FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 1st, 2020

JAMEIS WINSTON ON SIGNING WITH THE SAINTS; HALL OF FAME JOCKEY JERRY BAILEY ON THE KENTUCKY DERBY — QUOTES FROM TODAY’S EPISODES OF LUNCH TALK LIVE WITH MIKE TIRICO AND THE RICH EISEN SHOW ON NBCSN

“It’s not just about beating the Bucs twice a year, every year for the rest of my life. It is about being in the same division, being familiar with the NFC South.” – Jameis Winston on joining the Saints and staying in the NFC South

“I would pick both of (Bob) Baffert’s horses (in the Arkansas Derby)…I’m going to go with Citation (in the virtual Kentucky Derby).” – Jerry Bailey on his picks for tomorrow’s races

 “Initially, they had hoped in a resumed season to have it wrapped up by Labor Day weekend…and as time has gone on, they are more open to pushing it further if they need to.” – Adrian Wojnarowski on the NBA’s plans to resume their season

 “When you look at Jared (Goff), you look at (Patrick) Mahomes, this narrative of guys can’t come out of the spread offense and then go play in the NFL. I think that’s been shown that that’s just not the case anymore.” – Sean McVay on college quarterbacks adapting to the NFL

STAMFORD, Conn. – May 1, 2020 – Mike Tirico hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:

    • Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay
    • NBC Sports writer Tim Layden
    • NBC Sports horse racing analyst & Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey
    • NBC Sports horse racing analyst Randy Moss
    • NBC Sports motorsports commentator Jeff Burton
    • NBC Sports’ Ahmed Fareed

 

The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:

    • New Orleans Saints QB Jameis Winston
    • ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski
    • GOLF Channel analyst & host of “Feherty Up Close (From A Distance)” David Feherty
    • Co-creators of Showtime’s “Billions” Brian Koppelman and David Levien

 

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Jameis Winston on joining the Saints: “(Sean Payton) gave it to me straightforward and he said, one thing I really admired, was the chance to compete. The chance to compete with an amazing quarterback room and learn from the best and I think that really sold me.”

Winston on if staying in the NFC South factored into his decision: “Absolutely, and it’s not just about beating the Bucs twice a year, every year for the rest of my life. It is about being in the same division, being familiar with the NFC South.”

Winston on if he could replace Drew Brees as the Saints’ QB: “That wasn’t even on my mind.”

Winston on his LASIK eye surgery: “I am not making excuses, but I am going to get better. I am not going to make an excuse. I can say the LASIK has definitely helped my vision and my accuracy. So, I can say that. I can honestly say that.”

Adrian Wojnarowski on the NBA’s plan to restart the season: “Many of them are really built around how many days they have to work with. Initially, they had hoped in a resumed season to have it wrapped up by Labor Day weekend…and as time has gone on, they are more open to pushing it further if they need to.”

Wojnarowski on NBA team executives and players wanting to return to basketball: “I think there is a consensus that everyone wants to play and that it is important for the league to play.”

Wojnarowski on restarting professional leagues after the pandemic: “This isn’t a one-year challenge. This is a multiyear challenge for all these professional leagues and the NBA.”

Wojnarowski on the NBA restarting and COVID-19 testing: “They would need in the neighborhood of 15,000 tests to do that. What (NBA Commissioner) Adam Silver has said from the beginning is he doesn’t want to be in a situation where the league is trying to resume or resumes and there is still a great gap in the need (of tests) and the general public and medical professionals…and the testing they have.”

Feherty on golf returning with social distancing: “Golf is the ideal sport for social distancing if you think about it. The chance of two players hitting it anywhere near each other is remote.”

Feherty on the broadcast coverage of golf with its new schedule: “It is interesting to me how they are going to cover it with it overlapping with football and every other sport (in the fall). Is Jim Nantz going to be at The Masters or is he going to be doing football?”

David Levein on cameos in Billions: “We don’t want to spoil any of the cameos. But we have been super lucky to have incredibly fascinating and talented people come on board as fans of the show.”

Brian Koppelman on cameos in Billions: “The human highlight film, Dominque Wilkins, makes a great appearance this season.”

Koppelman on playing Dominque Wilkins in a basketball game: “I played him in P-I-G, and I destroyed him…Somehow I beat him and then I was trying to get out of there because you know athletes, you know how they are. I really did beat him in P-I-G…Then he went one more. I shot first and I missed. He went to the half court line and hit three in a row. Boom, boom, boom and just took me out at half court.”

Levien on Billions continuing: “We are not planning on wrapping it up anytime soon from our end of it.”

Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:

Sean McVay on keeping his team prepared during this offseason: “How can we keep these meetings as engaging, as educational, and as entertaining as possible for our guys in short spurts? It’s just a mental element of it and then when we’re able to come back, we’ll really focus on the fundamentals, getting on the grass, and that’s where really you can see if you’re able to take the next steps.”

McVay on the NFC West: “There are three great teams. They’ve all gotten better this offseason and the challenge for us is how do we continue to adapt and evolve?”

McVay on college quarterbacks adapting to the NFL: “The last couple of years, when you look at Jared (Goff), you look at (Patrick) Mahomes, this narrative of guys can’t come out of the spread offense and then go play in the NFL. I think that’s been shown that that’s just not the case anymore.”

Jerry Bailey on Churchill Downs reopening: “Churchill Downs is going to operate in phases. They’re going to bring the horses in from the Louisiana region, then the Arkansas region and then other regions throughout (the country). Then they’ll populate and then they’ll run spectator-less.”

Bailey on fans attending races: “I think every racetrack in America is anticipating opening. Now, while it’s not optimal that there’s not fans allowed, I think they’re happy just to be running when they do.”

Bailey on his Arkansas Derby picks: “I would pick both of (Bob) Baffert’s horses. He comes in there with a hugely strong hand. Charlatan in the first division and Nadal in the second division. Although I think Nadal has a tougher time, it’s a little harder race in terms of his competition than Charlatan’s. But I think they both are odds-on (favorites). I think they both have a great chance to win.”

Randy Moss on his Arkansas Derby picks: “The two Baffert horses are stand-outs in here, so it would be very difficult to pick against them.”

Bailey on his virtual Kentucky Derby pick: “I’m going to go with Citation.”

Moss on his virtual Kentucky Derby pick “If it’s not Man o’ War, who’s not on this list because he didn’t win the Triple Crown, Secretariat would be the best horse of all-time.”

Moss on how scheduling changes impacts race horses: “Horses mature considerably from spring of their three-year-old season to fall. It’s kind of the difference between a college football player that’s just a freshman and a rookie in the NFL. Considerable amount of development from A to B.”

Tim Layden on the future of horse racing: “I don’t think racing is going away, but I think it’s a marathon and not a sprint. I think that marathon continues, and I genuinely have faith in the people that care about racing to keep pushing it forward. It would be nice if there were a big leap forward at some time, but that’s not in the offing as of right now.”

Layden on the 2019 Kentucky Derby: “I think, ultimately, that the stewards made the right decision to disqualify Maximum Security…That remains the easy part of this equation. The more challenging part is that everybody probably realizes that Maximum Security was the best horse on the racetrack that day and that Country House was never really bothered by the incident that occurred.”

Layden on his virtual Kentucky Derby pick: “It’s easy to pick Secretariat because we all saw that (1973) Belmont, but if I get to pick the winner of that race based on what they were in the Derby, I’m going to pick Citation.”

Ahmed Fareed on his virtual Kentucky Derby pick: “I’ve heard Tim Layden talk about it, he picked Citation. Jerry (Bailey) picked Citation. Why don’t I just copy them? I’m going with Citation to win the virtual Kentucky Derby.”

Jeff Burton on NASCAR returning to racing: “There are a lot of advantages our sport has where you can create that (social) distancing…Unfortunately we can’t have fans, but the advantage of that is you can now use the entire infield of all of these racetracks — and they’re big racetracks — to spread all the teams out. Where you would normally see fans inside of an infield, you’ll see a hauler and so you can separate teams that way…All of those things (social distancing measures) give us an opportunity to get back racing.”

Burton on NASCAR’s return: “I think it’s important for our country to get some normalcy back, to get something that we’re all accustomed to watching and doing.”

Burton on fans: “The fans are a huge part of what we do. There’s an energy you get from the fans walking through the infield, running into fans. There’s an energy about that. That will be greatly missed.”

–NBC SPORTS–