The NFL previews for Week 10 continue with the NFL on Fox’s comments about this week’s action.
FOX SPORTS NOTES, QUOTES & ANECDOTES
Aikman Weighs In on Cowboys, Jason Garrett and Jerry JonesStrahan: Clay Matthews Jr. Has Shot To Win MVPLONG-TIME NFC RIVALS FACEOFF – It’s an NFL on FOX doubleheader on Sunday Nov. 14 and rivalries in the NFC take centerstage. Following their stirring comeback victory over the Cardinals last week, Brett Favre and the Vikings enter an NFC North grudge match with Jay Cutler and the Bears at 1:00 PM ET. Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa call the action from Chicago’s Soldier Field. Despite Sunday’s loss, Josh Freeman and the Bucs remain in prime position in the NFC South as they take on the Carolina Panthers. The first half of Sunday’s doubleheader closes out with the Lions traveling to Buffalo to take on the Bills. At 4:15 PM ET, the Cowboys arrive in East Rutherford, NJ with new interim head coach Jason Garrett to take on Eli Manning and the division-leading Giants. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver call the action from New Meadowlands Stadium. Out west, the 49ers return off their bye week to host Sam Bradford and the Rams. Also at 4:15 PM ET, the Seahawks take on the Cardinals in Arizona.Coverage begins at 12:00 PM ET with America’s most-watched pregame show, FOX NFL SUNDAY. Terry Bradshaw and Curt Menefee co-host the Emmy Award-winning program and are joined by analysts Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson. NFL Insider Jay Glazer presents the latest league news and scoops and comedic prognosticator Frank Caliendo contributes his weekly “Frank’s Picks” segment. NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira is also on hand to go over any impactful officiating issues from the last week.AIKMAN: YOU NEED TO KNOW THE HEAD COACH IS IN CHARGE – Not many people would have guessed before the season started that going into Week 10, the Cowboys would be essentially out of the playoffs and preparing to face the division-leading Giants in New York under new interim head coach Jason Garrett. As NFL on FOX lead analyst Troy Aikman prepares to call America’s Game of the Week from the New Meadowlands Stadium, he looks at what Garrett is working with and how much responsibility Jerry Jones should take for where the Cowboys are.PROS & CONS OF BEING JERRY JONES’ HEAD COACH: “The bottom line is you can’t keep losing games and saying ‘hey, we’re ok.’ Jerry Jones needed to do something but needs to accept responsibility for the state of the Cowboys as well. For years people have said ‘Jerry Jones the owner needs to fire Jerry Jones the general manager.’ That’s just not going to happen so it’s pointless to talk about. The national tendency is to say ‘who would want to coach for Jerry Jones?’ but there are not many owners that will provide the resources for a head coach to be successful. No one wants to win more than Jerry Jones but there are some real challenges and how you navigate them is going to determine your success with the Cowboys. You’d better be a strong individual.The two head coaches who have enjoyed great success in Dallas have been Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells and that’s simply because the players knew who they were answering to. Players knew that if you didn’t make their head coaches happy, there was going to be hell to pay.”ON THE TASK AHEAD FOR INTERIM HEAD COACH JASON GARRETT – “Jerry used the term ‘I’m looking for tangible success during his press conference and to me that means wins and losses. So Jason is being asked to change a culture in five days with a team that knows they are out of the playoffs at 1-7. That’s a daunting task for anyone. To me, it’s unfair to evaluate anyone in that role. The head coach needs to be able to implement a training schedule, conditioning programs and set the general tone and that can’t be done in the middle of the season. There’s always a chance he does it but this is a monumental effort and I don’t think it’s fair to evaluate him as a head coach based off of it. I think he’s a great head coaching prospect.”STRAHAN: “IF ANY DEFENSIVE PLAYER HAS A CHANCE TO WIN THE NFL MVP, IT’S CLAY MATTHEWS JR.” – At the midway point of the NFL season FOX NFL SUNDAY’s Michael Strahan gave his thoughts on what it takes to win the NFL MVP as a defensive player and who, if anyone, has a chance to win it. “Your team record is a big part on top of just your own individual stats. When I look back to 2001, I think I could have won MVP but one of the reasons I didn’t was because our team had a losing record and I didn’t have any sacks in the first three games, they all came later in the year. If any defensive player has a chance now to win the League MVP, it’s Clay Matthews Jr. The way he’s playing right now with a league-leading 10.5 sacks and the interception returned for a touchdown on Sunday definitely puts him in the conversation but he’s just got to maintain it throughout the season. It’ll get harder as he goes because he’s that guy teams know they need to focus on. He’s going to get doubled and there’s going to be some teams that just have a good offensive line who can handle him and he’ll just have to fight his way through it.”
We’re done. NBC will round out our NFL previews.
