NBC excited to cover Dallas Cowboys’ home opener in new stadium
NBC play-by-play announcer Al Michaels
NBC is hyping up its New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys telecast at 7 p.m. Sunday as the Cowboys play their first regular season game in their new $1.2 billion stadium. The “Today” show even broadcast from the stadium Friday morning. Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst) and Andrea Kremer (sideline reporter) will call the game.
In a conference call this week, host Bob Costas, Michaels, Collinsworth and producer Fred Gaudelli discusses the game. Here a few highlights:
Michaels on doing the first game at the new stadium: “When the schedule came out I was very excited to not only know that we were going to do the first regular season game there, but it would be the New York Giants. I was hoping it would be the Giants or the Redskins or a team that is one of the noted rivals of the Cowboys so this is perfect. I spoke to Jerry Jones about this as long ago as five or six years. His dream was that if he was ever able to get something like this built in the Metroplex it was going to be the best of the best and he’s been able to affect that even through obviously very rough economic times. He hasn’t cut any corners from what I can gather and it’s a spectacular venue.”
Gaudelli on covering punts, which in the preseason occasionally struck the huge videoboard: “We will cover our punts differently in this game than we do in a normal game. In a regular game, we’re not tracking the ball on a punt, we’re actually just moving down the field to show the coverage go after the returner, but we’re going to start initially tracking the ball live because obviously people are going to be wondering about that right away.”
Michaels on the matchup: “It doesn’t matter when you have the Giants and the Cowboys or where you have the Giants and the Cowboys it’s going to be a treat. You’ve got two major stories here one being the opening of the stadium and the other being the Giants and the Cowboys and what still figures to be the NFL’s toughest division. I’m looking forward to what should be a pretty perfect night and what should be a hell of a game.”
Collinsworth on Tony Romo: “He’s in a tough spot. There have been so many great quarterbacks with the Dallas Cowboys over the years; legendary figures there with Troy (Aikman) and (Roger) Staubach. Tony Romo really impressed me (in last week’s game) with his ability to move in the pocket. His reads were dead on, he threw the ball great, and his pump fake in the flat that ended up with the big play down the field to Crayton for the touchdown was sort of Roethlisberger-like when we saw him on Thursday night. It’s a tough standard in Dallas because of those guys that came before him, but honest to goodness I think this guy is, if he’s not top 5, he’s certainly top 7 or so and getting better, so I’m a big Romo guy.”
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