Eagles-Cardinals: Game time, channel, how to watch and stream

Eagles fans will hear a new voice in the booth when the Birds take on the Arizona Cardinals Sunday afternoon.

Robert Smith, a two-time Pro Bowl running back who spent his entire career with the Minnesota Vikings, will be calling his first Eagles game for Fox.

Smith’s focus has been primarily on college football, with a handful of NFL games thrown in. But this season he has a full slate of NFL games to call alongside play-by-play announcer Chris Myers and sideline reporter Jen Hale.

As a member of one of the network’s lower-tiered booths, you can expect Smith to be calling his fair share of Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders games this season (he’s already called one each). So he was as surprised as anyone when he and his crew drew Eagles-Cardinals this week, which features the league’s only remaining undefeated team.

» READ MORE: Eagles-Cardinals predictions: Our beat writers make their picks for Week 5

“When we first heard we had that game, it was like, ‘Okay, that’s great. It’s going to be fun.’ Then here in the last couple of weeks, I was like, ‘We’ve better not get a call or an email that we’re being changed,’” Smith joked.

Despite playing eight seasons for the Vikings, Smith only faced the Eagles once during his career — a 1997 Minnesota victory where he rushed for 125 yards and caught the first touchdown reception of his career.

“From a scheduling perspective, we were pretty good in the late 1990s,” Smith said. “Maybe the Eagles weren’t.”

They weren’t. From 1997 through 1999 the Eagles went 14-33 before becoming one of the best teams in the NFC in the 2000s under Andy Reid. In fact, the last time the Birds began the season 4-0 was in 2004, when Philadelphia made it all the way to Super Bowl XXXIX, which they lost against the New England Patriots.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the Eagles-Cardinals matchup:

Eagles-Cardinals is scheduled to kick off at 4:25 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

Calling the game alongside Smith will be longtime play-by-play announcer Chris Myers, who also contributes to the network’s MLB and NASCAR coverage. Jen Hale will report from the sideline at the Linc.

The game will also air on radio in Philadelphia on 94.1 WIP. On play-by-play will be Merrill Reese, who has been the voice of the Eagles since 1977, making him by far the longest-tenured announcer in the NFL. He’s being joined by analyst Mike Quick, a former Eagles wide receiver who has been calling games alongside Reese for 25 seasons. WIP host Howard Eskin will report from the sideline.

Spanish-speaking listeners can tune into La Mega 105.7, where the game will be called by WIP host Rickie Ricardo, Oscar Budejen, and Bill Kulik.

Eagles vs. Cardinals will stream on the Fox Sports app, but you’ll need to be a cable subscriber to log in.

The game will also stream on a host of so-called skinny bundles that carry Fox, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. Most offer a free trial.

If you’re looking to stream the game for free, your best option if you live near Philadelphia is to use an over-the-air antenna.

The Eagles are undefeated. The Cardinals are coming off a win and tight end Zach Ertz will be facing his former team. Two of the NFL’s most exciting young quarterbacks — Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray — will face off in the desert.

Yet outside of Philadelphia and Phoenix, the Eagles-Cardinals game will be hard to find on TV.

Why? The Dallas Cowboys.

Fox’s national game Sunday (which it calls America’s Game of the Week) is the Cowboys facing the Los Angeles Rams at 4:25 p.m. Even with Dak Prescott on the bench, the game is a slam-dunk in terms of television ratings, thanks to Cooper Rush’s success off the bench.

The Cowboys are scheduled to appear in 11 national broadcasts this season (including next week against the Eagles on Sunday Night Football), and last year Dallas averaged 23 million viewers during 12 national games, topping the Green Bay Packers by nearly 2 million viewers a game, according to Sportico’s Anthony Crupi.

Eagles staff writers Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, and Josh Tolentino will be covering the action live on Gameday Central. Smith and Tolentino will discuss the Eagles-Cardinals game at 3 p.m. prior to kickoff. Notes and observations about the game will be at Inquirer.com/Eagles. Don’t forget to subscribe to our free Sports Daily newsletter.

Here’s a rundown of the local and national NFL pregame shows offered by the major networks this week: