FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 19th, 2022

PETER KING SPEAKS WITH DOLPHINS HEAD COACH MIKE MCDANIEL, 49ERS HEAD COACH KYLE SHANAHAN, AND JAGUARS QB TREVOR LAWRENCE IN THIS WEEK’S “FMIA” COLUMN

“The weight should be lifted off your shoulders. All you did was do exactly what we talked about. Hopefully at least for a week you can shut up all the people that you’re trying not to listen to.” – Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel on what he said to Tua Tagovailoa after Miami’s comeback win over the Ravens

“Our team really loves Trey. But these guys, they plan on winning games regardless of the obstacles…We’ll be somber Monday morning, but this league doesn’t wait for anybody.” – 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan after losing Trey Lance to a season-ending injury

“Parsons is the kind of player who affects the game the way Lawrence Taylor once did.” – King on Cowboys LB  Micah Parsons

STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 19, 2022 – Peter King recaps NFL Week 2 and speaks with Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence after their Week 2 victories in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses Trey Lance’s season-ending injury, the Cardinals’ comeback win over the Raiders, the emergence of Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, and more.

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

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel to King on the Dolphins’ resiliency in their comeback win over the Ravens: “Typically in the NFL, you have to learn hard lessons the bad way. I was proud they were able to learn a lesson of mental fortitude in a game where it got out of hand super quickly.”

King on Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa silencing his critics: “After the first two weeks of this season, after going to 4-0 against New England and strafing Baltimore with a six-touchdown game, maybe the world (and Tua himself) will finally believe the quarterback of the future in Miami is the quarterback of the present.”

McDaniel to King on what he said to Tagovailoa after the game: “The weight should be lifted off your shoulders, man. All you did was do exactly what we talked about. Hopefully at least for a week you can shut up all the people that you’re trying not to listen to.”

McDaniel to King on the play that resulted in Tagovailoa’s 48-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill in the fourth quarter: “Tua knew he liked the opportunity there. He goes, ‘Yeah, third-and-12, third-and-long, I really like the F-it play.’”

McDaniel on the play call: “We had a play ready, in case things weren’t going right, or in case there were various frustrations. We installed that play with the expletives, that the quarterbacks knew as the ‘F— it’ play. Tua loved the play. If we really needed to make something happen, that was the play we’d call.”

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan to King on losing QB Trey Lance to a season-ending injury: “I mean, you just deal with it. You’ve got to. Our team really loves Trey. But these guys, they plan on winning games regardless of the obstacles…We’ll be somber Monday morning, but this league doesn’t wait for anybody.”

Shanahan to King on having both Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo: “It’s a long time since this franchise had a quarterback situation like this one, with two guys we know can win — probably back to Joe Montana and Steve Young. I’m not comparing these guys to Joe and Steve, but I’m talking about going into games now knowing we’ve still got a great chance.”

King on Garoppolo: “Garoppolo’s a metronome: You know exactly what you’re getting with him, and if the Niners can stay relatively healthy on defense, they should be able to be strong playoff contenders again — even after the crushing news of Sunday.”

King on Lance’s future: “He’ll enter 2023 mostly the same way he entered 2022: with tremendous uncertainty…(Kyle) Shanahan will profess confidence in him, and it’s likely he’ll believe it. But Lance will still be a major question mark, and as for who will backstop him then…that’s too far in the future to matter this morning.”

WEEK 2

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence to King on his performance in Jacksonville’s win over the Colts: “Our plan was to take what the defense gave us…I think that’s just a good lesson in general for us moving forward…make the play that’s there. That’s the next step I’ve been trying to take is just being really smart with the ball, knowing where my outlets are.”

Lawrence to King on new head coach Doug Pederson: “I think we’re really similar personality-wise. I’ve enjoyed getting to know him and then on the football field and he’s a really smart coach.”

King on the Broncos’ coaching decisions: “That is one messed-up sideline, and the Broncos are lucky to be 1-1.”

King on the Colts’ loss to the Jaguars: “Should we really be surprised that Matt Ryan and the Colts still can’t win in Jacksonville? I don’t think so.”

KING’S WEEK 2 AWARDS

Offensive Players of the Week: Tua Tagovailoa, Miami, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit, Kyler Murray, Arizona, & Joe Flacco, New York Jets.

King on Tagovailoa: “In a performance that would make Dan Marino jealous…He completed 72 percent of his throws for 469 yards, six TDs and two picks in one of the greatest performances in the history of a proud franchise.”

King on Murray’s two-point conversion run in the fourth quarter: “Murray scrambled/ran/survived for 20.87 seconds on a two-point conversion run in the fourth quarter to keep the Cardinals in the game and trailing 23-15. That’s one of the most amazing plays I’ve ever seen a quarterback make.”

Defensive Players of the Week: Jamel Dean, Tampa Bay, Jaylen Watson, Kansas City, Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit, & Micah Parsons, Dallas.

King on Dean: “His two fourth-quarter interceptions won the game for Tampa Bay…On a day when the Tampa offense sputtered for the second straight week, the defense, and Dean, picked the Bucs up.”

King on Parsons: “Two sacks, five hits of Joe Burrow, and a commanding presence in a game the Dak Prescott-less Cowboys desperately needed, and got. Parsons is the kind of player who affects the game the way Lawrence Taylor once did.”

Coach of the Week: Mike McDaniel, Miami.

King on McDaniel: “He has built in short order a rapport with the quarterback and the team that allows them to think it’s not over when they’re down by three touchdowns with 12 minutes to go. And it wasn’t.”

Special Teams Players of the Week: Devin Duvernay, Baltimore.

King on Duvernay: “His 103-yard kickoff return for touchdown on the first play of the Dolphins-Ravens game was remarkable for its speed and for the hopelessness of the Miami defenders…Not bad for Duvernay, the 92nd pick in the 2020 draft who has far outplayed his draft slot.”

Goats of the Week: Gunner Olszewski, Pittsburgh, Cade York, Cleveland, & the Colts.

King on the Colts: “They just aren’t that good. Of all the games of the (Chris) Ballard-(Frank) Reich Era, Sunday’s 24-0 loss at Jacksonville is the most embarrassing.”

NEWS & NOTES

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes to King on his heart rate during games: “When you’re playing, you’re focused. You’re not really worried about what’s going on outside. You’re trying to do your job and win the football game. For me, you go back to your routine. I think that’s why you saw my heart rate kinda lower when I played than when I was watching, when I didn’t have control of the game watching from the sidelines. There was nothing I could do.”

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown to King on how falling to the fourth round in the 2021 NFL Draft motivates him: “It was a day I’ll never forget. But it changed who I am, the way I work, the way I see things. When I get tired in a workout, I won’t quit — I’ll do extra. When I think about that day, that flips the switch for me, and it makes me work harder and longer.”

King on the Steelers’ QB problems: “I think there will be a chorus of ‘it’s way too early for that,’ and I understand that sentiment. But is Kenny Pickett warming up in the bullpen yet? The (Mitchell) Trubisky-led offense has put up 30 points in nine offensive quarters…(that) won’t cut it long-term.”

Chargers RB Austin Ekeler to King on the physical toll of playing in the NFL: “What I’ve found is the adrenaline makes you not feel any pain in a place like that…But it’s normal soreness for this game. A normal person might be saying, ‘Whoa, this hurts.’ But I’m a football player. I actually feel pretty good.”

King on the NFL’s inconsistent stance with instant replay: “I still favor replay, used correctly, because we don’t want games decided on egregiously incorrect calls. The league needs to re-familiarize itself with the definition of clear, obvious and indisputable, before it’s too late and owners and coaches get fed up with a system that all too often is capricious.”

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 (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
    • ProFootballTalk.com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
    • NBC Sports EDGE’s Rotoworld Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
    • The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe

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.

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