“(Las Vegas) is going to get Tom Brady, but he is going to be in a different uniform.” – Al Michaels on offseason rumors of Tom Brady signing with the Raiders and the Buccaneers now scheduled to visit Las Vegas on Sunday Night Football on Oct. 25
“It is in my Top Five favorite sporting events of the year.” – Jim Nantz on the NFL schedule release
“I think Andy Reid is probably relishing this and there’s not going to be a Super Bowl hangover…I would like this if I were a defending-champion coach.” – Tony Dungy on difficulty of Kansas City’s early-season schedule
“If the top men want it to happen, it will happen. I just don’t want us to be an acquisition, I want us to be a partner.” – Billie Jean King on what she told Roger Federer about merging men’s and women’s tennis federations
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 8, 2020 – Kathryn Tappen hosted today’s episode of Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN and was joined remotely by:
- NBC Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy
- Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King
- Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano
- NBC Sports’ Rebecca Lowe
- NHL on NBC analyst Mike Milbury
The Rich Eisen Show followed Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN, as host Rich Eisen was joined by:
- NBC Sunday Night Football play-by-play announcer Al Michaels
- FOX play-by-play announcer Joe Buck
- CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz
- Actor Jonathan Banks from AMC’s Better Call Saul
Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:
Al Michaels on Sunday Night Football having more west coast games this year: “Living out on the west coast, I enjoy when the schedule comes out and I see a few west coast games…Opening game at L.A., good. I am in bed that night at home...This will be my 35th year of doing it and in 34 years, I think I had eight games in the pacific time zone and now I have like 11 in one year.”
Michaels on Jerry Jones helping to build the new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles: “Jerry built that Taj Mahal of stadiums (AT&T Stadium)…He knew in Stan [Kroenke], he had the same kind of vision.”
Michaels on when he sensed last season was Tom Brady’s last in New England: “That is when Tom (Brady) said -- and he said it with a little bit of a smile in our production meeting -- ‘I am the unhappiest 8-0 quarterback.’”
Michaels on the offseason rumors of Tom Brady going to the Raiders, and the Buccaneers playing in Las Vegas on Sunday Night Football: “(Las Vegas) is going to get Tom Brady, but he is going to be in a different uniform.”
Michaels on Aaron Rodgers after the Packers drafted QB Jordan Love: “I look at the top quarterbacks through all of the years I have done this…Everybody is saying this is the kind of thing that lights a fire under them…I know these guys. They don’t need a fire lit under them. These guys are all-out all the time.”
Michaels on the San Francisco 49ers: “I repeated it every time we had the 49ers that John Lynch and Kyle Shannan said the first thing they wanted to do was build a Super Bowl defensive line…I like the way Shannan and Lynch have constructed this team. I think they are very clear-eyed. They see exactly what they need to do to make this team a contending team and they clearly are…I think the 49ers look to me like they are poised for a good long run here.”
Jim Nantz on the NFL schedule release: “It is in my Top Five favorite sporting events of the year…I came into my home office, locked the door, and put all of the things aside and looked up on my computer screen and started going through it very meticulously, one game at a time.
Nantz on the New England Patriots: “It is a start to the season with a new leader under center and it is going to be interesting what they do. And then they got Jimmy (Garoppolo) coming in Week 7.”
Nantz on the AFC youth movement at quarterback: “The AFC is the cool conference now with Patrick (Mahomes) and Lamar (Jackson) and now, I don’t want to short change Deshaun (Watson), but Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield. The kids that are coming in, three of the first six draft picks with Joe (Burrow), Tua (Tagovailoa) and Justin Herbert. It is an exciting time for this conference.”
Joe Buck on the Thursday Night Football schedule: “Thursday nights have never looked like this…It is exciting to even think about that, having national primetime games that really should be that meaningful.”
Buck on Tom Brady joining the Buccaneers in the NFC: “I think when you have Brady, it brings another team and a star power to the conference that we cover the most and a division (NFC South) that we have covered the least in the past.”
Buck on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers drafting QB Jordan Love: “Aaron Rodgers has not been the issue. It has been a defensive problem that has gone on and been persistent even through different coordinators and different personnel…I don’t think you can assess…and go, ‘That was the necessary move.’”
Buck on the Dallas Cowboys’ offseason: “They seem loaded and they got more loaded.”
Jonathan Banks on playing sports in high school: “I played a lot of sports very poorly. I could sit on a bench in baseball.”
Banks on growing up in the Washington area: “My team was the Washington Senators…Finally, they finish in second place…and Calvin Griffith sells them to Minnesota. I was a kid and my heart was just broken.”
Following are highlights from Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN:
Tony Dungy on which team has the NFL’s toughest schedule: “I was particularly struck by the Houston Texans. This is a playoff team, they’ve got a great quarterback, they’ve been upper echelon for a long time...Realistically, you could be 0-4 out of the gate. Those are four games that are not going to be easy to win.”
Dungy on the NFL’s plan for the season and schedule release: “I think they are planning on playing 16 games.”
Dungy on the difficulty of the Chiefs’ early-season schedule: “I think Andy Reid is probably relishing this and there’s not going to be a Super Bowl hangover because he’s going to say, ‘Look at what we have to face coming out of the box. We’ve got to be ready.’...This kind of favors Andy Reid. I would like this if I were a defending-champion coach.”
Dungy on the Tom Brady-Drew Brees matchup in Week 1: “I can’t wait to see this and see how Tom Brady is going to connect (with his new team)...New Orleans has a great team and this is going to be a challenge...There is so much hype down here (in Tampa) about Tom right now. That’s going to be a true test and that’s going to be great to see.”
Rebecca Lowe on the possibility of the Premier League resuming their season: “I’m really optimistic and the reason being is that the government has been very open throughout this whole lockdown about the importance of football in the UK and especially the importance of the Premier League...I do believe that the Premier League will start at some point in the middle of June.”
Lowe on the importance of football in the UK: “It’s obviously the national sport. It’s what a lot of people in the UK live for and it’s very important to try to get that back if they possibly can.”
Lowe on Sunday’s On Her Turf: Inspiring Greatness show: “No matter who you are, no matter your age, no matter what background you come from, we can all still strive to achieve those dreams. It’s in the striving that’s the beauty.”
Billie Jean King on the idea of merging the men’s and women’s tennis governing bodies: “I had a great talk with (Roger Federer) and I said, ‘If the top men want it to happen, it will happen. I just don’t want us to be an acquisition, I want us to be a partner.’ It’s really important for the WTA and ATP to be together on equal terms…We don’t always have to play together. We would be as one and we could do so much more off the court to make this world a better place.”
King on the USWNT equality court case: “I think it stems back to 1999 when they first really started pushing for more...I have so many dreams and wants for women’s sports.”
King on The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center being used as an emergency location to help COVID-19 patients: “I just loved it. I think it’s great when we can be supportive and helpful to the community and particularly now…At the Louis Armstrong Stadium, we were able to make 25,000 meals per day for the essential workers, front line workers and their children…Anything we can do to help is important.”
Mike Milbury on the idea of the NHL foregoing the regular season to begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs: “Trying to get in the rest of the season thinking ahead to the next season I think would be a mistake. So, I’m glad to hear they’re considering just heading straight into the postseason.”
Milbury on advising players during stay-at-home orders: “They have an obligation to continue to stay in shape and to workout...The team that can get into gear the quickest is going to have a decided advantage.”
Greg Schiano on returning to Rutgers: “The university itself, in the 10 years that I was gone, has done an incredible growth. You’re talking about $1.5 billion in construction. Sometimes when we used to recruit, I wouldn’t want to bring the guys on campus. Now, I can’t wait to get the guys on campus.”
Schiano on his strategy: “The hard work of getting your current team and improving them and getting them ready to go play in the Big Ten East is certainly the challenge. But at the same time, we have to continue to build our team with recruiting, and those are our two main fronts.”
Schiano on NCAA athletes receiving compensation for their likeness: “I think they deserve it. These kids really work incredibly hard both academically and athletically...The key is going to be how it’s managed...As long as it’s managed the right way, I think it’s the right thing.”
–NBC SPORTS–