FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013

NBC SPORTS’ “FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT WITH BOB COSTAS, DAN PATRICK, TONY DUNGY, RODNEY HARRISON AND SAM FLOOD

Sept. 3, 2013

Noon ET

 

 

Chris McCloskey:  Thank you everyone for joining us today for our Football Night in America Conference Call, previewing the 2013 NFL season. In a moment we’ll be joined by Executive Producer Sam Flood, hosts Bob Costas and Dan Patrick, as well as analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison.

There will be a transcript of this call available a few hours after it and at the NBC Sports Group media dedicated web site, NBCsportsgrouppressbox.com.

As many of you know Football Night in America is the most watched pregame show in sports. Last year it averaged 7.8 million viewers. To discuss some of the new elements of this year’s show I’m going to turn in over to our Executive Producer Sam Flood.

Sam Flood:  Thanks for joining us today. We’re very excited to start the season. In fact I’m sitting on the floor of the stadium at Sports Authority Field, as our group is getting ready and Mike Florio is doing a little Pro Football Talk Extra online.

So it’s good to get back in the football field mode. A couple of new additions to the team this year. Scott Pioli has come on board.

We never had a front office guy on our club and we really like Scott. I think he’s going to add a new dimension to our team, new perspective on what’s going on around the league and take us inside the front office of teams and examine the impact of losing players at certain times and how a club can and might react. So we’re excited about Scott being on board.

The other big new element is we’ve moved studios. We’re now in the home of Saturday Night Live. We’ve moved to 8H down the hall from our old studio, so among the famous gigs that have taken place in there is the NBC Symphony Orchestra used to play there, Elvis has worked the room, Judy Garland has worked the room.

And some show called Later with a guy named Bob Costas came out of there, as well as the ’08 and 2012 at-home work for the Olympics for NBC. So it’s a special space to be in and live from New York, it’s Football Night in America.

One other new element coming out of the team is Football Night in America Coach’s Clicker, which is a new show that’ll start this season on Wednesday nights that expands on what we think is one of the signature aspects and elements of our show, the coach’s clicker.

We’re going to break down looking ahead to the next week’s games, Sunday Night Football, and the big matchups that coming week. And Tony and Rodney are going to have some fun working that clicker and giving people some insights on what’s going to happen in the coming Sunday. That’s the quick overview and we’re excited about being live from 8H.

 

Chris McCloskey:  Thank you Sam. As Sam mentioned, a new show is launching on September 11, 6:30 p.m. Eastern, Football Night in America Coach’s Clicker. You’ll be seeing a press release likely hitting your inboxes any minute now. We’ll also post that on nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com.

Before we begin the questions, just a reminder if we can please keep these questions NFL focused and ideally on Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football. Thank you and we can begin the questions.

 

Tony my question is for you. I’m not sure if you saw Rex Ryan drew some criticism for visiting his son at Clemson on cut down day. I’m just curious from your perspective, and what your reaction is to people criticizing him taking time away to visit his son?

Tony Dungy:  Yes I actually saw that and I didn’t get to my Twitter account, but I was going to give him a big round of applause. I think it’s great. Coach Ryan is probably like any other dad, excited to see his son.

When you can work the schedule out to do it, I think you should. I went to a lot of games that my son played. I went to a lot of lengths to do that, renting private planes or whatever it takes.

And you know he’s going to be committed to the team. He’s not going to do anything that’s going to jeopardize the team. But when you have a chance to do something special family wise, I think it was great that he did that. And it actually made me feel good – I was proud of him.

 

Is the coach’s role very large on cut down day?

Tony Dungy:  It is but a lot of things could be done – and I’m sure they did and they had all the decisions made. He mentioned that he talked to all the guys before so the fact that he didn’t do it exactly on the day, there’s nothing wrong with that.

They did it the day before and got everything done. And he adjusted his schedule to take care of something he wanted to do with his family. It happens all the time and I think people are really, really making way, way too much of it.

 

The ‘Skins went 4-0 without RGIII and I know that was just preseason. But how good is the ‘Skins offense without RGIII?

Rodney Harrison:  Well I don’t think they’re as good as they could be with him. Obviously he adds a different dimension to that team. I think the one thing you have to look at with RGIII is that great players have ability to make other people around them good.

I think his teammates look at him as being a leader. They don’t look at him as being a guy going into his second year. They look at him as being the leader of that team – the spokesperson. And when he’s on the field, they play at a different speed. They have a different level of confidence because no matter where the game is at, they feel like they can win.

I think that’s what he gives you. He gives you that confidence and a lot of it will be taken away from the offseason and all the different voices you heard in terms of dealing with his injury.

At the end of the day, they’re a great team with RGIII and you know Tony and I we’re really excited about RGIII because of his maturity, his poise, and just his toughness that he brings.

 

One follow-up – Where do you think the defensive line is going to rank in terms of the other teams in the division if Kerrigan and Orakpo stay healthy?

Tony Dungy:  Well I mean to me that’s the big thing, those guys staying healthy. They should be ahead. They should score points. If they can pressure the passer –  that’s what Kerrigan and Orakpo can do. And if they’re healthy, they’re going to be a handful.

 

Green Bay has won the division, the NFC North, last two seasons. Which team among the other three teams in the division, the Bears – Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit are best positioned to unseat them?

Rodney Harrison:  I would almost have to say at this point I wouldn’t fear the Bears. Just too much inconsistent play at the quarterback position.

I would say Minnesota. You know Detroit is a very undisciplined team. They’ve been up and down. They’ve got the best receiver in football, but from an injury standpoint on the defensive side, they’ve been inconsistent. They just have a lack of discipline. We’ve seen it the last couple years.

I think Christian Ponder, he’s good enough – not right now, but he can improve. He has so much room for improvement. With Adrian Peterson coming back off that ACL a year healthier – Leslie Frazier has done a wonderful job. I think his defense and the secondary have improved. I just think this team can stay healthy, if Christian Ponder can just be good – he doesn’t have to be great – I think this is a team that can beat Green Bay.

Tony Dungy:  And I think Green Bay has to be favorites, but to me Detroit is the one team that has the talent to do it. What they did against New England in the preseason shows you what they’re capable of. Can they do it over 16 weeks? That’s what remains to be seen. But I think if anybody could knock off Green Bay, I think it would be Detroit.

 

With the Cowboys playing Sunday Night, that new Tampa 2 defense installed, what should Cowboys fans kind of expect from this new Tampa 2 scheme? And where do you think some of the weaknesses will be on this Cowboys roster on defense?

Tony Dungy:  Well to me the weakness will be the defensive line and getting those guys up to speed. I think at the Hall of Fame Game there were a lot of good things that took place. I know Monte Kiffin stressed hustling to the football, playing physical, creating turnovers.

I saw all that in the preseason, but that defense is based on four down linemen being able to get pressure and control the line of scrimmage. And without Ratliff playing and Spencer getting a lot of time in the preseason, the health of that defensive line to me is what I’d be worried about.

If those guys can play and they get that good rotation of six, seven guys in the defensive line, I think they can do some great things. But to me that’s the question mark right now.

 

My only follow-up would be just how do you think that scheme still holds up in the NFL today?

Tony Dungy:  Well it’s a good scheme, but schemes are only as good as your players. And they have some guys that fit into that. I don’t know that they have the personnel in the front seven yet to do what they’re going to need to get done.

When I got to Tampa, we had Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks there, and we got Simeon Rice and loaded up with talent. That’s what wins in the NFL. Schemes are good, but you have to have talent that fits the scheme, and I think that’s still developing.

 

What are the key to Pittsburgh getting back to the playoffs and especially how much does Ben Roethlisberger have to complete a full season?

Rodney Harrison:  Well I think the key has always been the defense. And I think we’ve seen over the last few years the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense aging. I think you have to get Troy Polamalu back healthy. I think he’s such an integral part of that defense. With the loss the Farrior and those other guys, I think he really becomes the stamp, personality-wise, for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They’ve got a lot of young guys that need to step up and really contribute right away. We’ve seen the inconsistent play of Ben Roethlisberger and his injuries. You don’t know what you’re going to get week-in and week-out with Ben. I think that’s the difference that we see now compared to a couple years ago.

This team doesn’t have an identity. I think they need to try to find out – are they going to be a passing team? Will they be a running team? Are they going to be a physical defense? Can they still have the scheme that they’ve had in the past, Dick LeBeau’s defense?

I think right now that’s what they’re trying to find. I think Mike Tomlin is under a lot of pressure out in Pittsburgh. You know one more season without making the playoffs, people will start questioning – has he lost his team? Can he still get it done? But I think the play of Ben Roethlisberger is key.

Tony Dungy:  I would say to me the key is the offensive line. Pittsburgh football is running the ball and playing defense. They’ve got a great quarterback, but if they’re not able to run the ball and protect Ben and if – as Rodney says, if they’re throwing 50 passes a game, he isn’t going to last a whole season because he does try to make all those big plays. So I think they’ve got to improve in the offensive line to get back to that championship level.

 

They’ve got a Monday Night game, a Sunday Night game, and then they go to New England. That’s kind of tough starting off the season, isn’t it?

Tony Dungy:  It’s a challenge, but I think as a coach you like those challenges. You lay it out for them. ‘Hey we’ve got three really, really big games early on. We’re going to see what we’re made of.’ They’ve got a veteran team. I think they’ll step up to that. But as a coach, I think Mike Tomlin is going to welcome that challenge.

 

I watched a Patriots preseason game on FOX a few weeks ago and listened to the announcers fumbling around how to talk about Aaron and their situation there without using the phrase accused murderer. The NFL probably isn’t looking to trumpet that every time the Patriots are playing, yet it’s something that has to be addressed when you’re talking about team. How do you balance that line of ‘it’s a football game’, and yet on the other hand, a real life in that situation with Hernandez that has sort of interfered and made a lot of headlines.

Bob Costas:  Well Aaron Hernandez is an accused murderer. It’s not an opinion – it’s a simple statement of fact. When you run down the factors that affect the Patriots season, that’s one of the primary ones.

To acknowledge that in a forthright way isn’t even to editorialize. It’s just to acknowledge that that’s like acknowledging that today is Tuesday. So it’s pertinent and I would think the only question would be that play-by-play is different than a pre-game show or a halftime commentary, so it takes a little bit more of a juggling act to weave it in without getting in the way.

But a skillful play-by-play man and an analyst who’s willing to deal with it can address it. Football allows it – it has a different pace than other sports. They’re going to huddle up after every play. If you do it skillfully, you can get it in in a way that’s pertinent and doesn’t intrude on the action and acknowledges that you don’t have your head in the sand.

Dan Patrick:  And I think that’s the key is you have to acknowledge it, but it’s the context in which you acknowledge it. If I’m doing highlights – I’m not going to mention it if I’m doing Patriots highlights and there’s a tight end who’s filling in for Hernandez or taken his place. But I think if we’re doing a feature on Hernandez it’ll be mentioned, maybe in the intro.

But in a game itself, I’m sure Al and Chris can do it in a tactful way that points out the obvious without you know having that elephant in the room because you’re not mentioning it.

As long as you don’t do it in a gratuitous way. I think it is as Bob said – this is something that’s not opinion, it’s fact. But I think it’s really the context in how you present it.

 

The Chiefs-Jacksonville game has a unique matchup. It’s got the number one pick of the draft and the number two pick of the draft. And they’re both offensive tackles of all positions. As a coach, how comfortable are you – even though they’re on the right side – how comfortable you are with rookie tackles? And what are your thoughts on these two guys, Fisher and Joeckel?

Tony Dungy:  Well in this day and age, you have to get comfortable with your rookies playing right away. Offensive line is a tough place to break in, but as you mentioned, fortunately they’re playing on the right side and not the left side, which does help.

But as a coach, you want to see that rookie tackle go out there and play well, because hopefully that’s a guy that’s going to be there for 10 years for you. Both coaches will have some trepidation. They know what they’ve seen in practice, but you just hope that they do well, because you don’t want to get off to a bad start with that number one draft choice as a tackle. Unfortunately at that position, it can only look bad to the fans. You give up a sack, you have a false start – you are not going to see the 80 plays where he does his job and blocks his guy, you are only going to notice the negative plays. So I know that they are both hoping that there aren’t many negative plays.

 

Obviously the coaches will give them some help won’t they? With double teams and chips and things?

Tony Dungy:  That is the wise thing to do – let them get off to a good start and not put them on an island too early. Let them get that confidence level going. But yes, I would definitely think that both coaches have got a gameplan to help those guys get off to good starts.

 

How much do you guys ramp up the production component for the Thursday night game since it is the first game of the season? How much do you want to add, be it cameras or other production elements, to kind of give it that huge feel? And moving ahead to Sunday, how much is this new 360-degree system going to add to the feeling of the game at the Cowboys?

Sam Flood:  Well every game is a Super Bowl for Freddy Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff. They have the best team and the best group, and they have got a huge plan for both games.

It is a similar complement of equipment with a few extra toys including Ryan Seacrest and Tony and Rodney and Dan and Scott Pioli and Mike Florio and Peter King all here in Denver.

Bob and Hines are always at the game site. The entire club is onsite here in Denver, so it is treated as a huge night. And then the 360 cam flying out here last night, Freddy showed some of the preliminary material off it and it is fabulous.

It is going to be a lot of fun. It takes a little bit of time to cook a play, but it gives a unique view and perspective, and I think it is going to be fun for the fans to see it.

Tony hasn’t seen it yet, but I have got a feeling the coach is going to have a lot of fun looking at this and looking at plays for multiple angles. We are excited for the studio group as well as the game group to have access to this material.

 

How does moving to the new studio affect you guys just from sort of a production angle? Does it really change a lot of things or is it simply a new location for you and it just kind of changes things slightly?

Sam Flood:  It means we have to take a left out of the control and instead of going straight. The biggest difference is once Saturday Night Live starts they will get of the air at 1 a.m. and they will have to strike that set and build our set.

So there will be some laborers in the city who are going to make some incredibly good overtime moving the set back in at 1 a.m. It will be exciting to see them tear it down, built it up and tear it down again. It is going to be elaborate, but rapid process week to week.

 

This will be a two part relating to the Texans-Chargers season opener. The first part would be either for Tony or Rodney, and just looking at J.J. Watt, and partly the season he had last year which is, if you look at the stats, one of the best all-time seasons in the NFL defensively.And maybe for Bob or somebody else looking at the Charger, and how for that period for about five years they had an incredible window of opportunity with LaDainian Tomlinson, Philip Rivers, etc., but were never able to really cash in on it.

Tony Dungy:  Well I guess I can talk about J.J. Watt. He had a tremendous year. I remember Warren Sapp when I coached him in Tampa and he had that breakout year. The next year you are going to see people game plan for you.

J.J. is going to have a great year, but he is going to have to deal with more things and more blocking schemes and more ways to try to slow him down.

If he puts up the same type of numbers that he did this year I think it will be a tremendous credit to him, because every offensive coordinator that plays them is going to try to stop him from dominating the games like that –  he will have his hands full.

Rodney Harrison:  To add to J.J. Watt, the one beautiful thing about J.J. Watt – we watch alot of tape of him and his versatility. You can put him at left guard, left tackle, you know, left end. You can put him basically anywhere on the defense and he is going to be productive.

So if you are defense coordinator you want to become creative with J.J. Watt so the offense can’t identify him and say, ‘Hey, J.J. Watt, he is always going to be the left defensive end.’

Let’s move him around. Let’s make him the right tackle. Let’s make him the right end. Now the game plan changes, and you can’t really just focus on that one guy and I think that is the beautiful part about it.

But with Brian Cushing, this defense could be really special and I think J.J. Watt – the one thing I like about him is just his work ethic, his consistent play and his willingness to do whatever it takes to be a team player. It is not about the numbers specifically for him but it is just about being productive and just making plays.

Bob Costas:  As far as the Chargers question is concerned, obviously the last couple of years they have underachieved and they have been very disappointing in a division which until the arrival of Manning last year was kind of theirs for the taking.

I would say that prior to that – and Tony could speak to this maybe with a ruthful shake of his head – they did some very, very good things. They were able to beat some very good Colt teams. They went up against the Patriots who were on their way to the Super Bowl with a record of 18-0 until they lost in the last minute to the Giants.

They played a very tough game up there with LaDainian Tomlinson hurt in Foxboro. So they came really, really close. When Marty Schottenheimer was the coach they had the lead on the Patriots and somehow that slipped away late.

And Tony knows unless I am recalling this incorrectly, the Colts had to go to San Diego and you always had a tough time with the Chargers. So the Chargers were pretty close a couple of times to get into the Super Bowl during that window of opportunity. Weren’t they coach?

Tony Dungy:  Yes you are right Bob. They were a tough matchup for our Colts team and that 2006 season they had the game won with an interception that is going to ice the game and fumbled the interception. Otherwise we would have to go to San Diego. Yes, they were very close to the Super Bowl.

 

Do you guys mind speaking to what your role as a host is when you bring in a new analyst like Scott into the show? You have got such great chemistry between the guys that are already on the existing show. and you  have a new person coming in with new insight and expertise. Is there something you guys will be doing as hosts of the show to bring them in and mix them into the conversation?

Dan Patrick:  Well there is no hazing that goes on if you are wondering that. But I think the best thing that we did was have dinner Saturday nights, and we started that when Rodney and Tony came in, because I think with a coach and/or player and the media, there is a little bit of a disconnect there.

I wanted to let them know that my job was to make them be better at what they did and to try to prop them up and say, ‘How do I make you the best you can be?’

It will be the same with Scott, and I have already had talks with him on certain things. But once he is around us, I think there is more of a family atmosphere and that is important when you get on the set, because when you are out there and you are doing live TV you have to be able to trust one another. That that person will help you, protect you, save you and I think that Rodney and Tony learned that early, and I think just getting together and getting to know them as people certainly it translated into people having that conversation.

We always make it feel like it is radio, not TV, when you are on Football Night in America. Just express yourself, talk and it’s just us in here in this room that happens to be seen by eight million people.

It is a tough transition for people who haven’t done this for a living, and I thought that Rodney and Tony did such a great job with that and Scott will as well.

Having been around him, he’s an eclectic, interesting guy. I think he will fit in great – he’s got a great personality and good sense of humor.

Bob Costas:  One of the keys that is often overlooked because people just see the people who are on the air is the quality of the producer. And I don’t mean to embarrass Sam here, but Sam is so good and has produced so many situations with different talent that he knows how to put a person in a position that will emphasize their strength and, especially while they are breaking in, disguise not necessarily their weaknesses, but their inexperience.

Last year, there was a difference between the kind of question at a game site that I can just throw off the cuff at Cris Collinsworth who has done it forever and can’t be caught off-guard, and what I would do at least in the first year with Hines Ward.

Now as Hines gets more and more comfortable, it will become more and more spontaneous. But wisely, we would say to Hines early on, ‘What two or three points do you want to make about this game?’, knowing that I would set him up for those points so that it would be kind of in a power zone form.

As he gets more and more comfortable then I won’t hesitate to just throw something at him that occurs to me off the top of my head, and the producer has a lot to do with that – creating an environment where a person can be comfortable and isn’t going to be afraid that they are going to be caught off guard.

 

This question is for both Tony and Rodney and certainly you Rodney since you have played for one of the more aggressive coaches and Bill Belichick. You know in college, Chip Kelly was very aggressive in terms of going forward on fourth down and on two-point conversions, and he really hasn’t said yet whether he plans on being that aggressive in the pros. But I am wondering if he could be as successful in the pros, or does he have to be conservative because you need to be conservative in the NFL.

Rodney Harrison:  Well obviously I think it depends on the situation. The one thing that he has to be careful of is not getting caught up in what the fans are thinking, what the media are thinking.

We see so many coaches that call their gameplan according to the criticism on Monday morning. And with that type of offensive, aggressive style that he has had in college, I don’t think he will be that guy that is worried about the fans booing or what Monday morning critics would have to say.

I think that at the same time, you have to understand your strengths and weaknesses as a team. We have got to see how good this defense will be. I think if this defense is really good I think you could be more aggressive, because now you can trust your defense to stop the offense and consequently get the ball back.

And I think that is the thing he has to learn. This is not college. This is the NFL. You know there are a lot of good players. There are a lot of great coaches and they prepare each and every week. It doesn’t matter if you are 2-14, you still have a bunch of great coaches on that staff and you prepare. So I think there is a learning curve that he has to learn, and he has to understand that you can’t be overly aggressive in the NFL. Sometimes it is good just to punt the ball and eventually you will get the opportunity to offense again.

Tony Dungy:  My son played for Chip for three years and I got to sit at a lot of the practices and a lot of games and one thing about him is that he thinks outside the box. As Rodney said, he is not concerned about how other people do it or what the normal, standard procedure is. So I think you will see a very aggressive play and I don’t think he will change very much from the way he coached in college.

 

I have got a question about your  Week 2 matchup for anybody who wants to take it on. The Seattle Seahawks and the 49ers those are two teams with legitimate Super Bowl hopes, and there seems to be some genuine dislike between the two teams. I am just curious about your thoughts on the rivalry and the future of that rivalry.

Rodney Harrison:  Well I think it is great. We look at both of these teams and they are pretty similar. Great running backs, very physical, good on defense, good on offense, really good coaching staff. I think it is one of the same.

I think it really comes down to the play of the quarterback position, which team stays healthy. But I am really excited about this because this is a matchup that we can see the next 10 years, and you see the transition of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning getting a little bit older.

To see these young quarterbacks and see the level of talent, the leadership and maturity that they have I think is exciting for football and I know we are excited Week 2 for it.

Tony Dungy: I think very similar things and when Rodney and I were going against each other, you kind of knew you were going to have to play the Patriots and the teams were so similarly built.

The difference here is they are playing twice a year, and that is why you are going to see the buildup, and it is going to be even more special I think for the next couple of years as to who gets the edge. I think it is going to be tremendous for the NFL and it is going to be a great rivalry.

Bob Costas:  And then obviously you have two quarterbacks who run the read option, so that is going to be a field day for Tony and Rodney to talk about the read option and its effect on the NFL, and for Cris Collinsworth during the course of the game to talk about the pluses and maybe the minuses from the layman’s perspective. But from what I understand, the biggest minus that you put the quarterback in line for so many hits that it isn’t a question of whether the system is effective, but whether your star quarterback can stay on the field.

But it is a perfect example on both sides of the ball – no matter who has got the ball, you have got to read the quarterback and that is one of the big trends and one of the big developing stories in the league. It is a great opportunity, a great canvas for Tony and Rodney and Chris.

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