NBC’s Football Night in America Quotage for Week 17

We complete the quotage for the NFL regular season with NBC’s Football Night in America. There seems to be a lot of quotes from tonight. This is long.

“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” NOTES & QUOTES – WEEK 17

“I don’t think you can beat Peyton Manning with a defense that’s just trying to fool you.” – “Football Night’s” Tony Dungy on next week’s game vs. Jets

“This is a young immature team that couldn’t handle success.” –“Football Night’s” Rodney Harrison on the Chiefs’ loss to the Raiders

“They’re ecstatic that they’re going to Kansas City.” –“Football Night’s” Dungy on Ravens

“People may wonder whether that’s a sham if (Ray) Sherman doesn’t become the next offensive coordinator (of the Cowboys).” – “Football Night’s” Mike Florio on the Rooney Rule

NEW YORK – January 2, 2011 – Following are highlights from NBC Sports’ “Football Night in America.” Bob Costas hosted the show live from Qwest Field, site of the “win-and-in” Rams-Seahawks game and was joined on site for commentary by Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. Co-host Dan Patrick, analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, and reporters Peter King and Mike Florio covered the news of the NFL’s 16th week live from NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios. Alex Flanagan reported from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., on the Bears-Packers game.

WILD CARD SCHEDULE: The National Football League today announced that NBC Sports will broadcast the New Orleans Saints at St. Louis Rams/Seattle Seahawks at 4:30 p.m. ET and the New York Jets at the Indianapolis Colts at 8 p.m. ET as its Wild Card Saturday doubleheader this Saturday. The winner of tonight’s “Sunday Night Football” game between the Seahawks and Rams will host the Saints in the early game. Coverage begins with “Football Night in America,” Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs host the Baltimore Ravens on CBS at 1 p.m. and the Philadelphia Eagles host the Green Bay Packers on Fox 4:30 p.m. ET.

WILD CARD PREDICTIONS:

Dungy: Packers, Saints, Ravens, Colts

Harrison: Packers, Saints, Ravens, (did not select a Jets-Colts winner)

ON COLTS

Dungy on playing Jets: “They would have enjoyed the Ravens because they’ve beat them eight times in a row. But it’s really the same type of situation for Peyton Manning, these blitzing defenses where you’ve got to make good decisions. I don’t think you can beat Peyton Manning with a defense that’s just trying to fool you.”

Dungy on potential Divisional Round opponent: “I think they’re excited about that, too, that they would go to Pittsburgh rather than New England. New England is playing the hottest of everyone right now.”

ON PACKERS

Harrison: “This is a fast athletic defense that can put pressure on Michael Vick. Their corners are good enough to play man-to-man coverage.”

Dungy: “They are playing great defense.”

ON SAINTS

Dungy: “Offensively, they are not playing the way they did last year. They’ve got to rely on their defense more and I think it’s going to be a defensive game next week.”

ON RAVENS

Dungy: “John Harbaugh is happy. He’s never going to say it. He’s going to give you all the coach speak, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ But they had lost eight times to Indianapolis. They’re ecstatic that they’re going to Kansas City.”

ON JETS

Harrison: “Rex Ryan can’t be happy. You look at his defense, it’s not the same as what it was last year. They struggled in man-to-man coverage. They struggled in getting to the quarterback. They have to go on the road and play Peyton Manning in that dome where Peyton and those guys play at a different speed. He can’t be happy.”

ON PATRIOTS

Patrick: “How did Rob Gronkowski not make the Pro Bowl?”

Dungy: “I would not have played Tom Brady. I would have been scared to death that he’d get hurt. But that’s the way they do things. Fourteen wins is impressive.”

Patrick: “If the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl, do you know how long Tom Brady’s hair is going to be?”

Harrison: “It’s business as usual. This team doesn’t really get so overly emotional. They’re going to watch film tomorrow, they’re going to make the necessary corrections, and it’s business as usual. This is a new season. That’s the thing that Bill Belichick does so well, he preaches to those guys in that locker room, ‘Don’t worry about the 14-2 season. This is a new season.’”

ON STEELERS

Dungy on Troy Polamalu: “He brings attitude, number one. He brings that guy who can find the ball, get the takeaways. He just revitalizes everybody.

ON CHIEFS

Harrison: “This is a young immature team that couldn’t handle success. They probably got caught up in reading all the press clippings. But you don’t want to have doubts going into the playoffs, especially when you have to play against the Baltimore Ravens.”

Dungy on effect of Charlie Weis situation: “I think it did a little bit. A young team today, they just didn’t look like they were in sync on offense. That had to be going through some of those young guys minds.”

Harrison: “Not sold.”

ON COWBOYS

ON BROWNS, 49ERS AND BENGALS COACHING SITUATIONS

ON VIKINGS

Patrick: “For the first time in a month, the Vikings were playing at the right place at the right time.”

ON WINNER OF RAMS-SEAHAWKS

Michaels: “For inspiration, they can look to the Arizona Cardinals in their division in 2008. It was an analyst on ‘Football Night in America’ at the end of that regular season who said, ‘That’s the worst team to ever go to post-season play.’ (Collinsworth) But they won the Wild Card came, they went to Carolina, beat them, they beat Philadelphia in the Championship Game, and if not for two epic plays — one by James Harrison and that great drive which culminated with Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes — the Lombardi trophy would have end up in Glendale, Arizona.”

ON RAMS

Collinsworth: “They look to be the team that is trending upwards. You know they have the quarterback thing solved and nobody else in that division really does … They kind of remind me a little bit of the Dallas Cowboys when they went 1-15 and then 7-9. They’re sort of on that flight path, at least in this division.”

Dungy on the No. 1 overall draft choice: “Its tough, and that’s something as an organization you think about. I know Steve Spagnuolo, the coach of the Rams, they picked Sam Bradford because they felt he would be able to fit in. We had Peyton Manning, I wasn’t there, but I know part of the decision-making was, who was going to fit in better?   Peyton Manning or Ryan Leaf as that feature guy?”

Harrison: “And unfortunately you gave us Ryan Leaf. I played with Ryan Leaf in San Diego, and he was really a distraction in that locker room. He caused a lot of other rookies to get us distracted. We couldn’t really totally focus on football because of that guy.”

Following are highlights of Al Michaels’ interviews with Pete Carroll and Sam Bradford:

PETE CARROLL

Carroll on his job with the Jets: “I didn’t have a chance. I was so excited for the opportunity. I didn’t know nothing. I just didn’t have my act together. You think you know, but until you’re asked those questions and those decisions are faced, you just have to struggle through it the first time. And at that time, it didn’t work out.”

Carroll on following Bill Parcells and preceding Bill Belichick with the Patriots: “That’s what it turned out to be, more than that it was following Bill Parcells. I don’t know what I was thinking. The coach of the decade, all that he brings, and the charisma, and everything he brought, and coming off a Super Bowl. You know what was I thinking that I could go ahead and turn it. But I did think that, and so we went after it. We did some things that I’m still happy about, proud of, but not quite enough. And the change happens. And then Bill Belichick comes in, which had nothing to do with me at the time. What has happened is a historic run for those guys.”

Carroll on if he ‘jumped off the Titanic’ by leaving USC: “It had nothing to do with it because we had grown so numb to the whole investigation for years – it was a five-year process – not knowing when it was going to come up or what rulings would be. It has nothing to do with anything. This is about a guy presented with an opportunity to do something that challenged me in every way.”

Carroll on the sanctions: I thought they were really harsh. There was some stuff that was wrong, but to hit them as hard as the sanctions came down with so much of a mentality of really putting them back, I don’t think that that was warranted at all.”

Carroll on possibly making the playoffs as a 7-9 team: “If this game goes the way we want it to, we’re playing a home game here, we’re going to go for it again. We’re going to crank it up and make it as hard on our opponent as we possibly can. And the fact that this has never been done before, I kind of like that.”

SAM BRADFORD

Bradford on maturing: “I think that’s something that I take pride in, is the fact that our coaches trust me now, and they feel good about giving me more each week.”

Bradford on the difference between Week 1 and Week 17: “Night and day. Week 1, I’m still trying to figure out our offense. I had only been going through it for a couple of weeks. It was the first time I had gone through an actual NFL game plan. Now, it’s something I’ve done now for 17 weeks. I feel like the game has definitely started to slow down for me. It’s night and day how I feel now compared to Week 1.”

Bradford on feeling pressure of being the No. 1 pick: “No, to be honest. Obviously I know that there is pressure that comes with that pick, but I have always felt that no matter what level I’ve played on, I’ve always put more pressure on myself than anyone other than me could ever put on me. So I think that’s one of the things that really allows me to not feel the pressure of being the No. 1 pick.”

Bradford on his big purchase after being the No. 1 draft choice: “I haven’t bought a house. I haven’t bought a car. I would say my ping pong table is the biggest purchase I’ve made. It’s a pretty good ping pong table.”

And that will do it for what has turned out to be a rather busy day on the blog.