Tonight on Sunday Night Football, NBC will have the New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens game. Before that on Football Night in America, Bob Costas will interview Bart Scott of the New York Jets and Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens. We have the quotes from the one-on-one talks that you’ll see tonight on NBC. This will be our last post for the afternoon.
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” PREVIEW – WEEK 4
BOB COSTAS INTERVIEWS JETS LB BART SCOTT & RAVENS RB RAY RICE
“I’m mad about everything.” – Scott to Costas about what drives him
My mom has been the best parent that you can ever ask for.” – Rice to Costas on his rough childhoodNEW YORK – October 2, 2011 – Bob Costas interviewed New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott and Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for tonight’s Week 4 edition of Football Night in America, which will also include a brief feature on Ravens QB Joe Flacco, highlights, analysis and reaction to Week 4’s afternoon games.
Football Night airs each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET with Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. In addition to his interviews, Costas is joined on site by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels (play-by-play) and Cris Collinsworth (analyst) for reaction to the afternoon games.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Alex Flanagan will report from O.co Coliseum in Oakland on the Patriots-Raiders game.
Football Night is averaging 10.0 million viewers and a household rating of 6.1/10 (7:30-8:15 p.m. ET) through the first three weeks, both up 13 percent from last year’s first three weeks.
INTERVIEW: Below are excerpts from Costas’ interview with Scott and Rice. If used, please note the mandatory credit: “In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night in America.”
BART SCOTT
COSTAS: Who talks more trash, you or Rex?
SCOTT: I think it’s a tie. I give the edge to him because he has a platform to talk more trash than me. He gets to talk trash every day when he does his press conference. I’ve kind of been laying low a little bit this year.COSTAS: Your Web handle is Mad Backer. What are you mad about?
SCOTT: I’m mad about everything. I’m mad about not getting drafted, waiting for four years to get an opportunity to play, people never thinking that I’m quite good enough, people thinking that my success was because of the players I played with…That’s why I made the decision to go to New York, to prove that I could stand on my own.SCOTT on if he came to New York to disprove perceptions that he was riding on the shoulders of his former teammates: Exactly. What greater stage than New York to prove that you can handle the light, the moment. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. It’s the toughest place to play because they love you one day and they hate you the next.
COSTAS: Does it help you that somewhere inside of you is the kid that was overlooked coming out of high school; went to a less than football powerhouse; undrafted; played special teams; had to wait; overshadowed by other good players, maybe great players, on his own defense; is all that churning inside you?
SCOTT: Always. I never forget it. I never forget that the Ravens were the only team to come to my pro day, that the Chicago Bears were right there in Champaign, playing at that time, and they told the Ravens I wasn’t anything to look at. They didn’t even want to get them the tape. So every time I think about that, it burns inside. That’s what fuels me. That’s what makes the Mad Backer because every time I step on the football field I get the opportunity to prove I was right and they was wrong.RAY RICE
COSTAS: To summarize (your personal story): your dad was killed in a drive-by shooting when you were just a year old; a cousin, 10 years older than you, a father figure, was killed by a drunk driver; your mother raised you and three siblings largely on her own. How has this shaped you?
RICE: Growing up, it was rough. Growing up, mom can only be mom. My mom has been the best parent that you can ever ask for growing up as a child because what she did for me was she planted a seed and the seed was to go out and be a man.My cousin…was an interesting story because he was the first one in the family to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to go out and be something. I’m going to go out and dream, and I’m going to chase my dream.’ He was signed to a record label. And you know dreams shattered (when he was killed). He’s the closest thing that I had to being around somebody that was famous.
COSTAS: Were you able to help your mom out?
RICE: I was able to do a lot for my mom on my first contract. Obviously this is my contract year. Lord willing, I don’t know when or what the numbers will be but I do bet that if my performance continues to be what it is that I’ll be able to do what I always planned on doing and that’s tell my mom that she can retire. I’ll let that option be solely on her. And when I’m able to do that, one of my goals in life will be complete.COSTAS: If someone says Ray Rice is a Momma’s Boy, you’re cool with that?
RICE: I’m very cool with it. I’ve got a tattoo on my other arm…it says only God understands. It has my mom’s name going down a cross. I firmly believe that me and mother understand that the next person closest to understanding my relationship with my mother is the man upstairs. That won’t change from now until it’s time to go because she’s the one who laid that foundation, that rock, down for the family.
That will be it for now. I expect League Division Series and Football Night in America quotage later tonight. Until then, enjoy the rest of your Sports Sunday.
