The New England Patriots will take part in what will be the NFL’s biggest game next Sunday as the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Pats. The highly anticipated contest lost a bit of its luster with Ben Roethlisberger suffering an unfortunate knee injury. Big Ben will be out for a few weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee suffered in Sunday’s upset loss at Miami. The outcome of this game could go a long ways to determining who has home field advantage in the AFC playoffs next January.

The game kicks off at 4:25 pm eastern time Sunday. CBS will broadcast the game on every one of their affiliates in the United States with the exception (thanks to archaic NFL/FCC rules) of Atlanta and San Francisco. Jim Nantz will announce the play-by-play with Phil Simms will handling the commentary.

Last week when the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook published their advanced lines this game was listed as a pick’em. Roethlisberger’s injury combined with Pittsburgh’s poor showing at Miami and New England’s 18-point victory over Cincinnati has caused oddsmakers to dramatically reassess this matchup. Early today the Patriots were listed as a seven point favorite and as of early Monday evening most venues have pushed that up to 7½ points.

Week 7 has a couple of good NFC games on tap: Minnesota at Philadelphia in the early time slot, and Seattle at Arizona on Sunday night. New England fans should be interested in Buffalo at Miami early and Houston at Denver on Monday night.

For the first time this season the Cowboys will not be televised in prime time or to a near-nationwide audience. The reason? Dallas (and Carolina) have a bye this week. Please keep in mind that the broadcast distribution is preliminary. Some affiliates will request and receive approval to change to another game.

NFL Week 7 Television Coverage & Odds

?? 1-5 Chicago Bears at 3-2 Green Bay Packers
Thursday, October 20 at 8:30 pm ET on CBS; Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson
Packers -9½ . . . . over/under 46
Broadcast in all markets.

?? 3-3 New York Giants ‘at’ 3-3 Los Angeles Rams in London
Sunday, October 23 at 9:30 am ET on NFLN; Kevin Harlan and Dan Fouts
Giants -3 . . . . over/under 44
Broadcast in all markets.

???? 5-0 Minnesota Vikings at 3-2 Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews
Vikings -2½ . . . . over/under 40
Broadcast in New England, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Las Vegas NV, New Mexico, New York (except Buffalo and NYC), Charlotte NC, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

???? 2-3 New Orleans Saints at 3-2 Kansas City Chiefs
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Kenny Albert, John Lynch and Pam Oliver
Chiefs -7 . . . . over/under 50
Broadcast in Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Nebraska.

??? 4-2 Washington Redskins at 3-3 Detroit Lions
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Justin Kutcher, Charles Davis and Peter Schrager
Lions -1 . . . . over/under 48½
Broadcast in DC, Michigan, North Carolina (except Charlotte) and Virginia.

?? 0-6 Cleveland Browns at 2-4 Cincinnati Bengals
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Tom McCarthy and Adam Archuleta
Bengals -10 . . . . over/under 46
Broadcast in eastern Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

??? 4-2 Buffalo Bills at 2-4 Miami Dolphins
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Andrew Catalon, Steve Tasker and Steve Beuerlein
Bills -3 . . . . over/under 45½
Broadcast in Arkansas, south and central Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and western New York.

??? 4-2 Oakland Raiders at 2-3 Jacksonville Jaguars
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Greg Gumbel, Trent Green and Jamie Erdahl
Jaguars -1 . . . . over/under 49
Broadcast in Alabama, northern Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Wisconsin, and everywhere west of the Mississippi River (with the exception of Arkansas and Kansas City).

?? 2-4 Indianapolis Colts at 3-3 Tennessee Titans
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Spero Dedes and Solomon Wilcots
Titans -2½ . . . . over/under 48½
Broadcast in Illinois, Indiana, western Kentucky, Tennessee and Houston TX.

?? 3-3 Baltimore Ravens at 1-4 New York Jets
Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon
Pick’em . . . . over/under 42½
Broadcast in Connecticut, DC, Maryland, western Massachusetts, eastern New York (Albany, NYC), North Carolina, Pennsylvania (except Philadelphia), South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

?? 2-4 San Diego Chargers at 4-2 Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, October 23 at 4:05 pm ET on FOX; Sam Rosen, Daryl Johnston and Laura Okmin
Falcons -6½ . . . . over/under 53
Broadcast in Alabama, southern California, parts of Florida (Jacksonville, Miami, West Palm), Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Baltimore, Buffalo, Nashville and New York City.

? 2-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1-5 San Francisco 49ers
Sunday, October 23 at 4:05 pm ET on FOX; Chris Myers, Ronde Barber and Jennifer Hale
Buccaneers -2 . . . . over/under 47½
Broadcast in northern California, Florida (except Jacksonville, Miami and West Palm Beach) and Reno NV.

????? 5-1 New England Patriots at 4-2 Pittsburgh Steelers
Sunday, October 23 at 4:25 pm ET on CBS; Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson
Patriots -7 . . . . over/under 46
Broadcast in all markets with the exception of Atlanta and San Francisco.

???? 4-1 Seattle Seahawks at 2-3 Arizona Cardinals
Sunday, October 23 at 8:30 pm ET on NBC; Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya
Cardinals -1 . . . . over/under 43½
Broadcast in all markets.

???? 4-2 Houston Texans at 4-2 Denver Broncos
Monday, October 24 at 8:30 pm ET on BSPN; Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters
Broncos -7 . . . . over/under 41
Broadcast in all markets.