We round out the early Sunday NFL pregame quotage with CBS’ The NFL Today show. We also have a ratings note from yesterday’s SEC game involving Mississippi State and LSU.
NEWS, NOTES & QUOTES FROM CBS SPORTS’ “THE NFL TODAY” WITH JAMES BROWN, DAN MARINO, SHANNON SHARPE, BILL COWHER AND BOOMER ESIASON FOR WEEK 11 ON NOVEMBER 21?”SEC ON CBS” RATINGS RISE AGAIN WITH LSU’S WIN OVER OLE MISS, UP 15%CBS Sports’ coverage of the SEC ON CBS on Saturday, Nov. 20, which saw No. 5-ranked LSU’s 43-36 win over Ole Miss, earned an overnight household rating/share of 3.0/6, up 15% from last year’s 2.6/6 (No. 8 LSU-Ole Miss).? QUICK HITSSHANNON SHARPE(On Michael Vick): I want to take my hat off to [the League] and one team; the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for reinstating Michael Vick and giving him an opportunity to rebuild his life. And the Philadelphia Eagles took it a step further, because reinstatement is one thing, but to sign this guy to your football team is something entirely different. There are going to be fragments of society that are never going to forgive Michael Vick for what he did. But when you lose $100 million and go to prison – not drive-by justice when you get 90 days and you go in for an hour and you’re done – Leavenworth, two years and a $1 million for the dogs he abused. Michael Vick has paid his debt and I’m happy to see him get back on the right track. The Philadelphia Eagles, I commend you. And the NFL, I commend you for doing the right thing.(On Oakland Raiders)SHARPE: Most of the credit for the Raiders success has to go to Tom Cable because he did something that was very unpopular with the owner. He benched JaMarcus Russell last year. And he probably told the owner if you want to show this team we’re serious about winning, this guy needs to be out and we need to have somebody else behind center. He did that, the team believes in Tom Cable, no matter how he looks or what we think he looks like. They play hard for this guy.(On whether Brad Childress should bench Brett Favre)DAN MARINO: The bottom line is no. No way. He gives you the best chance to win. He’s Brett Favre. He’s got you so far this year. What he did last year. You don’t bench this guy. You never bench a guy at the expense of the team. The bottom line is, like I said, does he give you the best chance to win? Yes. He should play the rest of the year no matter what.SHARPE: But you’re not winning, so how good is your chance if you’re not wining? No, they’re not going to bench him. They should.COWHER: The guy’s thrown 16 interceptions. If he throws more interceptions in this game, I would take him out.? REACTION TO COACH COWHER’S BREAK DOWN OF BRADY-MANNING RIVALRY(On who you would take Manning or Brady)COWHER: I say Tom Brady because he’s won championships and he’s done it with changes of coordinators and players, while Peyton is experiencing a change in players for the first time this year. Listen, you can’t go wrong with either one. But if I had a choice, I start with Tom Brady.MARINO: They’re both Hall of Famers, obviously. Just incredible players. I say because of the championships, yes, I would take Tom Brady also. But what’s been impressive about Peyton Manning is what he’s done. I don’t think you and I, Boomer, have had to deal with the situation he’s dealing with now this year as far as change in receivers.BOOMER: I think I’m going to take Peyton Manning.SHARPE: I’m taking Peyton Manning also. Peyton has a championship, four MVPs. Tom Brady has three championships and one MVP. But it comes down to this, for that system both guys work well in their system. But neither guy could pull off the other guy’s hairstyle. There is no possible way.? “INSIDE THE GAME” WITH “NFL TODAY GENERAL MANAGER” CHARLEY CASSERLY(On Dallas Owner Jerry Jones asking NFL to exempt Cowboys of “Rooney Rule” in finding new coach in respect to Jason Garrett)CASSERLY: I talked to the league and they said there would be no exceptions for Dallas or any other team with the “Rooney Rule.” In other words, the job has to be open at the end of the season, and a minority candidate has to be interviewed.
And we have a preview of tonight’s interviews on Sunday Night Football coming up.
