FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 4th, 2019

PETER KING REVIEWS SUPER BOWL LIII FOR “FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA” EXCLUSIVELY ON NBCSPORTS.COM

Column Includes Comments from Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, Super Bowl LIII MVP WR Julian Edelman, and TE Dwayne Allen

“I honestly don’t believe what our team and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have done will ever be replicated in the age of the salary cap.” – Kraft

“No one’s putting up much of an argument anymore if you call the Patriots the best sustained franchise in league history.” – King

FMIA Features In-Depth Look Into 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Process, “What I Learned” by 2019 Enshrinee Gil Brandt, and Interview with NFL CMO Tim Ellis About the NFL 100 Commercial

STAMFORD, Conn. – February 4, 2019 – Peter King’s Super Bowl LIII edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com, takes an in-depth look at the New England Patriots’ 13-3 victory against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and examines the Patriots’ legacy in the history of the NFL having won six Super Bowls, including three in the last five years.

The column features comments from team owner Robert Kraft shortly after the win, comments from Super Bowl LIII MVP Julian Edelman in the Patriots locker room, and a conversation with veteran TE Dwayne Allen at the Patriots’ team party early Monday morning during a Snoop Dogg concert.

King, who is a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, provides an in-depth look into the selection process for this year’s class, which was announced on Saturday. This week’s Super Bowl LIII edition of FMIA includes “What I Learned” by Gil Brandt, who was elected to the Hall following a 60-plus year career in the NFL, as well as an interview with National Football League CMO Tim Ellis about the NFL 100 commercial.

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

King: “Patriots tight end Dwayne Allen told me the story at 2 this morning, at the Patriots’ team party in the Atlanta Hyatt Regency, trying to be heard above the Snoop Dogg concert thumping in a nearby ballroom. ‘One of the things Bill Belichick preaches,’ Allen told me, ‘is he wants a smart, tough, disciplined, unselfish football team that performs well under pressure. And that’s what we did tonight.’”

Kraft on the Patriots’ dynasty: “I just pinch myself because you know I’m still a fan. Especially when I’m sitting in my box, I’m thinking as a fan and thinking back to being in the stands and dreaming about owning the team…I honestly don’t believe what our team and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have done will ever be replicated in the age of the salary cap.”

King: “This was a wonderful game for the Patriots’ legacy. They’d won (and lost) Super Bowls mostly with bludgeoning offensive performances. Never had the defense and special teams outshone the offense. Never, of course, till Sunday.”

HALL OF FAME

King on 2019 Hall of Fame selection process: “Moral of the story to the eight-man class for the 2019 Pro Football Hall of Fame: We’re finally catching up to how the game of this new century is being played. In the last three classes, the Hall’s 48 selectors (I am one) have elected six defensive backs (safeties Kenny Easley, Brian Dawkins, Ed Reed, Johnny Robinson, and corners Ty Law and Champ Bailey) who have played in the modern era, which we define as post-1960. In the previous four classes, only one DB (Aeneas Williams) was enshrined. That’s progress…and I thought Denver safety Steve Atwater had a heck of a shot to make it after our discussions in the 7-hour, 41-minute meeting Saturday in downtown Atlanta.”

On selection of offensive linemen: “As a group, I got the sense that we went into the room trying to get in at least one of the four deserving offensive linemen (Tony Boselli, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson, Kevin Mawae), and I hoped they wouldn’t all cannibalize each other. Mawae made it—confirming the respect the committee has for all-decade players; he was the first-team all-decade center for the 2000s…I do think Boselli will make it, despite playing only 97 games (recent inductees Kenny Easley and Terrell Davis played fewer), and I also think it’s a matter of time for Faneca and Hutchinson. No zits on their records.”

“WHAT I LEARNED” WITH GIL BRANDT

Brandt: “It’s kind of like Churchill, taking off his bowler, and saying, ‘Never give up.’ That’s what my life’s been like. I’m so proud of what I’ve done to contribute to the game. I got a message from Bill Belichick last night, maybe a two-minute message telling me how many people I’ve helped along the way—coaches, scouts, players, and how this was long overdue. That was nice to hear.”

Brandt: “What I learned mostly is if you’re a good person, and you’re disciplined, and you work hard and you’re good to people, you can succeed in this business. Discipline’s so important, because you’ve got to work, and you’ve got to get people to respect how you work. I think that’s what I’ve been able to do.”

ABOUT THAT AD

During the Super Bowl, the NFL ran a two-minute promo ahead of the league’s 100th season featuring nearly 50 current and former players. Click here to watch the promo.

NFL CMO Tim Ellis: “The turnaround was incredibly fast. There’s almost 50 stars in it, and we didn’t start contacting people till last December … and we taped it in mid-January. The reason we were able to pull it off is because it felt genuine and authentic to the players. The players said, ‘Whoever put this together knows football.’”

King on logistics of taping the ad: “With the spot being taped in the middle of the playoffs, Ellis had some faux banquet rooms, with tight shots, built with the same décor as the L.A. venue. (Baker) Mayfield flew to Boston and did his piece with (Tom) Brady there. (Patrick) Mahomes flew to Orlando and did his piece with (Russell) Wilson there, making a throw that was “caught” on the L.A. set by (Odell) Beckham. Extra credit to (Drew) Brees and (Alvin) Kamara for doing their piece in New Orleans a couple of days after the bitter loss in the NFL title game.”

Read the rest of the column here.

A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. 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.

—FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA—