FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, December 28th, 2014
NOTES & QUOTES FROM NBC’S “FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” – WEEK 17
“Seattle is the team to beat.” – Tony Dungy
“They’re in a perfect position to make a run in the playoffs.” – Rodney Harrison on the Patriots
“The San Diego Chargers flat out choked.” – Harrison
“He is the best all-around running back in the game today.” – Hines Ward on Le’Veon Bell
“I would definitely take Marcus Mariota…He’s not only a great quarterback, but a great person and leader.” – Dungy on whom he would draft No. 1
“I wouldn’t take him. He’s a great football player. He has a lot of off the field issues. I played with a guy like that, Ryan Leaf.” – Harrison on drafting Florida State QB Jameis Winston
STAMFORD, Conn. – December 28, 2014 – Following are highlights from NBC’s Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports. Bob Costas opened the show live from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa. to preview Bengals-Steelers, which is the final regular-season game of the 2014 season. Costas was joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, NBC NFL analyst Hines Ward and NBC Sports’ Josh Elliott.
Dan Patrick co-hosted Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1. He was joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy; two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com, and NFL Insider Peter King. Carolyn Manno reported from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., on the Panthers-Falcons game.
In addition, Costas interviewed Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell and Elliott spoke with Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis.
Following are highlights from Football Night in America:
ON SEAHAWKS
Dungy: “Since they’ve gotten Bobby Wagner back, their defense has their swagger back.”
Harrison: “You see those young wide receivers starting to make plays. This is a very unselfish team. They don’t care who gets the credit.”
Dungy: “Seattle is the team to beat.”
ON PATRIOTS
Harrison: “They’re in a perfect position to make a run in the playoffs. They’re a better team than they were last year. They have home-field advantage. They don’t have to worry about going on the road and facing Denver. They’ve got a healthy Rob Gronkowski, who’s the best tight end in all of football, and you’ve upgraded at the cornerback position with Darrelle Revis.”
ON COWBOYS
Harrison on why these playoffs will be different for Dallas: “I look at Tony Romo’s body language and he expects to win. He’s got a lot of confidence. You see a lot of poise. He’s not turning the ball over, and he trusts his other guys.”
ON BRONCOS
Dungy on C.J. Anderson: “He is making Denver a complete team.”
ON RAVENS
Ward: “They got lucky to even get into the playoffs.”
Dungy: “You fear that defensive line, and why they’re going to be dangerous is that they’ve got guys who can rush the passer.”
ON LIONS
Harrison during replay of Ndamukong Suh stepping on Aaron Rodgers: “That was dirty right there. He put all his weight on it.”
King: “The League is going to review that Ndamukong Suh stomp tomorrow, but there appears to be more grey area than there was with the (Lions center) Dominic Raiola stomp that cost him a game.”
ON COLTS
Harrison on Colts: “Coach, I understand you want to win and you want to have a home game, but who’s afraid to go on the road against Indy?”
Patrick: “Cincinnati!”
Harrison: “That happened in October, Dan. You are playing against a shaky offensive line. You are playing against a quarterback that puts up a lot of numbers, but he turns the ball over. They don’t have a great running game, and really they have one legit wide receiver weapon, and that’s T.Y. Hilton.”
Harrison on tonight’s game: “I’d rather play the Colts, not Baltimore.”
ON PANTHERS
Dungy: “They are doing it on the strength of the running game and that defense.”
Harrison: “This has been the biggest difference in this defense, the play of those young cornerbacks.”
Dungy on Cardinals-Panthers: “What a difference a month makes. A month ago if we would’ve talked about Arizona-Carolina, Arizona (was) a big favorite. Carolina, the way they’re playing, and with the quarterback struggles Arizona has, you have to look at Carolina being in great shape.”
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/cam-newton-leads-panthers-playoffs-again
ON FALCONS
Patrick: “Mike Florio is reporting that Mike Smith is likely to be fired tomorrow.”
ON CHARGERS
Harrison: “The San Diego Chargers flat out choked. They can make all the excuses in the world, ‘We’re on our fifth center. We don’t have our starting wide receiver, running back.’ They are playing against a backup quarterback. You have to win games like this. We are sitting back waiting for them to take that next step and they just can’t do it.”
Patrick: “The Chargers seem to have this glass ceiling. We seem to look at their potential every year and here they are not in the postseason.”
ON BROWNS
Dungy on Johnny Manziel: “If I had Manziel, I would sit him down tomorrow, come in my office. I’d have my yellow legal pad. Here’s 20 things you need to do this offseason. Here’s five things you can’t do, starting with being late. You can’t be out after 1:00 (am). Because he obviously doesn’t know. You’ve got to tell him.”
ON JETS
Dungy on Rex Ryan: “There aren’t a lot of great coaches out there. Rex Ryan has been to championship games. His players love to play for him. I think somebody snaps him up.”
King on Rex Ryan: “He’ll be out within the next 24 hours. I believe his future is either on television in a studio, or with the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears or Oakland Raiders…As far as where the New York Jets will go in their general manager search…their first two targets will be Baltimore assistant GM Eric DeCosta and George Paton, assistant GM of the Minnesota Vikings. I do not believe DeCosta will leave Baltimore.”
ON BILLS
Florio: “Coach Doug Marrone is staying put. He actually has a clause in his contract that gives him a three-day window to leave now that there is new ownership. He doesn’t plan to exercise it. The Bills don’t plan to fire him. Look for Marrone to be back next year.”
ON STEELERS
Ward on Le’Veon Bell: “He is the best all-around running back in the game today.”
ON BENGALS
Collinsworth on importance of winning tonight: “For the Cincinnati Bengals, it is pretty stark, the difference. They have beaten Baltimore twice this season and Indianapolis absolutely thrashed them and embarrassed them in a shutout. So this is a very, very, very important game for the Cincinnati Bengals.”
ON NFL DRAFT
Dungy on Marcus Mariota: “I would definitely take Marcus Mariota. He went to school with my son. I got to watch him play and practice. He’s not only a great quarterback, but a great person and leader. He is going to make them better. Please Lovie, take Marcus Mariota.”
Patrick: “What about Jameis Winston?”
Harrison: “I wouldn’t take him. He’s a great football player. He has a lot of off the field issues. I played with a guy like that, Ryan Leaf. All the signs were there and they still decided to draft him. I wouldn’t take him, just too many issues dealing with that.”
Dungy: “I agree with Rodney. You have to be careful and know what you are getting into. Jameis Winston would scare me too, with the off-the-field issues.”
Harrison: “He’s a broke college student. Imagine guaranteeing him $20+ million. I think he would lose his mind.”
King: “I’ve talked to five personnel guys or general managers in the last two weeks. All five like Mariota better than they like Jameis Winston.”
ON COACHING CANDIDATES
King on Top Candidates: “The two top coaching candidates in the NFL in the coming weeks are both African Americans — David Shaw, the head coach at Stanford, and Todd Bowles, the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals. I believe Shaw will stay. Boles really wants a head coaching opportunity.”
Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Bell and Elliott’s interview with Lewis.
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.”
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/leveon-bell-humble-about-his-success-season
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. That’s the best part of the NFL. Eventually, the best team left standing becomes world champions. That’s all you need to worry about.”
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–
