FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, December 28th, 2014
BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWS STEELERS RB LE’VEON BELL AND JOSH ELLIOTT SPEAKS WITH BENGALS HEAD COACH MARVIN LEWIS ON NBC’S “FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA”
“The main focus for me, before even getting yards, is to make sure I protect the football.” – Le’Veon Bell
“That’s all you want to be – the team that sucks the least at the end of the year.” – Marvin Lewis
STAMFORD, Conn. – Dec. 28, 2014 – For tonight’s Week 17 edition of NBC’s Football Night In America, the most-watched studio show in sports, Bob Costas interviews Pittsburgh Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell, and Josh Elliott speaks with Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. In addition, Football Night will preview NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup between the Bengals and Steelers, and include highlights, analysis and reaction to earlier Week 17 games.
Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, with Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. He will be joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, NBC NFL analyst Hines Ward, and Elliott.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1, and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy; two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison; Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com and NBCSN, and NFL insider Peter King. Carolyn Manno will report from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., on the Panthers-Falcons game, which will decide the NFC South champion.
INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Bell, and Elliott’s interview with Lewis. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
LE’VEON BELL WITH BOB COSTAS
Bell on being voted Steelers MVP by his teammates: “It means a lot to me. The fact that my teammates voted me MVP was humbling because you’ve got guys like Ben (Roethlisberger) and Antonio (Brown) who are also deserving of the award.”
Bell on comparisons with Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray as the best RB in the NFL: “Everybody on the outside is going to have their opinions. I’m just glad that I would be mentioned with a player like DeMarco Murray, the best running back in the NFL. To be mentioned anywhere close to that means everything in the world to me.”
Bell on possibly joining Marshall Faulk and Barry Sanders as the third RB in NFL history to have more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season without a fumble: “The main focus for me, before even getting yards, is to make sure I protect the football. That’s the biggest thing as a runner. You always want your team to have confidence (in you), and I’m always going to try my best to protect it.”
Bell on Week 14 win over Bengals in Cincinnati: “It was a great team effort. Ben did a great job of checking the ball down to me, and I was able to make plays when the opportunity presented itself. We still want to make sure we take care of business this week against the Cincinnati Bengals, win the division, and do some damage in the playoffs.”
MARVIN LEWIS WITH JOSH ELLIOTT
Lewis on Week 16 win over Broncos: “It was great for our football team. We’ve been on a one-game-at-a-time stretch for a while now. Winning that game and qualifying for the playoffs was huge.”
Lewis on team goals each season: “I put three goals up every season; be undefeated at home, and unfortunately we didn’t do that this year, win the AFC North, and be World Champions. We still have two of those three ahead of us, and we have an opportunity to achieve one of those on Sunday night.”
Lewis on serving as defensive coordinator under former Ravens coach Brian Billick, and winning Super Bowl XXXV in 2001: “I always remember Brian coming in every Monday morning, and he would say during our staff meetings, ‘You know, we really suck.’ That’s alright, just suck the least at the end of the year. That’s all you want to be – the team that sucks the least at the end of the year. That’s the team that’s eventually the world champs.”
Lewis on Bengals’ lack of postseason success: “This is a new team from the team from last year, the team before that, and the team before that. They are all new football teams, and if anyone needs to be judged, it’s me, because I’m the only one that’s consistent through this process. I should be judged. We’re paid to win. That’s what this job is all about – winning. We haven’t won the ultimate goal, which is to be World Champions.”
Lewis on if he worries about winning: “I don’t worry about it, but that’s why we do what we do, and why we work as hard as we do…why we continue to drive towards that and push hard towards that.”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA–
