I was out during the first half of the Sunday Night Football game between Baltimore and San Diego and seeing that the game isn’t close as I write this, I’m glad I missed the action. Anyway, we have the quotage from tonight’s Football Night in America followed by Bob Costas’ halftime commentary.
First, the Football Night in America quotage.
“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” NOTES & QUOTES – WEEK 15
“We found out today: It’s tough to go 16-0. It’s also tough to go 0-16.” – Tony Dungy
“This is the best thing that could have happened to them.” – Rodney Harrison on Packers’ loss
“If I’m Mike McCarthy, I’m worried right now.” – Dungy on Packers offensive line injuries
“I think New Orleans is the team to beat in the NFC.” – Harrison
“It is not a major long shot that the Philadelphia Eagles could still win that division, which is ridiculous.” – Cris Collinsworth
NEW YORK – December 18, 2011 – Following are highlights from Football Night in America. Bob Costas hosted the show live from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif., and was joined on site for commentary by Sunday Night Football commentators Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth. Co-host Dan Patrick and commentators Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter King and Mike Florio covered the news of the NFL’s 15th week live from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios in New York. Alex Flanagan reported from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on the Patriots-Broncos game.
ON PACKERS
Michaels: “Everyone thought the Packers Achilles heel might be the defense. Even though Kansas City only scored 19 points, they controlled the ball and controlled the time of possession through the first half, had the upper hand on them, and Green Bay was always fighting from behind, something they haven’t done. Now they have injuries along the offensive front, and all of a sudden, the Packers vulnerability shows up in spades today in Kansas City.”
Dungy: “We found out today: It’s tough to go 16-0. It’s also tough to go 0-16.”
King: “Very bad day for the Green Bay Packers. Bad on the field and it got worse in the locker room after the game. Rookie Derek Sherrod, the backup right tackle, broke his leg during the game. He’s out for the year. That followed Brian Bulaga, the regular right tackle, going out with a knee injury. Now their top three tackles are hurt.”
Dungy: “They lost some offensive linemen and this is just critical to Green Bay…They have some serious problems on the offensive line. If I’m Mike McCarthy, I’m worried right now.”
Harrison: “Obviously you don’t want to lose any offensive linemen, but I think this is the best thing that could have happened to them, in terms of them losing a football game, because each week it is so much pressure trying to maintain a perfect record. Now they can sit back, reflect, look at the tape and see the areas they need to improve in.”
Dungy: “The undefeated pressure is off, but the pressure in protecting Aaron Rodgers is still there. This team has some flaws; they’re not playing great defense, they’re not running the ball well, and now they may not be able to throw it as well as they have.”
Patrick: “Are they still the team to beat?”
Dungy: “I think they are still the team to beat, but they have to get some of these offensive linemen back.”
Harrison: “I think New Orleans is the team to beat in the NFC.”
ON SAINTS
Dungy: “Darren Sproles is the best third-down back in football.”
Patrick on Drew Brees: “When we started the season we were talking about Cam Newton, then it was Aaron Rodgers, then it was Tim Tebow. Drew Brees somehow didn’t even make it on the radar screen, and he is having one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.”
ON GIANTS
Michaels: “How do you go to Dallas and win that game last week, and then come home and turn in that performance?”
Harrison: “Week to week, we always talk about it. We don’t know which Giants team will show up. Very disappointing.”
Patrick: “What’s wrong with the Giants?”
Dungy: “One word…Everything.”
Harrison: “The Giants looked really bad today.”
ON JETS
Dungy: “They have to play a certain style. They’ve got to play ahead-football.”
Patrick: “The Jets or the Giants have more problems?”
Harrison: “I would say the Jets because at least the Giants — one week they play terrible, but the next week they play better. And they can put up points.”
ON PATRIOTS
Harrison: “This is the first team that the Broncos have seen that can score for four quarters. The Patriots put a lot of pressure on you for four quarters because they are so good and they have so many weapons.”
Patrick: “They put you in a position that you don’t want to be in.”
Dungy: “They shut down Tim Tebow and with those other losses, now they have a chance to get that bye in the first round.”
ON LIONS
Harrison: “You have to give Coach Jim Schwartz a lot of credit because all week we talked about the distractions, the suspension of Ndamukong Suh. For that team to come and have a 98 yard-drive to win a football game, and to go on the road in a hostile environment, that is a tough place to win.”
Patrick: “I’ve got to put some blame on Oakland though.”
ON EAGLES
Collinsworth: “It is entirely possible. It is not a major long shot that the Philadelphia Eagles could still win that division, which is ridiculous.”
King: “I’ve always thought there is no way they are going to get rid of Andy Reid. I feel the same way as they are routing the Jets.”
Dungy: “Everyone wanted Andy Reid’s job. They can win this division.”
ON TEXANS
Dungy:/strong> “Probably the biggest problem was not having Wade Phillips, their defensive coordinator. They had been playing great defense. We saw breakdowns today – long passes, long runs, which we hadn’t seen from them.”
ON BEARS
Patrick: “Why didn’t he [Lovie Smith] go out and get some type of established quarterback? I know it’s hindsight here.”
Dungy: “It is tough to balance that salary cap. You have a lot of players you have to pay. How much are you going to pay that backup guy who may not play?”
ON BENGALS
Harrison: “They’ve played great against bad teams. You have to start playing better against some of the good teams.”
ON TITANS
Collinsworth: “It was embarrassing; no matter how you want to put it…Nobody knows nothing about the National Football League (on its unpredictability).”
ON JAGUARS
King: “I believe they will look foremost for an offensive coach to try to get Blaine Gabbert on track.”
ON CHIEFS
King on Romeo Crennel: “I talked to Crennel after the game and he said, ‘I’ve got an ego. I really want this job.’”
ON DOLPHINS
King: “I believe in Miami the leader in the clubhouse there is Jeff Fisher because I do think that Jeff Fisher will coach in 2012.”
ON RAMS
Florio: “Steve Spagnuolo’s team is now 2-12. He is in serious danger of losing his job.”
ON BUCCANEERS
Florio: “Eight straight losses for Raheem Morris. Keep an eye on his status.”
ON COLTS
King on Jim Caldwell: “I always thought that if they went 0-16 it would be very hard for the Colts to bring him back. He gets a big win against Tennessee to stake his claim for that job.”
ON VIKINGS
King: “They are going to give Leslie Frazier one more year.”
And after a jump break, I’ll post the Costas commentary.
And we have the Costas comment suggesting the Indianapolis Colts draft Andrew Luck to be groomed by Peyton Manning, but I don’t think Manning will be with the Colts next season.
BOB COSTAS’ WEEK 15 HALFTIME ESSAY ON PACKERS & COLTS
So for yet another year, the ’72 Dolphins are safe. They remain the only perfect single-season team in NFL history. This, of course, because the Packers, a huge favorite at Kansas City, couldn’t make it to 14-0. At roughly the same time, the Indianapolis Colts, who were 14-0 two seasons that now seem like an eternity ago, avoided 0-14 by notching a win against Tennessee.
So the Packers will not match the ’07 Pats at 16-0 and the Colts will not match the ’08 Lions at 0-16. Beyond these statistical coincidences, the Colts and Packers are perhaps linked in a more significant way.
With two weeks to go, Indy still has the worst record in the league and unless they have the poor judgment to conclude the season with a mini-winning streak, they can still claim the No. 1 pick in the Draft.
The question is, what to do with it if they get it? And for the answer, they might look to Green Bay, where Aaron Rodgers sat for three full seasons behind Brett Favre before emerging as one of the league’s best.
What’s wrong with that scenario for Indy? Peyton Manning will be 36 by next season. Even if he were completely healthy, the Colts would need a plan of succession. It is extremely unlikely that over the next few years they would have another shot at anyone nearly as good as Stanford’s Andrew Luck is expected to be. So take him and let him back up Manning. That’s no hardship — that’s an honor.
Plus, if Manning should go down again, the Colts would be left with a viable option, unlike this year, when they went from a playoff team to utter ineptitude when Manning hit the sideline. Yeah we know, there are contract issues here, but creative organizations can figure their way around that.
It’s also true that other key Colts are aging. Even so, when Manning returns, they can be a decent team again. And at the same time, they could have a quarterback-in-waiting who might someday do for them what Rodgers is doing for the Packers.
Bob showing that he’s not paying attention to what’s going on in Indy. Manning probably won’t return.
