“I believe the Ravens will win the division.” – Rodney Harrison on AFC North
“Bobby Wagner has brought the swagger back to that Seattle defense.” – Tony Dungy
“They have the weaponry to beat Indianapolis…but they’ve got a mental block. None of those guys have ever won up there.” – Dungy on Texans at Colts next week
“There’s a chance we’re going to see Robert Griffin III back under center sooner rather than later.” – Mike Florio
STAMFORD, Conn. – December 7, 2014 – Following are highlights from NBC’s Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports. Bob Costas opened the show live from inside Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif., to preview Patriots-Chargers. Costas was joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth, sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, NBC NFL analyst Hines Ward, and NBC Sports’ Josh Elliott.
Dan Patrick co-hosted Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1. He was joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy; two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com, and NFL Insider Peter King. Kathryn Tappen reported from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pa., on the Seahawks-Eagles game.
In addition, Costas interviewed Patriots DT Vince Wilfork, and Elliott spoke with Chargers QB Philip Rivers.
Following are highlights from Football Night in America:
ON AFC NORTH
Dungy: “Cincinnati had a chance to get some distance and take control, but Pittsburgh, as inconsistent as they’ve been playing, they won the game today. And now, if they win out, they win the North.”
Harrison: “I believe the Ravens will win the division. They play against Jacksonville, Houston, and Cleveland. I don’t trust the Bengals. I see them each and every week and I’m always shaking my head. I just can’t believe they continue to win football games.”
Ward on Steelers: “Today was a must-win for the Steelers. Big Ben continues to show to everyone that he is still an elite quarterback…Offensively, I love what they’re doing…Running back Le’Veon Bell is a superstar. He can do so many different things. But I think in order for them to make a serious push at the playoffs, they have to play better in the secondary because they got torched today.”
Collinsworth on Bengals: “I still have to remind everyone, and myself, that the Bengals are still in first place in that division…(laughing about how their tie may help their playoff chances) We’re hanging on every thread at this moment right now. We love ties in Cincy.”
Patrick on Ravens: “You don’t have Haloti Ngata for the rest of the regular season and Elvis Dumervil stepped up.”
Harrison on Ravens: “You’re talking about somebody that’s overshadowed -- Elvis Dumervil. He’s been overshadowed because of all the attention we pay to J.J. Watt.”
ON SEAHAWKS
Dungy: “Bobby Wagner has brought the swagger back to that Seattle defense.”
Harrison: “You talk about Bobby Wagner and Richard Sherman, but Byron Maxwell, he’s been playing excellent cornerback.”
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/seahawks-put-eagles-tempo-offense-pause
ON TEXANS
Dungy on upcoming game at Indianapolis: “They have the weaponry to beat Indianapolis. They’ve got a great pass rush. They’ve got a good running game. That’s how you beat Indy…but they’ve got a mental block. None of those guys have ever won up there.”
Harrison: “It seems like every week I’m watching the same tape of J.J. Watt. It’s unbelievable. Indy has a banged up offensive line. J.J. Watt should have a big game.”
ON BRONCOS
Patrick: “What a difference-maker C.J. Anderson has been.”
ON CARDINALS
Dungy: “I thought defensive coordinator Todd Bowles called a great game. He put the pressure on Alex Smith, lowered the box and made Alex Smith (try to) win it…Arizona’s defense came up big all day.”
Harrison on Todd Bowles: “He wasn’t afraid of Alex Smith.”
ON CHIEFS
Harrison: “My biggest concern with Kansas City going into this game, and to the entire season, is their inability to throw the ball down the field. You can’t just rely on Jamaal Charles.”
ON REDSKINS
Florio: “Washington quarterback Colt McCoy has that neck strain, but even if he’s healthy, there’s a chance we’re going to see Robert Griffin III back under center sooner rather than later as the starting quarterback. There’s been so much talk out of Washington that coach Jay Gruden is done with Griffin, but the truth is the organization still believes in Griffin, that they can get him back in the right mindset, and that, in the off-season with the draft picks back and with salary cap space, they can make the team better around him.”
King on Jay Gruden: “The Washington Post reported this weekend that Jay Gruden, the coach of Washington, could be quote ‘one-and-done,’ meaning out after his first season as a head coach. After the game, NBC Washington reported that Bruce Allen, general manager of the team, has told Gruden, ‘You will not be one and done. You’ll be back next year.’”
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/could-jay-gruden-be-one-and-done-washington
ON 49ERS
Dungy on if 49ers are done: “Yes. I thought they were after (the Thanksgiving night game).”
Harrison: “Colin Kaepernick, no confidence. And they miss those veteran linebackers.”
ON VIKINGS
Patrick: “If you add Adrian Peterson, are you looking at a playoff team here in Minnesota?”
Dungy: “Possibly. They rode Adrian Peterson to the playoffs a couple of years ago and Teddy Bridgewater’s giving them better quarterbacking than they had then.”
Harrison: “They have the potential of being a playoff team.”
ON PANTHERS
Patrick: “You can’t stop Fozzy Whittaker.”
ON SAINTS
Harrison: “I still have the Saints winning the division…I trust Drew Brees in the big moment.”
Patrick: “As long as they’re not playing at home, they’ve got a chance to win.”
ON PATRIOTS
Collinsworth: “The margin of error for New England is now gone...If the Chargers don’t get them, I think the Patriots will run the table.”
ON CHARGERS
Ward on Philip Rivers: “That’s why it’s hard to put him in that elite category, because he hasn’t had a lot of success in the big games. He’s going to put up a lot of big numbers, but often you find him making the crucial mistake that costs this team. But I love his co*ckiness and his will to compete.”
ON MOVING TO LOS ANGELES
Florio: “Do not overlook the San Diego Chargers. There’s thinking in League circles that because the Chargers have been trying for so long to get a new stadium in San Diego they’re in a better position to satisfy the relocation policy than the other two teams (Oakland and St. Louis). Also, the owners would be inclined to allow a team to move just a fairly short distance, more inclined to do that than have a team move across the country. As for the Chargers, publicly they’re saying nothing, but privately they’re keeping all options open.”
Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Wilfork, and Elliott’s interview with Rivers.
VINCE WILFORK WITH BOB COSTAS
On bandwagon fans: “We’ve been great, we’ve sucked, we were this, and we were that. The only thing we have is our fans and what we have in that locker room. When we were down, we were kicked a lot. Now we’re up, all of the sudden it’s the Patriots this, the Patriots that. I told our guys, ‘We don’t have time for that.’ The only thing we’re concentrating on is what we have in here.”
On whether he wishes he had more chances to get in the end zone: “Early in my career, I used to talk about it a lot. But now, it is what it is. If it happens, I’ll be prepared for it. I play catch a lot, so they know the ability that I have, and it’s possible I could do it. We just have so many great options on offense that they don’t need me over there.”
On coach Bill Belichick: “He’s a great person. A lot of people don’t understand that because they just see him on Sundays or in the media. But, we have a chance to be around him every day. He’ll come into the locker room and talk with us; in the weight room he’ll come talk and joke. I was just talking with him the other day about my son’s state football game…when I first came up here, [my son] was 6, and now he’s 17. Just being around him every day you get the coach Bill Belichick, and you get the person Bill Belichick, where you can step into his office and talk about anything.”
On the importance of tonight’s game: “Every game is a big game. [Tonight] it happens to be the Chargers - a great football team led by a great quarterback. I love playing against [Philip Rivers] because he is so competitive, he is so fiery. You can just tell how he just gets his guys going. I like to see that in a player, especially coming from a quarterback. You’ll hit him, and he’ll get up and laugh at you and say, ‘That’s all you have?’ It’s an enjoyment to play against somebody like that, who has the passion he has for the game. Philip Rivers got those guys rolling, but we know what we have to do. We have to walk away with a W. It’s going to be tough.”
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/vince-wilfork-its-about-what-you-have-locker-room
PHILIP RIVERS WITH JOSH ELLIOTT
On his game-winning touchdown pass with 38 seconds remaining against Baltimore last week: “It’s either going to end in a touchdown to win or an interception to lose…it was big. All that comes with winning that game. Now it gets no easier for us.”
On hard late-season schedule: “They’re all hard in this league. You see it every week, anybody can beat anybody. The good news for us in the last four [games], we don’t have to play them all in the same day. They give us a break between each of them, which is good.”
On his respect for Tom Brady: “Growing up, I wasn’t as much a fan of the NFL as I was a fan of quarterbacks. Marino, Favre, Elway, Aikman, Montana - all of those guys’ posters were on my wall as a kid. To think, ‘Hey, shoot, you’re getting to play a Tom Brady-led Patriots team.’ That really is special, to get him on Sunday night at our place. If you would have told us Week 1 that this was what it’s going to be, we would have said ‘deal.’”
On his attitude every Sunday: “It’s just passion. My dad is a football coach, and there are times when I see some of his mannerisms, his passion, the way he coached…I’m doing the exact same thing. I hate that sometimes it’s viewed the wrong way, but it’s just like, golly, I hope that when it’s all said and done they’ll be like, ‘That guy loves to play football.’”
–FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA–
