CBS Sports and NFL Network will open each game of Thursday Night Football in 2014 with Jay-Z's Grammy Award-winning song "Run This Town," featuring megastar Rihanna. The Thursday Night Football open will be accompanied by the narration of Academy Award-nominated actor Don Cheadle. Cheadle's narration sets the scene to kick off the NFL week on Thursday nights, highlighting the division rivalry games and asking the question, who will "Run This Town"?
The 16-game Thursday Night Football schedule kicks off on Sept. 11 with the Steelers vs. Ravens from Baltimore and ends with a Week 16 Saturday doubleheader on Dec. 20.
Thursday Night Football will feature a customized open each week highlighting the teams and storylines. Featuring Cheadle's narration with music sung by Rihanna, the open will match the size and drama of each Thursday-night game. This open, which was filmed in an airplane hangar, was produced and directed by 28-time Emmy Award-winning producer Pete Radovich, who serves as
CBS Sports' creative director.
"This open combines one of music's biggest stars with one of the most dynamic actors in Hollywood," said Radovich. "The energy that both talents provide gives the opening to every Thursday night the big-game,
PRIMETIME feel it deserves. It is a dream scenario for any director."
Academy Award® and Emmy Award® nominee
Don Cheadle currently stars as "Marty Kaan" on the critically acclaimed
Showtime series House of Lies, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. Most recently, Cheadle starred in and directed the independent film
Miles Ahead along with
Ewan McGregor, based on the life of legendary jazz artist
Miles Davis. He also reprised his role of Colonel James Rhodes in Avengers: Age of Ultron. His credits included Hamburger Hill, Colors, Devil in A Blue Dress, Rosewood, Boogie Nights, Bulworth, Out Of Sight, Mission To Mars, The Family Man, Traffic, Things Behind The Sun, Swordfish, Ocean's Eleven, Manic, Ocean's Twelve, Hotel Rwanda, Crash,
REIGN Over Me, Ocean's Thirteen, Talk To Me, Traitor,
Iron Man 2, The Guard, Flight and
Iron Man 3.
The Thursday Night Football schedule on CBS, also simulcast on
NFL Network includes:
Sept. 11 (Week 2): Steelers at Ravens Oct. 9 (Week 6): Colts at Texans
Sept. 18 (Week 3): Buccaneers at
Falcons Oct. 16 (Week 7): Jets at Patriots
Sept. 25 (Week 4): Giants at Redskins Oct. 23 (Week 8): Chargers at Broncos
Oct. 2 (Week 5):
VIKINGS at Packers Dec. 20 (Week 16): Chargers at 49ers/Eagles at Redskins*
The Thursday Night Football schedule on
NFL Network includes:
Oct. 30 (Week 9): Saints at Panthers Dec. 4 (Week 14): Cowboys at Bears
Nov. 6 (Week 10): Browns at Bengals Dec. 11 (Week 15): Cardinals at Rams
Nov. 13 (Week 11): Bills at Dolphins Dec. 18 (Week 16): Titans at Jaguars
Nov. 20 (Week 12): Chiefs at Raiders Dec. 20 (Week 16): Chargers at 49ers/Eagles at Redskins*
To view the entire 2014 NFL schedule, visit NFL.com and CBSSports.com
The pregame show for Thursday Night Football begins each week at 6:00 PM, ET on
NFL Network live from outside the stadium onNFL Total Access Kickoff. At 7:30 PM, ET, NFL Thursday Night Kickoff is live from inside the stadium taking viewers up to kickoff. The show will air on
CBS and be simulcast on
NFL Network during Weeks 2-8 and air exclusively on
NFL Network during Weeks 9-12 and 14-16.
The full slate of 16 regular-season Thursday Night Football games will be produced by
CBS with its broadcasters and production team, including Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, along with Tracy Wolfson reporting. They also will announce select games on Sundays on CBS. They also will announce select games on Sundays on CBS.
*The kickoff times for each of the Saturday games - Philadelphia at
Washington and San Diego at San Francisco - will be determined at a later date.
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