This Week in Quotes: November 17, 2009

compiled by Rory Hickey

SO BILL BELICHICK IS LIKE MICK JAGGER?

"I like the swagger of a head coach who believes in his personnel. I'll take that swagger of a coach any day."

-- NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders defending Bill Belichick's decision to go for it on fourth-and-2 on his own 28 up by six with two minutes left (The Huddle [1])

SHOULDN'T HIS NAME BE T.J. RETURNING?

"That was like a video-game play. You're playing your buddy and you're like, 'I'm just going to go for it.' I guess they figured no matter what, if the offense got the ball back, we were going to win. That's the only thing I can think of."

-- Colts punt returner T.J. Rushing on Belichick's decision to go for it (NFL Nation [2])

THAT SABATHIA REFERENCE IS SURE TO MAKE NEW ENGLANDERS FEEL BETTER

"I gave him my C.C. Sabathia shake off. I felt like I wanted to show fade and just come with the slant and it worked."

-- Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne on shaking off Peyton Manning in order to run a slant pattern (NFL Nation [2])

SOMEHOW I DON'T THINK THAT NAME WILL STICK

"Fourth-and-jackass. That's our name of a now-infamous play in New England Patriots history. Move over, Tuck Rule. You have company. Each and every week we see bad coaching decisions in the NFL, but never, and I mean never, have I seen one as dumb as the decision Patriots coach Bill Belichick made Sunday night against the Indianapolis Colts. His brain was more frozen than Ted Williams'."

-- CBS Sports' Pete Prisco's reasonable thoughts on Bill Belichick's decision (Boston Globe [3])

LIKE A MICROCOSM OF THAT ANALOGY

"We're kind of like that first Iron Man [movie], where he shoots his way out of the cave. We've got a lot of pieces that nobody wanted, but when we all come together we're a hell of a machine."

-- Bengals linebacker Brandon Johnson on the adopted nickname of the Bengals defense 'Scrap-Iron Defense' (Cincinnati.com [4])

AND HAS A WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM

"JDR and myself are very similar except he's really good looking and was a great player. So other than that we're very similar."

-- Jets coach Rex Ryan on the similarities between him and Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio (Twitter [5])

WAIT ... BUT ... BEFORE YOU SAID ...?

"Maybe we are not one of the best defenses in the league."

-- Jets linebacker Bart Scott (Times Herald-Record [6])

SORRY DOESN'T GIVE ME THOSE SIX POINTS BACK

"Sorry to my fantasy owners. I apologize. I had myself today. It was a tough call, but whatever it takes to get the victory, that's what counts"

-- Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew after he kneeled down at the one yard line to allow the Jaguars to run down the clock and kick the game-winning field goal as time expired (USA Today [7])

AT LEAST HE'S MOVED ON FROM BRETT FAVRE

"I really question whether he can play. Quarterbacks need to make their team better. If it's a bad team, they can even make a bad team better. Somebody may say well, even Peyton Manning couldn't help the Bears. Yes, he could. Tom Brady could, too. They might not win the championship or get to the playoffs, but they would make that team better. Those wide receivers who are struggling would be better because they would make them better."

-- Former Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (ESPN Chicago [8])

THIS WEEK IN RIGGINS: DON'T TREAD ON ME

"I do have an ax to grind ... You should, too. We should always have an ax to grind against bullies, and I have taken it one step further to say this bully's heart is dark. When I use that phrase, I'm referring to the heart of a narcissist, someone who thinks they're better than others, someone who thinks the social contract does not apply to them, someone who drives a wedge between my former teammate, Joe Theismann, and myself."

-- Former Redskins great John Riggins, continuing his crusade to have the city of Washington, D.C. tar and feather Daniel Snyder (Washington Post [9])

TALK ABOUT SEEING THE CHARGERS IN YOUR REAR-VIEW MIRROR

"First I want to give credit to the Chargers and Coach Zorn. You know, they obviously played 60 minutes better than we did, were well-prepared, and did a lot of good things today, and until we start to play smart football, tough football, coach well and do it for four quarters, we're gonna struggle, and right now that's where we're at."

-- Broncos coach Josh McDaniels after his team lost to the Redskins (NFL.com [10])

IF YOU GUARANTEE VICTORY AND GET HELD CATCHLESS YOU SHOULD HAVE TO RETIRE

"I don't want to give anybody bulletin board material, but I do believe it was Herman Edwards: We play to win the game. Period. So, we're going on the road to play a football game, and we're gonna win. I don't care what you say. People can print in the paper; they can send it to the team's we're playing. But they know just like we know, we're going to win the game."

-- Seahawks wide receiver Nate Burleson guaranteeing victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks did not win and Burleson had no catches (The News Tribune [11])

I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S WORSE, THE PREDICTION OR THE ENGLISH

"I don't see nobody on our schedule that can beat us in my eyes."

-- Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh on the Seahawks' prospects for the rest of the season (Kitsap Sun [12])

MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY TO FOCUS ON THE REST OF YOUR SCHEDULE

"Every time we play the Raiders, it's always a hated rivalry and coach stressed it all during the week: Hate the Raiders, we've got to beat the Raiders."

-- Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe on the heated NFL rivalry of massive importance that is Raiders-Chiefs (ESPN [13])

WELL I SUPPOSE ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

"If you really want to look at it, you can go 8-0 and you might end up 10-6. There's a possible way you can actually do it."

-- Raiders cornerback Chris Johnson (no, not that one) on the Raiders potentially winning ten games this year. After their loss to KC their record will only be 9-7 (Oakland Tribune [14])

CORTLAND FINEGAN: FOR FUN THINGS

"I don't know if he did it, but I condone fun things. If he was having fun doing it, then by all means, do what you do.''

-- Titans cornerback Cortland Finegan on owner Bud Adams' allegedly flipping off the Buffalo Bills sideline (Titans Insider [15])

SO ... CAPTAIN MORGAN IS A PERSON?

"Captain Morgan here, as you know I believe in celebrating legendary times with my fans and my friends and always doing so in a socially responsible manner. I am a man of action, a man of the moment, and I always make fun a priority. And when it comes to football what is more fun than a touchdown? I believe in drinking responsibly, marketing responsibly and helping charities too, but understand my friends at the NFL's perspective. I will continue in my quest for legendary times and ask my fans to do the same."

-- Captain Morgan's statement after Brent Celek struck the Captain Morgan pose after scoring a touchdown. The NFL was not pleased (Advertising Age [17])

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF COUPLES HAVE BOTH PEOPLE WITH "LA" AS THEIR FIRST SYLLABLE? EIGHTY FIVE OR NINETY PERCENT?

"It was weird. I thought it was going to be a necklace or something. It was a pregnancy test."

-- Chargers running back LaDanian Tomlinson on finding a small gift in his locker from his wife, LaTorsha. The attached note read "Open immediately!" (Shutdown Corner [18])

HEY PETE, DO YOU LIKE APPLES?

"What's your deal? What's your deal?"

-- USC coach Pete Carroll to Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh when they met for the postgame handshake after Harbaugh went for a two-point conversion late in the game (San Francisco Chronicle [19])

$35,000 FINE FOR TRYING TO INVENT A RULE

"Rule #1059: It is against NFL policy to cover Chad Ochocinco [20] man to man. It has always been a rule but with the events of last year we must have forgotten who he was. Please note that he is still the most uncoverable receiver in the league. This rule is for the safety of embarrassment to all defensive backs. Thanks!"

-- Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco on a little known NFL rule that somehow gets overlooked (Twitter [21])

MAYWEATHER-PACQUIAO NEEDS TO HAPPEN

"I'm their Freddie Roach."

-- Ochocinco, taking some credit for the play of stud corners Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall (Sporting News Today [22])

SATURDAY WAS NOT A GOOD WEEK FOR RON JOHNSON

"November's not a good year for them."

-- Broadcaster Ron Johnson referring to the University of Minnesota's struggles during the month of November (Awful Announcing [23])

TIM TEBOW'S CONCUSSION WAS SO TREMENDOUS IT GAVE EVERYONE IN THE STANDS A CONCUSSION

"The most celebrated concussion of the 2009 season."

-- CBS announcer Verne Lundquist after a replay was shown of Tim Tebow's concussion earlier in the year against Kentucky (Awful Announcing [23])

IT IS WHAT IT IS

"I think they should still be able to play football, regardless. Tennessee is my place. It's my football team."
"Even after they put a gun in your face, you say let them play football?" 6 News asked.
"Yeah, it's Tennessee. That's the way it is sometimes."

-- Corey Zickefoose, one of the victims of the armed robbery attempt by three University of Tennessee players on whether the trio should be allowed to stay on the team (WATE.com [24])

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