Corey Griffin

Peter King signs exclusive agreement with NBC Sports

By Corey GriffinMay 3, 2018, 2:37 PM EDT

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STAMFORD, Conn. – May 3, 2018 – NFL Insider Peter King has signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that begins this July in which he will write a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; make regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continue to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports. The announcement was made Rick Cordella, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group.

King’s Monday morning online column has been a must-read for NFL fans, coaches, players, and executives for decades. Peppered with news, opinion, analysis, interviews, and peeks inside King’s own personal life, the column is regarded as the NFL’s paper of record each week. It will now be published exclusively on NBCSports.com.

“I’m thrilled to be joining NBC Sports full-time after working with the football crew there since 2006. I’ve loved my time there, both in the studio and doing longer features for Football Night in America, and the chance to bring my column there felt like a perfect match to me,” said King. “I loved my time at Sports Illustrated. Quite frankly, it was very tough for me to leave. But the only place that felt like a great fit after my years at SI was NBC, which has always made me feel like a member of the family.”

Beginning in July, King will resume his popular NFL training camp tour, filing his column from the road each Monday and providing occasional video or written reports from team to team throughout the preseason. He will also report for NBC Sports Digital on numerous events throughout the year, including regular season games, a conference championship game, the Super Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine, the start of free agency, and the NFL Draft.

“Peter has been one of the most prolific and respected NFL writers for decades, and we’re thrilled to host his work exclusively on NBC Sports Digital platforms,” said Rick Cordella, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media, NBC Sports Group. “With the addition of Peter and his Monday morning column, we now have the most complete NFL digital portfolio in sports as we stream primetime television’s number one show, Sunday Night Football; provide continuous football news and analysis on Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk; and produce unparalleled fantasy football information on Rotoworld.com.”

As part of the agreement, King will make a weekly appearance on PFT Live with Mike Florio, a syndicated NBC Sports Radio program that is simulcast on NBCSN on weekday mornings. As in recent years, King will contribute to Football Night in America with taped feature stories that will also be made available on NBCSports.com. King has contributed to Football Night in America in some capacity since its inaugural season in 2006.

“As one of the best NFL reporters in history, Peter’s information, storytelling, and analysis make us better across the board,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer and President, Production, NBC Sports & NBCSN. “With Peter expanding his NBC Sports presence from Football Night to PFT Live and digital, football fans are the big winners.”

In addition to his NFL responsibilities, King will report on some of NBC Sports’ most high-profile events, including the Stanley Cup Final, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and more.

ABOUT PETER KING

Peter King, 60, has covered pro football for 35 years, the last 29 for Sports Illustrated. He has written the internet’s most popular NFL column, “Monday Morning Quarterback,” since 1997. In 2013, he founded The MMQB, Sports Illustrated’s pro football microsite, serving as editor-in-chief and columnist.

King was named national sportswriter of the year in 2010, 2012 and 2013 in a vote of his peers by the National Sports Media Association.

He has worked on television for ABC as halftime correspondent for Monday Night Football, for CNN as an NFL reporter, for HBO as managing editor and reporter of Inside the NFL, and for NBC Sports as reporter for Football Night in America since 2006.

In King’s time at HBO, Inside the NFL won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Studio show in 2002, 2004 and 2005, the first three times the show ever won the award.

King has written five books on pro football, and served on the voting panel for the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 1992.

Born in Springfield, Mass., in 1957, King grew up in Enfield, Conn., and graduated from Ohio University with a journalism degree in 1979. He worked for the Associated Press, the Cincinnati Enquirer and Newsday before moving to Sports Illustrated in 1989 to write the magazine’s “Inside the NFL” column.

He lives in New York City with his wife, Ann. They have two grown daughters, Laura and Mary Beth.

Gronkowski cleared to play in Super Bowl after concussion

Associated PressFeb 2, 2018, 5:56 PM EST

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has been cleared from the concussion protocol and will play in Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Gronkowski participated fully in practice on Thursday. Defensive lineman Deatrich Wise also practiced after being cleared from the concussion protocol. Malcolm Butler (illness) and Brandon King (knee) also participated in the workout.

Road to Super Bowl LII: Stream, start time, highlights and more

Gronk said he is “ready to roll” and has no limitations. He had been sidelined since taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Jacksonville’s Barry Church in the first half of New England’s AFC championship game win.

The All-Pro tight end missed last year’s Super Bowl win over Atlanta after undergoing back surgery.

Gronkowski led the team in receiving during the regular season with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns.

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Slow starters: Pats have no 1st quarter SB points with Brady

Associated PressFeb 2, 2018, 5:56 PM EST

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) Tom Brady has accomplished just about everything when it comes to playing in the Super Bowl.

His five titles and four Super Bowl MVPs are more than any other quarterback. He has posted the two biggest comeback wins in Super Bowl history, including last year’s rally from 25 points down to beat Atlanta. He has thrown for more yards or touchdowns than any quarterback on the biggest stage.

Perhaps the only accomplishment missing seems like a relatively simple one: leading a first-quarter scoring drive.

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In one of the more surprising Super Bowl stats, the Patriots have failed to score a single point in the first quarter in their seven Super Bowl trips in the Brady-Bill Belichick era.

“We’re trying to score every time we take the field,” Brady said. “There’s a little caveat to that in my opinion. In 2007, it was our first drive of the game, it just happened to be the first play of the second quarter.

“But it was the first time we touched it. So we did score when we got it first. But I’d love to score 21 points in the first quarter if we can but obviously this defense can make it really tough for us.”

The Patriots did score on that first possession in their first meeting against the Giants. But because New York held the ball for 9:59 to open the game with a field-goal drive, Laurence Maroney’s 1-yard run came on the first play of the second quarter.

The first-quarter scoring woes in the Super Bowl led to a memorable moment from an NFL Network documentary about last year’s title of linebackers coach Brian Flores addressing a banquet to honor the team.

“Coach Belichick, prior to the game, looked right at Tom Brady and goes `Tom, we’ve been to six Super Bowls together, and we’ve never scored a point in the first quarter. Can we get that done?”‘ Flores told the crowd. “I look around and I go, `Man, we’re going to score 30 points in the first quarter.”‘

Instead it didn’t happen. It was another first-quarter shutout as the Patriots went three-and-out the first time they had the ball and then stalled near midfield following two sacks on the second drive. The third drive ended when LeGarrette Blount fumbled on the second play of the second quarter.

Brady has been on the field for a first-quarter score when his intentional grounding penalty in the end zone against the Giants in 2012 led to a safety for New York. That was one of four scores in the first quarter against the Patriots in their seven trips with Belichick and Brady.

“Look, we try to score in every game,” Belichick said. “I know that’s probably hard to understand, but we try to go out and score and keep the other team from scoring. That’s our goal every game.”

It’s not as if slow starts are a chronic problem for Brady and the Patriots. Since his first season as the starter in 2001, New England leads the NFL on first-quarter scoring with 5.7 points per game.

The Patriots are only a tick behind that at 5.5 points per first quarter in the playoff rounds prior to the Super Bowl with Brady at quarterback.

But for some reason that all changes on the biggest stage, even though it hasn’t stopped the Patriots from winning five Super Bowl titles.

“I would say that’s the emphasis every week,” receiver Phillip Dorsett said. “We play better when we start fast, and that’s a big emphasis every week, not just in the Super Bowl but in the weeks prior to this. I mean, we have a better record when we’re playing fast and we get out to a good start, when we get points on the board on that first drive. So, we always like to do that.”

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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report

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AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL