NBC’s Football Night in America Previews Tonight’s Interviews

Coming on NBC’s Football Night in America, host Bob Costas will sit down with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb to talk to him about what he’s gone through this season being named as the starter at the beginning of the season, then being pulled in favor of Michael Vick, then back to being the starter again when Vick got hurt.

Bob also talks with San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary about dealing with an 0-4 start.

Here’s the press release.

“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” PREVIEW – WEEK 5

BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWS MIKE SINGLETARY & KEVIN KOLB

“If I thought any differently then I shouldn’t be sitting in this seat.” – Mike Singletary to Bob Costas on the 49ers playoff chances

“You have to build up walls for yourself.” – Kevin Kolb to Bob Costas on the scrutiny of playing in Philadelphia

NEW YORK – October 10, 2010 – Bob Costas interviewed San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb for tonight’s Week 5 edition of “Football Night in America,” which will also include highlights, analysis and reaction to Week 5’s afternoon games.

“Football Night” airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET with Costas, who won the outstanding studio host Emmy last year, hosting the program live from inside the stadium. In addition to his interviews, he is joined on site by SNF commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst) for reaction to the afternoon games.

Dan Patrick co-hosts “Football Night” from NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach and Emmy-nominated Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. Alex Flanagan will report from Cowboys Stadium on the Titans-Cowboys game.

VIEWERSHIP: “Football Night” (7:30-8:15 pm) is averaging 8.6 million viewers through its first four weeks, its most ever for that time frame and up one percent vs. 2009’s 8.5 million viewers.

INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interviews with Singletary and Kolb.

MIKE SINGLETARY

On starting 0-4 and still with a chance to make the playoffs: “If I thought any differently then I shouldn’t be sitting in this seat. The thing that we are going to do is stop shooting ourselves in the foot. And once we stop shooting ourselves in the foot, we’re going to get where we need to go.”

Costas: What would you say your greatest strength is as a head coach?

Singletary: “My greatest strength as a head coach is the ability to surround myself with people smarter than me – that’s my greatest strength – and not having an ego about it.”

Costas: What would you say is the one area where you most need to improve?

Singletary: “Making sure that I don’t impose what I have done as a professional onto my players. The level of detail, the level of consistency that to me is something that from time to time I have to have a coach say, ‘Hey Mike, you know what, he’s not you now.’ Or ‘I’m not you.’ So as long as we can remember that, we’re good.”

On being known as such a physically intense player: “One of the things that I learned very early on from my mom growing up in the church she always said, ‘Wherever you are, make sure that you act accordingly.’ So as I was growing up, if I was on the football field, every bit of effort and fight and everything else that goes into being a football player, that’s what I’m going to do. If I’m at a business meeting, I’m going to handle myself accordingly. If I’m at home, I’m going to be dad. I think it’s just a matter of not allowing football to define me and by making sure that first and foremost – I represent my family.”

KEVIN KOLB

On QB controversy: “I’m not trying to compare numbers. I’m not trying to compare starts. I’m just trying to go win the game and take care of it from a team standpoint. I think the rest of it will take care of itself.”

On concussion: “I’ve never had one before so I can’t really speak on it from experience. The side effects that went along with it are astonishing.”

On scrutiny in Philadelphia: “One thing you realize is that, in this city, you have to find a way to block it all out. You have to build up walls for yourself. If you get into analyzing everything that everybody is saying and caring what everybody is saying, it’s just going to tear you down. Not only myself, but my family has done the same thing. I think Mike has done the same thing and that’s the only way you can go play your game. That’s what you have to do. When the whistles blow, you have to be able to forget it all and then go play.”

And that will do it.