NEW YORK (October 2, 2013) – Pro Football Hall of Famer and Cincinnati Bengals legend Anthony Muñoz joins INSIDE THE NFL tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME. Muñoz joins host James Brown and analysts, All-Pro greats Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth to discuss the Tampa Bay Buccaneers situation and other Week 4 hot topics.
Now in its 36th season on television, INSIDE THE NFL will feature a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a guest analyst each week. New episodes premiere every Wednesday night on SHOWTIME through February 5, 2014.
INSIDE THE NFL covers every game, every week, with trademark highlights from NFL Films, special, in-depth features and spirited debate on the hottest topics in the league.
INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports, Ross Ketover and Pat Kelleher of 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 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers…
MUÑOZ: Never really experienced a coach-player thing like that. But we experienced a player with a drug problem…It was a family thing and we took care of it. People knew about it. But it wasn’t like it is now with the Tampa Bay situation. It seems like they’re being pitted against each other and calling each other out.
COLLISNWORTH: They couldn’t have messed it up any worse. And I’m talking about both sides. Because what you’re talking about now is a guy at the end of his rookie contract…They want him gone and they don’t want to pay for the contract. That’s really what this is about at this point. So now what you want is Josh Freeman with the greatest value that you can present to the league. I wish he had never been benched. People will disagree with that. But if I were really trying to trade the guy, I would play him; hope he had a good game and see what I could get for him. If somebody just picked up the contract, it was going to be a win for you…All these things, if you’re another team, is there any way in the world you’re going to say, ‘Well let me give you a fourth-round draft pick and pay this guy $6.2 million, with all this baggage and come and here and try and learn my offense.’ And not even have a contract extension that he’s going to play past this year. It’s just not going to happen.
SIMMS: I can’t imagine they put out the drug rumors. Why would you do that? You just drive his bargain price down. I think it’s about the locker room. Usually issues don’t affect the locker room…Like I said about Lawrence Taylor, we never talked about even the locker room. But when you talk about the coach and the quarterback, that can divide a football team. And also, you’re giving players an out. Players are going to go, ‘Well, it’s not me. It’s the quarterback’. The number one crutch players use besides the coach, they’re going to use the quarterback.
BROWN: It’s despicable to me that the kid is in a drug program. And when you have the word ‘drugs’ you’re thinking all kinds of things. And it’s because he was taking prescribed medication for ADHD. And so it gets leaked out that he’s in a drug program and it conjures up the worst kind of notions about what the kid is doing. I understand you guys played the game. You cannot miss the team photo. I get that as well too. But I’m not sitting here hearing them talking about a bad kid. To the degree that it was leaked out that he’s in a drug program, that’s despicable. It’s illegal. It’s employer-employee confidential. It’s against the HIPAA rules.
SIMMS: For Josh Freeman and Greg Schiano, try and make it go away because it has a chance to ruin both of their careers. You have to get it out of the headlines. You have to quit talking about it. You have to move forward.
On Alex Smith’s Impressive Start…
COLLINSWORTH: He had good numbers. He was right there. If he had enough attempts he would have been right there in the race for best quarterback rating a season ago…But really for the first time now, Andy Reid has a true West Coast quarterback. A guy who’s going to do the quick reads, get the ball out, do all those kinds of things and hopefully not turn it over.
SIMMS: He understands this football team. A lot of times you’re going to say that about quarterbacks. They’re worried about themselves and you have to judge what’s going on with your football team and suppress your ego. He has done that. My only criticism of what they’ve done so far, I know they’re 4-0, but you have to get big plays throwing the football down the field. They’re starting to open a little but they’re going to need more if you want to be a serious playoff contender when the time comes.
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