Hi Folks,
We do a lot of really insightful, thoughtful and serious features here at Footballguys with some very smart people thinking deeply for you. This is not one of those features.
This is a few pages of me downloading my goofy and dysfunctional mental hard drive that gets stuffed with way too many random items from too many hours watching, reading about and listening to football every weekend and throughout the week. It's the only way I keep relatively sane. Here's hoping it has a tiny bit of value for you. Let's go.
This is an undoctored screen shot from the Jets game. I did a double take thinking Brett Favre had figured out a way to get back on the field.
I don't claim to be a defensive coordinator. But I know that when you put a #55 (Jerry Hughes) on a #84 (Kenny Stills) this is going to be the result more often than not...
I love how this game takes all sizes. Davone Bess at 5'10" had little problem sliding into the huddle Sunday…
Glitch in the Matrix Sunday:
Matt Stafford and Darren McFadden scored touchdowns seconds apart. We estimate the probability of that happening at roughly 0 percent.
The Washington - Denver game gave us two ends of the spectrum for the kicking game. Matt Prater earned Number 1 Random Shots Kicker status (which is pretty highly sought after among the league's kickers) with a kickoff that split the uprights.
Then a few minutes later, Washington punter Sav Rocca shanked a punt that traveled about 15 yards…
Good with the bad.
Jaguar Fans in London.
One of these didn't try nearly as hard as the others…
Apparently, Google is not a Chargers fan…
Thanks to Footballguy Jeremy Peters for that one.
Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers had a long hug for his former teammate Greg Jennings after the Packers - Vikings game.
Afterwards, Rodgers was asked if the hug was special. He seemed unimpressed. "Every now and then one comes along that might mean a little something to you. Not this one.”
You may remember Lions WR Nate Burleson breaking his arm after a car accident trying to save a sliding pizza.
Burleson earned Random Shots points for posting not just pictures of his wrecked car, but a photo of the infamous pizza as well.
This week, the smart folks at DiGiorno Pizza pulled a smooth marketing move setting up Burleson with a free year's worth of DiGiorno's Pizza.
That's a pretty fun story you're seeing in lots of places. Here's what I want to know. How does Domino's Pizza headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan let this happen right under their noses? I bet that was an interesting meeting at Dominos HQ the next day.
Halloween's almost here. Not sure how you top this for a costume…
Thanks to Footballguys Doug and Don Miller for that one.
I love the internet. Probably more than most people should. But Sunday night we saw the silly side of what happens with instant communication between a zillion people as a picture of Tom Brady's hand went viral.
First off, there wasn't a lot to see there. Especially for anyone who's spent 10 seconds with an Instagram filter where it's easy to distort what you're actually seeing. The picture clearly had a lighting effect over his hand.
The Football world lost it's collective mind with words like "MUTATING" and such being thrown about.
Monday, Brady said what everyone should have realized Sunday. The hand is fine.
Deep breaths, people. Deep breaths.
Be way more concerned that Brady's performance Sunday put him as the #21 QB for the weekend.
And that was a good week for him.
Oh those wacky Raiders...
Defensive coordinator Jason Tarver "strenuously objected" (random movie reference) to the referee's call Sunday.
Turns out, Tarver had good reason to be upset as the call was incorrect and the officials picked up the flag and ruled there was no flag on the play.
Tarver, who has a Masters degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology apologized Monday.
"I apologize for my action on the sideline of yesterday’s game. It was in the heat of the moment and I regret drawing attention away from the Raiders players and what they accomplished."
Former head of officiating Mike Pereira was offended enough that he felt compelled to snitch on Tarver. "It actually happened on the sideline and it wasn't by a player, but rather by a coach," Pereira wrote. "And I was so angry, I called the league office about it."
Tarver was absolutely wrong there. But proudly snitching like that is pretty lame.
Matt Stafford was the hero Sunday afternoon not only with an incredible passing day but he pulled a Dan Marino type score at the end of the game motioning like he was going to spike the ball and kill the clock at the 1 yard line but instead took the snap and dove in for the score.
Here's a thought I don't see anyone talking about (which sadly is sort of common with me).
Should there be something in place where the "spike the ball to kill the clock" signal from a QB is sort of like a punt returner calling for a fair catch? When the QB is going to spike the ball, the defense has an unwritten agreement to let them do it.
Think about it this way. What if Matt Stafford had taken the snap to spike the ball and Sean Lee had leaped over the center and hit Stafford? Or if the defensive linemen had fired out into the offensive line. It would have been a Greg Schiano like deal with everyone howling.
But faking the "spike the ball to kill the clock' signal which puts the defense on hold and then running a play seems like an unfair advantage. Just a thought.
With that said, what a game. Fun to see Jim Schwartz toss the headset at the end there.
Hitting NBA, Halloween AND a Movie Reference with this one. Serge Ibaka takes the early lead for Costume Of The Year pulling out all the stops for Prince Akeem.
Here's the scene with the uniform Ibaka is wearing.
But the barbershop scenes make the movie.
Ibaka may have had the early lead. But he was blown out of the water Tuesday night when Adam Schefter dropped this gem with Bill Belichick from the Patriots Halloween Party…
Thanks to Footballguy Matt Cox for that one.
The NFL - Professional Wrestling overlap can't be denied. Chris Long kept it going Monday night with his "Ric Flair Strut" sack. That's awesome.
Thanks to Footballguy Andrew Garda for that one.
Miami hosts the Bengals on Halloween – the last chance for any of the three NFL teams based in Florida to record a victory in the month of October. They are a combined 0-10 for the month, and 3-19 overall, even though the Dolphins started out 3-0.
Thanks to Footballguy Steve Tourek for that one.
Washington WR Pierre Garcon didn't mince any words when asked why the passing game was struggling: "Doesn't matter (who you're playing)," Garcon said. "If you suck at passing, you suck at passing ... We've just got to figure it out."
In case you can't tell, I love Halloween.
Pumpkins are always a big deal. My house is rocking this year as Footballguy Steve Holloway hooked me up with this killer Black Eyed Joe Pumpkin.
That's the Sweetness right there. Thanks Steve.
Peek behind the Footballguys curtain for any of you that care. I've got the best job of anyone I know but sometimes the customer feedback is interesting.
Sunday morning the big decision for fantasy owners was whether or not to play Jimmy Graham. Multiple reports early Sunday morning said Graham was not expected to play and it was reported he was dealing with a torn plantar fascia in his foot.
He warmed up and then was put on the Active list for the game.
We sent this email Sunday morning to our Footballguys Insider Subscribers:
"It's another wild Sunday Morning navigating the injury minefield. The big decision this morning comes for you Jimmy Graham owners. Here's what we know and what we think.
"Jimmy Graham is on the ACTIVE list for today's game. But he is clearly not close to 100% . We feel like there's about a 30% chance that he posts a zero. On the upside, he's still Jimmy Graham and if your TE cupboard is totally bare, he might be worth a shot.
"I like the way our Dr. Jene Bramel @JeneBramelnow said it this morning: "RE Graham, fantasy lineups ~ You're hoping for red zone target or two. Extreme boom-bust TE1. If feel another option gets 5+ targets, use him."
Well, we all know how the game went as Graham wound up exploding for two touchdowns (on just three receptions).
The email box flood gates opened responding to my email above. Most were along the line of this one:
"This in unbelievable that you did this to your clients!!! how could you inform everyone that jimmy graham has a 30% chance to score 0??? I am so infuriated right now that you sent out these reports!!!"
Again, I've got the best job ever. No sympathy needed here as angry email is absolutely part of the job. Sometimes I find human nature fascinating though and thought I'd share.
Few players in the league are as polarizing as Dez Bryant. Bryant's sideline eruption seemed to draw a response from just about everyone. I saw a ton of "Get Off My Lawn" type criticism as if Bryant had done the worst thing in the world.
And a few fun pictures:
My take: Meh. Bryant's a fiery competitor. Did he act like a spoiled child? Absolutely. Fiery competitors don't always model Boy Scout behavior.
Second thing - consider the context. More specifically, consider how his team mates reacted. Jason Witten told KTCK-AM on Tuesday, per The Dallas Morning News , "There's nobody I love playing with more on Sundays than Dez," Witten said.
“I was just reminding him there at the end there was still hope, still a chance and that he kind of just needed to let it go and let’s get focused back on these final few seconds.
“Wasn’t about getting [Bryant] the ball, . . . that’s not what kind of guy he is, . . . that’s why we love him.”
DeMarcus Ware's "reminding" Bryant looked a little more forceful.
But that's exactly what a leader does. Good on Ware.
Tony Romo and coach Jason Garrett echoed similar positive thoughts.
"There will be some stories about it, I'm sure, but everyone in the locker room knows there is nothing to it," Romo said. "It's not like this guy is being deceitful or trying to do something that helps himself. He literally just cares about winning."
"Dez is as well-liked a guy on our football team by his teammates and by the coaching staff," Garrett said. "He's very passionate about the game, he loves football, he loves his football team and he wants to win. One of the things he has to learn is to channel all that positive stuff, all that positive emotion, he has to channel it and focus it to the task at hand."
Bottom line for me. This was a great example of jumping to conclusions when we don't know the full story. Bryant's fine. The Cowboys are fine. At least, fine with this situation. They've got a lot of football left to play this season and they very well may not be fine there. But the Dez Bryant situation was much ado over very little in my opinion. This might have been the most accurate graphic of all.
Music Note of the Week. Seems like the whole world is celebrating the anniversary of Nirvana's In Utero so I'll jump in too.
My all time favorite Nirvana performance is their cover of a song made popular by Blues legend Leadbelly Where Did You Sleep Last Night? on maybe my favorite album of all time: Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance
For reference, Leadbelly's version is just as haunting. Incredible. As you search for it, it's sometimes called "In The Pines".
Of course, that's not the style that made Nirvana famous. Songs like Lithium are more in line there. And of course Smells LIke Teen Spirit.
For you aficionados, Esquire Magazine made a list of Nirvana Deep Tracks not available on albums.
I miss those guys together.
Here's how much it hurts to be a Rams fan. Scrubs like Golden Tate are taunting you…
That hurts.
ESPN's Colin Cowherd and Plaxico Burress sharing Gummi Bears.
I've got nothing for this one…
Baseball pic of the week.
And yes, I know the nail thing is for signs. Still a sweet picture though…
Another edition of Random Shots means another awesome adventure for Jaguars mascot, Jaxson deVille. This week, he was busted for streaking in London.
He's easily the best thing about Jacksonville. I'd put whoever's in charge of the mascot in charge of the team for next season…
While I'm on bad teams with great mascots, I'm bummed that Ragnar hasn't had much to cheer about this year.
Watching the Cleveland game with Jason Campbell throwing a touchdown to Fozzy Whittaker I was struck by the idea this game changes pretty fast. Didn't really see that coming this summer…
During the pre game interview in the tunnel at St. Louis, the secret to Seattle's success was captured walking behind Coach Carroll…
All Hail Megatron.
On that note, wouldn't you expect this list to be filled with great receivers? Seems kind of weird to me to have a game like he did and still trail Willie Flipper Anderson…
Last week I listed a Mike Glennon to Tiquan Underwood nullified touchdown under the "Hard Luck" section. Shaun B sent a note saying, "Hard luck? If your team started Mike Glennon or Tiquan Underwood, you already have your fill of Hard Luck."
That's a pretty good point.
Hard Luck Awards for Week 8
- BUF QB Thad Lewis pass deep left to WR T.J. Graham for 55 yards, TOUCHDOWN NULLIFIED by Penalty.
- NYG K Josh Brown 28 yard field goal is GOOD, NULLIFIED by Penalty
- NE QB Tom Brady pass deep left to TE Rob Gronkowski for 30 yards, TOUCHDOWN NULLIFIED by Penalty.
- CAR K Rian Lindell 45 yard field goal is GOOD, NULLIFIED by Penalty.
Sometimes it's better to just not know...
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguy Doug Drinen, Matt Cox, Steve Tourek, Andrew Garda, Jeremy Peters, Doug Miller and Don Miller for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, shoot me an e-mail at bryant@footballguys.com.
Note for you folks inclined to pray or those that care enough to read all the way down this far. This season of Random Shots is dedicated to my close friend Mike Wenger who apparently has decided to upstage Chuck Pagano this year. Mike's been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. Much Love, Buddy. Mad Respect. Go Chiefs.
A ton of you folks have been so kind to reach out with nice comments for Mike. I wanted to let you know that we've got a cool fund raiser we're doing for the family where our good friends at Slantshirts.com have printed up MIKESTRONG shirts for us.
Click Here to order. Profits from the shirt sales will be donated to the Wenger family to help offset bills. Plus there are lots more cool shirts onSlantshirts.com . Much thanks.
Currently in first place for the Long Distance award is my buddy Lance rocking the MIKESTRONG shirt in Afghanistan. Awesome.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.