“Me going for two, I think that was aggressive, not reckless.” – Giants head coach Brian Daboll on New York’s game-winning two-point conversion
“No defensive player did more in week one to contribute to a win than Fitzpatrick...There’s little question that this was the best game of his distinguished NFL career.” – King on Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick’s performance against the Bengals
“With (Trey) Lance, these mistakes are going to be magnified. Fair or unfair, that’s how the 49ers have set this up with the signing of a quarterback who has played in two NFC championship games in the last three years.” – King on the 49ers’ QB situation
STAMFORD, Conn. – Sept. 12, 2022 – Peter King recaps NFL Kickoff weekend and speaks with Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky after their respective Week 1 victories in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses the Packers’ loss to the Vikings, Dak Prescott’s injury, Trey Lance’s performance against the Bears, and more.
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The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
NEW YORK GIANTS
Giants head coach Brian Daboll to King after New York’s victory over the Titans: “Will we always win on a two-point play? No. But like I told them last week, I have confidence in you guys. I want you guys to be aggressive out there. I want to be like I tell the quarterbacks to be — aggressive, not reckless.”
Daboll on going for two with the game on the line: “Me going for two, I think that was aggressive, not reckless.”
Daboll: “In camp, we put the offense in some terrible, terrible situations — I knew it’d be a miserable day for the offense. That’s okay. I want to see how Daniel (Jones) and Saquon (Barkley) and the coaches, even, respond. I think I owe that to the team. So they all get through that, and they’re better for it.”
King on the Giants’ game-winning drive: “As the Giants, down 20-13 with three minutes to play, were driving for a touchdown, Daboll asked five defensive players, separately, ‘Hey, when we score, we’re going for two — you okay with that?’ Five for five, yes. His team’s not a democracy, but as Daboll said later, ‘Those are the guys out in the battle, laying it on the line. I want to make sure they’re okay with going for it all right there. They were like, ‘Hell yeah.’”
Daboll to King on what he said to his defensive players before going for the game-winning two-point conversion: “The one thing I’ve said to them is, ‘I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. But I can guarantee you the one thing you’ll never call me is afraid.’”
King on Giants RB Saquon Barkley: “In the eyes of Giants’ fans, the second pick of the 2018 draft was washed, a past-tense dude. The narrative started to get rewritten in Nashville Sunday evening.”
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
King on the Steelers’ overtime win vs. the Bengals: “That was a Mike Tomlin win. The Steelers scratched and clawed…(Minkah) Fitzpatrick’s pick-six on the sixth snap of the game and his amazing blocked PAT to force overtime at the end of the fourth quarter…those are the kind of plays Tomlin-coached teams make, and a big reason why he’s never had a losing season in 15 years atop the Steelers.”
Steelers QB Mitchell Trubisky to King on his first win with the Steelers: “There are days you ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ All the training, all the prep, all the stuff you put your body through. Sometimes you’ve got to play this long and make enough plays to keep putting yourself in position to have a chance to win.”
King on Fitzpatrick’s performance: “No defensive player did more in week one to contribute to a win than Fitzpatrick…Fitzpatrick’s had a few great games since his 2019 trade from Miami to the Steelers, but this was his greatest. In fact, there’s little question that this was the best game of his distinguished NFL career.”
WEEK 1
King on the Packers: “I think Aaron Rodgers had to be simmering on the short flight home from Minneapolis Sunday evening…the young receivers are going to be frustrating to work through for Rodgers and (Matt) LaFleur.”
King on the Cowboys: “The Dallas offense was mostly putrid with Dak Prescott Sunday in the 19-3 loss to Tampa. What will it be like for maybe six games with Cooper Rush? ... Not as worrisome as the loss of Prescott but pretty damn worrisome: CeeDee Lamb, supposedly the franchise receiver, was targeted 11 times and caught two balls — for just 29 yards.”
King on Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and his contract situation: “After the 24-9 win over the Jets: Maybe betting on himself will be a good thing for Jackson, who threw three touchdowns in the Meadowlands Sunday.”
King on 49ers QB Trey Lance: “Young quarterbacks are going to make mistakes like this one, particularly in god-awful conditions. But with Lance, these mistakes are going to be magnified. Fair or unfair, that’s how the 49ers have set this up with the signing of a quarterback who has played in two NFC championship games in the last three years.”
King on the Patriots: “I think someone’s got to explain to me how the Patriots — no idea what they can do on offense right now — are one-point favorites over the Steelers in Pittsburgh Sunday.”
KING’S WEEK 1 AWARDS
Offensive Players of the Week: Saquon Barkley, New York Giants, Michael Thomas, New Orleans, Justin Jefferson, Minnesota, & Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City
King on Thomas: “He keyed the Saints to erasing 14 points of a 16-point deficit with 3- and 9-yard TD catches in the last 12 minutes. The Saints had no business winning this game, but Thomas’ will helped do it.”
King on Mahomes: “In all, Mahomes threw for 360 yards and five touchdowns. Typical him.”
Defensive Players of the Week: Minkah Fitzpatrick, Pittsburgh, Von Miller, Buffalo, & Khalil Mack, Los Angeles Chargers
King on Miller: “In his emotional return to SoFi Stadium — Miller won a Super Bowl there seven months ago — Miller had two sacks and four pressures on his friend Matthew Stafford in a dominating 31-10 Buffalo win over the Rams. That was pretty clutch.”
Coach of the Week: Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota
King on O’Connell: “Last year’s Rams offensive coordinator orchestrated a well-balanced attack in his NFL head-coaching debut…The Vikings clearly have responded well to the lighter, teaching-heavy approach of O’Connell after the hardline approach of former coach Mike Zimmer.”
Special Teams Players of the Week: Cade York, Cleveland, Justin Reid, Kansas City, & Chris Boswell, Pittsburgh
King on York: “He burst the bubbles of Baker Mayfield and 72,205 in Charlotte by bombing a 58-yard field goal with eight seconds left. Cleveland 26, Carolina 24. Do we have another Evan McPherson on our hands?”
Goats of the Week: Mitchell Wilcox, Cincinnati, Joe Burrow, Cincinnati, & Rodrigo Blankenship, Indianapolis
King on Burrow: “Hard to imagine any offense having as bad a first half as the Bengals did…just because the Bengals had multiple chances to win late doesn’t negate the hole Burrow put the team in.”
NEWS & NOTES
Seahawks QB Geno Smith to King on winning the starting job in Seattle: “This chance means everything to me. As a person who entrenched his life into this game, I mean really put my life into this game, it’s an incredible story. Hero gets knocked down, nobody thinks he’ll get back up, and he gets up and gets another shot.”
Smith to King on the Seahawks’ offense: “Interestingly enough, this offense is a lot like the one I ran my last two years at West Virginia. This is a mixture of West Coast and different concepts. I’m comfortable with it.”
Bills QB Josh Allen on signing autographs: “I remember being that kid, wanting the autographs, looking up to guys in my position. It’s the least I can do to wave, high-five, fist-bump, maybe sign a little something here and there. I can’t sign everybody’s, but I try to.”
King on the Bears’ plans to potentially build a domed stadium: “I think the Bears absolutely, positively should not have a domed stadium…The weather’s your heritage!”
Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:
- PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
- ProFootballTalk.com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
- NBC Sports EDGE’s Rotoworld Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
- The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
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