We haven’t done the Sunday NFL pregame quotage for a couple of weeks so let’s bring them back again here.
We’ll begin in the order the quotage was received so Fox Sports’ pair of pregames, Fox NFL Kickoff on Fox Sports 1 and Fox NFL Sunday on Fox, will kick off the quotage posts.
Check out what was said today.
FOX NFL SUNDAY NOTES – 10/12/14
Michael Strahan on Marquee Dallas at Seattle Matchup: “This is the measuring stick for the Dallas Cowboys.”
Jay Glazer on How Much FSU QB Jameis Winston’s NFL Draft Stock has been Adversely Affected by Off-Field Issues: “Enormously.”
Howie Long on AFC East Showdown between New England and Buffalo: “Tom Brady doesn’t look like much of a bully, but for 12 years he has been taking the Buffalo Bills’ lunch money.”From FOX NFL KICKOFF on FOX Sports 1
Former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt on his level of trust in the Dallas Cowboys and their use of running back DeMarco Murray:
“I think they are playing very good in all phases of the game as a team right now. One thing that concerns me is, I hope Jason Garrett doesn’t use that Ivy League degree of his and overthink this thing. This week, he comes out and makes the comment that he doesn’t want to overuse DeMarco Murray. And that all sounds good from a coach’s perspective and an owner’s perspective, but Jason needs to understand Tony Romo is able to have more time to throw the ball because of the play-action pass game. He needs to understand why his defense has played 12 less plays a game than last year. It’s because his offense with DeMarco Murray is controlling the ball. He’s the lifeline of the team. Do what you go to do to win. Those conversations never came up with Emmitt Smith, I promise you that.”
Six-time Pro Bowl quarterback and FOX Sports 1 NFL analyst Donovan McNabb calls San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers the best QB in the NFL right now:
“I like Phillip Rivers. Since Week 14 last year, his team is 8-1. He’s got a team with no run game, a tight end who looks like he’s about 80 years old at times, and then there’s Keenan Allen, a guy that nobody even knew about and he was up for Rookie of the Year last season. Phillip Rivers has changed his game, because about three years ago, we thought he was on the decline. We rarely brought him up.”
Six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver and FOX Sports 1 NFL analyst Randy Moss weighs in on New York Jets quarterback Michael Vick saying he wasn’t properly prepared for last week’s game:
“If it was coming from any other backup QB other than Vick, then I don’t think it really hits the headlines. That’s the backup QB; he needs to be prepared and he’s sitting there watching the same film as Geno Smith. For him to come out and say that, I don’t know how good that looks for him with his future in New York because you don’t know want any quarterback, let alone a veteran, saying something like that.”
From FOX NFL SUNDAY on FOX
NFL on FOX analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan looks at America’s Game of the Week featuring the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Seattle Seahawks:
“This is the measuring stick for the Dallas Cowboys and also the measuring stick for us as we talk about the Dallas Cowboys to see where they are. There are so many great matchups in this game. There is Dez Bryant versus Richard Sherman. There is Jason Witten versus Kam Chancellor – who is a game-time decision and who had trouble against Antonio Gates a few weeks ago. And then there is the biggest one which is the league’s No. 1 leading rusher against the No. 1 rushing defense. What gives in this game? DeMarco Murray is on pace to break or tie NFL records for yards and carries in a season and that’s a lot of wear and tear on one guy.”
NFL on FOX analyst and two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Jimmy Johnson on the Cowboys’ use of running back DeMarco Murray:
“There has been talk about cutting back on some of those carries. I always felt like, if you have a strong horse, you run him and you run him until he can’t run anymore. I don’t mind taking him out on third-and-long plays and stuff like that. But in this league, there is no lead that is safe, so you play your best players.”
NFL on FOX insider Jay Glazer on Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer’s status for today’s game versus Washington:
“He saw the specialist on Monday and Friday. About two hours from now, Bruce Arians is going to take him on the field and in order for Carson Palmer to start, he has to show Coach Arians that he can make all the throws. He still has not thrown over 50 yards and on Friday he had some fatigue, but that was before he worked with the specialist.”
NFL on FOX analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw on whether the Detroit Lions can win the NFC North without a healthy Calvin Johnson and the addition of former Denver kicker Matt Prater:
“I don’t think so; it’s going to be tough. The Lions did one thing they should have done and they brought in Matt Prater, the kicker who was previously with the Denver Broncos and led the league in points last season. The guy made 25-of-26 field goals and there are two people that score points: kickers and quarterbacks, and finally I think they realized they needed a kicker and they got themselves a good one.”
NFL on FOX analyst and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long says the Buffalo Bills have closed the gap on the New England Patriots after more than a decade of struggles:
“Tom Brady doesn’t look like much of a bully, but for 12 years he has been taking the Buffalo Bills’ lunch money. Everything that Buffalo has done over the last few years, through the draft, through free agency and their move last week to go to Kyle Orton has closed the gap. I think the big matchup today is this revamped Patriots offensive line versus this dominant Buffalo Bills defensive front, led by Marcell Dareus and they get Kyle Williams back. That’s the matchup of the day.”
Glazer on how off-the-field issues for Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston have affected his draft stock with NFL teams:
“Enormously; every general manager I talked to this week said, ‘We’ve either dropped Jameis Winston down or we’ve really had to consider whether we even want him in our locker room.’ More than anything, this just signifies a huge revamp in how guys are going to now grade players with off-field incidents. In the past, if you have an off-field issue, these draft scouts would drop you down two, three, four rounds. But now, guys are saying, instead of adjusting their draft grades, it’s whether or not we even want to bring him into our environment. It used to be on the players, but now it’s on us as the general managers. One other note, at this week’s NFL owners meeting, the idea actually was broached of stripping draft picks from teams in the future with multiple offenders.”
Long on the low block by Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas that injured Arizona defensive end Calais Campbell:
“I don’t think Julius Thomas’ intent was to injure Calais Campbell. The thing somebody has to explain to me is that Julius Thomas was fined $8,400 for taking Calais Campbell out for three-to-four weeks. Colin Kaepernick was fined $10,000 for wearing the wrong brand of headphones. What is wrong with this picture? I don’t get that.”
Glazer with an update on the toe injury keeping Cincinnati Bengals star WR A.J. Green out of today’s game:
“The good news is that it’s not a tear in that ligament. The bad news is that it only hurts when it jams a certain way, so he can walk around fine for two days and then suddenly jam it and then he’s out. That’s what happened this week when he had to be carted off the practice field. So what the team is trying to do this week is find a specialist who can make some sort of brace or orthotic where he still has mobility in the toe, but it doesn’t jam that certain way.”
We’ll move to NFL Network next.
