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| For Immediate Release |
ESPN PR
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| October 4, 2009 | 860-766-2000
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ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown Notes and Quotes – Week 4ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown host Chris Berman and analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson previewed today’s NFL action. Some excerpts:
From Jon Gruden’s interview with Brett Favre: Extended Interview on SportsCenter “Sunday Conversation” at 11 p.m., and Monday Night Countdown (7 p.m.)….
Favre: “It will be emotional, but I base this solely off of how I feel right now. I don’t know if I can get any more emotional than I got last week (last-drive touchdown win against the San Francisco 49ers). The emotional high of winning that game took a lot out of me. Not that this game coming up won’t take much to get me charged up.” What do you say to Packers fans? Favre: “It was 16 great years. I hope they enjoyed it, they appreciated it, that run as much as I did. You can’t take that away, you just have to let it go and just move on. “ How much of this is really personal? Favre: “I want to beat them. I’ve got a lot of friends on that team. The way things went down. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. It was disappointing, for both sides. I still want to prove that I’m worthy and I think that’s human nature. Believe me, I want to win the game.” To view a clip of Gruden’s interview click here.
On facing your former team: Emotions players carry into games against their former teams and what Brett Favre will be thinking in his first game against the Packers… Marcus Allen (former NFL running back for the L.A. Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs): “What made it very difficult was it was like playing against my brother. I wanted to beat my brother, but I never wanted to embarrass him. …I wouldn’t say that it’s black and white…I think behind all that that you still want to prove a point because they said I was washed up.” Curtis Martin (former NFL running back for the New England Patriots and N.Y. Jets): “There was a part of me that wanted to show New England how much of a mistake they made. There was a part of me that wanted to say to them, ‘You should have kept me here. I deserved to be here and your loss.’ … I wouldn’t call it revenge, but I would call it something very close to revenge.”
“I would want to annihilate Green Bay. I would want to stomp on their hearts and crush them if I was Brett Favre.” On Favre vs. Packers… Jackson: “The Green Bay packers did everything they could to prevent him from going to the Minnesota Vikings and having to play him. …He has what he wishes. Not against the Green Bay fans, but against the man sitting on the fourth floor. Ted Thompson, this is all about you and Brett Favre.”
“When he had the meeting with Ted Thompson and they said we’re moving on and coach McCarthy stepped up and said, ‘that train has left the station,’ when Brett Favre got back on that plane to go to Mississippi, what do you think his thoughts were? They weren’t, ‘I’m going to New York, I can’t believe it.’ His thoughts were, ‘if it’s the last thing I do, if it’s the last thing I do in my football career, I’m going to get back at the Green Bay Packers.’” Johnson: “If the N.Y. Jets went to the playoffs, Super Bowl and coach Mangini would still be there, he’d still be a Jet. He didn’t go all the way around the earth to come back and play Minnesota.” Ditka: “If you think there’s any loyalty in professional sports, you’re crazy. Maybe this wasn’t totally about money but nobody’s loyal to anyone. When they think they’ve used you, you’re finished. Out the door you go. I don’t blame him for being mad in that area. He wants to crush them.” Carter: “When I saw him in the purple, trust me, there was trepidation. But in the end what supersedes that, I saw that kid. When you can see that look on his face, on the ground when he threw that touchdown pass. The kid’s love to play football, supersedes all the other mess about the business.” Berman: “From the fan angle Green Bay fans don’t know what to think about it. …This is tough. Now already with that throw last week, Brett has a Minnesota legacy.” Fail to the Redskins? On reporter Greg Garber’s report of the once-proud Washington Redskins… Ditka: “Good guys make bad decisions. I don’t know a lot about a lot, but I do know that if you’re paying a defensive tackle $100 million dollars, you’re getting cheated. It’s a bad decision. The guy is on the field 15-30 plays a game at the most. It’s just a bad, bad decision.”
Johnson: “I think it starts from the top and trickles down to the sidelines. You look at the coach that they’ve hired in Jim Zorn. He was hired originally hired to be the offensive coordinator, quarterback guru specialist because he played the position. I haven’t seen anything from Jason Campbell since he’s taken over as the play-caller head coach. They’ve drafted well, they’ve signed some pretty good free agents, but at the same time you let guys like Marty Schottenheimer get away as a pretty established coach. Joe Gibbs, you have to figure how to keep him. By his racing team, do something, you’ve got a billion dollars.” Carter: “I’m a little disturbed by all that love the players talked about in the locker room. We are here to win. People get paid to do a job. In the NFL you get paid to win. Daniel Snyder if you look at his tenure has not had consecutive years where he has made the playoffs.” Jackson: “When free agency opens up, the top prize is a defensive tackle. Within five hours he had signed that guy to a $100 million dollar contract. It’s like a guy who has a leak in the roof, but I keep re-doing the basement. It’s not that he (Dan Snyder) doesn’t want to win, he just doesn’t understand the house.” On quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints… Carter: “Drew Brees is better than anyone in the National Football League right now. He’s able to manipulate a safety, recognize a safety coming from his right, manipulate a safety and keep in middle and when you blitz me Tommy (Jackson), I’m taking shots down the middle of the field and we’re going to make big plays.”
On Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini… Ditka: “If you got two starting quarterbacks - and take it from an expert because I’ve screwed it up plenty - you’ve got none. … “If you don’t have that football team behind you, you can’t get the morale, you can’t get them pumped up. C’mon, not $1,700 bucks for a bottle of water, that’s crazy stuff. That’s not important. That isn’t going to make them play better.”
On the top NFC North quarterback… Jackson: “Brett Favre. They’re undefeated. You are what your record is, that’s the team that’s undefeated.” On which team will have the most trouble finding a win this year… Carter: “(to Jackson) You need to go back to the crib and check out your hometown Cleveland Browns. Quarterback controversy, Vince Lombardi and oh, Eric Mangini is their coach.” Johnson: “I’m going to say the Lambs, right now. Eventually they turn it around, but the Lambs (St. Louis Rams).” On T.O. vs. Buffalo Media… On Chicago not being chosen as host of the 2016 Olympics… For more information, visit ESPN’s NFL media kit here. -30- |