NEW YORK (December 26, 2012) – Former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro running back Brian Westbrook joins James Brown, Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth on tonight’s episode of INSIDE THE NFL to discuss Tony Romo’s leadership skills and who will win the coveted Rookie of the Year award this season.
The episode premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
INSIDE THE NFL, now in its 34th season, airs every Wednesday night through the NFL season on SHOWTIME, with multiple replays each week on SHOWTIME and SHOWTIME EXTREME® and availability on SHOWTIME On Demand.
INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports, and NFL Films. Pete Radovich Jr., the Emmy Award-winning Creative Director for CBS Sports, serves as coordinating producer.
Following are excerpts from this week’s episode:
On who will win Rookie of the Year…
BROWN: Who is your guy this year and why?
COLLINSWORTH: I think RGIII [Robert Griffin III]. These other guys have had terrific seasons but the five interception number to me sticks out. I’ve seen him play and get hit. You talked about the hits on [Andrew] Luck, but RGIII at times this year, to get them back into it before he got Pierre Garcon back, before he got some of the guys healthy again, he had to almost do it himself. And he did it without turning the football over. And I think he’s been the best.
SIMMS: I think any one of the three that wins; I will have no argument with it. I will celebrate the fact that they are the winner of Rookie of the Year. But if I had to pick one, I’ve changed three times. I actually had Russell Wilson. This time last week I might take him, but I’m going to take Andrew Luck and here’s why. I think he’s been played the most demanding of the three. The way that they’ve asked him to play, dropping back, throwing it down. Like I said the hits, you know a rookie quarterback taking this many hits, it’s almost unparalleled. Now, Robert Griffin III has played tremendous, but I think they’ve worked around it and slowly integrated him into the offense as the year has gone along. But if you said who do I think, I think RGIII probably will win because like Cris said, those numbers are hard to avoid.
On Tony Romo’s leadership role with the Cowboys…
BROWN: You played against Tony Romo, when the Eagles were playing the Cowboys, did he scare you at all?
WESTBROOK: When you listen to the sound you say, this guy can get it done. You can tell he’s the leader of that football team. But going into that football game as an offensive guy, I say ‘Tony Romo, we’re going to have to worry about this guy.’ But when I talk to the defensive guys, they say, ‘You know, he’s an okay quarterback but he’s going to give us our opportunities.’ We played them back in ’08, he gave us that one opportunity. We ended up winning that game 44-6. He had 183 yards. He gave us that one opportunity and that one interception changed the course of the football game and led his team down in the wrong direction. And so, Tony will give you that one opportunity, can the other team take advantage of it?
On Cam Newton’s behavior in the NFL…
WESTBROOK: This is the thing, when you come in to the league as a rookie, no matter how good you are, you have to defer to the older guys. You have to at least show them respect. And that’s what the older guys want to see. They recognize his talent. He’s a talented kid. Everyone knows that. They want to see him show respect, especially at the Pro Bowl.
BROWN: What was the story on the Pro Bowl, what’s the story?
WESTBROOK: I think he was kind of aloof. He didn’t speak to a lot of guys. The guys gave him a chance to sign some autographs and Cam [Newton] said no. And so the guys were like, ‘Hey, what’s the problem with him?’ This is a collection of the best players in the NFL, and if you can’t sign an autograph for some of your best colleagues in the NFL, your counterparts, then at that point you say, ‘Hey, you must think you’re better than me’ and there’s nobody who can say that amongst some of the best players in the league.
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