NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FROM CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ON INSIDE THE NFL ON SHOWTIME®
Rex Ryan Sits Down to Discuss Upcoming AFC Championship Game
NEW YORK (Jan. 19, 2011) – New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan joins the cast of INSIDE THE NFL in this week’s episode, airing Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, for a special interview to discuss Sunday’s upcoming AFC Championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and to take a look back at their monumental win on Sunday over the New England Patriots. Plus the cast previews the upcoming Divisional Championship games, Packers vs. Bears and Jets vs. Steelers, and Insider Michael Lombardi joins to discuss, among other things, the change in Ben Roethlisberger this season.
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 Aaron Rodgers’ Performance Last Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons
Simms: Aaron Rodgers, that game was the best playoff game I have ever seen a quarterback play in my life, bar none. Because he made every throw, he did it on the run, he did it with people around him, his arm angle changed constantly, it was absolutely terrific…It was like Brett Favre and Michael Vick mixed together.
Rex Ryan Interview
Ryan: Our single focus is playing this game and that’s it. And this year we want to have the confetti be green and white and we want to wear the hats and we want the t-shirts and we want the hardware…in the off season we made some moves that maybe some people question or whatever but some of these players that we brought in were brought in here for this specific game, to get us past the AFC Championship game and that’s what we are looking forward to doing.
On Ben Roethlisberger Post Incident:
Lombardi: Since the incident last spring and going through the whole process…I think he’s done a great job of rehabbing himself. It’s kind of flown beneath the surface here because of the Jets popularity but now, and I’m around the Steelers quite a bit, he’s a really good teammate. He’s become a really good teammate again. You can see the camaraderie amongst the team and you guys have been in meetings with him. He is much more open, he is willing to talk to you now. Before there was Ben over here and then the rest of the Steelers and I think the unity has brought this team together and they’ve overcome his four games, they went three and one during that stretch and I think it’s really helped this football team.
Collinsworth: I did think that Ben, he was tough to deal with and there was an ego there that surpassed I think anybody else that we dealt with and it almost sometimes would come across as, not quite mean spirited, but a little bit of ‘who are you?’ kind of thing. And I agree with you, this year has been different. You can sense it among his teammates in some of their answers about Ben Roethlisberger and this year it’s been different.
* * *
Recent Comments