Let’s finish our Sunday NFL pregame show quotage with NBC’s Football Night in America. Lots of things said on this show as you can plainly see below.
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” NOTES & QUOTES – WEEK 12
“If they play like this, they won’t win another game.” – Tony Dungy on the Steelers
“This team should be taken seriously.” – Rodney Harrison on the Bengals
“The Colts are going to the playoffs.” – Dungy
“Your season is on the line. Somebody needs to make a tackle.” – Harrison on fourth-and-29 play at the end of Ravens-ChargersNEW YORK – November 25, 2012 – Following are highlights for Football Night in America. Bob Costas opened the show live from inside MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where the Giants are hosting the Green Bay Packers. Costas was joined on-site by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst), and Hines Ward, the former Steelers wide receiver and Super Bowl MVP.
Dan Patrick co-hosted the program from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and was joined by Football Night in America analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, and NFL insiders Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. Alex Flanagan reported from the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, La., on the 49ers-Saints game.
Following are highlights from Football Night in America:
ON STEELERS
Michaels on Ben Roethlisberger: “I don’t think there’s anybody as important to his team as Ben is to his right now in the National Football League.”
Collinsworth on Steelers-Browns: “It was bizarre watching that game. I think every running back on the roster had a fumble in the game. Just very un-Steelers-like football right now. A little bit of panic, who knows? It just doesn’t look good.”Harrison: “I’m not saying it’s all on Charlie Batch, but he has to take the majority of the blame. I know he’s the third-string quarterback, but he’s a 15-year veteran. When he comes in and gets that opportunity, he has to come in and perform.”
Dungy: “I kind of disagree with that, because, to me, the Steelers formula is: run the ball, play defense. You know your backup quarterback is not going to be as good as Roethlisberger, but if every back you have fumbles the ball, every lineman you have holds, and your receivers drop every pass…”
Harrison: “They were packing the pocket with eight or nine guys because they have no threat or no fear that he’s going to make them pay.”
Dungy: “They have to run the ball and play defense even when Ben Roethlisberger gets back. If they play like this, they won’t win another game.”
Dungy: “The Pittsburgh Steelers are in trouble. Not only are they down to their third quarterback, they’re playing bad football—interceptions, fumbles, and penalties in bunches.”ON 49ERS
Patrick on Colin Kaepernick’s performance: “Let the controversy begin.”
Harrison: “It’s over.”Kaepernick to Alex Flanagan on if he expects to be the team’s starter: “That will be coach’s decision. We’ll see what happens.”
Dungy on Kaepernick’s ability to run: “This is what he brings that Alex Smith doesn’t. He throws the ball well from the pocket, but this dimension of the quarterback running is really going to make San Francisco tough.”
Patrick to Dungy: “I’m going to make you Jim Harbaugh. You have a quarterback controversy?”
Dungy: “I don’t. I’m playing Colin Kaepernick.”
Harrison: “San Francisco has found their starting quarterback, and they’re the most physical team in the league.”ON saints
Dungy: “They blew a big opportunity today.”
ON BRONCOS
Dungy on Peyton Manning: “For some reason, he doesn’t have his ‘A’ game against (Chiefs head coach) Romeo Crennel…One thing the Broncos are learning, even when he’s off, even when he’s confused a little bit early, you don’t give up on Peyton. You don’t take the ball out of his hands. He’s going to make the plays you need to win it. When they needed the big throws, he made them.”
ON COLTS
Dungy on Andrew Luck: “Just like Peyton (Manning), when he’s a little bit off, and a little bit confused early, it doesn’t bother him. That’s what I love about this young man. When they need the big throws, he still wants the ball in his hands; he wants to make the play… He is the reason they are in playoff contention.”
Dungy: “The Colts are going to the playoffs. I said it last week. They’re definitely going. Andrew Luck is going to be the Rookie of the Year.”
ON FALCONS
Collinsworth: “When Julio Jones plays, that’s a different football team. He’s the closest thing to Calvin Johnson right now in the league — big, strong, fast, physical. Even on a bad ankle he was too much for them today.”
ON BENGALS
Harrison: “The Bengals are really good. Now they’re playing like a complete team because they’re running the football…This team should be taken seriously.”
ON BEARS
Patrick: “Cutler coming back, a whole different aura about that offense.”
Harrison: “Cutler gives this offense a different dimension because he can do so many different things.”ON SEAHAWKS
Patrick: “They’re very good at home, very bad on the road.”
Dungy on controversial roughing-the-passer call: “This is running into the quarterback, not roughing the quarterback…He (Seahawks S Earl Thomas) was trying to avoid it. He didn’t even hit him (Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill) hard, barely touched him.”NOTE: An interception thrown by Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill was negated by a roughing the passer call against Seahawks S Earl Thomas. The Dolphins scored a touchdown on the next play.
ON CHARGERS
Patrick on today’s loss: “For San Diego, at 4-7, we say goodbye.”
Dungy: “And maybe thankfully goodbye. That was awful.”Harrison on Ravens RB Ray Rice converting on fourth-and-29 play: “Your season is on the line. Somebody needs to make a tackle.”
ON COACHING CHANGES
Florio: “As we get closer to the end of the regular season, I spoke to a general manager this week who said, look for unprecedented amount of change with coaches, and also general managers and starting quarterbacks, once the 2012 season ends.”
King: “Add these three to your list in the coming months: look for very impatient ownership both in Buffalo and Carolina to have short leashes on Chan Gailey with the Bills, Ron Rivera with the Carolina Panthers; and Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona may not be safe. He has not gotten that quarterback position straightened out.”Click here for a video: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/49959478#49959478
There you have it.
