ESPN will open the 2016 NFL Wild Card Weekend today, January 9, at 4:20 p.m. ET with the Kansas City Chiefs (11-5) vs. Houston Texans (9-7). The AFC matchup will air on ESPN and be simulcast on ABC (for the first time). The game will also be available in Spanish on ESPN DEPORTES and streamed live on WatchESPN. Kickoff is 4:35 p.m. ET. (To view ESPN's NFL Wild Card marketing spot.)
Monday Night Football's Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and reporter Lisa Salters will call the game from NRG Stadium in Houston. MNF producer Jay Rothman and director Chip Dean - working their 25th season together (10th on MNF) - will produce the Wild Card game. The ESPN DEPORTES team includes Alvaro Martin (play-by-play), SUPER BOWL champion kicker Raul Allegre (analyst) and reporter John Sutcliffe. MNF's Jon Gruden previews Chiefs-Texans: "This Wild Card game features two of the best coaching jobs of the season. Both the Chiefs and the Texans lost their feature backs in Jamaal Charles and Arian Foster. Andy Reid has done an excellent job, as has Bill O'Brien - with a number of different quarterbacks. Both defenses are phenomenal. They're excellent on third down. Both offenses are going to be hard-pressed to score. It's going to be a tight football game. The turnover ratio will probably decide it."ESPN's NFL Wild Card Weekend Schedule for Saturday, Jan. 9:
Date | Time (ET) | Program | Network(s) |
Sat, Jan 9 | 5:30 a.m. | NFL Matchup | ESPN, WatchESPN
(Reair: ESPN2 at 8:30 a.m.) |
11 a.m. | Fantasy Football Now | ESPN2, WatchESPN | |
12 p.m. | Postseason NFL Countdown | ESPN, WatchESPN | |
3 p.m. | Postseason NFL Countdown | ESPN, ABC, WatchESPN | |
4:20 p.m. | NFL Wild Card Game:
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans (Kickoff: 4:35 p.m.) |
ESPN, ABC, WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes | |
7:25 p.m. | SportsCenter | ESPN, WatchESPN |
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