FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, October 16th, 2016
FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA FEATURES MIKE TIRICO’S INTERVIEW WITH INDIANAPOLIS COLTS QUARTERBACK ANDREW LUCK
“I haven’t felt any different pressure. I’ve always felt like I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed.” – Luck on his new contract
STAMFORD, Conn. – Oct. 16, 2016 – For tonight’s Week 6 edition of NBC’s Football Night In America, the most-watched weekly studio show in sports, host Mike Tirico interviews Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck. Football Night will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 6 games ahead of tonight’s Colts-Texans Sunday Night Football showdown.
Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on NBC. Mike Tirico will host tonight’s program live from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1, and is joined by Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBCSN, NBCSports.com and NBC Sports Radio. Heather Cox will report from Green Bay, Wis., on the Cowboys-Packers game.
INTERVIEW: Below are excerpts from Tirico’s interview with Luck. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
ANDREW LUCK WITH MIKE TIRICO
On his days playing high school football in Houston: “They were great. I loved growing up here around a lot of my mom’s family. My grandparents are here, some aunts, uncles, and cousins – it’s a wonderful place to grow up.”
On whether growing up in Houston makes playing there more special: “I think so. We got to play a high school game in NRG Stadium, so that was a big deal for us. It was my junior year. It’s always neat to come back.”
On missing nine games last season: “It was no fun. It’s certainly no fun to be injured. The worst part is you feel like you’re letting folks down. You feel like you’re letting your teammates down. It does make you appreciate being out there. It may be a little corny-sounding or a little cheesy, but we’ve been talking about Frank Gore, when he was injured he said, ‘man, when you come back, you really do appreciate it in a little different way.’ No fun, but like anything, you learn from it and you keep moving.”
Tirico: “Nobody ever calls you corny, do they?”
Luck: “[Laughs] Yeah, every now and then.”
On the number of sacks he’s taken this season [20]: “Sacks are obviously not a good thing. A few of those I’d like to take back. Holding on to the ball too long, or a miss-read here and there. I think we’ve improved every week. We’re getting better and better, and we’ll go out there and see what happens.”
On his new contract: “Honestly, I haven’t felt any different pressure. I’ve always felt like I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed. So that pressure in my mind hasn’t changed. My old coach used to say ‘pressure is a privilege,’ and it’s true. There’s not many jobs in the world where you do get to feel a little pressure, and that’s special.”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA–
