Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Talking Sports: Wildcard Weekend

Aired January 06, 2003 - 06:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's time to talk a little sports now, and the NFL's wildcard weekend lived up to its name.
Chris Cotter of 790 The Zone here in Atlanta is here to talk about it.

Talk about nail -- I mean my fingernails are bleeding. The Cleveland game was heartbreaking.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE ATLANTA: The Cleveland game, yes. Well yesterday's games were unbelievable. But I mean it started on Saturday, actually, with the -- you know the Jets clobbering the Colts and then the Falcons go up to Green Bay and...

COSTELLO: Clobber them.

COTTER: Well, yes, and win for the first time. No team has ever gone into Green Bay in the post season and won. I mean Green Bay was 11 and 0.

COSTELLO: And Michael Vick was so gracious. He was so gracious, you know, giving credit to his team when you know a large part of the reason they won the game was Michael Vick.

COTTER: Oh, the big part of the reason why they're even there is Mike Vick because of what he's done all season long. But that team defensively came to play. Brett Favre, former NFL MVP, having an MVP- type season, was completely shut down by the Falcons' D. So that...

COSTELLO: Just awesome.

COTTER: ... brought everybody to Sunday, which was an -- one of the greatest days in NFL playoff history. It really was.

COSTELLO: I don't think that's an understatement either. I mean you're absolutely right, that Steelers-Browns game was so amazing, I could not get off my couch after the game.

COTTER: And you watched it, and at the end of the game you had to turn your TV off and just sulk.

COSTELLO: I was too exhausted.

COTTER: You had to just lay there on your sofa and stare at the ceiling and wonder if you were ever going to be able to get up.

COSTELLO: Exactly. COTTER: Well that game was incredible and Cleveland had a big lead in this one, 17-point lead. They absolutely blew it. They owned the first three quarters. They're winning 24 to 7 and then -- I had a feeling though, Pittsburgh started moving the football at ease. And I started thinking, you know what, Cleveland's not going to be able to stop them the rest of the game. And Cleveland was kicking field goals and Pittsburgh was scoring touchdowns and that was the difference.

COSTELLO: Well, and the Browns never really did establish a running game either.

COTTER: And nobody did.

COSTELLO: It was like a one-trick pony game for them.

COTTER: Kelly Holcomb passed for 429 yards and they ran for a total of 35 yards in the game. That -- what's amazing is that he's able to pass for that many -- that type of yardage when you have no running game to support it. I mean it's -- so an incredible performance. If they had two more seconds...

COSTELLO: I know, if that guy could have gotten out of bounds.

COTTER: ... then they would have been able to get out of bounds. Two more seconds...

COSTELLO: I know.

COTTER: ... and they would have had a chance.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about San Francisco, because what a game that was too.

COTTER: That was. They -- you know on top of that Browns game, how could you top that? Well the second largest comeback in NFL playoff history in that Giants-San Francisco game. And this one, you know the Giants led this thing 38 to 14 late in the third quarter. This thing was done. It was finished, and the Giants are talking smack and here comes San Francisco storming back in the final play of the game, a botched field goal. Now this is another situation where the holder, it was only third down.

COSTELLO: Oh yes.

COTTER: The holder could have spiked the ball and had another chance to kick it.

COSTELLO: Instead he passed it.

COTTER: Instead he just panicked and ran out and tried to pass the ball. And by the way, that was like a guard down field. You can't -- you can't throw the ball to a guard 40 yards down field. That's a...

COSTELLO: They're not used to catching those balls.

COTTER: That's a penalty. That's an illegal man down field.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's a -- that's even worse.

COTTER: Yes, so, it wouldn't have worked out even if they would have completed that pass. But what a huge disappointment for the Giants. And in today's "New York Post" the headline reads "Big Blue Choke," the New York Giants. So...

COSTELLO: Well at least one New York team is still in, right?

COTTER: ... the folks aren't happy up there. The team that people didn't expect to make it about a month ago, yes,...

COSTELLO: The Jets.

COTTER: ... the Giants are the team that...

COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.

COTTER: ... came out.

COSTELLO: Do you think baseball is watching this NFL season to see what parody is really like?

COTTER: I -- you know what, that's a good point. I mean sports with the salary cap like basketball and football and you got this parody so every week you don't know what's going to happen and you don't know who's going to advance as opposed to baseball where you have a pretty good idea. I think they might have their eye on it, although they might be...

COSTELLO: Yes, right.

COTTER: ... busy counting the money to really be watching football.

COSTELLO: Yes, New York might be too busy buying players from other countries.

COTTER: Other teams.

COSTELLO: Yes.

COTTER: And other countries.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chris Cotter.

COTTER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

COTTER: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 6, 2003 - 06:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's time to talk a little sports now, and the NFL's wildcard weekend lived up to its name.
Chris Cotter of 790 The Zone here in Atlanta is here to talk about it.

Talk about nail -- I mean my fingernails are bleeding. The Cleveland game was heartbreaking.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE ATLANTA: The Cleveland game, yes. Well yesterday's games were unbelievable. But I mean it started on Saturday, actually, with the -- you know the Jets clobbering the Colts and then the Falcons go up to Green Bay and...

COSTELLO: Clobber them.

COTTER: Well, yes, and win for the first time. No team has ever gone into Green Bay in the post season and won. I mean Green Bay was 11 and 0.

COSTELLO: And Michael Vick was so gracious. He was so gracious, you know, giving credit to his team when you know a large part of the reason they won the game was Michael Vick.

COTTER: Oh, the big part of the reason why they're even there is Mike Vick because of what he's done all season long. But that team defensively came to play. Brett Favre, former NFL MVP, having an MVP- type season, was completely shut down by the Falcons' D. So that...

COSTELLO: Just awesome.

COTTER: ... brought everybody to Sunday, which was an -- one of the greatest days in NFL playoff history. It really was.

COSTELLO: I don't think that's an understatement either. I mean you're absolutely right, that Steelers-Browns game was so amazing, I could not get off my couch after the game.

COTTER: And you watched it, and at the end of the game you had to turn your TV off and just sulk.

COSTELLO: I was too exhausted.

COTTER: You had to just lay there on your sofa and stare at the ceiling and wonder if you were ever going to be able to get up.

COSTELLO: Exactly. COTTER: Well that game was incredible and Cleveland had a big lead in this one, 17-point lead. They absolutely blew it. They owned the first three quarters. They're winning 24 to 7 and then -- I had a feeling though, Pittsburgh started moving the football at ease. And I started thinking, you know what, Cleveland's not going to be able to stop them the rest of the game. And Cleveland was kicking field goals and Pittsburgh was scoring touchdowns and that was the difference.

COSTELLO: Well, and the Browns never really did establish a running game either.

COTTER: And nobody did.

COSTELLO: It was like a one-trick pony game for them.

COTTER: Kelly Holcomb passed for 429 yards and they ran for a total of 35 yards in the game. That -- what's amazing is that he's able to pass for that many -- that type of yardage when you have no running game to support it. I mean it's -- so an incredible performance. If they had two more seconds...

COSTELLO: I know, if that guy could have gotten out of bounds.

COTTER: ... then they would have been able to get out of bounds. Two more seconds...

COSTELLO: I know.

COTTER: ... and they would have had a chance.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about San Francisco, because what a game that was too.

COTTER: That was. They -- you know on top of that Browns game, how could you top that? Well the second largest comeback in NFL playoff history in that Giants-San Francisco game. And this one, you know the Giants led this thing 38 to 14 late in the third quarter. This thing was done. It was finished, and the Giants are talking smack and here comes San Francisco storming back in the final play of the game, a botched field goal. Now this is another situation where the holder, it was only third down.

COSTELLO: Oh yes.

COTTER: The holder could have spiked the ball and had another chance to kick it.

COSTELLO: Instead he passed it.

COTTER: Instead he just panicked and ran out and tried to pass the ball. And by the way, that was like a guard down field. You can't -- you can't throw the ball to a guard 40 yards down field. That's a...

COSTELLO: They're not used to catching those balls.

COTTER: That's a penalty. That's an illegal man down field.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's a -- that's even worse.

COTTER: Yes, so, it wouldn't have worked out even if they would have completed that pass. But what a huge disappointment for the Giants. And in today's "New York Post" the headline reads "Big Blue Choke," the New York Giants. So...

COSTELLO: Well at least one New York team is still in, right?

COTTER: ... the folks aren't happy up there. The team that people didn't expect to make it about a month ago, yes,...

COSTELLO: The Jets.

COTTER: ... the Giants are the team that...

COSTELLO: Yes, exactly.

COTTER: ... came out.

COSTELLO: Do you think baseball is watching this NFL season to see what parody is really like?

COTTER: I -- you know what, that's a good point. I mean sports with the salary cap like basketball and football and you got this parody so every week you don't know what's going to happen and you don't know who's going to advance as opposed to baseball where you have a pretty good idea. I think they might have their eye on it, although they might be...

COSTELLO: Yes, right.

COTTER: ... busy counting the money to really be watching football.

COSTELLO: Yes, New York might be too busy buying players from other countries.

COTTER: Other teams.

COSTELLO: Yes.

COTTER: And other countries.

COSTELLO: Thank you -- Chris Cotter.

COTTER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

COTTER: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com