game Featuring $2 Million in Guaranteed Cash Prizes

STAMFORD, Conn. – Oct. 30, 2019 – Tom Brady and the undefeated New England Patriots (8-0) visit the first-place Baltimore Ravens (5-2) on NBC’s Sunday Night Football this week in the first-ever meeting between Brady and Ravens QB Lamar Jackson. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by kickoff at 8:20 p.m. ET from M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD.

Calling Patriots-Ravens is Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his record 34th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 16-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth; and three-time Emmy Award-winning sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. Three-time Super Bowl referee and SNF rules analyst Terry McAulay joins Michaels and Collinsworth in the booth.

The Patriots sit in first place atop the AFC East with an 8-0 record and are one of two remaining undefeated teams in the NFL this season (San Francisco, 7-0). With a win on Sunday night, New England would move to 9-0 for the third time in franchise history and would become the fifth team since 2010 to start a season with nine consecutive wins.

Following are the teams to start a season 9-0 or better since 2010:

TEAM YEAR UNDEFEATED START SEASON RESULT
Carolina 2015 14-0 Lost in Super Bowl
New England 2015 10-0 Lost in AFC Champ.
Kansas City 2013 9-0 Lost in Wild Card
Green Bay 2011 13-0 Lost in NFC Champ.

 

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick earned his 300th career victory (regular season and postseason) with New England’s 27-13 win over Cleveland last week, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famers George Halas (324) and Don Shula (347) for most wins by a head coach in NFL history. The Patriots’ defense, led by defensive back Devin McCourty’s league-high five interceptions, is on a historic pace halfway through the season, leading the NFL in points allowed per game (7.6) and scoring as many defensive touchdowns (four) as it has allowed to opposing offenses.

Baltimore enters Week 9 in first place in the AFC North with a 5-2 record. Second-year QB Lamar Jackson is the only player in the NFL with at least 1,500 passing yards (1,650) and 500 rushing yards (576) this season. Jackson leads all quarterbacks and ranks 10th overall in rushing yards this year. His 576 rush yards are more than seven NFL teams have in total.

Mike Tirico will host Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET alongside Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison, NFL Insider Mike Florio and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms. Liam McHugh will co-host Football Night in America on-site from M&T Bank Stadium.

NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Football is led by executive producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff. FNIA begins every Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, and is produced by Rob Hyland and directed by Mike Sheehan.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL VIEWERSHIP HIGHEST SINCE 2015

Last weekend’s Green Bay Packers’ 31-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in a matchup of first-place teams on NBC’s Sunday Night Football averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 18.8 million viewers – marking the most-watched SNF game against the World Series since 2015. TV viewership of Packers-Chiefs also topped the World Series by 61% — marking SNF’s most dominant performance ever against the World Series.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football is averaging 20.3 million viewers across all platforms this season – the best start for the series through Week 8 (nine games) since 2015, and up 5% from the same point last season (19.2 million viewers).

NBC SPORTS’ “SUNDAY NIGHT 7” FREE-TO-PLAY GAME FEATURES $2 MILLION GUARANTEED PRIZES

Leading up to this week’s Sunday Night Football game, fans can participate in NBC Sports’ new free-to-play game, Sunday Night 7, which features $2 million in guaranteed cash prizes over the course of the regular season and NBC NFL playoff games ($100,000 in guaranteed prizes for each contest). Sunday Night 7 is available for download NOW on the NBC Sports Predictor app (available for download in the App Store and Google Play Store) and at NBCSports.com/Predictor.

Last week, 179 fans scored a perfect 70 points in Sunday Night 7, winning $448.93 each.

NBCSPORTS.COM & NBC SPORTS APP TO LIVE STREAM ALL NBC NFL GAMES:

NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will stream all NBC NFL games to desktops, tablets, mobile devices and connected TVs via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The full HD-quality video stream will come directly from NBC’s broadcasts. Powered by Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports app is available on Apple iOS, Android and select Samsung devices, as well as on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Win10, PlayStation and Xbox.

PETER KING’S NFL COLUMN “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” DEBUTS EVERY MONDAY EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

A new “Football Morning in America” will post every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com. King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group last year that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com, making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Florio, and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

CHRIS SIMMS UNBUTTONED

NBC Sports’ Chris Simms examines everything happening in the NFL and around the sports world. Along with a rotation of NBC Sports hosts including Ahmed Fareed, Paul Burmeister and Liam McHugh, Chris Simms Unbuttoned analyses the NFL with in-depth Xs and Os breakdowns; one-on-one interviews with players, coaches and executives; and game recaps and preview.

ROTOWORLD

Rotoworld offers comprehensive fantasy football coverage throughout the 2019 NFL season across NBC Sports’ platforms. The all-new 2019 Rotoworld Fantasy Football Draft Guide, which includes mobile optimization, an updated website design, and improved tools, is now available for purchase on Rotoworld.com. In addition, Rotoworld experts dive into fan questions on “Rotoworld Live” every Sunday at Noon ET on the NBC Sports app and YouTube.com/NBCSports. Rotoworld also presents comprehensive fantasy content, including a panel of experts answering fans’ questions on Twitch three times a week, a Waiver Wire Q&A (Tuesdays), a DFS Q&A (Thursdays), and a Rankings Q&A (Fridays).

PFT LIVE – WEEKDAYS AT 7 A.M. ET ON NBCSN

Mike Florio and co-host Chris Simms bring fans the latest NFL news and interviews with players and coaches every weekday morning with PFT Live on NBCSN at 7 a.m. ET. Peter King will also contribute regularly to PFT Live’s coverage throughout the regular season.

The two-hour PFT Live provides all-encompassing coverage of the NFL, including the most current news and analysis, thought-provoking debates, and interviews with a wide variety of NFL newsmakers. The program is a simulcast of NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live national program that airs daily beginning at 6 a.m. ET.

PODCASTS

NBC Sports’ football podcasts provide extensive weekly offerings from NBC Sports’ most popular personalities and present special guests, exclusive interviews, and robust conversations across all of football on The Peter King Podcast, Chris Simms Unbuttoned, PFT PM, and Rotoworld Football. While The Peter King Podcast features intimate discussions with the NFL’s top players, Chris Simms Unbuttoned and PFT PM dive into deep conversations around the sports’ hottest topics, and Rotoworld Football explores fantasy implications for fans. For the first time this season, Rotoworld Football will debut four episodes per week, including a new Sunday night episode diving into the weekend’s results. In addition, The Mike Tirico Podcast will debut new episodes throughout the 2019 NFL season featuring exclusive interviews with the league’s top players and personalities. New episodes of NBC Sports podcasts are available for download each week on all major podcast platforms including: NBCSports.com/podcasts, NBC Sports’ Scores app, Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn and iHeart.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SOCIAL MEDIA

    • SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its seventh season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look around each SNF city, as well as access inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field, and on the sideline, as our social media producer captures the best photos of Sunday night and posts in real time. In addition, SNF on Instagram will utilize Instagram stories to maximize fans’ exposure to the Sunday Night Football
    • SNF ON TWITTER: Using tweets, photos, and videos, @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players.
    • SNF ON SNAPCHAT: For the second season, NBC Sports’ Snapchat account will be creating content on the platform at each Sunday Night Football game, including Kickoff and from the SNF The NBC Sports Snapchat account will take fans behind the scenes to the FNIA set and around cities where Sunday Night Football comes to town, utilizing lenses and filters to customize content specifically for the Snapchat audience.
    • SNF ON FACEBOOK: – At nearly 3.7 million likes strong, the Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides social-first stories, photos and video every week.

 

NBC SPORTS RADIO

NBC Sports Radio, produced and distributed by Westwood One in partnership with NBC Sports Group, is carried by more than 300 affiliates nationwide. Programming is available on radio stations throughout the United States, as well as on NBCSportsRadio.com, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports Scores app, and on the websites of affiliates. Content includes hourly sports news updates, daily features, and is highlighted by PFT Live, featuring NFL insider and Football Night In America commentator Mike Florio daily from 6-9 a.m. ET; the PFT PM podcast hosted by Florio, which takes a look back at the day that was in the NFL; Safety Blitz with Rodney Harrison and Dan Schwartzman; featuring three-time All Pro and two-time Super Bowl-winner Rodney Harrison; and The Daily Line, NBC Sports Radio’s daily sports talk and betting show that airs M-F 3-7 p.m. ET and features special guests and content for casual and avid sports fans. Fans can follow  @NBCSportsRadio to listen live or on demand, or visit www.NBCSportsRadio.com.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL BUS RETURNS FOR 2019 NFL SEASON 

NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football bus returns this season to travel the country, visiting the host cities of each Sunday Night Football game. In addition, the SNF Bus will also visit markets along the route without an SNF game on the schedule to give more fans a chance to join in on the experience. The bus will arrive in each host city two to three days prior to the game, making stops at local landmarks and events before heading to the game site. Once at the stadium, the Sunday Night Football bus will give fans the opportunity to interact with America’s most-watched primetime television show with exclusive activities and experiences.

For the first time ever, fans will be able to record content on the bus to share directly to their social platforms, with new experiences including augmented reality mirrors in the locker room and a green screen booth to replicate the iconic player intros in the SNF broadcast.

In addition, fan favorites returning to the bus include the official Player of the Game Ball signed at the end of every SNF matchup, a replica Football Night in America desk, and a brand new On Her Turf photo experience celebrating the power of every football fan.

2019 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
*Sun. Nov. 3 Week 9 New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens
*Sun. Nov. 10 Week 10 Minnesota Vikings at Dallas Cowboys
*Sun. Nov. 17 Week 11  Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams
*Sun. Nov. 24 Week 12 Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles
**Thurs. Nov. 28 Week 13 New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons
*Sun. Dec. 1 Week 13 New England Patriots at Houston Texans
*Sun. Dec. 8 Week 14 Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams
*Sun. Dec. 15 Week 15 Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Chargers
*Sun. Dec. 22 Week 16 Kansas City Chiefs at Chicago Bears
*Sun. Dec. 29 Week 17 TBD

*Flex Week

** Thanksgiving Night Game

 

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING: Flexible scheduling will be used in Weeks 11-17. Additionally, in Weeks 5-10, flexible scheduling may be used in no more than two weeks. In Weeks 5-16, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday or Monday nights.

A flexible scheduling move would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the Sunday night game will be announced no later than six days prior to December 29. The schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications will be moved to that time slot. Flexible scheduling ensures quality matchups in all Sunday time slots in those weeks, and gives “surprise” teams a chance to play their way into prime time.

– SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL –