Cowherd intros Rodney and goes straight into first question:
Cowherd: 1 vote for Belichick for Coach of the Year, "we agreed, we think it's amazing what he did, do you think it's the best job ever by Belichick?"
Rodney: "I think he did a tremendous job, probably one of the best coaching jobs ever. I mean if you look at what happened to the team, the team was decimated by injuries, you lost your starting SS, starting QB, starting LB, as well as your starting RB and could go 11-5 in a touch AFCE division, I mean, pretty remarkable what he's done with a QB that never started an NFL game, let alone never played."
C: "How good do you believe Matt Cassel is Rodney? There is some dispute that much of it is Belichick's genius, how good is he do you think?"
R: "Well, players play and coaches coach and I tell you one thing, Matt Cassel he's making those decision, he's making those throws, it's not like Belichick is out there on the field. So you can put a player in the position to have success, but it's up to the player to go out there and execute those plays and Matt Cassel did a terrific job of doing that."
C: 'Is the AFC better than the NFC?'
R: "I'm not going to necessarily say that it's better. I mean because the Giants, they actually won the Super Bowl last year so, they have a good argument to say maybe the NFC is the best. It's just very competitive and both sides of the conferences you have guys who are extremely athletic, guys who are very competitive and just the best players in the world, so you have the best players in the world going against the best players in the world, somethings going to happen. But I'm going to be anxious to see who's going to take that trophy home this year."
C: Titans and Ravens?
R: Ravens
C: Steelers and Chargers?
R: Steelers by a FG.
C: Eagles and Giants?
R: Eagles
C: 'McNabb benched, how much does that play into it?'
R: "It plays a lot into it, because guys are very competitive, guys have egos, and guys have a lot of pride. You know when you bench a starter, a guy that's making 10, 12, 13 million dollars a year he get's pissed off, if I can say that [laughter] he gets pissed off, he gets truly upset, and you know, for a guy who gets benched he looks deep within yourself and you try to figure out exactly where did things go wrong, and I think Donovan had some late night talks with himself and he figured out exactly what he had to do. He had the fire back up in him, and the guys playing inspired football right now."
C: "It really is remarkable how he and Andy Reid are literally playing for their jobs right now." Cardinals and Panthers?
R: Panthers
C: "You know, when you go back and, you look at this entire season, and from Matt Cassel, Tom Brady's rehab, it's just been one thing after another. What is it like to live in that? We see it from the outside Rodney, what's it like to be a Patriot getting ready for another year going into the offseason?"
R: "Well, first of all I don't know if I'm coming back, but the good thing that the Patriots have that a lot of teams really don't have the luxury of, is the fact that they have two great QBs. They're going to have two great Qbs at their disposal. So, Tom Brady, he's going to have to rehab, he's going to have to just take his time and rehab and not try to rush back. Tom is a fighter, he's a tremendous person, he's very competitive, so Tom will be back at the helm whenever he's healthy, but at the same time, you got a young guy in Matt Cassel as a security blanket, I don't think you can go wrong. So if Tom's not ready, you have Matt Cassel. If Tom's ready then you see what happens with Tom's performance, but I think the Patriots, they're young overall, they've gotten younger, they have a lot of talent, and even missing a bunch of guys they still had a chance to go 11-5 and still almost win the division. Seeing from 2003-2007 they won five consecutive AFCE division titles I don't think that's too bad."
C: "Is Brady's rehab going pretty well? You hear differing reports. How well's it going?"
R: "It's probably pretty wrong for me to try to comment on that, but I know one thing, all you can control is your effort and your attitude, and Brady has a great attitude, and he has tremendous effort, so he'll work his way back and he'll be fine eventually."
C: "Rodney Harrison, who may or may not come back, are you leaning one way or the other?"
R: "I'm leaning towards the 'may.' [laughter]
C: "Alright, so you 'may' come back. Good luck to you!"
