NEW YORK -- The NFL is getting animated.
The league's players and coaches will lend their voices to a series of short cartoons for Nickelodeon's Nicktoons channel. The 22 episodes, which will each run 2 to 5 minutes, will air weekly during the NFL season from September to February.
"Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core" is based on the league's Web site for kids. Among the stars scheduled to do voiceovers as themselves are New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.
The show is about a 10-year-old boy whose superpowers include the skills of an NFL player. He must protect valuable supernatural objects hidden in the league's stadiums.
The series will end with a one-hour movie to air the day before the Super Bowl.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press