Let’s bring you some quotage from this week’s edition of Inside the NFL on Showtime. Not all of you have the channel so this will be fresh to you.
NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FROM WEEK SEVENTEEN OF INSIDE THE NFL ON SHOWTIME®NEW YORK (Dec. 29, 2010) – This week’s INSIDE THE NFL – premiered Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT – features a “surprise” sit-down interview with the Kansas City’s Matt Cassel, plus a discussion on the precedent set by re-scheduling the Sunday night Philadelphia-Minnesota game. NFL Insider Michael Lombardi reports on the latest NFL coaching changes.Host James Brown anchors INSIDE THE NFL on SHOWTIME with All-Pro NFL greats Cris Collinsworth, Phil Simms and Warren Sapp serving as expert analysts.INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films with new episodes airing on SHOWTIME every Wednesday during the NFL season through February 9, 2011. Pete Radovich serves as coordinating producer. The executive producers are Sean McManus, President, CBS News and Sports, and NFL Films President Steve Sabol.Following are excerpts from the show:On Philadelphia-Minnesota game being re-scheduled:Collinsworth: I think the lawyers are sharpening their pencils as we speak. Let’s create a scenario. We are going to have the playoffs in New England. So now there is a forecast of 10 inches of snow on the day of the playoffs. So now you go to the National Football League, because before you just played the game. Now, you have to go and say, ‘Mr. Commissioner are we playing football today?’ The Commissioner says, ‘Yes we are. This is the Playoffs. We are going to play.’ Now someone drives off the road into a ditch. An unfortunate accident. A lawyer comes down and says, ‘Listen, you cancelled the game in Philadelphia because it wasn’t safe. These conditions are at least as bad as what they were in Philadelphia.’ Bingo, lawsuit against the League. There are just so many things that come up now with this issue. I don’t know where the line is going to be drawn.Simms: There is a lot that comes into this. In a few years we are going to have the Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in New York. What are you going to do if the forecast is bad that day? Are you going to cancel the Super Bowl? Cris played in arguably the worst game in history with weather. I know they thought about canceling, but they didn’t do it. I think he (Cris) is right. It’s like the NFL fine system. Once you start putting that number out there, everything that happens you have to make those fines accordingly. The same thing for these games. Once you start it, you have to live up to it in the future.On Tim Tebow:Simms: A little pet peeve, but nothing against him. But every time he completes a pass when you watch the games, ‘Who said he can’t throw the ball?’ They act like it’s an affront. The other one is, ‘Nobody wants to win more than him.’ Now look, there are a lot of guys in the NFL who really want to win. To me it’s just wrong to say things like that. The good thing about him, you can see he’s big and strong. He is a leader. I think the fact that he works so hard, and his personality at the practice facility, it will help players. I always believe, and most coaches we talk to, they want the quarterback to be the hardest worker. And there is no doubt he is a hard worker.People ask me, ‘Do you think it can work?’ Let’s give it time. Why does it have to be such a rush? I need to see more.Collinsworth: For 16 weeks he will have them lined up and fighting. They used to talk about wrestling drills at the University of Florida where they put him on the mat against all-comers. Bring’em on. You against Tim Tebow. They were throwing each other around…When the guy that’s talking in the offensive huddle has that kind of heart and he’s that kind of fighter, you have a chance every Sunday.
I’ll be off and on the blog today. A major situation at work is turning out to be not as major as thought so I could be free to do some linkage. We’ll see.
