The opening of NBC’s Sunday Night Football debuts Sunday (September 8th) as last year’s Super Bowl champions,the New England Patriots, play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it will feature Carrie Underwood once again, as well as 13 NFL players.  Carrie, who stars in the NBC SNF show open for the seventh consecutive year, welcomes Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett, who makes an appearance during Underwood’s performance.

“We always look for ways to keep the Sunday Night Football open fresh and exciting. This year, we thought the best way would be to kinda kick it back OG and go back to ‘Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,’ which was the first theme song of this SNF era,” says Carrie. “So, I thought, ‘Well, how do we make that new and exciting, and for me, I was like, ‘What if we got Joan Jett in the mix?’ ‘Would she ever do anything like that?’ We got super lucky that she was excited to be on board. The song is one of hers – ‘Hate Myself for Loving You’ – that they rearranged to fit Sunday Night Football, so I just feel like having her involved just felt really right. It was so exciting just to be able to stand up next to her and film the open and get to know her a little bit ‘cause I feel like she’s a person I could learn a lot from. She’s so stinkin’ cool!

Thirteen NFL players, who have accounted for 31 Pro Bowl selections (including 10 2018 Pro Bowlers), four Super Bowl rings, and nine first-round draft picks, are in the show open. Following is the complete list:

Atlanta Falcons WR Julio Jones

Chicago Bears DB Kyle Fuller

Chicago Bears LB Khalil Mack

Chicago Bears QB Mitch Trubisky

Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield

Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott

Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes

Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff

Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins

Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz

Philadelphia TE Zach Ertz

Philadelphia Eagles DT Fletcher Cox

Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson

Tripp Dixon is creative director of the SNF show open.

For the first time in the series’ 14 seasons, the SNF show open was filmed inside an NFL stadium, with Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, serving as the “stage.”

Carrie, who is currently making her way to the top of the country charts with “Southbound,” resumes the new leg of The Cry Pretty Tour 360 – featuring Maddie & Tae and Runaway June – on Tuesday (September 10th).