Here are the sound bites from NFL Network’s “NFL Gameday Morning” pregame show. The quotes are provided by the NFL Network PR department. Michael Irvin 1-on-1 with Eagles WR DeSean Jackson: One week after his benching for missing a meeting, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson sat down with NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin for an in-depth conversation about the reason for his absence last week against the Arizona Cardinals, his contract situation and his future in Philadelphia. “I’ve seen things happen before, of course. I’ve seen some things happen, but I’m one of the star players on this team so I’m held accountable more than others.” – Jackson on if he has seen someone miss a special teams meeting and still play “The punishment was what it was, I accepted it. Me and coach [Andy] Reid talked as men, so I think in his mind and my mind we’re moving on. He just wants me to do the best; as long as I’m doing that then there shouldn’t be a problem with a contract. My talent and my abilities speak for itself, so I have hope that it will still work here.” – Jackson on whether being benched and missing a meeting will impact a new contract with the Eagles “It was a situation where it hurt, honestly, deep inside. But I still to this day just try to go out there and not think about it.” – Jackson on the Eagles spending a lot of money on free agents in the offseason without addressing his contract “That’s not good business right there because I wouldn’t throw anyone on my team under the bus. I would hope it wouldn’t be coming from a player just saying that wished he was in my position, that wished he was starting just to say something to maybe give him an opportunity. But I don’t believe in that type of stuff. The film doesn’t show it. If anything, I’m protecting myself; I’m not dodging any hits. I know the type of player I am, so I don’t feel there are too many people in the NFL that can really do what I’m capable of doing when the ball is in my hands.” – Jackson on reports that teammates said he doesn’t want to go across the middle of the field “To be my size, to have my speed the sky is the limit. I’m young, I’m in my prime at 24 years old. I’m on the last year of my contract.” – Jackson on how good he is “I think right in that range; maybe top five in the NFL. As far as my playmaking skills and ability, punt returns, dynamic duo of being able to get the ball and score at any point on the field. Fitzgerald, he’s a great receiver don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t play special teams so I think that’s the extra edge to it.” – Jackson on where he fits in among Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald and Lions WR Calvin Johnson “Not right now. I can’t see it. I’m just keeping hope that the man above has a spot for me here in Philadelphia. If I could paint the picture and have everything the way I want it to be, I would say I would stay here.” – Jackson on if he can see himself playing for another team Michael Irvin 1-on-1 with Cowboys QB Tony Romo: “All that’s only possible because the guys up front are giving me time and the guys outside are making plays. If you don’t have guys like yourself out there making plays and doing things to help you, those games never happen.” – Romo on his record-setting Week 10 performance vs. Buffalo “They scored, I think on their first three possessions. Eight or nine plays into the game, we’re down 21-0. Then all of a sudden, you’re changing everything that you need to do to get back and play against this team. It was the perfect storm; going forward, it will help us in the long run, going through it.” – Romo on the Cowboys’ Week 9 performance vs. Philadelphia “You have 16 games and you play well in 13 or 14 of them, you’re playing at one of the higher levels in the league. So that’s what you try to do each year. Obviously, it sucks when [two losses] happen earlier in the year, but I like to think that they’re both out of the way and you’re moving on and going forward for the year.” – Romo on the Cowboys’ inconsistencies “The reason that you’re talked about in that position is because at times, you’ve shown the flashes that allow you to be construed as a quarterback who could be playing at one of the higher levels, and that’s what’s exciting. When those [bad] games happen from time to time, it’s hard as heck. It eats at you as a competitor. That also gets me back going and works my butt off to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” – Romo on how he balances the praise and criticism that comes with inconsistent play “Deion never played quarterback in the National Football League. His comments are based off of the other side of the ball. If you play my position and criticism can really affect you, you’re only going to be around for so long.” – Romo on Deion Sanders’ assessment that Romo is not the guy to lead Dallas to a Super Bowl Quotes from NFL GameDay Morning:“The Saints are primed to take the title away from the Green Bay Packers.” – Marshall Faulk on the New Orleans Saints “In order to play football in the NFL and be an every down back, I believe in college you need to have had to shoulder the load. If you look at what [DeMarco Murray] did in college compared to what Felix Jones did, it says that DeMarco Murray, he’s your starter, he’s your every down back. Felix Jones comes in and he’s an accessory.” – Marshall Faulk on Cowboys RB DeMarco Murray “The Chicago Bears are as good as they were in 2006. When they went to the Super Bowl, they used Devin Hester on special teams and great defense…now Jay Cutler is starting to give them life on offense. If they add that in, they could go all the way.” – Michael Irvin on the Chicago Bears “[Ray Lewis] sent me a text message saying he’s out, so I want to see what this defense does without its heart and soul, without its emotional leader when they first hit the field.” – Warren Sapp on linebacker Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens “He certainly believes that after what happened this offseason, that he’s hurt; he’s absolutely hurt. He says I’ve come in, I’ve worked hard and did what they’ve asked me to do, and to see them pass out that kind of money to other people and overlook me, he said that bothers me.” – Michael Irvin on Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson “I had a chance to talk to Matt Leinart this week and one of the key comments he made to me was that ‘I’ve got my confidence back,’ and I love to hear that. The reason he went back to the Texans was that he felt they could teach him, that they could teach him as a quarterback and they would push him to be a great quarterback. He loves that part of it and he feels that he’s better now than he’s ever been in the NFL, so I’m not worried about him.” – Kurt Warner on former teammate and current starting quarterback for Houston Texans, Matt Leinart “When I say ‘I believe,’ I’m talking about I believe [Tim] Tebow can get this team to a Super Bowl because there has been in a shift in power in the AFC: it’s shifted to the NFC…We say run the ball, stop the run and don’t turn the ball over. That’s exactly what Tebow is doing right now.” – Michael Irvin on Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who is 4-1 as a starter this season “When his team keeps him in the game for 55 minutes, I believe in Tim Tebow down the stretch. But I can’t believe in this body of work.” – Kurt Warner on Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow “When you beat the New England Patriots, we put our eyes on you and ever since we put our eyes on you, you have not shown up.” – Michael Irvin on the Buffalo Bills “It’s much more difficult to bring ‘great’ together than it is to bring ‘less than great’ together. So as we marvel at what Jim Harbaugh is doing, let’s understand the task at hand for Andy Reid…When you have guys that have had success individually, you’re trying to get them to buy in to what you’re doing collectively. That’s tough, because you have to say to your guys, ‘put down your own success and buy into mine.’ On the other side, for Jim Harbaugh, you have guys that have not had success individually, so it’s easier to get those guys to buy in.” – Michael Irvin on head coach Andy Reid “Andy Reid is solid in that job. He’s having a bad year, but next year they’re going to be a heck of a football team.” – Steve Mariucci on Eagles head coach Andy Reid “The Cincinnati Bengals are still babies: they need every bit of the formula that they can get. And A.J. Green is too big of the formula to leave out.” – Michael Irvin on why Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green’s absence is a bigger loss than Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis “I understand the two-back system, but if you want to be a franchise back in this league, stay in the game.” – Marshall Faulk on if NFL running backs are devaluing themselves, playing in limited series “Cam Cameron, I want to see him mix it up. I want to see some adjustments made to the things that defenses are doing against you.” – Marshall Faulk on the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive strategy “They’re playing great football. Defensively, special teams; Jay Cutler, I think has played as well this month as anybody in the league, but I still have that one worry. The Achilles heel of this team is that offensive line.” – Kurt Warner on the Chicago Bears “In the locker room, we take our wins however we get them… Coaches, they don’t just take wins; coaches want to win a certain way. Coaches want to know how they are going to win. This is why they’re up all night. ‘How are we going to win this game? How are we going to stop them?’ Front office guys – they care how they look. They care about style points. They want to parade their quarterback around and say, ‘He’s the best passer in the game.’” – Marshall Faulk on if winning is enough “There is no letdown in San Francisco. This is a division opponent coming to town, it’s on their bucket list to win that division early and they will do that…Jim Harbaugh will have them up and they’ll play their best game today.” – Steve Mariucci on the 8-1 San Francisco 49ers hosting the Arizona Cardinals Bold Predictions Steve Mariucci: Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers will become the first quarterback in NFL history to have a passer rating of 140.0 or more for the fourth consecutive game Marshall Faulk: Green Bay Packers will score in four different ways against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: running the ball, throwing the ball, on special teams and on defense Kurt Warner: Baltimore Ravens will allow second consecutive 100-yard rusher Warren Sapp: Miami Dolphins QB Matt Moore, RB Reggie Bush and WR Brandon Marshall will outperform Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, RB Fred Jackson and WR Stevie Johnson Michael Irvin: Philadelphia Eagles QB Vince Young will throw for more than 300 yards against the New York Giants ‘Front Office View’ with Michael Lombardi On Jets QB Mark Sanchez:I think what we’ve seen is that he needs a supporting cast. It’s pretty clear: he doesn’t have a blue chip running back. Sanchez loses Shonn Greene, who really isn’t a top flight running back; Greene is more of a number two; Sanchez needs a blue chip running back and Marshall Faulk talked about it before, he needs someone around him. Now regarding Plaxico Burress, they can talk about how great it is, but there’s not a lot of speed on the field. The Jets miss Braylon Edwards and I think when you look at the weapons on the Jets offense, they’re lacking. Everything is always going to be Mark Sanchez’s fault in New York. Everything’s always going to be Brian Schottenheimer’s fault in New York, but the reality is they gave up 37 points to the New England Patriots and they gave up a 95-yard drive to the Denver Broncos. The defense has to take some responsibility. To me, it’s a team loss; Sanchez told us one thing – he needs a supporting cast, a better supporting cast. If you’re going to be pounding ground, a la the San Francisco 49ers, you need Frank Gore, not Shonn Greene. You need a big time running back. On the quarterback situation in Washington:Let’s go back – the Redskins trade for Donovan McNabb, they go with Rex Grossman because Mike and Kyle Shanahan believe they can make something out of him. John Beck really was the guy they wanted all along, but that failed miserably. Now they’re back to Grossman. I think they’re going to have to go all chips in. Desperation, especially in a front office, means you’re going to have to make some bold moves. They’re going to have to take a step next year in the Draft and find themselves a solution. It’s year three of Mike Shanahan’s program; if he doesn’t turn it around in year three, I don’t think Dan Snyder’s going to be sitting there, waiting for him to develop. Mike Shanahan is right now behind all the coaches that have been there under the Daniel Snyder administration, in terms of amount of games they’re winning. He’s going to have to move pretty quickly. They’re going to draft somebody. I don’t think the trade market is going to be fruitful for them. I think they’re going to draft someone. On the progress of Tim Tebow as Broncos QB:I think John Fox is enjoying what Tim Tebow is doing because Fox always has liked to be able to control the game with the running game. Tim Tebow and his unique style can run the football; single wing, option offense, whatever you want to call it, he can. I think John Elway has envisioned the game a lot different matter. But ultimately, you have to give a quarterback 20 games to really evaluate them fully, to understand his strengths, his weaknesses. [The evaluation] is going to have to continue to go because he’s going to have to get behind in a game and prove he can come from behind. Everybody says ‘get a lead on him, he won’t come back.’ We’ll see how that happens and I think you have to keep going. The evolution of what he can do offensively, in terms of the passing game, is going to be critical. Defensive coordinators are really smart in this league; they’re going to keep changing what they do and force him to make the adjustments. If Tebow’s game is broad enough, if he’s got enough versatility in his game, he can handle it. That remains to be seen. The one thing Tebow’s brought to the Denver Broncos is that he’s brought toughness to the team and they run the ball much better than they did when Kyle Orton was in the game. On the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:I wrote based on watching tape, watching this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, they lack effort, they lack discipline. They lead the league in penalties, they don’t make any plays, they are one of the worst tackling teams in the league in yards after the catch. They play with no inspiration, they don’t play hard. They’re a young team and they need to really be put under the microscope and be demanded, not be excuse made; ‘we have a tough schedule,’ ‘it was just one of those things on the West Coast.’ So I put the task to Raheem [Morris] to say you’re the head coach, you’re in charge – take over.” ‘Inside Slant’ with Jason La Canfora On the progression of Broncos QB Tim Tebow:It’s obviously a work in progress. They’re doing what they have to do short-term to win, but they know that it’s not ideal. The team they’d like to be offensively talking to team officials is what they had against Oakland. They had the dominant run game, but they also had Tebow attempting about 20 passes; that’s the rough number they’d like to be around. The 2-8 [passing] performance, that’s not where they want to be. But keep in mind, talking to Brian Xanders, the Broncos GM, he’s only had 12 practices and only one a week in pads because of the new post-lockout CBA rule, so they haven’t had time to cultivate him. The Broncos feel like in the offseason, they can speed up the [ball] delivery, work on the footwork, help him with his reads and finally have a full OTA session to work with him day in and day out in the classroom and on the field. He hasn’t had any of that. On the Texans chances with Matt Leinart at quarterback:They’re confident. I spent some time there in the preseason well before Matt Schaub was hurt, before any of this recent stuff materialized and the Texans felt like Matt Leinart could help them win some games in a pinch, if need be. [They tell him] be a game manager, don’t go out there and extend yourself, don’t do too much. It’s kind of like the game plan with 49ers quarterback Alex Smith; we’ll play some defense, we’ll turn people over and we run the ball. Just don’t mess it up. The difference however is that Leinart’s a lefty and that’s going to complicate things a little bit. Can he make the throws on the bootleg when they roll him out, the things we’ve seen with Schaub? Will Leinart be effective downfield with people like Andre Johnson? That they don’t know, they haven’t seen the sample size, but Houston likes what they saw in the preseason. On the status of Ravens LB Ray Lewis for Thursday:As Warren Sapp said, he won’t play today. Talking to team officials there, they said they don’t believe the doctors would not have let him play even if Ray went through one of his two-hour marathon sessions to try to convince people he could play. However they’re not ruling him out for Thursday [vs. San Francisco]. He’s told team officials, ‘I feel like I’m going to play in one of these two games.’ Talking to people in Baltimore this morning who say they know Ray, they believe he’ll play. On the Ravens offense:Players there are pointing the finger at offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. They can’t figure out why they abandoned the run as quickly as they do. I’ve talked to some players there and they felt like their three losses, they were in those games; they’ve never trailed by more than two scores, but they abandoned the run. Ray Rice has averaged nine carries a game in their three losses, 19 carries a game in their victories. He’s on pace for 247 carries. He had 307 carries a year ago. He’s way off that pace. Joe Flacco is on pace to throw over 640 times, sixth most in NFL history. He’s never thrown for more than 500 attempts in a season before, so it’s that imbalance that has guys scratching their heads in Baltimore.