Super Bowl champion reveals reason for viral freeze-up during pregame show

Two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison spoke out about his viral freeze-up during the pregame show of NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

Harrison, 52, stopped speaking abruptly when trying to talk about the Washington Commanders’ defense, sparking fans to wonder if he was having health issues. The former defensive back said he was just exhausted. 

"I was exhausted working on a few hours of sleep watching my son play Saturday night. I had 3 hours of sleep on Sunday and had to work all day," Harrison told MassLive.com in a text. 

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"I was suffering from exhaustion. But I’m good."

Harrison has two kids playing Division I college football. Christian plays safety for Cincinnati while R.J. plays cornerback for Wofford College. Harrison said he has been back and forth from the East and West coasts to try and get to their games. 

The exhaustion from the travel hit Harrison when Tony Dungy and Jac Collinsworth asked him about how to attack the Commanders' defense. 

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Harrison started to respond to Dungy’s answer with "Yeah, I look at …" before trailing off. He then said he forgot the question and Collinsworth reiterated it to him again. 

"The best way to attack them," Harrison said before trailing off again. Collinsworth repeated the question, trying to help his teammate out, and then Harrison responded to the twice-repeated question with an apology for his lack of answer. 

"It’s a lot of stuff going on, I’m sorry, guys. They don’t have a lot of discipline on the defensive side of the ball. … That’s it … I’m sorry, guys."

Harrison appeared on the postgame show following the game. In his 15-year career, the two-time All-Pro recorded 34 interceptions, 30.5 sacks and 1,206 combined tackles. 

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