NBC, with only one pair of NFL announcers, has some latitude. With a Jan. 9 wild-card NFL playoff doubleheader, it will use its regular Sunday night voices Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. But, in a move that will be formally announced Monday, it will be creative in the earlier game by using Joe Gibbs and a quarterback he coached, Joe Theismann (left), as game analysts.

Gibbs, an NBC studio analyst from 1994 to 1997 before returning to coaching the Washington Redskins, says he hasn't tried to return to NFL TV work. Overseeing his NASCAR race team is a big scheduling conflict and "it never came up. … I'm really excited to do something you didn't think you'd be able to do again."

Theismann, dropped from ESPN's Monday night games after the 2006 season, doesn't assume the cameo will lead to a return to NFL TV games. Says Theismann, who now works the NFL Network's Playbook studio show: "My body of work is basically known. … Where this leads, who knows?"

Coaching Theismann in the 1980s, Gibbs thought his quarterback would be "perfect" for TV but didn't think about working with him on-air: "My problem with Joe was he always wanted to call the plays. I said, 'Not on my life, you're not going to determine my job.' … Now, it might be tough getting a word in edgewise. He might try to get back at me." Sounds fun. "Joe and I haven't spent three hours together in 20-something years," says Theismann. "I used to drive him crazy, hope I don't now."

•Redskins P.S. Gibbs still talks to owner Dan Snyder, but says he has "no clue as to what will happen" after the team's disastrous season: "I'm more of a Redskins fan now."