Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

NBC has announced the schedule for "Sunday Night" and "Thursday Night" Football for the upcoming season. 2016 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Thurs. Sept. 8         NFL Kickoff     Carolina Panthers at Denver Broncos Sun. Sept. 11          Week 1              New England Patriots at Arizona Cardinals Sun. Sept. 18          Week 2              Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings Sun. Sept. 25          Week 3              Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys Sun. Oct. 2             Week 4              Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers *Sun. Oct. 9           Week 5              New York Giants at Green Bay Packers *Sun. Oct. ...

Special to the Director's Cut Blog Nate Davis, USA TODAY Sports  The NFL announced Monday that NBC will join CBS and NFL Network for TNF telecasts during the 2016 and 2017 regular seasons. Thursday night games became a fixture in 2006 on NFL Network, which will continue to simulcast all games in the package, before CBS joined it in 2014. Over the next two seasons, CBS and NBC will broadcast five games apiece while NFL Network will retain exclusive rights to eight other games. CBS had produced eight games in both the 2014 and '15 seasons. “We are continuing to make Thursday Night Football bigger and better. CBS has played an integral role over the last two seasons in helping build Thursdays as a night for NFL football, and we're excited to have them on board again," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. “At the same time, we're thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of succes...