“It’s the ultimate no-no for any defensive back. Knock it down and box out your guy. This is going to give nightmares to the Chicago Bears.” – Devin McCourty on Commanders’ Hail Mary TD to defeat Bears
“This could be ‘team of destiny’ type stuff. You win those kinds of games, good things happen.” – Jason Garrett on the Commanders’ Hail Mary
“I hate to say it Jets, but you created this darkness by letting go of your coach and changing horses in midstream.” – Tony Dungy on Jets’ loss to New England
“‘A fool isn’t a fool for making a mistake. A fool is a fool for refusing to learn, and I’m going to learn from the things that went wrong last year.’” – Eagles QB Jalen Hurts to Mike Florio on learning from last year’s struggles
Peacock Sunday Night Football Final Streams Exclusively on Peacock Following Cowboys-49ers and Every Sunday Night Football Game During 2024 Season
STAMFORD, Conn. – October 27, 2024 – NBC Sports’ presentation of Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season continued tonight from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., with Football Night in America leading into coverage of Cowboys-49ers on Sunday Night Football on NBC and Peacock.
Maria Taylor hosted FNIA from NBC Sports’ Studio 3 in Stamford, Conn. She was joined by former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, three-time Super Bowl champion Devin McCourty, former NFL quarterback Chris Simms, NFL Insider Mike Florio, and fantasy sports industry pioneer Matthew Berry. Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy and two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison joined co-host Jac Collinsworth at the site of the game.
Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst), Melissa Stark (sideline reporter) and Terry McAulay (rules analyst) are calling tonight’s game.
Pre-game coverage included Garrett’s interview with Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb, Harrison’s interview with 49ers LB Fred Warner, and McCourty’s FaceTime interview with Browns QB Jameis Winston following the Browns’ upset win vs. Baltimore.
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Following are highlights from tonight’s edition of Football Night in America on NBC and Peacock:
ON COWBOYS
Jason Garrett on the relationship between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the rest of the organization: “In general, there’s a misperception about Jerry Jones. There’s this idea that he sits in meetings all the time. That’s really not the case. But when things aren’t going well, he’s going to inject himself and get more involved. It’s one thing to have conversations about things he wants to do in-house, but it’s a little more challenging when he’s doing radio shows and those things come out in public. Often times they might be in contrast to what the head coach is saying or what the quarterback is saying...There’s a lot of attention on the Cowboys, and when you’re the head coach, you have to quiet things down and eliminate some of that noise.”
Garrett on Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb’s accountability: “Troy Aikman’s been saying ‘bad route running’ and Lamb says, ‘He’s right, we have to be better.’ ‘Not physical.’ ‘Yeah, he’s right. Got to be better.’ I asked him about holding out during training camp. He said, ‘Yeah, it affected us. We haven’t gotten into our rhythm yet.’ That’s what you’re looking for from your best players on your team.”
Garrett: “The interview I did with CeeDee on Thursday was after practice. I asked him how practice was and he said, ‘I put my big pads on. I was blocking all day long, two hours of just run game, run game.’ It will be interesting to see what the approach is tonight.”
ON 49ERS
Dungy on the 49ers’ mentality this season: “Last year we were [in San Francisco] and the 49ers were very confident. They felt like they were tougher than the Cowboys. This year is different. They’re business-like and they’ve talked about getting back to playing 49ers football.”
Harrison on impact of head coach Kyle Shanahan this season: “I spoke to one of the 49ers coaches and he said that despite all of the adversity that head coach Kyle Shanahan has gone through with the holdouts and the injuries that he’s been positive, upbeat, and has spoken life into a lot of those rookies. He has given them confidence because they’ve had to play this year.”
Simms on the 49ers’ defense: “This is not the 49ers defense we saw the last few years. They’re missing people – Arik Armstead’s not there, [Javon] Hargrave got hurt, [Talanoa] Hufanga’s out at safety, [Dre] Greenlaw’s not there...there’s going to be plays to be had for the Cowboys’ passing game.”
Harrison on the 49ers offense and TE George Kittle: “I know they’re going to run the ball, but offensively for me it starts with George Kittle. The Cowboys don’t have anyone on defense that can matchup with him.”
ON COMMANDERS
Simms on Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary TD pass to Noah Brown to defeat the Bears: “Here’s the key – Daniels getting in the pocket and buying time that time where the mosh pit could formulate downfield, and then you have a chance to throw the ball high into the air, get it tipped, it’s a touchdown. Miraculous play. Unbelievable win by Washington.”
Simms on the Hail Mary play: “There were definitely two blatant holds there (on the offensive line) that they would have called in the second quarter.”
Garrett: “This could be ‘team of destiny’ type stuff. You win those kinds of games, good things happen.”
ON BEARS
McCourty on coverage of Commanders Hail Mary TD catch by Noah Brown: “You’ve got to box Noah Brown out! Somebody, anybody get in front of him, please! They had all of their defensive backs jumping for the ball...it’s the ultimate no-no for any defensive back. Knock it down and box out your guy. This is going to give nightmares to the Chicago Bears.”
Garrett: “What I didn’t like was (allowing) the quick out for 10 yards on the play before.”
McCourty on fumble by offensive lineman Doug Kramer Jr. at the one yard line vs. Commanders: “It’s one of those calls where if you hand it off and score, you say, ‘What a play call! This is awesome!’ But when it doesn’t it’s a stupid play. That’s what it comes down to.”
ON RAVENS
McCourty on safety Kyle Hamilton’s dropped interception late in the loss to Cleveland: “As a defensive back or anyone on the defense, when you drop the game-winning interception, bad things usually happen.”
Garrett on the Ravens’ defense in their loss to the Browns: “The biggest issue with the Ravens is their pass defense. Jameis [Winston] exploited it.”
ON BROWNS
Browns QB Jameis Winston to McCourty on throwing the game-winning touchdown with one minute left in the game after nearly being intercepted the play before: “As you know, in a two-minute situation, when you don’t capitalize on situations like that, everything is up for grabs and I’m just so happy we were able to pull off and score a big touchdown for us…We haven’t had a win in a long time, but we have to stay hungry and keep our minds focused.”
ON EAGLES
Florio on what Eagles QB Jalen Hurts said to him after Philadelphia’s win over Cincinnati: “I asked [Jalen Hurts] about that collapse they had at the end of last year after they were 10-1 and it all fell apart. I asked him, ‘Do you try to forget about that or do you still remember it?’...He said to me, ‘A fool isn’t a fool for making a mistake. A fool is a fool for refusing to learn and I’m going to learn from the things that went wrong last year.’”
ON PATRIOTS
McCourty on the mindset in New England: ‘It’s bad for us in New England right now, but it could be worse – we could be the New York Jets.”
ON JETS
Dungy on Jets loss to Patriots: “I hate to say it Jets, but you created this darkness by letting go of your coach and changing horses in midstream. They’ve got a long way to go to get back and I don’t know if they can.”
ON PACKERS
Simms on Green Bay’s 30-27 win vs. Jacksonville: “Do you believe in life after [Jordan] Love? Cher did – so I do too if it’s the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love was out – but when you talk about the Packers and running the ball with the RB, they have the best running game in all of football. The best offseason trade acquisition in the NFL, Malik Willis comes in and makes the big throw...it wasn’t pretty but they got it done.”
Garrett: “They’re taking the ball away better than anybody in the NFL. But they’re a little spotty at times...I still think that Detroit is still the best team in the division.”
McCourty on comparing the Packers to the Lions: “I still think they’re a tier below Detroit when it comes to that division.”
Florio on Jordan Love’s injury: “Everybody thought it was an aggravation of the knee injury he suffered in Week 1. It turned out to be a groin injury and after the game, head coach Matt LaFleur said he has a ‘high level of concern.’ But I’m told, pending an MRI tomorrow, there’s hope that it’s just a week-to-week injury and Love will do all he can to be back in time for next week’s showdown against the Lions. Remember, that injury in Week 1 looked pretty bad and he only missed two games.”
ON LIONS
Garrett on Jahmyr Gibbs’ 70-yard TD run in the Lions’ win over the Titans: “Those are pro football players chasing him! He’s kicking cinders in their face.”
Simms on Lions WR Kalif Raymond’s performance: “90-yard punt return TD and had a TD reception. Everybody loves Raymond!”
ON CHIEFS
Simms: “This was encouraging today – Travis Kelce got involved in the offense. They found him a lot.”
Simms on newly acquired-Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins: “They’re going to need him. It can’t just be about the defense and the run game and [Patrick] Mahomes making a play every now and then.”
ON BILLS
Simms on WR Keon Coleman and the Bills’ offense: “Keon Coleman is starting to become a force for this Bills offense...they were on fire in this game and it was a big win for them on the road in Seattle.”
ON CARDINALS
Simms on QB Kyler Murray: “Remember when Kyler Murray got in trouble for playing Call of Duty? Duty called for him today to make some plays in the pass game and Kyler Murray delivered.”
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Peacock Sunday Night Football Final, an NFL post-game show produced by NBC Sports, streams exclusively on Peacock following every Sunday Night Football game during the 2024 season. The show is hosted from the game site by Jac Collinsworth, Harrison, and Dungy, who will provide instant reactions to each Sunday game along with highlights and interviews.
-- Football Night in America --
