No one has ever accused Bradley Roby of quitting, but Jason Witten in his effort to be provocative called him out for being one even though there was no history of Roby being a slacker.
The play in question Roby simply though the play was over and that is why he stopped on it, he admitted that was his mistake but took umbrage with how Witten described it and singled him out.
Witten had said Roby should have been pulled from the game in the closing minutes because “you never quit in the NFL.”
With 2 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in the game, Raiders running back Doug Martin went through the middle of the Broncos’ defense for a 12-yard gain before he was tackled by defensive lineman Shelby Harris. After the two-minute warning, when the broadcast resumed following a commercial break, Witten used the Telestrator to circle the Broncos’ right cornerback on a replay and illustrate how Roby had stopped moving before Martin had been tackled.
“That last run there … keep an eye on Roby,” Witten said. “It’s a running play, watch this effort; the ball hits inside, he just stops, the play is still going, it cannot happen. Vance Joseph, I would pull him out because you never quit in the NFL.”
“I was like, wow, I can’t believe he went out of his way to do all that,” Roby said. “It’s unfortunate. I felt like he was reaching to say that because it was the end of the game. For him to characterize me as a quitter, quitting on my team, I feel like that’s the most disrespectful thing you can say in a team sport.
“For him to say that on one play — it was really a mistake, I thought the play was over, I was wrong. But for him to say that, it just made me mad. There are kids I go see at the children’s hospital who have cancer, who are paralyzed, and I tell them don’t quit … The game was over … I just felt like it was kind of unnecessary. On the play, it did look like I stopped, so I understand where he’s coming from, but it was unnecessary.”
“I think he might be mad I talked a little trash to him when they came up here and played last year; maybe he remembers me from that,” Roby said of Witten. I sacrifice so much. I still have stitches in my mouth from the week before when I had a hole in my face, and I still kept playing.
“I think it’s just something he has to learn; it’s his first year, I believe, commentating. He still has to learn the power that he had, the perception. I really wasn’t going to say anything about it, but I just know people listen, people believe stuff like that. I just think he had to pick and choose — he has to have more evidence before you characterize somebody like that.”
I have looked at the play several times and while Roby could have shown a little more effort, the play is far away from him and you will see several plays like this from DBs all around the league every week, it isn’t unusual. Roby acknowledged the mistake, but that isn’t quitting and he shouldn’t be labeled as such.
Witten once again seems to have an agenda and was very unprofessional. A fitting end to a terrible season for him in the MNF booth.
Flip the page for the video of the play.