“It’s like, We love you, and we’ll always love you, but we gotta go. See you after the game. It’s kinda the beautifulness and craziness of the sport, what happened today.” – 49ers TE George Kittle to Peter King on learning about Jimmy Garoppolo’s season-ending injury mid-game
“His throw to (Tee) Higgins [to seal the Bengals’ win against the Chiefs] and his clinical explanation for it illustrate why he and (Patrick) Mahomes might be the two quarterbacks with the best clutch play late in games right now.” – King on Bengals QB Joe Burrow
“Anarumo interviewed for the Giants vacancy last season, and he’s rumored to be a head-coach candidate again this year. Neutralizing (Travis) Kelce and helping the Bengals keep pace with the Ravens in the North can’t hurt his chances for a big job.” – King on Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo
“The Bills have become to New England what the Patriots were to Buffalo for two decades…The talent gap between the depth of the Brandon Beane Bills and the Bill Belichick Patriots is big.” – King on the disparity between the Bills and Patriots
STAMFORD, Conn. – Dec. 5, 2022 – Peter King speaks with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, quarterback Brock Purdy, and tight end George Kittle in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also recaps Week 13 of the NFL season, discusses the Bengals’ win over the Chiefs, Joe Burrow’s MVP candidacy, the Bills’ dominant win over the Patriots, and more.
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The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
49ERS
49ers TE George Kittle to Peter King on learning about QB Jimmy Garoppolo’s season-ending injury mid-game: “Football is weird. It’s a brutal, unforgiving sport. Saw Jimmy (Garoppolo) at halftime and he told me. That’s awful for your quarterback and your three-time captain. But you know, it’s kind of, ‘Well, that sucks, but we got a game to play.’ It’s like, We love you, and we’ll always love you, but we gotta go. See you after the game. It’s kinda the beautifulness and craziness of the sport, what happened today.”
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan to King on rookie QB Brock Purdy: “What impressed me about Brock in camp is he was always willing to let it rip. He’s decisive. He started for years [at Iowa State] at a high level. You gotta have some balls to play quarterback in this league, and he does. We think we’ll have a chance with him.”
Purdy to King on taking over as the 49ers’ starting QB: “The challenge for me is like, man, can I step up in that position and continue to feed those guys? Get them the ball. Make the right checks in the run game. Allow the defense to play great and play with them. That’s the challenge for me and that’s how I look at it and I’m excited for it.”
Purdy to King on playing against Tom Brady next week: “Pretty cool. The GOAT. He’s been playing football longer than I’ve been alive.”
Shanahan to King on Purdy’s play of the game, a 19-yard pass to Kittle on third-and-10 right before halftime: “They were coming after Brock and doing a good job of taking our quick throws away. This was a huge job of Brock signaling something to change the route [for Kittle].”
King: “This means something because it shows Purdy recognized the defense, changed the ball, was willing to take a big hit, and he was skilled enough to complete a downfield pass with everything going on.”
Purdy to King on throwing a touchdown pass to RB Christian McCaffrey: “After the touchdown, Christian came to me and said, ‘Thanks for believing in me and trusting me to make the play.’ That’s pretty wild. I mean, saying that to me. I grew up watching him. Now, I’m on his team, throwing him a touchdown pass. Wild.”
WEEK 13
King on the Bengals’ excellent play under pressure: “I attribute much of this to (Joe) Burrow, who has a cool gene, the way great ones in the clutch have had…His throw to (Tee) Higgins [to seal the Bengals’ win against the Chiefs] and his clinical explanation for it illustrate why he and (Patrick) Mahomes might be the two quarterbacks with the best clutch play late in games right now.”
King on the Bengals’ improved offensive line: “Shredded last year in the playoffs and early this year while the group was getting experience together, the five men up front are giving Burrow championship protection.”
King on Browns QB Deshaun Watson’s first NFL game in 700 days: “He was bad. He threw multiple balls into the ground in front of receivers. He threw an interception to Texans safety Jalen Pitre that looked like Pitre was the intended receiver. He was 12 of 22 for 131, with no TDs and one pick for a poor 53.4 rating.”
King on the Titans: “I think the Titans might just be in a slump, but man, averaging 18 points isn’t going to get much done in the post-season.”
KING’S MVP WATCH – WEEK 13
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City, 2. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia, 3. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati, 4. Josh Allen, Buffalo, 5. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami
King on Burrow: “Joe Burrow invades the top five after torching rival Pittsburgh, then Tennessee, then Kansas City.”
KING’S WEEK 13 AWARDS
Offensive Players of the Week: Joe Burrow, Cincinnati, & A.J. Brown, Philadelphia
King on Burrow: “What a show of cool-under-pressure excellence by Burrow. He was unshakeable, hitting 25 of 31 for 286 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.”
King on Brown: “This was the game Brown had circled on his mental calendar - the Titans coming to Philadelphia seven months after the Titans traded Brown to Philadelphia - and the drama did not disappoint. Brown’s 40-yard TD pass from good friend Jalen Hurts in the second quarter put the Eagles ahead for good, 14-7, and Brown’s well-covered 29-yard TD catch in the third quarter gave the Eagles all the insurance they’d need.”
Defensive Players of the Week: Bobby Wagner, Los Angeles Rams, Nick Bosa, San Francisco, Chandler Jones, Las Vegas, & Jalen Pitre, Houston
King on Bosa’s performance in the 49ers’ win over the Dolphins: “The definition of a valuable player is one who’s at his best when moments are the biggest…When Bosa is in form, the Niners can win games with their D. They did Sunday.”
King on Pitre: “The Texans have a lot of holes to fill for 2023, but strong safety isn’t one of them.”
Coach of the Week: Lou Anarumo, defensive coordinator, Cincinnati
King on Anarumo: “Anarumo interviewed for the Giants vacancy last season, and he’s rumored to be a head-coach candidate again this year. Neutralizing (Travis) Kelce and helping the Bengals keep pace with the Ravens in the North can’t hurt his chances for a big job.”
Special Teams Players of the Week: Donovan Peoples-Jones, Cleveland, & Greg Zuerlein, New York Jets
Goat of the Week: Matt Patricia, assistant coach, New England
King on Patricia’s play-calling in the Patriots’ loss to the Bills: “The Buffalo game was a regression of major proportions. Patricia needed to build on the Minnesota game and did not.”
NEWS & NOTES
King on Bill Belichick: “I think I’ve started to wonder - and I emphasize started - whether Bill Belichick, who needs 21 wins to break Don Shula’s all-time record for coaching victories, will get them in New England.”
King on the disparity between the Bills and Patriots: “The Bills have become to New England what the Patriots were to Buffalo for two decades. Not to put Josh Allen on a Tom Brady trajectory, but just in terms of football, the gap between Allen and (Mac) Jones is worrisome for New England, and the talent gap between the depth of the Brandon Beane Bills and the Bill Belichick Patriots is big.”
King on Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s reaction to this season: “I think Robert Kraft is not in this to rebuild deliberately. He has to be looking at the dung-show on the Patriots’ offensive staff and wondering why Belichick left the offense so wanting this year.”
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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