FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, September 30th, 2012
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” PREVIEW – WEEK 4
NEW YORK – September 30, 2012 –Bob Costas interviewed Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick,and New York Giants DE Osi Umenyiora and DE Justin Tuck for tonight’s Week 4 edition of Football Night in America, which will preview Eagles-Giants, and also include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 4 games.
Football Night, the most-watched pre-game studio show in sports, airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET with Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst) as well as NBC NFL analyst Hines Ward for reaction to the afternoon games and to preview tonight’s match-up.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Carolyn Manno will report from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., on the Saints-Packers game.
INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interviews with Vick, Umenyiora and Tuck. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
MICHAEL VICK WITH BOB COSTAS
On the nine turnovers at the beginning of the season: “I think it’s just a coincidence, but the thing I get out of it when I go back and look at it is that they all can be corrected. I have to be conscious of who I throw the ball to, when and where. Last week we had no interceptions but I had two fumbles and I just have to do a better job of protecting the ball.”
On whether Coach Andy Reid’s comments at the beginning of the week hurt him: “I understand that turning the ball over is something that you just can’t do. As a coach you don’t have to say the right things all the time. Sometimes he can express what he’s feeling.”
On whether he talked to Reid after the comments: “Yes, we talked about it. The one thing about Andy and I, we just keep it all the way at one-hundred with each other. Meaning, we talk to each other. We are realists about each and every situation. If he feels a certain type of way he can tell me, and I can tell him what I’m feeling without him getting sensitive about it.”
On if he feels there is a special bond between him and Reid that goes beyond coach and quarterback, and if the commonality of tragedy and adversity in their lives brought them closer together: “Yes it has. Coach and I don’t even have to say anything to each other for me to know what he’s thinking or for him to know what I’m thinking. He’s just a great man, and has been very inspirational in my life and has been a great individual that I have gotten to know. It means the world to me that God has placed him in my life and that we have that bond.”
OSI UMENYIORA AND JUSTIN TUCK WITH BOB COSTAS
Tuck on how Vick is different to rush than any other QB: “When you have a guy like Michael, who can put long plays at his feet, you have to be careful. Vick is not one of the taller quarterbacks, so if you keep him in the pocket it makes it tough for him to see downfield. You start seeing that quarterback rating go down a little bit more when he has to be subject to be in the pocket all night.”
Umenyiora: “I concur.”
Umenyiora on the worst thing he’s heard from the Philadelphia crowd: “I can’t even repeat it, they are bad. They throw stuff at you and apparently they were throwing Gatorade bottles at the bus when we were leaving last year after the team won. So it’s Philly, I mean this is how they’ve always been, there’s nothing new and this is what we expect.”
Tuck: “As an opposing player you kind of respect that because they have so much passion for their team.”
Umenyiora: “But they’ll talk about their own team too. They’ll let everybody have it.”
Umenyiora on his feud with Eagles RB LeSean McCoy: “It started on the field and it progressed to off the field, but you know everything is okay now. We’re cool, we’re alright.”
On being called a ballerina by Eagles RB LeSean McCoy: “I laughed when I heard that. I didn’t know he had that in him. We’re going to settle this on the football field. He’s said some things to me and I’ve said some things to him, and I took the low road.Usually I take the high road but I took the low road and responded and that was out of my character and I’m just going to try to stay out of all that.”
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