FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 28th, 2020

BILLS QB JOSH ALLEN & 49ERS HEAD COACH KYLE SHANAHAN SPEAK WITH PETER KING IN THIS WEEK’S “FMIA” COLUMN

“Allen has progressed from being a bright prospect with the occasional brain-freeze play to being a top-five NFL quarterback (it’s early, but he’s been that so far) atop a 3-0 team.” – King on Josh Allen

“Make no mistake, we’re happy…Excuse my language: I’m pissed off how we allowed the 28-3 lead to dwindle there.” – Bills QB Josh Allen on Buffalo’s Week 3 win

“People kinda counted us out, and that’s how we felt a lot last year…Our depth and our love of the game – I think those things really helped us through a tough time.” – 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on overcoming injuries

 “I think I’ve never seen better quarterback play in a season, collectively, than we’re seeing this year.” – King on NFL quarterback play through Week 3

STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 28, 2020 – Peter King speaks with Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan following both teams’ Week 3 victories in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also speaks with former Dallas quarterback and The NFL on CBS analyst Tony Romo, recaps the games and news from Week 3, and hands out his weekly awards.

Across NBC Sports this week, Peacock’s daily NFL programming includes PFT Live featuring Mike Florio and Chris Simms live at 7 a.m. ET, followed by The Dan Patrick Show at 9 a.m. ET, The Rich Eisen Show (Peacock and NBCSN) at Noon ET, Brother From Another, with Michael Holley and Michael Smith, at 3 p.m. ET, and PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. ProFootballTalk.com continues to provide the latest offseason news, and the Rotoworld Football Podcast and Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast discuss Week 3.

The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:

JOSH ALLEN

King on Allen: “Can the pantheon of great young quarterbacks fit another one?…In the first three weeks of this season, Josh Allen, the bucking bronco from Wyoming, is kicking down the damn door to greatness and forcing his way into that pantheon…Allen has progressed from being a bright prospect with the occasional brain-freeze play to being a top-five NFL quarterback (it’s early, but he’s been that so far) atop a 3-0 team.”

King on Allen’s mindset: “He knows what’s important. The wins, of course they’re important. But the zits in the wins? You’d better address those now; if you don’t, they’ll end your season in January. To me, it’s impressive that, at 24, Allen sees the big-picture stuff like that.”

Allen to King on Buffalo’s Week 3 win vs. the Rams: “Make no mistake, we’re happy…Excuse my language: I’m pissed off how we allowed the 28-3 lead to dwindle there. I take that very personal.”

Tony Romo to King on Allen: “He has a very high standard of excellence. That’s the quarterback I want. When we talked this offseason, he forcefully asked me: ‘How can I be better?’ That’s what you want out of the quarterback of your football team.”

King on Allen’s offseason work: “His study started at the Super Bowl, when he asked Romo what he could be doing better, and they began a back-and-forth that continued through the offseason…Allen’s off-season tutor, Jordan Palmer, praised Allen for being coachable, and for working on his control, his deep-ball accuracy, and his touch.”

Allen on his offseason training: “I’ve kind of been tweaking a few things in my mechanics, and allowing myself to throw a better, more catchable ball. As much as I want to pat myself on the back, I had a lot of help along the way.”

Palmer on Allen: “To make drastic changes in your mechanics, you’ve got to be coachable, and you’ve got to be all-in on the right plan. Josh worked it every day.”

Allen on working with Romo and Palmer: “[Romo taught me to] feel your head is on a stake through the ground and you’re just trying to rotate it around and use [the torso] as an axis…With Jordan Palmer, we worked on how to be a more rotational thrower.”

KYLE SHANAHAN & THE 49ERS

King on the 49ers: “So impressed with the Niners. Without nine star-to-above-average starters for NFL Week 3, they had a bizarre week. With consecutive games at the Jets and Giants in the Meadowlands, they decided to decamp in West Virginia for the week to practice and wound-lick…The 49ers’ depth won those two games.”

Kyle Shanahan to King: “Last Sunday night, when we got to our hotel in West Virginia, even though we had the real tough game that day, we always want to enjoy a win… It was a little harder on Monday. That’s when you wake up the next day and it hits you a little bit more. Monday was a little bit of a depressing day. But then the quicker you get to the game plan, the better.”

Shanahan on overcoming injuries: “When the players came in Wednesday, it was just nice because they were totally different than how they were Monday…You start to see some of the guys we have on our team. The depth. The attitude…Everyone’s talking about injuries and how you got no chance with all the guys we’re missing.”

Shanahan on his message to the team this week: “I was like, hey, this NFL’s a tough league. If we don’t change our mindset on this, we’re gonna get embarrassed…A lot of the other guys we lost, we are gonna get back. We need to make sure that we manned up and had a great week of practice. I thought Wednesday was the best practice we’ve had all year.”

Shanahan on San Francisco’s Week 3 win: “It was a good learning experience for everyone. I just learned…our team likes football. People kinda counted us out, and that’s how we felt a lot last year…Our depth and our love of the game – I think those things really helped us through a tough time.”

KING’S WEEK 3 AWARDS

Offensive Players of the Week: Josh Allen, Buffalo, Nick Foles, Chicago, & Russell Wilson, Seattle.

King on Foles: “Foles finished three scoring drives with TD passes to Jimmy Graham, Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller – the Bears’ money men in the receiving game – and staked his claim to the starting job with a 30-26 win.”

Defensive Players of the Week: Shaq Thompson, Carolina, & Aldon Smith, Dallas.

King on Smith: “What’s interesting about Smith’s presence early for the Cowboys is how much he’s playing. Dallas isn’t pacing him – he’s leading the pack of great defensive front players.”

Special Teams Players of the Week: Stephen Gostkowski, Tennessee, Patrick O’Connor, Tampa Bay, & Matt Haack, Miami.

King on Gostkowski: “For the game, Gostkowski was good from 39, 31 30, 51, 54 and 55, and it sure seems a long time ago that he was a liability in the Monday night opener for the Titans.”

Coach of the Week: Matt Nagy, Chicago.

King: “The Bears are 3-0, and I feel quite sure that from Rockford to Carbondale, Bearsville is saying this morning: ‘How on earth are we 3-0?’”

WEEK 3 NOTES

King on NFL QBs: “I think I’ve never seen better quarterback play in a season, collectively, than we’re seeing this year.”

King on tonight’s Ravens-Chiefs game: “Since last Nov. 15, in all games, these two teams are a combined 20-1…Both teams have great and sufficient offensive weapons. Though I trust (Patrick) Mahomes a little more, I do think (Lamar) Jackson’s legs will make the difference when forced out of the pocket…Give me Baltimore.”

King on the Jets and Giants: “Of the NFL’s 32 teams, the Giants are 31 and the Jets 32. Though I’d say the Jets are 32 by a lot.”

King on the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols following Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell’s positive test this weekend: “The system put in place by the league and the players association works. It’s unlikely this will be the only time a player tests positive this year, but the checks negotiated by the league and union worked in this case. For those wondering how Terrell contracted COVID-19, I don’t know.”

Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.

The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:

    • PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio and Chris Simms streams live on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays, followed by The Dan Patrick Show at 9 a.m. ET.
    • The Rich Eisen Show continues on Peacock and NBCSN weekdays at Noon ET, followed by Brother From Another (3 p.m. ET) and PFT PM (5 p.m. ET) on Peacock.
    • ProFootballTalk.com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
    • The Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast and Rotoworld Football Podcast discuss Week 3 and look ahead to Week 4.

 

A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.

—NBC SPORTS—