FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, February 4th, 2018
NOTES & QUOTES FROM SUPER BOWL LII ON NBC
“What tension. What emotion. What a game. One of the great Super Bowls ever.” – Al Michaels on Super Bowl LII
“Doug Pederson, a career backup quarterback, had his backup quarterback in the game, and he called those plays with such guts, like he was calling them for himself.” – Cris Collinsworth
“This play call has a chance to be remembered as one of the all-time greats.” – Collinsworth on 4th down trick play TD catch by Nick Foles
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Feb. 4, 2018 – Following are highlights from NBC’s coverage of Super Bowl LII, in which the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots, 41-33, for their first Super Bowl win in franchise history.
Al Michaels (play-by-play) called his 10th Super Bowl alongside 16-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth (analyst), in the Super Bowl booth for the fourth time. Two-time Emmy Award-winner Michele Tafoya reported from the Super Bowl sidelines for the fourth time, her third for NBC.
Michaels, Collinsworth and Tafoya were joined on-site by NBC Sports’ Football Night in America team of Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison. Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh joined NBC Sports’ Super Bowl LII coverage as a guest analyst.
POST-GAME
Collinsworth: “Doug Pederson, a career backup quarterback, had his backup quarterback in the game, and he called those plays with such guts, like he was calling them for himself after all of those years. It was just a phenomenal game. Tom Brady could not have done any more in this one.”
Michaels: “One of the great Super Bowls ever.”
Patrick to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie: “What does this moment mean to the city of Philadelphia?”
Lurie: “Everything – that’s what it means to Eagles fans everywhere.”
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson: “We just wanted to stay aggressive…my mentality coming into the game was that I was going to stay aggressive with Nick (Foles), and allow his playmakers to make plays.”
Eagles TE Zach Ertz on his TD catch: “If they would have overturned that, I don’t know what would have happened to the city of Philadelphia.”
Collinsworth: “The two disputed touchdowns both go in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Michaels: “What tension. What emotion. What a game.”
Collinsworth: “There were a lot of unbelievable plays in this game. For my money, it came back to the call by Doug Pederson on 4th and 1 on the goal line. He was relentless – relentless – with his play calling. He never gave an inch.”
Michaels: “For the Philadelphia Eagles, the long wait is over – finally.”
Patrick: “Underdogs no more.”
Harrison on the Patriots: “If (Bill Belichick) wants to come back to (the Super Bowl), he’s going to have to work and improve that defense. They need some more athletes.”
Dungy: “Nick Foles told me last week in Philadelphia he thought the Lord had him here for just this time. He knows this is Carson Wentz’s team, but he was ready to go tonight, and he played like a champion.”
FOURTH QUARTER
Collinsworth on Tom Brady fumble forced by Eagles LB Brandon Graham: “Brandon Graham has been their best all season at getting pressure. Ordinarily, he plays the outside. They have been working him more and more on the inside for that very reason.”
Collinsworth on review of Zach Ertz TD, 38-33 Eagles: “I cannot wait for them to change this rule.”
Collinsworth: “Nick Foles continues to play like he’s been doing this his entire life, going against the likes of Tom Brady.”
Collinsworth: “This game has been as good as Justin Timberlake.”
Michaels on Rob Gronkowski TD, 33-32 Patriots: “They look unstoppable right now.”
Michaels: “We’ve said it before – Father Time has no idea where Tom Brady lives. None.”
THIRD QUARTER
Collinsworth on Chris Hogan TD, 29-26 Eagles: “This is just unbelievable offensive football…this is a veteran player understanding that he has time…this is turning into fast-break basketball.”
Collinsworth on Hogan: “Every Super Bowl it seems like somebody becomes the favorite, right? And now, it looks like Chris Hogan is beginning to make some plays for (Tom Brady).”
Collinsworth on officials upholding Corey Clement TD, 29-19 Eagles: “I give up. I give up. If that ball is not loose in his arms when that last foot came down…I would have called that incomplete.”
Collinsworth on Eagles’ aggressive play calling, following 3rd-and-1 passing conversion: “Doug Pederson is unbelievable. Every once in a while, you see somebody for the first time in a big moment, and you wonder – he’s been bold all year, is he going to continue to play that way? If anything, Pederson has ramped it up a little bit more.”
Collinsworth on Gronkowski TD, 22-19 Eagles: “You go back to that game against the Pittsburgh Steelers when everything was on the line, and what did Tom Brady do? He just went after Gronkowski on almost every single throw.”
HALFTIME
Patrick: “Foles has thrown for 215 yards – if you’re into numerology, 215 being the Philadelphia area code.”
Harrison on Brady: “One thing I know about Tom – as great as he is, once he gets hit, he turns into a normal quarterback.”
Harbaugh on teams’ defensive struggles: “Both of these teams have to keep going with this pressure, because it doesn’t seem like anybody can cover anybody out here.”
Dungy on Eagles’ aggressive play calling: “Doug Pederson told me in Philadelphia last week that he was not kicking field goals, that he was going to go for it on 4th downs.”
SECOND QUARTER
Michaels on the wild first half: “All of the talk before the game, and everyone is yakking away, and all of the stories – who could have predicted this?”
Michaels on trick play and Foles TD catch on fourth down, 22-12 Eagles: “They go to the very, very, very back of the playbook for the touchdown.”
Collinsworth on trick play and Foles TD catch: “What a play call by Doug Pederson. This play call has a chance to be remembered as one of the all-time greats…one of the all-time gutsy calls. If you don’t make that and give it back to Brady, that one is second-guessed forever.”
Collinsworth on LeGarrette Blount TD run, 16-3 Eagles: “For LeGarrette Blount, how sweet is this payback?”
Michaels on Patriots benching CB Malcolm Butler: “What is really interesting here is Malcolm Butler, hero three years ago in the Super Bowl, has not played a defensive snap tonight. The Patriots are telling us ‘a coach’s decision.’ Of course, it was easier to get information out of East Germany, before the wall went down, then to get any information from New England.”
Collinsworth on Patriots botched snap and missed 26-yard field goal: “What a disappointment for Bill Belichick. He was telling us he felt like special teams were a strength of this team. That one hurts.”
Collinsworth on Gostkowski’s kicking struggles: “When something goes wrong early, it kind of gets in your head a little bit…this looks like one of those back and forth close games that the Patriots always seem to play. You wonder how confident they are kicking those field goals now.”
Collinsworth on importance of Eagles staying aggressive: “We’ve seen the Patriots play from behind a lot, right? They did it against Jacksonville in the championship game. Of course, the Super Bowl last year. And I think everybody in the (NFL), especially Doug Pederson, has been watching, and they know they have to play this one all the way out like they’re either tied or behind.”
FIRST QUARTER
Collinsworth on Alshon Jeffery TD catch, 9-3 Eagles: “Nick Foles told us, ‘Early in this game, I want to take my shot.’ The Philadelphia Eagles have a way of playing above the rim. You watch these receivers come on the field, you think you’re getting ready to watch an NBA game. They go up, box out, rebound, and have been putting points on the board with that formula all season long.”
–SUPER BOWL LII–
