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One of the cool things about Super Bowl Week is that there are always some unique interview opportunities, even when you are sitting at home rather than working from the center of the Super Bowl frenzy. Such is the case this week with Super Bowl XLVIII between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos.
As part of a MetLife promotional campaign New York Giants' placekicker Josh Brown was making the media rounds Wednesday. Brown is a friendly, open, engaging guy and he answered some questions for us. Read on to find out what we talked about.
On how Brown learned to sing and whether or not he has performed for audiences previously ...
This question was an obvious reference to Brown's recent -- and awesome -- contribution to 'National Anthem with Football Stars,' which you can see below.
"I've been singing since I was about 5-6 years old in church and if I had to point out somebody I learned from I learned from my mother. I've sung publicly quite a bit throughout my life ... talent shows and different things like that. Sang the National Anthem at a few different spots, done some things in the past. It's not my first time."
Apologies to opera star Renee Fleming, who will sing the National Anthem before Sunday's game, but I had to follow this up by asking Brown if he thought the 'Football Stars' could have handled the anthem at the Super Bowl.
"That's what I thought, MetLife being the name of the stadium and the big sponsor here. I thought it would have been awesome to have a few guys that play in the stadium for the Jets and Giants and obviously Emmitt Smith and Eddie George and Greg (Robinson) in there. We coulda done it, we coulda nailed this song."
On the idea of the NFL abolishing the extra point ...
"I can't continue to entertain these ideas. They don't want the kickoff, they want to just punt it or they want to just put it on the 20. You can't change football that way. You take away the guts, you take away a portion, it's not complete without it. I think it's important. Guys still do miss them, they still do create drama when they do miss them.
"Obviously kickers are getting better and they're going to continue to get better, but there will be off years. This was not one of those. Everybody was good this year, it seemed like but it's one of those things where somebody just wants to try to create something different. It would be a missed moment and would be something we'll regret, just like taking out kickoffs that they entertained a year or two ago.
"You can't start the Super Bowl without flash bulbs and everybody running to the line of scrimmage and a big kick and a possible return for a touchdown like we saw in '06, Devin Hester running one back on the opening kickoff. It's phenomenal, you can't do that, you can't change the game."
On moving the extra point back or narrowing the goal posts ...
"I would move the PAT back, absolutely. Guys are always gonna be good. Bringing in the uprights would definitely make it a much more challenging game and much more challenging moment, but I still think that more than anything your mind is what controls those moments. As long as you don't lose perspective and as long as you don't allow the situation to overwhelm you, stay in control of your mind you're gonna make 'em all, anyway."
On having the Seahawks in the in the Giants' training facility this week ...
"I haven't been over there. I've heard other people talking about. The lower level is Seahawks and the upper level is the Giants. It's definitely like Ronnie Millsap 'There's a Stranger In My House.' I'm sure it's odd, I haven't given it much thought to be quite honest, but they're paying rent."
On the return of Tom Quinn as Giants' special teams coach ...
"I'm actually in support of Coach Quinn. I think out of the number of special teams guys that I've had I think he's one of the better teachers, I really do. I think he's a very intelligent person and I think he deserves to be there. You can't blame the coach because the players aren't doing their job, you just can't. These are grown men, they're expected to do their job. They're given an assignment, it's explained, it's explained very well from what I've seen throughout my career. I think he does a great job of teaching and putting people in positions to make plays. It's a matter of execution. In the end yeah, coaches get fired, they become scapegoats when the money is too expensive in one area sometimes, but I don't feel that way in this situation. I really feel like we had great meetings, I feel like we had great practices, we're just not able to execute in the moment . What do you expect of the man, you can't put all that on him ... It's one of those things where a player's got to execute, a coach has got to coach and I think he did a great job."
