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 Random Shots and it’s 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.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
I’m opening with a classic.
Taima, the Seahawks live Augur Hawk mascot decided to land on a fan in the crowd Sunday.
That’s got to hurt as I’m assuming the handler doesn’t wear a welding glove just for fun.
My favorite part was the lady behind the guy clapping as if it was part of the show. She looked like the woman in the scene from “The Patriot” where the Americans blow up the British boat and the clueless party lady claps saying, “Ohhh… Fireworks!… Lovely!”
I’m always amazed when people are amazed when an animal meant to fly / run / swim wild decides to go “off script” and not do the unnatural thing the human trainer / captor has decided it should do.
It’s like Chris Rock’s line about everyone being mad at the tiger that attacked the Las Vegas show trainers, Siegfried and Roy. (For you at work folks, note there is one NSFW word in the video).
Rock said, “Everyone says the Tiger went crazy. Tiger didn’t go crazy. Tiger went Tiger.”
Word.
I could call it a day with that one and have a pretty good column.
I felt for my Steeler fan friends Sunday as their worst fears were realized. The rest of the world may have been assuming an easy win over the Jets but several of my Steeler fan Buddies like Footballguys Sigmund Bloom and Keith Overton were leery. Turns out they were right.
Tempers ran hot through the game. Ben Roethlisberger absorbed a cheap shot after a whistle.
And Pittsburgh returned the favor. Somewhere Greg Schiano is smiling.
Rex Ryan was not amused.
Busted Coverage points out the incorrect stat line. Sanchez most definitely had a pick there. Maybe more than one.
Yeah, I’m twelve.
The big call of the week was the offensive pass interference on Jimmy Graham that could have won the game for New Orleans.
The question asked around the water cooler Monday morning was “Push or Flop”?
Perrish Cox of course denied floppage. ”Man, look here, that wasn't a flop at all.” Cox told FOX Sports. "If they want to call it that, well, if he didn't push me, it would've been an (interception). People can say what they want. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but we came out with the victory and that's all that matters."
I’m with Dr. Evil.
You can make the case it was offensive pass interference as clearly, Graham pushed. We’ve seen it with Steve Smith earlier this year and with Anquan Boldin earlier in this game.
The argument becomes how much of a push is enough to warrant OPI there? And does that threshold change on a Hail Mary? Those are legit questions. What is not a legit question is whether Cox flopped. Dude looked nearly as bad as Tom Brady.
But it’s like Cox says, the 49ers won and that’s all that matters. Well that and the fact that he’s got to live with being a flopper.
I wonder if it bothers this guy?…
Look, if I’m John Fox, I don’t want Peyton Manning throwing blocks. But this is still pretty cute.
That can be a goal of young QBs around the league: Get yourself so established as a quarterback that a fake handoff gesture qualifies as a block and nobody cares.
Here’s a quick way to see less playing time…
Did you wonder about the Red emblem on the jerseys for the London game?
It’s a “Remembrance Day” flower symbol. Sort of like our Veterans Day. From the ForTheWin article:
“The flowers are red poppies, which are the symbol of remembrance for the fallen soldiers of World War I. They’re being worn on Sunday because it’s Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom, a day which honors the soldiers from the “Great War.” This year’s holiday took on added significance because it’s the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI, the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the end of the UK’s military involvement in Afghanistan.”
Cool.
Nice moment from MetLife Stadium Sunday.
Thanks to Footballguy Clayton Gray for that one.
God Bless Cowboys Fans. London Edition.
Jimmy Graham Scored. And so did this lady…
Thanks to Footballguy Ryan Cubrak for that one.
Turns out upon closer inspection, it was THE JOKER.
Former Eagles QB Donovan McNabb called Jay Cutler the Tony Romo of the Midwest.
"He's the Tony Romo of the Midwest," McNabb said during an interview with 87.7-FM in Chicago, via the Chicago Sun-Times. "We can talk about arm talent, we can talk about being able to throw a ball through a wall. He can put up 280, 340 yards passing, but you look across the board he's got two interceptions in a game that cost them 14 points or so. That hurts a football team."
I know McNabb won playoff games. But that just strikes me as super lame.
Filing this under “These Guys Earn Their Money”.
This is Saints cornerback Keenan Lewis’ knee after the game Sunday.
Lewis injured his knee during the game and was carted off the field.
The team announced Lewis would not return to the game but apparently Lewis didn’t get the news.
He came back into the game and played in the second half.
"Even though I was in pain, I tell myself, 'If I can walk, I can try to go,'" Lewis said after the game, via ESPN.com. "My team needed me, and I just gave what I could give. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be hurting next week and I'll be out there hopefully on one leg [again]. I'll let the trainers evaluate me, we've got good trainers. And if I can walk, I'm going."
Music note, shoutout to some young guys from my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Their band is called William Wild and they just finished a new video for Townsend.
Full disclosure - my son’s in the band. But I’d dig them anyway.
Who wouldn’t want to be like Trey Wingo and covered in Skittles?
Eagles against Panthers… Eagles against Giants. Whatever. Bring it on.
Thanks to Footballguy Matt DiPippa for that one.
Here’s what it come to for Jay Cutler.
The Governor of Wisconsin is trolling him…
He’s waiting…
The biggest hit I saw this week was in a rugby game. Wow.
The Steeler collapse explained.
Thanks to Footballguy Clayton Gray for that one.
Mario Williams is a scary looking dude. This is not a photoshop as he was rocking the red contact lenses here.
Carson Palmer signed a huge contract extension. Then immediately blew out his ACL. Again.
Arizona insider Darren Urban had a nice quote from Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald. ”You see your captain ... on the ground, you're human. Long before Carson is your quarterback, he's your friend."
Bad News. The Jets faced a 3rd and 46 Sunday.
Worse News. It wasn’t a television error.
USA Today’s ForTheWin explained how it happened.
“1st and 10: Chris Ivory lost -1 yard.
“2nd and 11: Mike Vick lost -5 yards and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during the play. Then, the Jets were assessed another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play. Vick lost 20 yards with his run and penalty and another 15 yards were tacked on for the post-play penalty.”
Denver backup quarterback Brock Osweiler thought he’d get a shot in the third quarter with the Broncos blowing out the Raiders. Peyton Manning had other ideas.
I’m not sure what Osweiler was thinking. There is no lead big enough to keep Manning off the field in the third quarter. Those stats aren’t going to pad themselves.
John Brown, I like how you roll.
The glamorous life of an NFL writer…
Nothing like knowing you’re getting the leftover Halloween candy…
Thanks to Footballguy Clayton Gray for that one.
NBA note for the week. Thank goodness Charles Barkley can eat now.
Peter King with a fun line this week on Bruce Arians talking up the “Next Man Up” mentality.
King wrote, “I did an interview with Arians for The MMQB that ran last week, and what he said about dealing with injured players impressed me. He said: “Injuries happen to everybody. Free-agent losses happen to everybody. I preach and preach and preach, ‘The most valuable player on the team is not Larry Fitzgerald. It’s who’s gonna take his place after Larry Fitzgerald gets hurt.’ It happened to me. I was the next man up. I was the assistant coach in Indianapolis, and 20 hours after Chuck [Pagano] goes down [with leukemia] I am running the team. I always tell the Wally Pipp story, even though the players never know who he is, that he’s the guy Lou Gehrig replaced, and Wally Pipp could never get his job back. The worst part? They don’t know who Lou Gehrig is.”
As an old guy like Arians, I feel the pain…
I’m with the NFL Memes kid. Things move fast.
It’s not cool to love the guy but I’ve always been a huge Randy Moss fan. Here’s a fun video showing how excited Moss was to meet Deion Sanders. A couple of things are working here. First off, it’s fun to see the more human side of Moss and the excitement. Secondly, Deion Sanders is a big deal. Good stuff.
I admit, I kind of did…
Just Marshawn Lynch trying to get kicker Steven Hauschka to dance with him…
Jayson Jenks reported later, “I actually asked Hauschka about that "incident" after the game. He laughed. ‘His song came on so he wanted to dance with him.’”
God Bless Eagle Fans…
This is Chicago - Green Bay in one gif.
Mercy.
Caption this photo for me.
No, that’s not J. Peterman.
It’s Chelsea Football Club manager Jose Mourinho and Jerry Jones. Mourinho looks less than impressed. Plus this furthers my theory that there’s something about wearing the scarf thrown over the shoulder that makes your face smirk up like that.
Much more manly to go with the simple loop like Hugh Jackman here.
I told you back in Week 9 about how Andrew Hawkins explained to his son that there will be only Hawkins fans under his roof…
Thankfully, there’s a nice ending to the story.
Sadly, we live in a world where people go after Marc Trestman’s daughter on Twitter after a loss.
I don’t know what the answer is on this. But it’s pretty sad.
As if Aaron Rodgers wasn’t awesome enough, Jordy Nelson revealed on the Dan Patrick show this week via Fansided that Rodgers bought his teammates male thongs for Christmas last year.
“Last year [for Christmas] — I don’t know if I can explain it — it was an undergarment for men who might wear it if they were a stripper,” Nelson said.
But here’s the best part. Nelson said Rodgers didn’t buy them online and instead stood in line at the thong store.
“And my question to him was, ‘Did you actually stand in line to buy that, or did you buy it online?’ And he told me he stood in line, which I still don’t know if I can believe.”
Oh Aaron.
I told you a few weeks ago how I loved Chip Kelly’s signs he uses for play calling.
They’re turning up the heat…
This can’t be good…
The “best corner in the game” had his hands full with a rookie WR playing in his fifth game…
Yowza.
Bad News: This pass was incomplete.
Worse News: That blue line is the line of scrimmage.
Just a headsup - any of you guys going for Best Halloween Costume have some work to do…
I’ll wrap this week with Nick Mangold hiking Pepsi from the cooler. Love this.
Hard Luck Awards for Week 10.
Sometimes it's better to just not know...
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Ryan Cubrak, Matt DiPippa and Brian Sumner 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.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.