Sunday NFL Countdown host Chris Berman and analysts Cris Carter, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, and Keyshawn Johnson previewed today’s NFL’s week 13 games on ESPN, along with Suzy Kolber, analysts Merril Hoge, Bill Parcells, and NFL Insiders Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen. Some excerpts:
On the best approach for the Green Bay Packers chasing a perfect season …
Ditka: “This is a very unique football team. I don’t know what’s going to happen the rest of the way out, but I know this, ‘If you fear perfection, you’ll never seek perfection.’ That’s what happened to 2009 Colts and nobody can tell me any difference.”
Johnson: “Realistically, when you look at it, I don’t really see anyone in their way that’ll derail this football team … Their (Packers) players want it. They want to win this thing, get to 16-0.”
Carter: “I think there’s a difference. The difference is the Packers organization. This is an ownership group that’s owned by the community, like no other in any other sport. I believe their pursuit of perfection is a little bit different. Every person that owns a piece of the Green Bay Packers, if they go undefeated, then they personally own that history.”
Jackson: “Their players have taken every mystery out of it. Their players, Charles Woodson, spokesman for the football team, their head coach (Mike) McCarthy, have already said ‘it is something we’re thinking about. It is something we’re considering.’”
Parcells: “I don’t think there’s any generic way to approach this. I don’t think anyone outside the Green Bay organization can look down on that and say, ‘Hey, this is what they should do.’ As a coach, I know my job is, when that playoff game comes, the first one, I need my team to be sharp and ready to execute to the best of their ability. If that means I’ve got to rest somebody, in-between a little bit, I might rest them. If that means I’ve got to practice a little bit, I’ll practice them …”
On how the Giants can upset undefeated Packers …
Ditka: “They have not run the football very well and that’s a problem. Defensively, they haven’t had the pass rush that they’re used to having. Now you’re letting Green Bay play on a wide open field. They’re doing what they want to do because the offense of the New York Giants cannot dictate to them anymore.”
Jackson: “This winning streak of the Green Bay Packers started against the NY Giants, 45-17. All that’s happened is the Green Bay Packers got better and the Giants got worst since that time.”
Johnson: “When you look at the staple of the defense, it’s pass rush. Where’s the pass rush of the New York Giants? That’s what you think when you think New York Giants. You think pass rush, because of what they’ve been able to do with quarterbacks in this league – get after them, punish them, make them pay. They haven’t been able to do it.”
Ditka: “If the Giants offense can get a little magic like they did in the Super Bowl, they got a chance. That’s very remote.”
On whether the Sunday NFL Countdown analysts now believe in Tim Tebow …
Johnson: “He is a good quarterback for what they’re doing. It’s trick football. They’re winning. That’s all you really care about. As far as throwing the football and being a passer, he’s just not there. He wasn’t there in high school. He wasn’t there in college. And he’s not there right now. He won in high school. He won in college. And he’s winning now. I guess that’s all that really matters.”
Carter: “I believe in (linebacker) Von Miller. I believe in (cornerback) Champ Bailey – playing some of the best football. I believe what they’re doing, (head coach) John Fox as a defensive minded coach …”
Jackson: “So you give Tim Tebow no credit for this?”
Johnson: “Tebow has done a good job in the system that he is in. We are receivers, we want him to throw the football to win games.”
Jackson: “There is a contribution being made to a tremendous running effort. He (Tebow) is part of that. The other thing that I’ll give you is an intangible because those guys wouldn’t be playing as well if they had no faith in him. To a certain extent, that will he carried through high school and college and into the pros has certainly been an inspiration of sorts to the guys that he has played with.”
Berman: “To his credit, in all the running, he’s turned it over twice in his starts – one fumble and one pick. That can’t hurt.”
More on Tebow …:
Kolber: “Tebow alluded to this, credit to Mike McCoy, the offensive coordinator, for presenting some different wrinkles each week that the defense has to prepare for. So they do play a little bit slower and he is not running the option on every play … For right now, you can believe.”
Hoge: “That’s called gimmick football. What do you believe? Do you believe you can win a Super Bowl? Is it about winning games? There is no conversation. They’ve already won games. Can you win a Super Bowl? That is the whole thing. Do I believe he’s a good guy? Do I believe he can run the football? I never said he couldn’t. I do believe in that. Can you throw it from the pocket on a consistent basis? He still throws it in the dirt 50% of the time. He’s still undecided to how he throws the football on his second year. His elongated motion is still there. You’re going to get exposed eventually by a very good team … I don’t see it. I haven’t seen no improvement. His gimmicks are working right now. But when you have to play real football, he won’t be able to do it.”
Parcells: “I think he is improving. I think he is getting better … This guy’s got some attributes you can’t see and he brings them every Sunday. He’s competitive. He’s hardworking. And he’s got this strength and will, and they are running for over 200 yards a week. You keep running for over 200 yards a week and playing good defense, you’re going to be in most of the games … I’ll tell you this, he is getting better. They are getting better. Their record is better and they are in contention. Now, who you think got them there?”
Hoge: “Their approach got them there …”
Parcells: “Let me ask you about the ground game – Any guy under center part of that?”
Hoge: “I know where you’re going with that. How many hits do you think he can take in 16 games?”
Parcells: “I’ll tell you what I’d worry about. I’ll worry about some of the guys trying to hit him. How many hits can they take?”
Hoge: “To win a Super Bowl, would you believe I can win the Super Bowl this way?”
Parcells: “I would use the players I have to the best of their ability and try to win. You know, you can’t just go down to Texaco and get a new spark plug.”
Hoge: “I agree with that. At the end of the day, it is about winning the Super Bowl.”
Parcells: “How about if we just try to win the Division?”
Legendary former coach Bill Parcells on Ndamukong Suh’s car crash and two-game suspension:
“I think it is pretty fortunate that the league dispensed this discipline. I’d much rather have it, as a coach, that the league dispense this discipline, or the organization dispense the discipline. If the coach is charged with dispensing the discipline, then that can strain or stress the relationship that he eventually has with that player. If someone else does it, like what happened in this occurrence with Suh, then the coach can take the guy aside and say – ‘Look, these guys got you this time. If there’s another occurrence of this, you are going to force me to do something as well because this is, in some fashion, conduct detrimental to the team. You are hurting our chances to win by your behavior. You’re going to force me to do something because all the other players are going to be looking at me and watch how I respond to one of the best players on the team.’ I think it is fortunate that the league did it this time.”
On Buffalo Bills wide receiver Steve Johnson: Does the bad outweigh the good?
Carter: “The one thing as a young receiver, Steve (Johnson) needs to realize, is it takes a lot more concentration to be great in the National Football League. He mentioned T.O. (Terrell Owens), he mentioned Chad (Ocho Cinco), and how he tries to get the success these guys have worked hard at. You can’t duplicate a man’s success just instantly. You need to go out and work on it. If you want to make an investment, invest in a jug machine … When he starts getting into the games, he starts to drop the football.”
Johnson: “He needs to stay more focused on what it is that he has to do, which is play the position of a wide receiver. Not get caught up so much in trying to mimic other guys. It really boils down to the generation, right now, at that position. Just because Chad, Steve Smith and T.O., five years ago, were dubbed as the clowns of celebration in football, you’ve got a young guy like Steve Johnson now looking at that but he’s hurting his team in that process. You don’t need to do that.”
On whether defense can carry the Houston Texans …
Ditka: “I like this football team. They built this football team the right way … They ought to send a memo over to the Colts – ‘This is the way you build a football team. If you lose one player, you don’t lose the season.’”
