FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, November 6th, 2016
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” FEATURES MICHELE TAFOYA’S INTERVIEW WITH OAKLAND RAIDERS QUARTERBACK DEREK CARR
“Thanks for passing on me. I wanted to be in Oakland.” – Carr on pre-draft critics
“I remember walking up to Mr. Tagliabue and telling him, ‘I’ll be back.’” – Carr on his memory of the 2002 NFL Draft, when his brother David Carr was drafted first overall
STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 6, 2016 – For tonight’s Week 9 edition of NBC’s Football Night In America, the most-watched weekly studio show in sports, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya interviews Oakland Raiders QB Derek Carr. Football Night will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 9 games ahead of tonight’s Broncos-Raiders 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 the Oakland Alameda-County Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and 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. Paul Burmeister will report from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., on the Colts-Packers game.
INTERVIEW: Below are excerpts from Tafoya’s interview with Carr. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
DEREK CARR WITH MICHELE TAFOYA
On the Raiders’ 6-2 start: “Everyone’s so excited, obviously. When I first got here, we were in a bad place. We were 0-10 at one point. It took me 11 games to get my first win as a quarterback. The fact that we’ve won six already in our first eight – honestly, I’m just speechless. I’m thankful for it.”
On recording a franchise-record 513 passing yards in last week’s overtime win vs. Tampa Bay: “I still get goosebumps from that. Me? I still think of myself as a little kid, as just a fan. It’s still kind of surreal that I even get to play in the NFL. I think someday I’ll look back on it and say, ‘Wow, that was pretty cool.’”
On the memory of his brother and fellow QB David Carr being drafted No. 1 overall by the Houston Texans in 2002: “I remember shaking Mr. McNair’s hand – the owner of the Texans. I remember walking up to Mr. Tagliabue and telling him, ‘I’ll be back.’ I wasn’t very politically correct as a young kid, but that felt normal to me. I thought everyone got to do that at my age.”
On hearing the criticism of his brother David during his tenure with Houston: “It made me want to fight somebody. It really did. Just watching him go through it. He never complained, getting his face beat in. Never pointed a finger. It taught me so much, that no matter what you’re going through, you’ve got to be the same person, and he was.”
Tafoya: “So when it was time for you to come into the draft, there were some people who thought, “Hmm, the genetics, the name…’ What would you say to those critics now?”
Carr: “Thank you. Thanks for passing on me. I wanted to be in Oakland.”
On the impact of being even atop the AFC West with Denver: “It means we’re doing things the right way. It shows us that the team that won the Super Bowl last year has six wins, and so do we. The road goes through them. We’re looking forward to it, because they’re so good, and they have what we want.”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA–
