Tony Dungy Fields Questions Relative to Annoying Sports Figures
June 5, 2009 – 10:00 am by Will Brinson
Tony Dungy is one of the great — whether or not you like his stance on, ahem, certain issues — leaders of our time, in terms of men who exemplify a high degree of character as off-the-field sportsmen. And now that he’s retired from the game of football in the coaching sense, people want his opinion on anyone that’s remotely troubled.
Waddle and Silvy on ESPN Radio Chicago are a perfect example (of the people wanting an opinion, although “troubled” is relative, I suppose) and they got on the horn with Dungy recently to talk about Michael Vick (Dungy is helping him), Jay Cutler, and Plaxico Burress. If only they’d added Manny Ramirez and Brett Favre, we would have had every annoying storyline from the past six months in one big pile. Still, awesome stuff as always from TD.
Waddle: Hey, you’ll have time on Monday morning to dissect this Bears team.
“… I’ll say this though, the first Sunday we have, our first game is Chicago-Green Bay; I’m really looking forward to it.”
Silvy: Thoughts on Jay Cutler and his maturity?
“Well, I just really said that it’s not often that a team will trade a franchise quarterback and obviously Denver traded a guy they viewed as a franchise quarterback. In my mind, what are the question marks? That was one of them, just some of the things that you’ve seen, conversations back and forth with Phillip Rivers, and different things, just leave me some options as an outsider to wonder a little bit. But we’ll see where he goes, obviously the Bears have done their homework and they believe they’ve got their quarterback of the present and the future. We’ll see what happens.”
Waddle: Does age play a factor?
“No, I think that’s definitely a part of it that you’re a young person, very competitive and that was my only point yesterday, that now all of a sudden you can’t be that young competitive person that has to mature, you have to be the quarterback that’s gonna take this team to the Super Bowl because that’s what the people of Chicago are expecting after giving up two number one draft choices, that this is our answer. I know what a tough market Chicago is and he’s gonna have to produce and part of that productivity is gonna need to be that mature attitude and that’s what I’m gonna have to see.”
Waddle: How important is embracing being the face of the franchise?
”I think he’s gonna have to do that. That’s part of what it takes to be a great quarterback, not just being able to make the throws, it’s all the other things that go with being a leader and the face of the franchise, the leader of the team in good times and bad times. We talked about that a little bit with LeBron James situation that it’s great when the regular season is going and you’re rolling, but then when you have that tough playoff loss you still have to be the face of that franchise and that’s what a lot of young people have to learn, not just Jay Cutler, not just Lebron James, but a lot of young people.”
Waddle: How would you handle Plaxico Burress?
“What you have to do is you really got to sit down with that player number one and look eyeball to eyeball and spell out your rules and what you expect and see if you get a good feel that he is gonna be as you say a positive part of that locker room then you have to do a little homework you’ve got two teams that you can talk to in the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants and try to assess what happened there and draw your own conclusion and then you gotta figure out your locker room situation and everything that’s taken place and is he gonna be a positive dynamic there or not. That is the key question. He’s a talented guy Terrel Owens is a talented guy theres a lot of talented players that go around but not every player is the right fit for your locker room.”
Waddle: How many chances do guys like Plax and Michael Vick deserve?
“I look at Michael Vick’s situation a little bit differently Michael Vick was I don’t want to say one incident but one little situation. Plaxico had some different things and different things that have gone on. Is it again that maturity has he learned from them? That’s what you have to try to figure out. That’s the million dollar question and it happens not only with guys that have been in the league but when your at the combine and your talking to the players and they’ve had some incidents in college you don’t have a spotless record but have you learned from them? Where are you sitting now your sitting across from me at that desk. Do I sense that you have grown from this and your gonna be different its what you got to try and figure out’
Waddle: What teams will be interested in Vick?
“I think it’s gonna be a very small small window you gotta have the right situation you gotta have a strong front office strong management you gotta have a good family situation in the lodcker room and then you gottta have an opening at quarterback. I don’t know how many teams that will be. It might just be one but hopefully it is the right one for him.”
Silvy: Looking forward to broadcasting?
“No I don’t think I’ll be itching to go back into the fray im enjoying what im doing now im getting time to work with some organizations like all-pro dads have been very dear to my heart and I just think for me right now at this stage in my life im doing the right thing.”
Listen to Tony Dungy on ESPN Radio Chicago with Waddle & Silvy
Tags: Jay Cutler, Michael Vick, NFL, Plaxico Burress, Tony Dungy
