FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, November 15th, 2020
NOTES & QUOTES FROM WEEK 10 EDITION OF “FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” ON NBC
“Not Hail Mary, Hail Murray!” – Mike Tirico on Kyler Murray’s game-winning TD pass to DeAndre Hopkins
“There’s a newsflash. Tom Brady is not dead.” – Tony Dungy
“I don’t think there’s anything that opponents playing the Patriots are fearful of.” – Chris Simms
STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 15, 2020 – NBC Sports’ presentation of Week 10 of the 2020 NFL season began tonight from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., with Football Night in America leading into coverage of Ravens-Patriots on Sunday Night Football on NBC.
Mike Tirico hosted FNIA from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1 in Stamford, Conn., and was joined by Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms. NFL Insider Mike Florio joined Football Night remotely from his home studio. Liam McHugh co-hosted the show on-site from Gillette Stadium and was joined by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth. Two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison was not feeling well and did not appear on the show.
In addition, McHugh interviewed Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, and Michael Holley and Michael Smith from Peacock’s Brother From Another commented on Ravens QB Lamar Jackson.
Al Michaels (play-by-play), Collinsworth (analyst), Michele Tafoya (sideline reporter) and Terry McAulay (rules analyst) are calling tonight’s Ravens-Patriots game.
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Following are highlights from tonight’s edition of Football Night in America on NBC:
ON THE IMPACT OF THE LEAGUE’S YOUNG QUARTERBACKS
Dungy: “I have to credit the NFL coaches for saying, you know what, I’m going to look at these college young men and bring them in and do what they do best…It’s exciting for us and you know who else it’s exciting for, young kids.”
Simms: “It’s been the most popular sport in our country by far for so long, all the best athletes want to play quarterback…These young kids right now, reps, reps, reps, reps. Flag football, seven-on-seven…They’re more ready when it comes time to play in the NFL.”
Dungy: “It used to be, ‘you’ve got to learn the defenses and you’ve got to read.’ Now, defensive coordinators are scared. ‘I can’t play all these coverages, I’ve got to spy the quarterback, I’ve got to play man-to-man.’”
Tirico: “And they take advantage of it because they know how to run…Russell Wilson has shown these guys how you can run and stay healthy, get out of bounds, get down. They’re using the rules to keep themselves on the field.”
ON PATRIOTS
Collinsworth: “They’re changing philosophies here a little bit. They’re having Cam Newton be a lot more conservative. No turnovers from him last week for the first time all season.”
Tirico: “This is a week where if the Patriots were the Patriots that we’ve come to know for the last decade-plus, you’d expect to see a blueprint for how to stop Lamar Jackson, and something that the rest of the league would be watching real closely for the rest of the season. Do the Patriots have that mystique about them that they can give you a way to stop these elite offenses?”
Dungy: “The mystique is gone. We used to go into Foxboro and say, ‘we’ve got to do something special, we’ve got to step up our game.’ The Ravens know they just have to go in there and play. But here is one thing I would be worried about – when you play the Patriots, you can throw out the last four or five games. You don’t know what you’re going to see. What is Bill Belichick going to dial up, trying to stop this Ravens offense?”
Simms: “I don’t think there’s anything that opponents playing the Patriots are fearful of…what Coach brings up there with the roster and, ‘we don’t know what the (Patriots defense) is going to do to us this week’…That flexibility is gone. We mentioned all of the players they’ve lost on their roster. It’s not the same team…they’re a little stuck right now and they’re not able to do that…they don’t have big people in New England, and they’re going to be physically overmatched by one of the biggest offensive lines in football, let alone keeping track of No. 8 running around everywhere.”
ON RAVENS
Collinsworth on the Ravens’ rushing attack: “It’s exciting. It all starts with power football…what do you do with this thing? Does Gus Edwards have it? Does Lamar Jackson have it? What does the unblocked defensive guy do? The unblocked (defensive player) is always the key guy, and he can never be right. If Lamar Jackson is on his game, whatever that guy does is wrong. These defensive players have to have their head on a swivel and they’re not sure where the ball is going. If you’re hesitating as a linebacker trying to figure out where the ball is, and Lamar Jackson gets on the edge, you’re never catching that guy.”
Collinsworth on Lamar Jackson’s comments of opposing defenses calling out plays: “Guys like Tony Dungy were calling out plays back when we played. You call them out, you take a shot, and once in a while you get one right…maybe Tony got a few more right.”
Dungy: “We did call out plays, but you’re just guessing for the most part – and you’re definitely guessing on this Baltimore offense because even if you know the play, you don’t know where it’s going.”
ON STEELERS
Simms: “Joe Burrow was harassed all day. This defense got back to its basics. They really took away the short passing game and pressured Burrow. We didn’t see that last week.”
Simms on Chase Claypool: “He is a matchup nightmare.”
ON RAMS
Dungy: “The Rams’ focus knowing the Seattle running backs were out was to bring pressure and get the ball out of Russell Wilson’s hands.”
Tirico: “I think the Rams got back in the mix significantly with today’s performance.”
Simms: “Agreed. The Rams have a little of everything. They play good defense, they can run the ball, and of course we know they are going to throw the ball with the bootlegs…the other teams have other flaws to me. Arizona is all Kyler Murray and of course Seattle is all Russell Wilson.”
ON 49ERS
Dungy: “Special teams haunted the 49ers.”
ON BUCCANEERS
Dungy: “There’s a newsflash. Tom Brady is not dead. Last week, only three points. What happened? They got back to Ronald Jones and the running game, 46 points and 544 yards. The Bucs are back.”
Simms on Bucs’ return to run game: “Today was two tight ends and ‘we’re going to run the ball and beat you at the line of scrimmage’…and it opens up the play action pass and the ability to max protect for Brady and throw the ball down the field. They’re at their best under center and imposing their physical will on people.”
ON BROWNS
Simms on RB Nick Chubb: “He is special. The best thing the Browns do is run the ball with that offensive line and Nick Chubb is awesome between the tackles.”
Florio: “I spoke to Nick Chubb after the game…on that 59-yard run at the end of the game, he told me in the huddle before the play, Baker Mayfield told him if you get the first down, don’t score, let’s just end the game and go home. He told me how hard it was as the end zone was approaching to not score the points.”
ON TEXANS
Simms: “They were handicapped by the weather more than Cleveland because they have to rely on (DeShaun) Watson’s arm and his receivers to throw the football. They never could get it going consistently today.”
ON PACKERS
Tirico: “That’s one of those games where you’ve got to get it, and they did – but they didn’t look great doing it.”
Simms: “I especially worry about the interior part of their defense. They can rush the passer, but we’ve seen when teams can run the football and have a good offensive line and running attack, man do they struggle slowing that down. Jacksonville ran the ball on them just about every series.”
CARDINALS
Tirico on the game-winning play: “Not Hail Mary, Hail Murray!”
Dungy on DeAndre Hopkins: “The strongest hands in football in terms of catching the ball.”
ON BILLS
Dungy on game-ending Hail Mary defense: “What I don’t like here is that no one is jamming these receivers. They are getting free access off the ball to get down to the end zone.”
Simms: “I don’t understand that approach either. What I also don’t understand is their aggression (to cover) underneath receivers. There’s no timeouts. Let them throw the ball 15 yards down the field.”
ON GIANTS
Simms on QB Daniel Jones: “He played really well. He became a meme the last time he ran the ball against the Philadelphia Eagles. Not today. He got the last laugh.”
ON EAGLES
Dungy: “You’ve got a chance to really stretch your lead in the NFC East and put the Giants away and the defense really didn’t come through.”
Simms: “I don’t know what to think of the Eagles. I keep waiting for them to take hold of this division, but between (Carson) Wentz being inconsistent, the run game being hit or miss, and the defense has been inconsistent all year…I still think they’re the leader in the clubhouse in the NFC East, but it’s not a very pretty clubhouse.”
ON BRONCOS
Simms on QB Drew Lock’s red zone INT: “This is the biggest issue with Drew Lock’s game right now. You’re there in field goal position before the half. Don’t be so aggressive. He really needs to dial it back in that category.”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA
