Tonight on Football Night in America, Bob Costas and Tony Dungy will conduct interviews in advance of the Indianapolis-New Orleans game. This would have been a great matchup had Colts QB Peyton Manning not been hurt before the season, but instead, it becomes a pedestrian game. Here are the partial transcripts of tonight’s interviews that will be seen on tonight’s NBC pregame show.
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” PREVIEW – WEEK 7
BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWS SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON AND TONY DUNGY INTERVIEWS COLTS WR REGGIE WAYNE AND TE DALLAS CLARK
“Clearly the training room now has changed because the principal is in there 24/7. It’s kind of like your parents showing up at prom.” – Payton to Costas on his injury rehab
“This is definitely a unique year for everybody. Kind of caught everybody by surprise a little bit.” – Wayne to Dungy on playing without Peyton ManningNEW YORK – October 23, 2011 – Bob Costas interviewed Saints head coach Sean Payton and Tony Dungy interviewed Colts WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark (together) for tonight’s Week 7 edition of Football Night in America, which will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to Week 7’s afternoon games.
Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET with Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. In addition to his interviews, Costas is joined on site by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst) for reaction to the afternoon games.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Alex Flanagan will report from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on the Rams-Cowboys game.
Football Night in America is averaging 9.2 million viewers and a household rating of 5.6/9 (7:30-8:15 p.m. ET) through the first six weeks, both up 14 percent from last year’s first six weeks.
INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Saints head coach Sean Payton and Dungy’s interview with Colts WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark.
SEAN PAYTON WITH BOB COSTAS
PAYTON ON HIS INJURY: “You do gain an appreciation for the players in our league who routinely go through injuries and rehab and the process and get back out on the field. I don’t know that the training room is any place to have fun, and clearly the training room now has changed because the principal is in there 24/7. It’s kind of like your parents showing up at prom.”
COSTAS: “Lets talk about how it’s going to work on Sunday night. You’re upstairs. How much input can you have as the game is playing out?”
PAYTON: “I think a lot. The only thing that is changing for our team is instead of me pushing a button and giving Drew Brees a play, it will go through (offensive coordinator) Pete Carmichael and it might be as simple as, ‘green light, slot right, 35 bob alert kill 52 tight and right.’COSTAS: “That’s very simple.”
REGGIE WAYNE AND DALLAS CLARK WITH TONY DUNGY
DUNGY: “I never thought I would coach a game without Peyton (Manning) being the quarterback. Did you ever think you would play a game without Peyton Manning being your quarterback?”
WAYNE: “Not at all. This is definitely a unique year for everybody. Kind of caught everybody by surprise a little bit.”DUNGY (to Wayne): “You were pretty vocal that you thought Curtis Painter would give you guys the best opportunity. Why?”
WAYNE: “I’m a loyal guy. I feel like everybody in that locker room, we’re brothers. Nothing against Kerry Collins, we’ve got the same agent; I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. I just felt like we’ve had years with Curtis, and that was kind of our motto since I’ve been here, ‘Next guy up.’ We went away from that a little bit and that kind of touched me.”
CLARK: “He (Wayne) was just actually man enough to say out loud what we were all thinking. We are able to do more adjustments on the run. Instead of using this much with Kerry we can use that much with Curtis.”DUNGY: “When you guys came in as young receivers Peyton was pretty tough on you, and you were expected to catch up to the offense. How have you guys been with Curtis?”
CLARK: “I see him as a delicate flower. I just know he’s got a lot of stuff on his plate.”DUNGY: “You haven’t been as tough on him as Peyton was on you?”
CLARK: “Lord no! I don’t know if that’s possible.”
That’s all.
