Fox NFL Sunday Fox NFL Sunday is the pregame show for the TV show " NFL on Fox " . The program is broadcast on Fox television affiliates nationwide . The audio portion of the show is broadcast over the Fox Sports Radio network , distributed by Premiere Radio Networks . The show has won four Emmy Award s . History . 1994 – 1997 . " Fox NFL Sunday " debuted in 1994 with hosts James Brown , Terry Bradshaw , Howie Long , and Jimmy Johnson . The program was notable in being the first hour - long NFL pregame show on a broadcast network ; previous network pregames such as CBS ' " The NFL Today " or NBC ' s " NFL Live ! " had always been 30 minutes in length . Fox ' s show also adopted a looser , more irreverent approach than its predecessors . During Johnson ' s initial season on the show , he would often join the show from his home in Florida . There was much speculation that Jimmy Johnson would return to coaching during the first year of the show . Prior to the end of the year , Johnson made an ' announcement ' saying he was happy with his new career in broadcasting . But in 1996 , he left to coach the Miami Dolphins , with Ronnie Lott brought in to succeed him for two seasons . During the time with Jimmy Johnson , the opening to the show would feature a comedic skit involving several or all of the hosts . On - location broadcast sites 1998 – 2002 . In 1998 , off the heels of NBC losing the rights to telecast the NFL to CBS , Cris Collinsworth joined " Fox NFL Sunday " and subsequently replaced Ronnie Lott . During this period , promotional claymation spots and teases became a popular fixture . The four hosts were depicted as animated characters in live - action situations , usually starring real NFL players . Beginning in the 1999 season , comedian Jimmy Kimmel began making weekly game predictions and performing comedy skits on the show ; the following year , Jillian Barberie was added to the program to provide weather forecasts for each week ' s game sites . On - location broadcast sites 2002 – 2005 . Collinsworth left the show in 2002 , when he was promoted to Fox ' s newly formed " A Team " NFL game announcing team alongside Joe Buck and Troy Aikman ( replacing Pat Summerall and John Madden ) . Fox did several commercials featuring Buck , Collinsworth , and Aikman dressed as characters from the popular 1980s TV show of the same name . Initially , the vacated fourth seat was to feature a rotating series of guest analysts , with Jimmy Johnson returning in Week 1 . John Elway sat in Week 2 . For Week 3 , Johnson returned , and took over the position permanently , and remains on the program to this day . Jimmy Kimmel left the program after the 2002 season , primarily to focus on his new show " Jimmy Kimmel Live ! " . He was replaced by " MADtv " comedian Frank Caliendo , who had previously guest - starred during Kimmel ' s skits ( performing his famous John Madden impersonation ) . Caliendo ' s prognostication skits began to feature his talented impersonations , including Madden , Jay Leno , Jim Rome , George W . Bush , as well as show hosts Brown , Bradshaw , Long and Johnson . After the 2005 season , James Brown left the program in order to host rival show " The NFL Today " on CBS . On - location broadcast sites 2005 was the last season in which Fox ( along with CBS ) would air Saturday afternoon NFL games toward the end of the regular season in December . On these occasions , Fox would precede its coverage with a studio pregame show titled Fox NFL Saturday and featuring the regular " Fox NFL Sunday " commentators and introduced Fox Robot figure . 2006 . On August 13 , 2006 , FOX announced that Joe Buck and Curt Menefee would succeed James Brown in hosting the program . Because Buck was already the lead play - by - play man for " The NFL on Fox " , " Fox NFL Sunday " traveled to the site of Fox ' s top game each week , in a move similar to Fox ' s NASCAR coverage , where the prerace show emanates from the race site . Curt Menefee hosted the halftime and postgame segments on location with the " Fox NFL Sunday " crew . Chris Rose was the update host for game breaks . When Joe Buck had to go on a postseason Major League Baseball assignment for Fox ( thus being unable to appear on the " NFL on Fox " program ) , Menefee took over for Buck as the full - time host from Hollywood . During Weeks 6 through 8 , while the show was in Hollywood , Jillian Reynolds ( née Barberie ) returned to her position reporting gameday weather . During Weeks 16 and 17 , Joe Buck was the full - time host from Hollywood with the rest of the " Fox NFL Sunday " crew . Dick Stockton took over as No . 1 play - by - play man alongside Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver , while Curt Menefee returned to the booth as No . 2 play - by - play man alongside Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa . Though the show returned to Hollywood for two weeks , Jillian Reynolds did not rejoin the cast , presumably to go on maternity leave , as she was pregnant with her first child . During Wild Card weekend , Curt Menefee substituted for Joe Buck as host , as the pregame show broadcast from Hollywood . Meanwhile , Buck called the game between the New York Giants at the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday , January 7 . During the Divisional Playoffs , Curt Menefee once again substituted for Joe Buck as host , as the pregame show broadcast again from Hollywood for both games . Dick Stockton called the game between the Philadelphia Eagles at the New Orleans Saints on Saturday , January 13 and Buck called the game between the Seattle Seahawks at the Chicago Bears on Sunday , January 14 . For the NFC Championship Game on Sunday , January 21 between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears , Joe Buck hosted the pregame show with the " Fox NFL Sunday " crew on - site from Soldier Field . After Buck joined Troy Aikman for the play - by - play , Curt Menefee took over as host for the remainder of the game and hosted the halftime and postgame shows . Terry Bradshaw handled the trophy ceremony during the postgame show . 2007 – present . In March 2007 , it was announced that " The Built Ford Tough Fox NFL Sunday " would move back to the studio for the 2007 season , with Curt Menefee assuming full - time host duties and Joe Buck reverting to play - by - play only . Jillian Reynolds , coming off of maternity leave , returned full - time to report weather . However , the pre - game show was on - site at Lambeau Field for the 2007 NFC Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers and at Super Bowl XLII . " Fox NFL Sunday " had a new feature , a pre - recorded segment named " Grumpy Old Coaches " , where Jimmy Johnson and fellow former Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer talk about the week in football . A segment of highlights and commentary of the previous day ' s college football games is also featured , as a gesture to Fox ' s recent acquisition of the Bowl Championship Series ( BCS ) . This segment lasted on the show for only the 2007 season . On June 24 , 2008 , it was announced that Michael Strahan would join the show . On November 8 , 2009 , there was a special 2 - hour pregame show that took place from Afghanistan . While the regular " Fox NFL Sunday " crew did the pregame show , Chris Rose served as the studio host and anchored the in - game highlights , as John Lynch and Trent Green served as studios analysts this week for the halftime and postgame reports . On January 24 , 2010 , " Fox NFL Sunday " was on - site in New Orleans for the 2009 NFC Championship . On January 23 , 2011 , " Fox NFL Sunday " was also on - site at Soldier Field in Chicago for the 2010 NFC Championship and at Super Bowl XLV in Arlington , TX on February 6 , 2011 . Starting with the 2011 NFL season , the show introduced a new feature called " Fox : 45 " , which is usually a sing - along parody of a famous song , or a comedic sketch . The parodies and sketches usually relate to current events in the football season . Another feature introduced was the Twitter tracker , which scrolls tweets of NFL players and coaches . On August 2 , 2012 , Frank Caliendo announced on his official Twitter account that he would not be on " Fox NFL Sunday " for the 2012 season , and was eventually replaced by Rob Riggle . Cleatus the Fox Sports Robot . " Cleatus the Robot " is the official mascot of " Fox NFL Sunday " , named by a viewer during a contest in the winter of 2007 in which fans were able to submit entries as to what they thought the robot ' s name should be . Cleatus made his first appearance during the 2005 – 2006 NFL season , but was not used regularly until the following season . Cleatus mainly appears during the intro sequence of the show as well as brief commercials for movies and TV shows . In these commercials he commonly gets attacked by a CGI character from whatever the advertisement is about . He has thus far been attacked by Iron Man , a dragon from the movie " Eragon " , and a T - 1000 robot from the TV show " " , and taunted with thrown objects by The Burger King . Cleatus is also known to hop on two feet , play the electric guitar , shake out his limbs , and dance using such moves as the swim and the electric slide ; he Tebowed during the December 11 , 2011 Fox broadcast of a Denver Broncos game . Games on the weekend following New Year ' s Day show Cleatus sitting on a bench holding an ice pack to his head , nursing a hangover . When the MLB postseason begins on Fox in October , he will also take baseballs from a basket and hit them with a bat towards the background of the screen . After the World Series is over , he will not do this again until the next year ' s postseason begins . If a Thanksgiving NFL game is on Fox , he is usually replaced with a robot turkey . The character has an action figure on sale from Fox ' s website . He is available as he appears normally and even in special uniforms customized for all 32 NFL franchises . In response to Cleatus , " NASCAR on Fox " created Digger , an animated gopher mascot who was originally only used in the broadcast involving the " Digger Cam " but his role has since expanded . Unlike Cleatus , however , Digger had an animated short series aired during the 2009 NASCAR season ; the series was not brought back for 2010 , and Digger now has a role similar to that of Cleatus .