FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 12th, 2015

QUOTES FROM “SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL” ANALYST CRIS COLLINSWORTH’S INTERVIEW ON TONIGHT’S EDITION OF NBCSN’S PRO FOOTBALL TALK

STAMFORD, Conn. – Jan. 12, 2015 – NBC Sunday Night Football analyst and weekly NBCSN Pro Football Talk contributor Cris Collinsworth appeared on Monday’s edition of PFT to discuss a variety of NFL topics. Collinsworth joined PFT co-hosts Mike Florio and Paul Burmeister, and analysts Jason Taylor and Brian Westbrook.

Following are excerpts from Burmeister’s interview with Collinsworth:

***

Collinsworth on John Fox and the Broncos parting ways: “I’m stunned. You told me just a few minutes ago and I couldn’t believe it. Because of the relationship he has with Peyton Manning, because of the relationship Coach Fox has with John Elway. I’m really surprised. I don’t know if it’s directly related to the loss yesterday or exactly what’s going on with that. I thought the whole news cycle was going to be about Peyton Manning and whether or not he was going to stay on, and whether or not he was going to continue to play, so this one really catches me off guard.”

Collinsworth on if he suspected this: “Not a clue. Honestly, not a clue. If you know John Fox at all, you know he’s a jovial guy. He has a good time. He’s a defensive-minded guy. They had Peyton Manning on the offensive side. Jack Del Rio, of course. They just seemed to have everything in place. But as far as an issue, as far as a problem, as far as somebody not liking someone else? Not even the remotest clue ever of that kind of thing going on there.”

Collinsworth on Peyton Manning and the Broncos performance vs. the Colts on Sunday: “It wasn’t very good. It was great defense — let’s start on the other side. I thought the Colts and their man-to-man coverage really did a number on some very good receivers. We never saw Wes Welker pop open in the slot the way that we’ve seen Julian Edelman and some of these other players. We saw Peyton over-throw a lot of throws to Emmanuel Sanders down the sideline, which could have been big plays. We saw Demaryius Thomas dropping balls that he ordinarily wouldn’t drop.

So, it was pretty sloppy from the beginning, but I think you would be hard-pressed, if you were really honest, to not say that was a little different Peyton Manning. I know he had whatever the leg injury was, and the pulled muscle, but I was really surprised that they weren’t able to be more accurate than what they were with all of those great players on the field.”

On whether officials made the right call on the Dez Bryant play: “They did. I don’t particularly like the rule. We saw with Calvin Johnson a catch that he clearly made, sort of held onto it with one hand in Detroit (sic; game was actually in Chicago) a few years ago. I thought the rule was ridiculous then.

The whole idea of going to the ground and you’ve got to maintain complete possession of the ball, and the ball moved a little bit off of the ground as he was trying to extend it into the end zone. That whole issue came up as well.

I think there’s a much cleaner way of doing all of that. I don’t think that replay was ever intended to sort of look underneath and see, well, did the ball move a quarter of an inch or not when he hit the ground after clearly catching the ball? Coming down, and then it moves a little bit when he hits the ground.

I would rather see them just go back to whatever the rule was — you have two feet down, clear possession of the ball. Now you better maintain control, because if you haven’t been hit going to the ground, in that case, it would be a fumble, or, if you were hit, you would be down by contact. I just think it would clean up so much.

We are micromanaging this stuff to death right now. In our game the other night with the Patriots and the Ravens, we’re showing replays of a guy that’s four yards in bounds because the officials want one more look to make sure that he’s in bounds, and the whole excitement of a touchdown now kind of just fades away because we’re having to officiate this stuff to death.

I hope at the end of the year that we take another look at all of these rules, and try and streamline them a little bit and make it a little bit easier to officiate.”

Collinsworth on what he meant during Saturday’s commentary regarding the Mueller Report: “Just what I said — that I never questioned the integrity of Roger Goodell. I’ve had hundreds of incidents that I’ve had to deal with him over the years. I talked to him specifically about this one at the Hall of Fame game, and he essentially told me right to my face, ‘No, I never saw the elevator video.’ I believed him then. The Mueller Report came out and said that they found that he didn’t see that video, and I said, ‘I never questioned his integrity,’ which I never have.

I don’t know exactly why that became the issue that it did, but it was something we felt like we had to address. It was something that was pertinent to the teams playing that day, the Ravens certainly. Roger was in the stadium, and we had addressed it pretty fully during the pregame show.

Let’s face it – here’s a guy that was accused of something. Basically, he was accused of lying. ‘Roger Goodell, did you lie about seeing this video inside the elevator?’ … It was front-page news with the accusation, and yet when the vindication came out with the Mueller Report, all of a sudden it goes to Page 47. We thought that it deserved to be what it was – the big news story of the day.

We did it, and I probably editorialized, I guess, too much by saying that in my hundreds of dealings with this guy, I’ve never had any reason to question his integrity. I didn’t in this one. I probably had a half-hour conversation with him at the Hall of Fame game about exactly what he saw, what happened in the meetings with Ray (Rice) and Janay (Rice), and we went over everything. I asked him every hard question that I could come up with. He said he never saw the video, the report said he never saw the video, and I said I never questioned his integrity. There it is.”

Click here to see video. 

NOTE: On Saturday, NBC’s coverage of the NFL Divisional Playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots included a segment on the Mueller Report. NBC Sports addressed the report because 1.) the game was the first played since the Mueller Report’s release 48 hours earlier; 2.) the Ravens were competing in the game; and 3.) Commissioner Roger Goodell was in attendance. The Mueller Report was more extensively addressed in the pre-game show by Bob Costas and Mike Florio. Both reports were consistent in the presentation of Mueller’s findings.

Following is a transcript from Al Michaels and Collinsworth regarding the Mueller Report during Saturday’s Ravens-Patriots AFC Divisional Playoff game telecast on NBC:

Michaels: “The Commissioner here tonight. Most of you know that after an in-elevator video of Ray Rice dragging his then-fiancé went viral, the NFL asked former FBI Director Robert Mueller and his law firm to conduct an investigation into the league’s handling of the case. Including whether Commissioner Goodell, or any other NFL employee, had received or seen the video before it went public. The report, as many of you know, was issued two days ago and identified deficiencies in the league’s investigation and outlined several improvements the league should make. Some of which have already been implemented. Also, after interviewing every female employee, analyzing millions of documents, e-mails and text messages, and searching the computer and cell phone of the Commissioner, the report concluded that there was no evidence that Goodell or anyone else in the league had received or seen the tape prior to it going public.

Cris, not a lot of good came out of this, obviously the whole situation, but at least made it part of the national conversation. And that was good.”

Collinsworth: “The decision to suspend initially Ray Rice for two games was a mistake. Roger Goodell has admitted that, but I never once, in all my dealings with the Commissioner, ever doubted his integrity. And I think that came out in the report as well.”

Michaels: “It did.”

Following is a transcript from Saturday’s pre-game commentary from Bob Costas and Mike Florio regarding the Mueller Report:

Bob Costas: “Back in Foxborough, Commissioner Roger Goodell is in attendance today, two days after former FBI Director Robert Mueller released the detailed findings from his four-month investigation into the NFL’s handing of the Ray Rice incident. The report focused on two central items: whether prior to its public release, anyone at the league office had received or seen the in-elevator video, where Rice delivered the actual punch, and whether the league was proactive enough in pursuing that video and any other evidence pertaining to the investigation.

Mueller found no evidence that Roger Goodell or anyone else at the league office had received or viewed the in-elevator video prior to its public release. Mueller did find, however, that the NFL did not adequately pursue that video, and all other available information, and also cited problems with the league’s long-standing approach to dealing with domestic violence incidents, and deferring to the criminal justice system before taking any significant action of its own. Giants’ President John Mara and Steelers’ President Art Rooney II, who oversaw the Mueller investigation, said Thursday, quote [on-air graphic shows full statement]:

‘This matter has tarnished the reputation of the NFL [due to our failure to hand out proper punishments]. It has been a wake-up call to all involved [and we expect the changes that have been made will lead to improvements in how any similar issues are handled within the future]…It is clear to us that Commissioner Roger Goodell was forthright in the statements he made to the owners about this matter, and we have every confidence that he [Roger Goodell] is the right person to lead the league as we move forward.’

For more on this story and other news around the league, we go to Peter King and ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio.”

Mike Florio: “While the Mueller Report may have been somewhat kind to the league office, it was unkind to the Baltimore Ravens. Robert Mueller found that the Ravens had extensive information about what happened in that elevator long before the video was ever released. The Ravens said, ‘If the league had asked us, we would have shared the information.’ The league didn’t ask, the Ravens didn’t tell. Robert Mueller concluded that they should have.”

***

Pro Football Talk, NBCSN’s daily NFL studio show co-hosted by Mike Florio and Paul Burmeister, airs at 5:30 p.m. ET every Monday through Friday. Pro Football Talk provides all-encompassing coverage of the NFL, and features a roster of NBC Sports football commentators who share a combined eight Super Bowl titles and 169 seasons of NFL experience, including Cris Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, Hines Ward, Doug Flutie, Jason Taylor, Takeo Spikes, Brian Westbrook, Ross Tucker, Jon Ritchie, longtime NFL coach Kevin Gilbride, and longtime NFL athletic trainer Mike Ryan.

PRO FOOTBALL TALK