The CBS Television Network, home of Super Bowl XLI, continues its 47th year broadcasting the NFL with doubleheader coverage of THE NFL ON CBS on Sunday, Sept. 17 (1:00-7:00 PM, ET) beginning with THE NFL TODAY, the Network's one-hour studio show (12 NOON-1:00 PM, ET), live from THE NFL TODAY studio in New York City. THE NFL ON CBS lead announce team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms call the action from the Kansas City Chiefs-Denver Broncos game. Lance Barrow is the producer and Mike Arnold is the director. THE NFL ON CBS will broadcast three games this week in HDTV*, the highest definition television format – 1080i lines of picture resolution – along with 5.1 digital audio. The unified productions for both the standard definition and HD telecasts will feature the same announcers, camera angles and graphics. Sean McManus is President, CBS News and Sports. Tony Petitti is Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, CBS Sports. McManus and Petitti serve as executive producers of CBS Sports' coverage of THE NFL ON CBS. * * * * * PHIL SIMMS (On why college counts): Laurence Maroney was enough of a factor at the University of Minnesota to get noticed on draft day. All the focus, of course, was on Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush – and rightly so. But Bush and Maroney were not the only rookie runners who had solid opening weeks. Falcons rookie Jerious Norwood had a good start, as did Denver's Mike Bell. Norwood, who is frighteningly fast, was a third-round pick. Bell, who played at Arizona, was not drafted at all…It just goes to show you that where you go to college does have an impact on where you get drafted. It's not just a matter of publicity. You can get lost in the shuffle if you go to a school that's not winning a lot of games…The knock on Norwood was that he wasn't productive enough at Mississippi State. No kidding! Was Mississippi State making a national title run? Were they competing for an SEC title? Did his entire team get drafted into the NFL? Of course not…But he looks pretty good…(On New York Giants):…I will make no snap judgments after one week. The NFL starts to settle down after Week 3 or 4, and that's when you can start to see trends form and you can make some assessments, figure out who's going to have what kind of year…That said, here is an observation about the New York Giants. Yes, they lost at home Sunday night to the Colts. Yes, they committed several untimely penalties. But they still looked very good…The running back tandem of Tiki Barber and Brandon Jacobs was just (More) NFL ON CBS…2 incredible. In fact, looking at the way the Giants moved the ball against a very good Colts defense, it's hard to believe they lost that game. The penalties and a crucial fumble contributed. But, the biggest reason of all was that Peyton Manning played, in my eyes, one of the best games I've ever seen him play. They were under duress and he made some throws on the run, which I haven't seen him do a lot of in his career. The Giants only had one sack but they always had people around Manning, yet he was able to make accurate throws under pressure…The Giants had their opportunities, but the penalties hurt them and they dropped some interceptions early in the game that were legitimately catchable. Too many opportunities went by the wayside. However, the Giants were more impressive to me physically in a losing effort than most teams that won this week. I can't imagine that they are not going to be a big-time factor in the playoff race…From a physical standpoint, they truly showed no weakness. The running game was superb. The pass protection, against the likes of defensive end Dwight Freeney, was Outstanding – with a capital "O." I thought Freeney would be too much for the Giants' line to handle, but handle him they did. He had no success…Everybody I've talked to the last few days was impressed with how well the Giants kept the pressure off Eli Manning. If they continue to do that, they will be just fine…For more, log on to NFL.Com. RANDY CROSS (On New England without Deion Branch): There's one thing that New England has proven over the last three years, that is they are pretty darn good at preparing for 'next' – who's going to be next. Whether it be Lawyer Milloy or Ty Law or Romeo Crennel or Willie McGinest or Charlie Weis or whoever, they've done very, very well. This will be a hard one because, on paper, it would appear that there is no one obviously sitting there. But, Tom Brady insists that his favorite receiver is the open one…(On N.Y. Jets Quarterback Chad Pennington): With Chad, the Jets are a totally different team. You didn't read too much this week about them being in the "Brady Quinn Sweepstakes" or being Top 10 picks. If he can play like he has in the past, they have the second best quarterback in the division...(On N.Y. Jets): They've got some really good, young offensive lineman. They have some big play ability at wide receiver. A lot of it will depend on how successful their running game is going to be because it's been less-than spectacular. Kevin Barlow has the potential to be able to carry a similar load like Curtis Martin. I'm not saying that he can put up Martin's numbers, but he can carry that kind of load…(Keys for Jets): They want to keep the game pretty close by being conservative. They would prefer it to be a lower scoring game. They don't want to stand toe-to-toe and trade shots with New England. The Jets have to protect Pennington by running the ball some. And their defense has to make New England do something they don't do very often – turn the ball over like they did last week. Chad is the X-factor. If he is truly back and 100%, you have to look at them in a whole different light…(Keys for Pats): New England's strength is that they worry about their business. When they've been successful against the Jets, more often than not the past several years, they disrupt the timing of the offense and find a way to take away the one thing you want to have. When they take that one thing away, the Jets have to find a way to counter-act. Otherwise, it puts them back in the box that the Pats want them in. Even when Pennington was completely healthy, the key to stopping that offense was to disrupt its timing. * * * * * Following are the NFL assignments for Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 (subject to change). (More) NFL ON CBS…3 WEEK 2 -- Sept. 17 -- DOUBLEHEADER GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR 1:00 PM, ET starts: •Oakland @ Baltimore Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker Victor Frank/Andy Goldberg •Cleveland @ Cincinnati Ian Eagle/Solomon Wilcots Bob Dekas/Cathy Barreto •Houston @ Indianapolis Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon Jim Rikhoff/Bryan Lilley •Buffalo @ Miami* Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman 4:15 PM, ET starts: •Kansas City @ Denver* Jim Nantz/Phil Simms Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold •New England @ N.Y. Jets* Dick Enberg/Randy Cross Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith •Tennessee @ San Diego Bill Macatee/Richard Baldinger Ross Schneiderman/Jim Cornell WEEK 3 – Sept. 24 GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR 1:00 PM, ET starts: •Jacksonville @ Indianapolis*Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman •Tennessee @ Miami Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon Jim Rikhoff/Brian Lilley •Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh* Jim Nantz/Phil Simms Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold •N.Y. Jets @ Buffalo* Dick Enberg/Randy Cross Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith 4:00 PM, ET starts: •Baltimore @ Cleveland Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker Victor Frank/Mark Grant WEEK 4 -- Oct. 1 -- DOUBLEHEADER GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY/ANALYST PRODUCER/DIRECTOR 1:00 PM, ET starts: •San Diego @ Baltimore Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon Jim Rikhoff/Chris Svendsen •Miami @ Houston Gus Johnson/Steve Tasker Victor Frank/Mark Grant •Indianapolis @ N.Y. Jets* Greg Gumbel/Dan Dierdorf Mark Wolff/Bob Fishman 4:15 PM, ET starts •New England @ Cincinnati* Jim Nantz/Phil Simms Lance Barrow/Mike Arnold •Cleveland @ Oakland Ian Eagle/Solomon Wilcots Bob Dekas/Cathy Barreto •Jacksonville @ Washington* Dick Enberg/Randy Cross Bob Mansbach/Suzanne Smith