FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 22nd, 2018

EDDIE DEBARTOLO FEATURED IN PETER KING’S “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

“Remember the old Readers Digest feature, ‘My Most Unforgettable Character?’ Dwight was that for me.” – DeBartolo on the late Dwight Clark

“We’re battle-tested. Never count us out.” – Deshaun Watson on Houston’s four-game winning streak

“I’ve been lucky to play with him this long. That was just an unbelievable moment.” – Greg Olsen on Cam Newton’s game-winning touchdown against Philadelphia

“Football Morning in America” Runs Every Monday Exclusively on NBCSports.com

STAMFORD, Conn. – Oct. 22, 2018 – Peter King’s Week 7 edition of “Football Morning in America,” available now exclusively on NBCSports.com, features interviews with Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson and Carolina Panthers TE Greg Olsen, and this week’s “What I Learned” with former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo on the passing of Dwight Clark.

This week’s edition also includes a look at the potential discipline of Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict, awards, quotes, travel notes, and more.

The following are highlights from this week’s edition of “Football Morning in America”:

“WHAT I LEARNED” WITH EDDIE DEBARTOLO

  • DeBartolo on what he learned from Clark: “What I learned from Dwight, mostly? Humility. Dignity. And another word comes to mind: gentleman.”
  • DeBartolo on drafting Clark in 1979: “When he and Joe [Montana] were drafted in 1979, we were close in age, which is odd for a relationship between owner and players. Joe and I were 10 years apart. We became like the Three Amigos. Dwight was a little different. He was a southern gentleman from North Carolina. He loved life. He loved football. I spent a lot of time with his parents. I did some business with his dad’s bank in North Carolina. Just a great family. You could tell where he got his approach to life.”
  • DeBartolo on Clark’s passing: “We marveled at how he died with total dignity. At the end, he told me, ‘It’s been such a great life.’ He was the man I’d met when he was in his early twenties. Same guy. Humble. A gentleman. I don’t know how many times he said, ‘I love you’ to me, and to those close to him. Maybe the day before he died, the last time he could talk, he said he couldn’t say it enough … Remember the old Readers Digest feature, ‘My Most Unforgettable Character?’ Dwight was that for me.”

DESHAUN WATSON

  • Watson on Houston beginning the season 0-3: “We’re battle-tested. Never count us out. I like the detail work we’re doing on both sides of the ball. There’s a great trust between the guys on this team.”

GREG OLSEN

  • Olsen on Newton and Sunday’s game-winning touchdown: “Cam and I have been through a lot. I’ve been lucky to play with him this long. That was just an unbelievable moment, coming here, in such a big game.”

KING ON JACKSONVILLE & ELI MANNING

  • King on Jacksonville looking for alternatives at quarterback, including Manning: “It probably wouldn’t work. But with the trading deadline a week away, and the Giants out of contention, what would the Jags have to throw at the Giants to give them pause? A second-round pick and a warm body or two? The Giants can’t throw Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney out there for nine games, could they? It’s all probably a phony dream, but Jacksonville should be looking at quarterback alternatives this week.”

KING ON VONTAZE BURFICT

  • King on the Bengals disciplining Burfict: “If the Bengals are not going to discipline linebacker Vontaze Burfict seriously—and they continue to bring him back time after time, cheap shot after cheap shot, so clearly they have no intention whatsoever of reining him in—and if the Ben Roethlisberger story about Burfict threatening JuJu Smith-Schuster on the field eight days ago is true, the league absolutely should have acted with more than a fine.”
  • King on the NFL fining Burfict: “The NFL needed to have some stones about Burfict. Fining him half a game check, $122,000, is a slap on the wrist for what appeared to be a deliberate intent to injure when Burfict elbowed a defenseless (Antonio) Brown in the head.”

Read the rest of the column here.

A new “Football Morning in America” will post every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

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