FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, October 7th, 2018
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” – WEEK 5 NOTES & QUOTES
“He took shots at his head coach, the play-calling, his quarterback, the city – everything. This is a guy who has a five-year extension, $65 million guaranteed. Not the words of a leader.” – Mike Tirico on Giants WR Odell Beckham Jr.
“If you have a problem with a player or with a coach, bring him to the side and talk to him like a man.” – Rodney Harrison on Beckham Jr.
“They had to see this kind of stuff in training camp. This is what he did in college. He won the Heisman Trophy. What were they waiting for to put him in?” – Tony Dungy on Browns QB Baker Mayfield
“They need to let him rest. Try and save him to get him healthy for the latter part of the season.” – Harrison on Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
Patrick Mahomes and Undefeated Kansas City Chiefs Face Tom Brady and AFC Champion New England Patriots Next Week on Sunday Night Football
STAMFORD, Conn. – Oct. 7, 2018 – Mike Tirico hosted the Week 5 edition of Football Night in America tonight from NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn., in advance of the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans. Tirico was joined on the set by analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, and NFL Insider Mike Florio.
Liam McHugh co-hosted Football Night on site from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. He was joined by the SNF team of Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya. McHugh also interviewed Dallas head coach Jason Garrett.
NBC Nightly News host Lester Holt joined FNIA on-site in Houston to discuss how the city and region has worked to recover since Hurricane Harvey, previewing his nationwide “Across America” tour, which begins tomorrow night in Houston. Click here to watch the segment.
Friday Night Lights star and Texas native Kyle Chandler voiced a segment on the significance of football in the state of Texas, from high school football to the Red River Rivalry and tonight’s Cowboys-Texans matchup. Click here to watch the segment. FNIA also included highlights, analysis, and news from around the league.
Following are Notes & Quotes from the Week 5 edition of Football Night in America:
ON COWBOYS-TEXANS
Tirico: “It’s an interesting game because being in different conferences, they don’t play but every four years, but with a proximity and with what football means in the state, this is a big deal for these fans. Especially since the Cowboys have been so established for years, and the Texans are trying to carve out their territory.”
Michaels on RB Ezekiel Elliott: “He could wind up as the league MVP in my mind.”
ON GIANTS
Tirico on WR Odell Beckham Jr. following his comments about the Giants’ offense: “He went after everyone. He took shots at his head coach, the play-calling, his quarterback, the city – everything. This is a guy who has a five-year extension, $65 million guaranteed. Not the words of a leader.”
Harrison: “You pay a guy $65 million guaranteed, you expect him to be a leader, or at least a positive influence in that locker room. If you have a problem with a player or with a coach, bring him to the side and talk to him like a man. Nothing positive happens when you bring the media into your locker room.”
Dungy: “I was so upset when I watched that interview. As a head coach, for 13 years, my first meeting every year was to tell the players, ‘If you have a problem with any of the coaching, you come to me. My door is open. If you have a problem with your players, we solve it in the locker room. You do not go to the media to air your dirty laundry.’ That was just ridiculous.”
Harrison: “We’ve seen the Giants win Super Bowls and the one thing about those Super Bowl teams is they’ve had great leadership. They were together. There wasn’t any backstabbing, any ‘me first’ – it was ‘team first.’”
Tirico: “It wasn’t guys who referenced themselves in an interview 120 times in eight minutes, on average every four seconds, with Lil Wayne sitting there watching it.”
Florio: “After the game, Odell Beckham Jr. told reporters that he doesn’t regret anything he said. He seemed to interpret his comments as leadership. He took credit for bringing the team together.”
Tirico: “Leadership or ‘Me-dership?’”
Harrison on Beckham Jr. during halftime of Cowboys-Texans: “I know he’s very passionate, but he needs to grow up. It’s time for him to understand that he’s a leader, whether he wants to be or not. Now it’s starting to affect the young guys. Sterling Shepard is a really good young player, but now he’s starting to act like Odell Beckham Jr. on the sidelines, throwing tantrums. This is just selfish. He has to understand what he brings to this team. He’s got young guys looking up to him.”
Dungy on Beckham Jr. during halftime of Cowboys-Texans: “He said he was trying to help out, trying to energize his team. He talked the whole time about what’s going wrong, who wasn’t doing their job – never one word about ‘I can do this better, I can help be better.’ You’ve got to be a leader in these situations when your team isn’t winning.”
ON PACKERS
Harrison on QB Aaron Rodgers and his knee injury: “They need to let him rest. Try and save him to get him healthy for the latter part of the season.”
ON BROWNS
Dungy on QB Baker Mayfield: “I don’t understand. They had to see this kind of stuff in training camp. This is what he did in college. He won the Heisman Trophy. What were they waiting for to put him in?”
Harrison on Mayfield: “They don’t limit the playbook to him. They open up the playbook to him. They allow him to do some great things and when he’s in the pocket or outside the pocket he is very comfortable…when it comes down to the very critical moments his teammates believe he can get it done.”
ON CHIEFS
Dungy: “I wanted to see what they would do in a game against a great defense like Jacksonville. Patrick Mahomes played lights out, but the Kansas City defense showed up today.”
Harrison: “The defense got tired of listening to how great their offense is, and it all starts up front for them. They had five sacks, five takeaways, and they were able to score on defense.”
ON STEELERS
Florio following his conversation with LB T.J. Watt, who had three sacks in Pittsburgh’s win against Atlanta: “He said the biggest difference this year is the move to the left side, also studying film of himself and other pass rushers, like his brother, J.J. Watt, who plays tonight. He said they have an unspoken competition for sacks, that they are trying to one-up each other whenever they can. I said, ‘Does that mean that tonight you are going to be rooting for your brother to have no sacks?’ He said ‘No, never, I’ll go home and get a 99 jersey and be his biggest fan tonight.’”
ON TITANS
Dungy: “A lot of people are going to be disappointed in Tennessee, but this is who they are. They are going to play tight games. They aren’t going to blow people out. I said last year they are not a Corvette – they are a dump truck. I meant it as a compliment – they’re still a dump truck this year. They’re going to have a lot of these kind of games.”
ON FALCONS
Harrison on Atlanta’s defensive struggles: “It’s not about injuries. It’s about heart.”
ON BRONCOS
Dungy on Denver defense following 34-16 loss to the Jets: “The ‘No Fly Zone’ is dead.”
—FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA—
