NFL WILD CARD SATURDAY DOUBLEHEADER ON NBC FEATURES VIKINGS-PACKERS AND BENGALS-TEXANS
Coverage Begins with Football Night in America at 4 p.m. ET
Bengals-Texans at 4:30 p.m. ET
Vikings-Packers at 8 p.m. ET
NBC Sports Live Extra to Live Stream Vikings-Packers and Bengals-Texans on NBCSports.com
NFL Turning Point Airs Tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET
12th Annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on NBC
NEW YORK - January 2, 2012 -NBC Sports kicks off its NFL postseason coverage with a Wild Card doubleheader on Saturday featuring the Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) at Houston Texans (12-4) at 4:30 p.m. ET and the Minnesota Vikings (10-6) at Green Bay Packers (11-5) at 8 p.m. ET. NBC's Wild Card coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET with a special 30-minute edition of Football Night in America.
Football Night In America is hosted by 24-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas, who will report from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Costas will be joined on site by Hines Ward, the former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Super Bowl MVP.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC's Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Patrick will be joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com.
In the early game, Matt Schaub and the Texans host Andy Dalton and the Bengals in rematch of last year's AFC Wild Card game at Reliant Stadium, which the Texans won 31-10. Veteran play-by-play announcer Dan Hicks will be in the booth, joined by analyst Mike Mayock and reporter Alex Flanagan.
After a thrilling victory at home last week, in which the Vikings beat the Packers 37-34 and claimed the last Wild Card spot in the NFC, Minnesota will travel to Green Bay, Wis. for a rematch at Lambeau Field. Coverage of Vikings-Packers will begin at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Handling play-by-play for Vikings-Packers is six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels, who will be joined by 13-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.
NFL TURNING POINT
Emmy-nominated NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network's weekly NFL show co-produced by NFL Films, airs tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET. In this week's episode: NFL Turning Point examines Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins win-or-go-home victory against the Dallas Cowboys; Adrian Peterson's attempt at breaking the NFL's single-season rushing record, and the Minnesota Vikings win over the Green Bay Packers; and a spotlight look at the return of Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano.
Hosted by Football Night In America's Dan Patrick, the hour-long program airs throughout the entire NFL season, including the playoffs and Super Bowl.
NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA
NBC LIVE EXTRA: Bengals-Texans and Vikings-Packers will both be streamed live on NBCSports.com. The video stream originates directly from NBC's broadcast of each game, and will include additional camera angles and interactive features.
NBC Sports Live Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause, scroll back-and-forth, and review plays in slo-motion.
NBC SPORTS SOCIAL MEDIA
SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC - The Sunday Night Football Facebook page will provide links, photos and videos for each game.
SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC - Michele Tafoya will be doing live video tweets in Green Bay, Wis. from @SNFonNBC providing fans extended real-time content from her unique sideline perspective. Using tweets, twitpics and twitvids @SNFonNBC provides unique content with on air talent, production crew and NFL players.
Former Packers NT Gilbert Brown @GilbertBrown will also be tweeting during the Vikings-Packers game. Tweets from the Packers Hall-of-Fame member and Super Bowl XXXI champion will appear on the @SNFonNBC feed.
U.S. ARMY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL
Vikings RB Adrian Peterson, Jets QB Mark Sanchez, Ravens DT Haloti Ngata and Lions DT Ndamukong Suh are some of the famous alumni of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, the nation's premier high school football all-star game, which plays its 12th contest this Saturday at 1 p.m. ET live on NBC Sports.
Paul Burmeister will call the action with former NFL defensive lineman Anthony Herron providing analysis. Also providing commentary are reporters Lewis Johnson and Marty Snider, and high school football recruiting expert Mike Farrell.
Ninety of the nation's top high school football players take the field in a classic East vs. West match up at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Fans will get a sneak peek at some of the nation's top college prospects, including Alabama-commit RB Derrick Henry from Yulee, Fla., who broke a 59-year old high school rushing record with 11,612 career yards.
During the broadcast of the game, Johnson and Snider will interview select members of each team as the players announce the universities they will be attending and playing for next year.
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