Off the Couch

“I’m convinced more than ever that the move we made in the off season to get [Elvis Grbac] was the right thing to do.”
— Matt Cavanaugh, Ravens offensive coordinator, Inside the NFL, HBO

“I think the players are rallying around [Grbac]. He’s a very verbal guy when it comes to dealing with his receivers.”
— Cavanaugh, HBO

GH: Grbac was then shown verbally ripping his rookie tight end for not reacting correctly to an audible. He later had to apologize because it was Grbac who had erred, not the rook.

“It would be a disaster. It would be the worst black-eye the league has ever seen.”
— Mike Patrick, on the possibility of the NFL’s using replacement referees, WHB 810

GH: The only thing in the NFL more overrated than its referees is Grbac.

“Coming into the situation, everybody’s going to say, ‘Boy, how does he handle the pressure?’ I just do it because that’s how I was trained to think.”
— Elvis Grbac, HBO

GH: Grbac handles pressure about as well as Barney Fife. It will be fun to watch him lead the Ravens out of the playoffs and into chaos this season.

“How much of [Kellen Winslow’s] views have been impacted and shaped by the fact that he applied for jobs as head coach and A.D. at his alma mater [Missouri] and didn’t get either one?”
— Bryant Gumbel, on Winslow’s demanding that his son attend a college where black coaches are in a position of power, Real Sports, HBO

“One would have to say, ‘Tremendously.'”
— James Brown, reporter, in answer to Gumbel’s query, HBO

GH: Winslow’s son wanted to play at Washington, but his dad refused to sign the parental consent letter because the football team employed no important black coaches. Kellen Winslow II has enrolled at Miami, where the defensive coordinator and receiver’s coaches are black.

“What the hell does [Len] Dawson drink that keeps him looking like he’s 31 years old?”
Paul Maguire, ESPN NFL analyst, 810

“I want to make a formal apology to our Kansas City audience because that was so bad. That was awful.”
— Tim Grunhard, after Maguire appeared as a guest on his radio show, 810