FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, December 8th, 2013
BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWS CAM NEWTON & LUKE KUECHLY
Football Night in America Preview – Week 14
“Having a play-making ability, kind of is your gift and a curse. But in this league, you have to sustain drives.” – Cam Newton on how he plays now vs. rookie year
“I put a lot of effort into it and I kind of take pride in what I do.” – Luke Kuechly
NEW YORK – December 8, 2013 – Bob Costas interviewed Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and linebacker Luke Kuechly (separately) for tonight’s Week 14 edition of Football Night In America, which will preview Panthers-Saints, and include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 14 games.
Football Night, the most-watched pre-game show in sports, airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on NBC with Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst), as well as two-time Super Bowl winner and Super Bowl XL MVP Hines Ward.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC’s famed Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Patrick will be joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN and NBCSports.com, Peter King of Sports Illustrated, and former NFL Executive of the Year Scott Pioli. Alex Flanagan will report from Candlestick Park in San Francisco on the Seahawks-49ers game.
INTERVIEW: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Newton and Kuechly. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
CAM NEWTON WITH BOB COSTAS
On how he sees the game now vs. his first NFL snap: “It’s more about managing and understanding what you have to do. When I first came into the league, I wanted to make every single play a big play. Having a play-making ability kind of is your gift and a curse. But in this league, you have to sustain drives.”
On his experience playing in the Superdome: “It’s a loud atmosphere, to say the least. These fans are not your friends. They talk to you, they say things, the costumes that they wear; it’s rather interesting to see. But as a player, you have to block all that out because at the end of the day, it’s all about the 11 on 11 that are playing in between the goal posts.”
LUKE KUECHLY WITH BOB COSTAS
On people saying he might be the best linebacker in the NFL: “It’s an awesome thing for people to say. You’ve got to keep working. You’ve got to stay humble. You can’t get ahead of yourself. Those guys (now retired Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher) were the top tier guys at their position for a long time. It’s only my second year and I’ve got to a long way to go to get there.”
On Ron Rivera comparing him to Mike Singletary, who Rivera played with: “It’s awesome. Coach Rivera is a great coach. It’s cool that he’s a linebacker guy, too. But I’ve still got a long way to go.”
On returning to school to get his degree: “That was kind of the deal, if I were to leave early: go back and finish school as soon as I could. So I went back this past year and took five classes in the spring and it leaves me with three classes this year.”
On not going to last year’s Super Bowl despite being in New Orleans on Saturday: “I had to get back for school. I had a test that week and the Monday morning class is a review, so I had to make sure I knew what I was doing.”
On how he would market himself (his degree is in marketing): “Somebody that works hard and is dedicated at what they do. It’s not the easiest thing to do all the time, but I like doing it. I put a lot of effort into it and I kind of take pride in what I do.”
—FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA—
