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.
I’m also going to give it my best effort this week to spend less than 95% of my time sounding like a self righteous windbag. I’m guessing you guys listen to, read and watch a lot of the same media that I do so we both could use the break.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
What’s better for lightening the mood than the Simpsons?
Your favorite NFL Players as Simpsons characters, that’s what.
And if you needed another thing to be happy about, cheer for Bleacher Report not breaking this into 47 separate slides…
More happiness. Darren Sproles set to Super Mario Brothers music.
I’m a giver.
Or how about Washington players photobombing the ESPN reporter.
Better now?
Time to bring it down. At least for Jets fans.
Another Jets game, and another snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with a Marty Mornhinweg timeout nullifying a game tying touchdown.
Brutal.
Almost makes you wish for the good ole Butt Fumble days…
Sunday with the Vikings playing at their University of Minnesota temporary home, Matt Cassel received his first start on a college football field. That’s kind of weird. Thanks to Ryan Boser for that one.
FauxJohnMadden made me smile Sunday morning with this headline: “Devastating news for the Cowboys today, as Tony Romo woke up feeling great.”
Our friend Scott Piankowski had this moments into the game after DeMarco Murray fumbled. “The Cowboys love to script a turnover in the first 15 snaps.”
Here’s what it’s like to be a Jacksonville fan. The first time the Jaguars took an offensive snap in Washington territory was with 8:45 on the clock.
In the Fourth Quarter.
Let that sink in you Saints, Giants, Colts and Chiefs fans sitting at 0-2 and feeling bad for yourselves…
You Tampa Bay and Oakland fans, you can feel bad.
I told you last week the Black Hole swallowed players and turned them into something else.
James Jones took Maurice Jones-Drew drop kicking the ball backwards and raised him with two fumbles on the same play.
Rock on Michigan State. Sunday was a nice effort for Spartan QBs as Kirk Cousins, Drew Stanton and Brian Hoyer all lined up under center.
Not sure what to do with that.
San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh appeared less than impressed with the 49er fans when asked about the home field crowd noise and support.
"I noticed, at times, it was good and loud, yeah," Harbaugh told reporters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "And at times, it could be improved."
It’s not like anyone could have predicted moving the stadium to Santa Clara, pricing out long time fans and catering to the Silicon Valley corporate crowd would’ve had any effect…
Brian Hoyer with a rookie running back replacing injured starter Ben Tate and without Josh Gordon and without Jordan Cameron beat the Saints this weekend. Yeah, I saw that coming.
God Bless Terry Pegula. After much uncertainty, Mr. Pegula saved the Bills vowing to keep them in Buffalo and making lots of people very happy.
From the article written by Luke Russert, “I got to my desk and saw the headline on the Buffalo News web page that I knew it was really happening. Then, I cried. I cried for my grandpa, my Uncle Bill and for my dad. I cried for all those Buffalonians who had fallen on hard times, who looked to the Bills to bring some joy into their lives.”
I have no idea how effective he’ll be as an owner. But I’m cheering for him and the Bills.
Oh, and please can they wear the throwbacks every game?
Washington coach Jay Gruden hinted that it was “unfair” to label Robert Griffin III as injury prone.
Football fans responded with
I’m with Peter King in that I was bummed Cleveland’s Jordan Cameron missed Sunday’s game as like the rest of America, I’d been looking forward to Jordan Cameron against New Orleans defensive end Cameron Jordan.
Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs decided to break out the gladiator mask for pre game introductions Thursday night.
Suggs said the inspiration came from Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you should do it. It would be tight.’"
I mean, how can you argue with “Yeah, you should do it. It would be tight.”?
I love it that Mike Ditka…
is rocking the glasses from the guy in UP.
That’s pretty funny…
Steeler Fans are everywhere. The game obviously didn’t go their way but this Barbecue restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina was fired up for Thursday’s game.
Seattle seems to be taking the loss ok. Doug Baldwin had fun with Kam Chancellor with his Twitter feed Tuesday.
Chris Conte is pretty good.
God Bless you Browns fans.
Wait. FOX’s Cleatus animation is a real thing? Nobody told me this.
I’m dying to know what Aaron Rodgers is signaling here. Assuming it’s something different than what I think it is…
An NFL season is full of ups and downs. Miami fans were feeling that Sunday…
New Orleans defensive coordinator Rob Ryan seems like a fun guy. Everyone likes Ryan.
Except for Sean Payton right here.
Philip Rivers clearly misses his best friend and center, Nick Hardwick who’s out for the year.
Sunday Rivers gave his buddy a shout out by wearing Hardwick’s number on his helmet.
Rivers said, “I thought about him quite a bit out there today, especially pre-game (during) the national anthem, thinking he may not be out there again. He may not put on that helmet again with that 61 sticker.”
Hardwick appreciated the gesture. "That hit me pretty good," Hardwick said. "It was powerful. It affected me."
ESPN caught Chip Kelly’s play card on the broadcast.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
San Diego’s Antonio Gates woke up Sunday morning and thought it was 2004.
I’ve got a new theory.
It’s goes something along the lines of the universe needing balance. If you’re really good at something, you need to have something else in your life that’s as bad as whatever it is you’re good at.
My evidence for this is Andrew Luck and Nick Foles. They’re both really good quarterbacks. With most people considering Luck a great quarterback. Balancing out the quarterbacking goodness are the “beards” they’re forced to wear.
You’ll notice Luck’s beard is proportionally bad compared to Foles and Luck’s quarterbacking skills are better in the same degree.
What do you think?
Truth be told, I’m kind of worried about Andrew Luck.
The Good News: Alex Smith hit Junior Hemingway for a beautiful pass and third down conversion.
The Bad News: That blue line is the line of scrimmage…
Note for Carolina’s Wes Horton. Dude. Dry off after the shower before you get dressed.
Maybe it’s too many Edgar Allan Poe stories but the Ravens mascot is a little creepy with the logo.
The players have been wearing the Dri Fit skull caps for a while. But the Kangaroo Tail thing Cordarrelle Patterson was sporting was new to me.
Why do I notice these things?
Speaking of headwear, I give you Joe Philbin.
If he got that crown any taller, he’d be pushing for a room at the Vatican.
I’m not Catholic, but rock on Pope Francis.
Washington’s Roy Helu found there was nothing like going for the spin the ball move and having the ref steal your thunder.
Soap box time with a note for your married guys and you guys that may be married one day.
Wear your wedding ring. I see some guys who think it’s wimpy or lame to wear a ring.
Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey wears his wedding ring during games. If he can, you can.
Yeah, he’s a kicker. And I get it if you work around machinery or something where rings are unsafe. But that’s not most of us.
For most of us, just wear your ring. Trust me on this one.
For the second week in a row, things got weird for Browns punter Spencer Lanning. In Week One, he took a foot to the face from Antonio Brown. This week, he muffed the hold for an extra point and wound up facing an angry Saints defense.
He didn’t score. But at least he didn’t blow up the internet again.
I think this Kelvin Benjamin guy might have a future in this league…
I remember having friends in Junior High with braces and their biggest fear was kissing a girl who also had braces and getting their braces caught together.
We saw the Football equivalent of that Sunday.
Peyton Manning was not amused.
Neither was Richard Sherman.
Jordy Nelson doing a Lambeau Leap into the arms of a fan wearing a Jordy Nelson jersey equals Happiness Meter Pegged.
I don’t normally criticize officiating because I think it’s a really tough job. But not reviewing this touchdown was pretty bad.
The official on the right making the “Calvin Johnson - you thought you had a touchdown but no you did-int” signal.
I hate that one.
And I’ll finish this one like I started. God Bless Chip Kelly…
Hard Luck Awards for Week 2.
Sometimes it's better to just not know...
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguy Doug Drinen and Tom Jackson 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.