Changing the Game Plan for Playoffs?

Many teams work hard to preserve game plans and routines once they reach the playoffs.

Incorporate a third-team receiver into a more prominent role in the offense for the biggest game of the season? Experiement with six defensive backs if you've never done it during the regular season?

Probably not likely scenarios for any of the four remaining teams battling for a Super Bowl berth.

Broadcast networks usually follow a similar approach -- they stick with what they know works.

Not CBS Sports. Not for Sunday's Jets-Colts matchup in the AFC Championship Game.

While the play-by-play and color commentary duties of Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms were enough during the regualr season, CBS plans to add sideline reporters Sunday. And that's reporters plural, one for each team.

Both Steve Taker and Solomon Wilcots will join the broadcast for the game. During the regular season, they work in the booth with two-man teams but on Sunday they get some of the toughest, most underappreciated duties in all of sports.

One one hand, the approach could give CBS more access to information in one of the most important NFL games of the season. On the other, Gumbel and Simms and the strong production crew thew work with each week have done just fine throughout the season. So change now seems like change just for change sake.

As CBS prepares for the Super Bowl, it will no doubt pull out some bells and whisltes but Gumbel and Simms can stand alone. Changing that approach just seems unnecessary.

In terms of hardward for the game, CBS plans 40 cameras to cover the action. For most regular-season NFL games, networks usually utilize about 20 cameras.