With fans watching in near-record numbers last week, NFL officiating crews had perhaps their worst weekend.

There were blown calls in all four of the playoff games, and announcers on CBS, Fox and ESPN lowered the boom.

It was refreshing to hear announcers give their opinions without being personal.

"There are no restrictions on our announcers," said Tony Petitti, executive vice president and executive producer for CBS Sports. "We rely on their expertise. We want to make sure they know the rules and explain things properly.

"But all our crews are free to express their opinions."

Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will call Sunday's AFC Championship Game on CBS. They were in the booth for last week's Steelers-Colts game when Troy Polamalu's interception of Peyton Manning's pass was ruled incomplete.

On the air, Simms was critical of the call.

"The officials had a rough weekend, and I don't know which was the worst call," Simms said. "There were some bad calls in the Pittsburgh game, the Julius Peppers no-TD call in the Carolina game, an interception in the Bears game, the call on Champ Bailey's interception return in the Denver game. The rules are very difficult. If not, then why do the officials get together on the field to discuss things?

"We know they have a tough job, but we in the booth have never been told by CBS or the NFL to pull back on our opinions. There was a time where I was a little shy, but not anymore.

"As a former player, I know when you're on the field, things look different. Officials see contact different and often better than TV replays."

Nantz, who was named the 2005 Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, said CBS announcers have free rein to say what they want.

"There are no guidelines, but there is also no holding back," Nantz said.

Still, Petitti said all the networks covering the NFL provide league officials with every camera angle possible.

And viewers at home see everything the officials see.

"We emptied the bucket on the Polamalu play," Petitti said. "You at home saw what the officials saw."

Sunday in Denver for the Steelers-Broncos game and later in Seattle for the Panthers-Seahawks game on Fox, NFL officials will have plenty of possible replay angles.

"We're adding a few additional cameras this week," Petitti said. "We'll ratchet it up a bit. It won't be like a Super Bowl, but the officials will have a few more looks.

"There shouldn't be an issue. The officials will get good looks from us and Fox."

More football

- Nantz and Simms will be joined by Armen Keteyian and Bonnie Bernstein for the AFC game in Denver. Kickoff is set for noon with the pregame show at 11 a.m.

- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the NFC Championship Game in Seattle with Pam Oliver and Chris Myers on the sidelines. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. with the pregame show at 3 p.m.

- Last week's Redskins-Seahawks game on Fox earned a 15.8 rating (24.3 million viewers), up 13 percent from last year's early NFC divisional playoff game. The late game on Fox -- Panthers-Bears -- did a 19.4 rating, up 2 percent from last year's late game.

- CBS averaged a 20 rating for its two playoff games last week, up from a 10-13 for a regular-season game.

- Both of Sunday's playoff games will be carried on The Mighty 1090. Marv Albert, Boomer Esiason and John Dockery will work the AFC game. Joel Meyers, John Riggins and Rick Walker work the NFC game.

- ESPN and ABC plan 9 1/2 hours of pregame coverage for Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5. ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" kicks off at 8 a.m. and will run until 2 p.m. ABC's pregame show begins at 11:30 a.m. and runs to 3 p.m. The game starts about 3:20 p.m. Everyone connected with football at both networks will work.

Hockey talk

- The Saturday NHL Game of the Week on NBC features San Jose at Los Angeles at 3 p.m. Last week's regional debut telecasts drew a 1.5 rating.

- Weeknight national NHL telecasts on OLN are averaging an 0.2 rating and just 214 households in Los Angeles, home of the Kings.

Around the dial

- Jerry Gross will air the second part of a two-part interview with Padres president Sandy Alderson at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday on KCEO (1000). In the interview, Alderson covers a lot of ground, but speaks specifically about the club's relationship with long-time announcers Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner as well as closer Trevor Hoffman.

- ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" returns tonight at 5 with Vladimir Pereira taking on Fahproakob Rakkiatgym for the vacant IBF featherweight title. The network will debut "Punch Track" on this bout.

- "ESPN Hollywood", ESPN2's daily news and entertainment show, will cease production on Thursday. The Los Angeles-based 30-minute show hosted by Thea Andrews and Mario Lopez debuted in August and, while somewhat entertaining, was terribly misplaced. Starting Jan. 30, a 30-minute "Best of Mike and Mike" repeat show will debut in the 3:30 p.m. slot on ESPN2. Also on that day, "Quite Frankly" -- the Stephen A. Smith train wreck -- moves from 3:30 to 8 p.m.

John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com. To comment, go to nctimes.com.