Let’s post the notes and quotes from CBS’ Dynamic Duo of NFL pregame programs, That Other Pregame Show on CBS Sports Network and the venerable NFL Today on the CBS mothership.
NEWS, NOTES & QUOTES FROM CBS SPORTS’ “THE NFL TODAY” WITH JAMES BROWN, DAN MARINO, SHANNON SHARPE, BILL COWHER AND BOOMER ESIASON
AND
“THAT OTHER PREGAME SHOW” WITH ADAM SCHEIN, AMY TRASK, BART SCOTT AND BRANDON TIERNEY FOR WEEK 5 ON OCTOBER 6
JIM ROME GIVES HIS TAKE AT “QUARTER POLE” OF NFL SEASON
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JIM ROME: If Peyton wins it all this year it’s an amazing story. But if Brady wins it all this year, I go to Joe Montana and rip his Greatest of All-Time status and give it right to Brady.
QUICK HITS
(On Josh Freeman)
BILL COWHER: When you pull a player and bench him, you have to understand he’s going to be upset. He’s going to maybe not react properly. But you don’t make it adversarial. In making these decisions, players don’t have to like you, but they have to respect you. The concern I have is that this became more of Greg Schiano versus Josh Freeman. The thing is what kind of precedent do you set? If you’re a malcontent, I’ll just trade you. It’s a very bad precedent to set.
DAN MARINO: It seems like it’s personal for Greg Schiano. Because Josh Freeman, even though he’s had problems this year, he’s still an asset to that team. I don’t think they should have cut him. You always want to keep your options open as a franchise and head coach. You never know what’s going to happen. There were two quarterbacks hurt on Thursday night.
BOOMER ESIASON: Remember Keyshawn Johnson once did this with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They put him on some list where they wouldn’t let him play and they wouldn’t release him. If I’m Josh Freeman, part of me says this is a good thing for me. I got my full $26 million through my contract. I’m going to get every single dollar, and now I’ll pick and choose the team that may be a better fit for me as opposed to having them trade me to somebody that I wouldn’t want to go to. So it’s not all bad in the world of Josh Freeman. He gets to do another fresh start, and maybe he gets to go to a team like Minnesota who has a legitimate running back, legitimate players, legitimate coaching staff that he can be a good part of.
SHANNON SHARPE: Players don’t have to like a coach, but they must respect him in order to play hard for him. These players won’t play hard for Greg Schiano. It is an absolute must that he has to go. What has happened, it’s okay to bench a player. He’s not playing well, players will respond to that. I’ve gone through quarterback changes. But when you start leaking personal information that only you and the player knows, they know they can’t trust you. When they can’t trust you, they won’t play for you.
JAMES BROWN: I think it’s gotten very personal to say the least. It should have never gotten to that. There is enough blame to go around on both sides of the fence. However, to the degree that you leak information that is to be confidential especially violating HIPAA Rules, confidentiality as it relates to medical and health information, that is despicable, disrespectful and selfish and only creates a toxic environment down there with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. I hope certainly he, whoever leaked that, grows up.
(On Josh Freeman)
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BART SCOTT: When you bring a college coach into the NFL ranks where you’re dealing with real men, you can’t go in and act like it’s a dictatorship like in college. I’m a grown man. I pay my bills. What college coaches don’t realize is that your job and my job are linked together. First they fire the player, then they fire the coordinator, then they fire the coach. They just fired the player. They will probably lose the coordinator after this year. Dare we say Greg Schiano is on the hot seat?
(On Joe Flacco)
AMY TRASK: One tries hard to separate the issue of contract from performance. But it is tough looking at (Joe) Flacco and those five turnovers last week… tough to separate that from the contract he just received after his Super Bowl performance.
(THE NFL TODAY’s SHANNON SHARPE on why he thinks New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham is best Tight End in NFL)
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We’ll move to Fox NFL Sunday quotage next.
