We end the quotage posts with NBC’s Football Night in America. Lots of stuff on Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice as expected.
Here’s the notes and quotes for you.
NOTES & QUOTES FROM FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA – WEEK 2
“As football fans, we were let down by everybody last week.” – Collinsworth
“On Monday, look for Ray Rice to appeal his indefinite suspension.” – Florio
“It’s hard to believe that all of a sudden they had some sort of moral epiphany.” – Costas on Panthers’ decision to deactivate Greg Hardy
“When you take the ball out of Tony Romo’s hands and give it to DeMarco Murray, you’ll have an opportunity to win.” – Harrison
“I really don’t understand changing offenses when you’ve won two Super Bowls.” – Dungy on GiantsSTAMFORD, Conn. – September 14, 2014 – Following are highlights from Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports. Bob Costas opened the show live from inside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., which is hosting its first-ever NFL regular-season game as the 49ers meet the Chicago Bears. Costas was joined on site by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, NBC NFL analyst Hines Ward, and NBC Sports’ Josh Elliott.
Dan Patrick co-hosted Football Night from NBC Sports Group’s Studio 1. He was joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy; two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison; Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com and NBCSN,and Peter King of Sports Illustrated. Carolyn Manno reported from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., on the Jets-Packers game.
Costas interviewed San Francisco 49ers LB Patrick Willis, and Elliott had a candid discussion with Chicago Bears DE Jared Allen.
Following are highlights from Football Night in America:
ON RAY MCDONALD
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/ray-mcdonald-suits-49ers-despite-domestic-abuse-charges
Costas: “The 49ers must feel that what Ray McDonald has in common, at least for the moment with Greg Hardy and Ray Rice, is the time frame. And that since he has not been charged, they must have reason to believe — we’ll see if their judgment is vindicated or not — that the facts of the case will lead to him not being charged or at least there’s a good chance of that, and so they keep letting him play.”
Collinsworth: “As football fans, we were let down by everybody last week. It starts with Ray Rice, the Baltimore Ravens, the NFL, and even the judicial system. But just because that case was so messed up by everyone across the board, doesn’t mean you can throw a blanket over all these other guys. Ray McDonald’s case is completely different. Greg Hardy’s case is completely different…(Costas interjects: “It’s worse. Perhaps, worse.”) So you have to analyze these individually. And, yeah, we’d all like to have an easy answer. There is no easy answer.”
Costas: “Which is not necessarily to defend Ray McDonald, only to say that we will see if the investigation leads to charges.”
King: “Based on their conversations with Ray McDonald and the club’s initial investigation into the McDonald story, I believe the 49ers are comfortable with the fact that McDonald is not entirely culpable in this case. That’s one of the reasons they’re so comfortable in letting him play while due process plays out.”
ON BROADCASTER TED ROBINSON
Costas: “One other note — our NBC colleague Ted Robinson is also the radio voice of the San Francisco 49ers. This week, Robinson made some uncharacteristically inartful comments when talking about the Ray Rice and Janay Palmer Rice situation. As a result, the 49ers have suspended him for two games — the exact length of Ray Rice’s original suspension — which strikes many as peculiar.”
ON GREG HARDY
Costas: “Greg Hardy, in contrast, was arrested, he was charged, and he was convicted by a judge, and the details of what he is charged with are positively chilling. And yet, the Panthers allowed him to continue playing pending an appeal, which isn’t scheduled to be heard for several weeks yet. They finally deactivated him yesterday. It’s hard to believe that all of a sudden they had some sort of moral epiphany. Obviously, they finally bent to overwhelming public pressure because there was no defending what they were doing.”
Collinsworth: “But it’s easy to differentiate there, isn’t it? He was convicted. He’s in the appeals process now. So, to me, that’s a very bright line and very different from what we have with Ray McDonald at this point.”
ON ADRIAN PETERSON
King on his conversation with Vikings GM Rick Spielman: “I asked him, ‘is it conceivable that Adrian Peterson has played his last game as a Minnesota Viking?’ He said, ‘too early to tell.’ Vikings brass will be meeting tonight on the future of Adrian Peterson.”
ON LEAGUE DISCIPLINE & ISSUES
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/nfls-due-process-dilemma
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/ray-rice-appeal-coming-investigation-take-multiple-weeks
Costas: “It’s pretty clear that one of the things that will happen coming out of this is that the days of Roger Goodell or any other commissioner as judge and jury for the off-the-field offenses will come to an end.”
Collinsworth: “And it’s long overdue. It’s the biggest mistake of Roger Goodell’s career. He should have never been in the court process because then you have to be the investigator, then you have to look into the details. He has other things he should be concerned with. He should be the Supreme Court justice. There should not only be a trial court, an appellate process, and then if it has to get to Roger, let it get to Roger. But this is a big mistake and it has to change.”
Costas: “And some kind of arbitration panel within the league.”
Collinsworth: “That would include the players. The Players Association is right on this one.”
Florio: “The real challenge for the NFL going forward is to strike the balance between due process in a court of law and due process in the eyes of the NFL.”
Dungy on his process as a head coach of reading the police report and questioning the player in person, which led him to suspend at least one player and allow another to continue playing: “I felt in most of the times with my players, if I asked them to be honest, they were honest with me, and that’s what I went by.”
Costas: “When the NFL schedule came out months ago, tonight’s storyline seemed simple enough, the 49ers officially opening their new stadium. But while the pageantry of the occasion is still ongoing here, it’s taking place after a series of developments this week that have tarnished the image of an image-conscious league. Commissioner Goodell was originally scheduled to be here for the opening of the new stadium, but this week’s unfolding news led to him cancelling at least some of his engagements, including his trip to San Francisco.”
ON RAY RICE INVESTIGATION
King: “This one will take multiple weeks.”
Florio: “Coming on Monday, look for Ray Rice to appeal his indefinite suspension that the NFL officially levied on Friday, meaning that Ray Rice will challenge whether or not this second suspension for essentially the same conduct is valid under the Personal Conduct Policy. The key question will be whether or not Ray Rice was truthful with the team, truthful with the league, when he explained himself to them. And this is ordinarily something that would be under the purview of Commissioner Roger Goodell, but since he may very well be a witness in this, he may have to hand the ball off. A couple years ago, he designated former commissioner Paul Tagliabue to handle the player suspension appeal in the bounty case. And one last thing, don’t be surprised if the NFL Players Association announces that it will do its own investigation into what the NFL knew and when the NFL knew it about the Ray Rice situation.”
ON CHARGERS
Patrick: “What did San Diego do here with Richard Sherman?”
Harrison: “They attacked him. Seattle looked sluggish. They had 10 days off. I love Philip Rivers because he’s a very confident man and he’s not afraid to attack Richard Sherman. With these rule changes, you can’t play defensive back the way you used to play.”
ON VIKINGS
Harrison: “Coach Zimmer comes out and he says, ‘Well, it’s not because we didn’t have A.P. (Adrian Peterson) we lost the game.’ But A.P. takes a lot of pressure off Matt Cassel. He had four interceptions.”
ON PANTHERS
Dungy on Cam Newton: “He didn’t beat them scrambling, he beat them throwing from the pocket and that’s got to be really encouraging.”
ON SAINTS
Harrison on Saints defense: “We see the zone pressure, all these exotic schemes. My suggestion — just keep it simple. When you make mistakes in the secondary, it turns into points.”
Dungy: “I picked them to go to the Super Bowl. I thought the defensive changes they made would help them be a stronger road team, but they’re 0-2 on the road and look like they have a lot of the same defensive problems.”
ON GIANTS
Patrick: “The Giants lost again. Are they in real trouble here?”
Dungy: “Yes, they are. I really don’t understand changing offenses when you’ve won two Super Bowls. This offense is slow to come around and I think they’re in big trouble.”
Harrison on Eli Manning: “It’s almost like everyone gives him a pass because he won two Super Bowls. He needs to be held accountable, too…he has to take better care of the ball. He has playmakers.”
ON COWBOYS
Dungy: “Jason Garrett gave DeMarco Murray a chance to be physical and strong and purposeful. We’ve been calling for this for a long time. Let him run, it gave him 29 carries today and that defense got some takeaways.”
Harrison: “When you take the ball out of Tony Romo’s hands and give it to DeMarco Murray, you’ll have an opportunity to win. Tony Romo – zero interceptions.”
ON REDSKINS
Harrison on Kirk Cousins: “He can be a starting quarterback in this league, he just needs the opportunity.”
ON BRONCOS
Dungy on Broncos defense: “It’s not all Peyton Manning. They knew they had to show up at defense. They went out and got some some playmakers, DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib; their defense is better than last year.”
ON BEARS
Ward on Jared Allen: “If I’m San Francisco, I’m running right at Jared Allen because he wants no part of the running game. All he wants to do is rush the quarterback.”
PATRICK WILLIS WITH BOB COSTAS
http://www.nbcsports.com/football/nfl/patrick-willis-sits-down-bob-costas
On narrowly losing two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl in the past three years: “We’ve had a good run these last three years and I hope the fourth one is the charm. We can’t worry about what has been. The only thing that matters now is what we do this season.”
On coach Jim Harbaugh: “Coach Harbaugh is his own guy. One of the things I admire the most about him is the attitude he comes to work with every day, and he tells us that you have to approach every day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
On how his body is holding up after seven straight Pro Bowls: “My body feels great, but the truth of the matter is that I don’t have too much longer to play in the game…I’m not one to sit up here and say that I’m going to play 16, 17 years. There are only three things that I really want that would make this whole career worth everything, and that’s a Super Bowl trophy, one or multiple Defensive Player of the Year Awards and a [Hall of Fame] Canton, Ohio, jacket.”
JARED ALLEN WITH JOSH ELLIOTT
On whether the one thing he’s missing is a Super Bowl ring: “Absolutely. I think I’ve accomplished a lot individually, and I still have goals I want to accomplish. I still haven’t gotten Defensive Player of the Year. I want to earn a ring. I don’t just want to be a guy on a team that went to the Super Bowl. I want to earn that ring… and I believe we can do that here in Chicago.”
On what went wrong in Week 1: “The big plays are easy to fix. When you look at the grand scheme of what happened, we did not play well in the run game because we gave up both big plays…every week people are going to test you. When you give up almost 200 yards rushing, you’re going to get tested. I fully plan on getting tested this week, and you have to learn to take care of your job and nothing else.”
And that concludes our quotage posts. Enjoy your Monday.
