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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
Oakland’s Ray-Ray Armstrong had the hit of the game against T.J. Carrie. Unfortunately, Carrie plays for Oakland.
Armstrong’s known to be a little excitable. He committed 9 penalties on special teams last year with St. Louis.
Maybe it’s a California thing…
Kenny Stills wasn’t making any friends in Pittsburgh…
About as many as Richard Sherman was making in San Francisco.
In the wake of Atlanta head coach Mike Smith blowing another game, I threw out my crazy idea last week that maybe coaches should turn over some of the “game play” aspects of the job to specialists. As it seems to me that some of the most valuable head coaching job duties like developing players and game plans aren’t necessarily in the same skill set as managing the game from the sidelines challenging calls and calling timeouts.
Turns out, at least one head coach agrees with me. Former Oregon and now Philadelphia coach Chip Kelly felt he could improve on their 2013 success rate for challenges and hired former ACC replay official Frank Kosman to be their “Challenge Guy”.
"Just wanted to get better in every aspect," Kelly said. "I analyze everything after the season. How do we improve on what we did before? Just thought that was the right way to go."
I’ll consider that a compliment that Kelly and I are thinking on the same angle there…
Thanks to Footballguy Colin Casey for that one.
Detroit took care of Chicago 34-17 on Thanksgiving. I’m a Jay Cutler defender but we’re starting to make the same face here…
I’m not sure who’s more annoying in San Francisco, Jim Harbaugh or the 49ers Management. I’d always leaned towards Harbaugh but 49ers CEO Jed York made a strong case Thursday publicly calling out his team.
Sure it was unacceptable. But that’s an In House discussion. Act like a man and take that up with the people you’re talking about instead of airing it to Social Media.
Feel good moment of the week came from Hockey.
The sound system went out as the woman was singing the US National Anthem before the game in Toronto. And the awesome Canadian crowd finished the song for her.
Rock on, Canada.
J.J Watt, you’re ridiculous.
Thanks to Footballguy Jene Bramel for that one.
I’m not sure the league could screw up the Play 60 reads more if they tried.
First one I saw Sunday had the little girl eating ice cream.
Then the next one had a kid with a Bud Light…
I love my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. It’s College Football Country where there are as many Colts / Broncos / Peyton Manning fans as there are Titans fans. The differences in the college and pro games are fascinating to me.
For one thing, Conference Pride. I’ll admit I don’t really get cheering for the Conference. (Although we Tennessee fans haven’t exactly had a ton to pull for of late…)
I mean, how often to you see NFL fans talking about NFC or AFC Pride?
And I love the Rivalry Game Trophies like the Paul Bunyan Axe for Minnesota and Wisconsin
and the Egg Bowl between Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
But this photo from the Ohio State - Michigan game was powerful and illustrates some of the draw for College Football I think as Michigan’s David Gardner consoles injured Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett.
I know some of that happens in the NFL too but it just felt more like a college moment. And that’s kind of cool.
Barrett joined the Ohio State fans in the stands to watch the end of the game. You definitely don’t see that in the NFL.
Thanks to Footballguy Clayton Gray for that one. Woo Pig Sooie.
Late November Fantasy Football is always fun.
Fighting for a playoff spot in my local league last week, I was crushed that Latavius Murray wasn’t able to play and was excited to have Jarvis Landry in my lineup. Can’t say I saw that coming back in August…
Kansas City still doesn’t have a WR with a touchdown. Y’all, it’s week 14.
As ESPN Stats and Info pointed out, every other team has at least 5.
I’m with the Captain.
I’m not sure how it’s possible but Bill Belichick’s press conferences are better every week.
Adam Schefter relayed this gem when Belichick was asked about Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers facing each other for the first time. ”It is what it is. Whatever hasn't happened hasn't happened."
Later he talked about the similarities between Brady and Rodgers. He answered, “They both wear number twelve”…
Here’s how bad things are for Robert Griffin III.
This is the guy you were benched for.
That may be the best statue in all of sports. Maybe the best statue ever.
I got on Ben Roethlisberger a couple of weeks ago about going half way with the headband neck scarf thing. If you want the turtleneck shirt, go with the turtleneck shirt. But the headband around your neck thing is kind of weird.
Now Peyton Manning is going there.
If Roethlisberger starts tucking his jersey into his jeans though, all bets are off.
Odell Beckham Jr. was rocking a special new pair of gloves for Sunday’s game.
Nike tweeted “Turn uncatchable into unforgettable. @OBJ_3 takes the field in a custom Nike Vapor Jet 3.0.”
“Be Legendary”. Seriously? You know what’s not legendary? 3-9. Maybe a little less individual and a little more team?
I don’t know Beckham and this strikes me more as a Nike hype thing than him drawing attention to himself. Although he’s ultimately responsible for what he wears. Regardless, I have to think that didn’t sit well with his coach.
Wait. What if those gloves really do make that much difference? ESPN’s Jesse Palmer and David Pollack were not impressed with Beckham’s catch.
That’s former University of Georgia linebacker David Pollack…
Thanks to Footballguy Tyler Brackeen for that one.
Caption this one. Tom Brady on a leash.
Thanks to Footballguy Brad Schuelke for that one.
If Joe had been wearing this coat with Suzy Kolber on that fateful night, she might be Suzy Kolber Namath today…
Tough news last week as Kansas City safety Eric Berry is facing a possible diagnosis of Lymphoma Cancer.
Berry is known for wearing tape on his fingers instead of gloves and several Kansas City defensive players paid tribute to Berry Sunday by doing the same.
That’s pretty cool.
Plus the Denver fans were awesome.
While I’m thinking of tributes, this is one of my all time favorites.
For you youngsters, Hank Gathers was a star basketball player for USC and Loyola Marymount who died from a heart condition during a game in the 1990 West Coast Conference Post Season Tournament. The WCC Tournament was canceled and Loyola Marymount moved onto the NCAA Tournament as a #11 seed.
As a tribute to Gathers, teammate Bo Kimble, who is right handed, shot his first free throw in the Tournament left handed. Gathers had struggled with free throws over his career and had tried shooting them left handed. Kimble did this in each game of the tourney as Loyola Marymount advanced to the Elite Eight going 3 for 3 on left handed free throws.
That’s cool.
My favorite part of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s day was not the six touchdowns. It was the fact he seemed to be most excited about his son’s impressive math skills… Sure it’s a parlor trick, but still fun.
I like Browns head coach Mike Pettine a lot. But wasn’t a fan of him throwing his rookie running back Terrance West under the bus.
“You can’t be that loose with the football, it’s inexcusable,” Pettine said. “West really changed the whole flow of the game. It would have been a one-score game, and that’s the frustrating thing.
“Close games are going to come down to turnovers. Like I said, the West fumble changed everything. It’s inexcusable.”
This was West’s second fumble in 139 touches this season.
To his credit, West owned the mistake. “I blame this game on me,” the third-round pick from Towson said. “When I fumbled the ball and lost the ball, they scored. That changed the game. It changed the momentum of the game, so I blame this one on me.”
I’ll give Pettine the benefit of the doubt on this one and chalk it up to emotion. Everyone knows West’s mistake changed the game. There’s not much upside in publicly calling out the young player like that. Address it internally and move on.
This just in: Aaron Rodgers is pretty good.
With 2:28 left in the game and Green Bay facing 3rd down and 4 and New England out of timeouts, Rodgers iced the game with a 7 yard pass to Randall Cobb.
Tom Brady wasn’t happy.
Jordy Nelson’s pretty fast…
Just Rob Gronkowski’s butt.
I told you I was twelve.
Mike Evans outweighs Terence Newman by thirty something pounds.
But this is still pretty impressive.
Is there anything Odell Beckham Jr. can’t do? Apparently trick spin the ball and kick field goals are within his power.
It’s the yin and yang of possessing a “signature move”. When it’s good, it’s fun. When it’s not good, it’s not as much fun.
Jim Harbaugh has a little extra motivation for their game against Oakland. Harbaugh wants to win and ensure his next team has the #1 draft pick…
I can see Harbaugh and Mark Davis being like…
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
Back to head coaching “game play” moves. Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis had a headsup play Sunday.
As explained by Peter King on his Monday Morning Quarterback column, Tampa Bay was driving down the field for a game winning field goal with 26 seconds left on the clock. After completing a 21 yard pass that put the ball on the Cincinnati 20, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis was notified that Tampa Bay had 12 men on the field on the previous play.
"We are fortunate because we have a challenge person upstairs," Lewis told MMQB. "He told me about the 12 men. Then it was just a matter of getting it to the officials’ attention."
But the trouble was that Lewis can’t challenge a play inside of two minutes.
So what did he do? He threw the challenge flag anyway knowing it would cost him the penalty of a timeout that he could spare. (Another good reason to not burn timeouts for dumb reasons).
Lewis threw the flag, took his penalty and the officials then reviewed the previous play seeing Tampa with 12 men.
The 21 yard pass was erased and the Buccaneers were moved back to the 46 facing 2nd and 20. Three unsuccessful plays later, Cincinnati took over on downs and won the game.
Because the Bengals coaching staff made the right moves.
Just Black Eyed Joe’s Player Of The Year Kyle Orton taking a dip on the sideline.
Chris Burke with a nice one before the Monday night game during the Springsteen / U2 performance: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" leading into a game where Rex is starting Geno is about maximum irony.”
Stay Classy Virginia Tech. Love that #HokieRespect
Do you remember the first time you realized you could flip someone off and your Mom wasn’t there to ground you? That was this guy Saturday.
Mark Sanchez wasn’t throwing enough picks so LeSean McCoy decided to get involved.
Speaking of Sanchez, you had to be happy for the guy. Two Thanksgivings ago was the Buttfumble.
This year with a new lease on life he led the high flying Eagles to a win over Dallas.
Asked about the Buttfumble, he gave a great answer: “It sucked. I ran into some guy's butt and dropped the ball on the turf and they scored. I mean, I don't know if it gets— it's like my favorite holiday so it's not cool. It was really a bummer. The game plan [today] was try not to do that, and we accomplished it."
That dark spot on the giant flag? It’s Jim Harbaugh’s hat.
There was plenty of discussion on Twitter as to whether he dropped it or threw it. Eiother way, he’s got a long ways to go to reach Brandon Weeden level…
If I ever started writing Random Shots for the NBA, I’m pretty sure I could do nothing but Mark Cuban stuff…
What is it about Dallas owners?…
Former Washington TE Chris Cooley pulled no punches in his assessment of Robert Griffin III.
“He's short-arming the ball,' Cooley said. 'He has bad technique, he's not setting his feet right … He has the yips. He does have the yips, where the ball's just not coming out of your hand right, so now you've aborted all technique, because you don't have a feel for the ball coming out of your hand, and you're getting this shot-put throw action. You're aiming. He has the yips. He does. He just does.”
Are you going to doubt a guy that would wear these shorts?
Note for Rob Ryan - renting instead of owning in New Orleans might be the better option…
I’m reminded daily I don’t have a clue what’s going on. Today’s reminder came with the news that 27 million people watched the 'League of Legends' World Championship which is more than the World Series or NBA Finals.
Now get off my lawn..
If you look up “worn out”, you’ll likely get Rex Ryan’s Post Game Presser.
I always say half this column is just noticing stupid stuff. Sometimes I’ll ask why. I’m only semi joking there. Chris Rock had some sobering words on the subject this week in the bigger context on Robin Williams’ death: “I mean, we always say ignorance is bliss. Well, if so, what’s the opposite? Some form of misery. Being a comedian, 80 percent of the job is just you notice s***, which is a trait of schizophrenics too. You notice things people don’t notice.”
C’mon Chris. Let’s get back to everyone being mad at the tiger that attacked the Las Vegas show trainers, Siegfried and Roy.
Rock said, “Everyone says the Tiger went crazy. Tiger didn’t go crazy. Tiger went Tiger.”
Word.
Not getting all heavy suggesting I’m a schizophrenic.
Oh Colin…
Wrapping this week with my favorite video of 2014. I think it’s worth every second of the twelve minutes it runs. Find the time and check out Owen and Haatchi. Trust me.
Hard Luck Awards for Week 13
Sometimes it's better to just not know...
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Colin Casey, Clayton Gray, Tyler Brackeen, Brad Schuelke, Jene Bramel and David Dodds 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.