FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, September 11th, 2016
FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA FEATURES BOB COSTAS’ INTERVIEW WITH ARIZONA CARDINALS HEAD COACH BRUCE ARIANS
“It wasn’t just Carson (Palmer), it was 53 players and 25 coaches who stunk that night – myself included.” – Arians on Cardinals performance in last year’s NFC Championship Game
“Everything has changed dramatically in the last three years.” – Arians on the transformation of the Cardinals’ fanbase
FNIA Includes Feature on Patriots Quarterback Situation
STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 11, 2016 – For tonight’s Week 1 edition of NBC’s Football Night In America, the most-watched weekly studio show in sports, Bob Costas interviews Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians, and FNIA examines the Patriots’ quarterback situation. Football Night will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 2 games.
Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on NBC. Costas and Mike Tirico will host Sunday’s program live from inside University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. They are joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.
Dan Patrick hosts Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1, and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy; two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com and NBCSN. Paul Burmeister will report from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on the Giants-Cowboys game.
INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Arians. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
BRUCE ARIANS WITH BOB COSTAS
Arians’s assessment of the Cardinals 2015 season, ending in a loss in the NFC Championship game: “There’s only ever one goal. That was a tremendous season. I think we grew as a football team and an organization. But unless you’re getting the ring and the confetti is falling on you, it’s a bad year.”
Arians on their loss to Carolina in last year’s NFC Championship Game: “I never expected us to play so poorly, or coach so poorly. It wasn’t just Carson (Palmer), it was 53 players and 25 coaches who stunk that night – myself included.”
Arians on if he gathered any intel from first-year Cardinal and former Patriot LB Chandler Jones: “I can honestly say I did not ask him one question. I think the guys have asked him about Jimmy (Garoppolo), ‘How good is Jimmy?’ Carson probably asked him a couple of things. It doesn’t really help you in that 25 seconds you have to call a play.”
Arians on the growth of the Cardinals’ fanbase in Arizona: “I love driving by the schools and when the kids are out in the yards, you see Cardinals jerseys everywhere. Red shirts, flags on cars, license plates – everything has changed dramatically in the last three years.”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA–
