This is important to consider in how it came up.
I'll give two examples of items that got blown way out of proportion in the media from my favorite NFL team, the Steelers.
In 2007, the year the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season, a reporter asked rookie Anthony Smith about the upcoming game. He stated that if the Steelers did everything they are capable of, that they should be able to win the game (not a ridiculous thing to say). The reporter then followed that up with, "Are you saying you're guaranteeing a win?" And the rookie fell for the bait and said yes. Then everyone went nuts talking about his guarantee as if he held a press conference himself to declare that they would win.
Then this last season, Tony Dungy interviewed Mike Tomlin for an interview that aired prior to a SNF game (don't remember exactly who they were playing that night). Dungy asked questions about all sorts of things and then asked about the game the Steelers had a few weeks later with the Patriots. Tomlin answered saying it would be a big game and really exciting. Interview ends and Rodney Harrison states its ridiculous that Tomlin is looking ahead to the Patriots when he should be focusing on their current opponents. The media goes nuts running with that narrative when all he did was answer a question asked to him about an upcoming game.
