Join the Footballguys Daily Update
Start your morning with our roundup of the most important stories in football - with the fantasy insight you need to make league-winning decisions. Delivered straight to your inbox, 100% free.
Hi Folks,
We do a lot of 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 some value for you.
We'll see. Now let's get to it.
J
The Holidays are upon us. Let's open with the best rendition I've heard in a while of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" courtesy of that noted Holiday Crooner - Bill Belichick. Click here for the video.
Just like last year, I'm starting right off the bat with the music as we cover all the Holiday bases. First, a Run DMC - Charlie Brown mashup of Christmas in Hollis from the Best Christmas Movie Ever - Die Hard.
Next up is Adam Sandler with the classic Chanukah Song.
Elvis sings my favorite Christmas song.
And for a picture of cool personified, he butchers the words but still kills it live.
Long live the King.
And one last song for you Star Wars fans...
Lastly, one of my favorite Sports Illustrated covers from a few years back featuring Belichick Santa.
What is it about Belichick and this time of year?
Happy Holidays from all of us at Footballguys.
Andre Johnson may be retired. But his Christmas Tradition of buying toys for kids is still rolling on.
Rock on, Big Fella.
Well done, Mr. Sager. You will be missed.
Seattle's Color Rush uniforms raised a few eyebrows. Or burned a few retinas. Depends on who you asked.
God Bless Browns Fans.
More December Coolness. Colts punter Pat McAfee is a regular in Random Shots. But usually for the goofy stuff he does.
This time, it's for paying a bunch of electricity bills for folks in Indianapolis. Some of whom were about to have their power disconnected.
New York broke out the rarely used Quintuple-Team pass protection this week.
More Green Bay fun.
And more asking "Did we just become best friends?"
We know the answer to that question...
Victor Cruz is ready for Christmas.
Apparently, the Patriots failed to understand the intimidation here...
If it's any comfort to Todd Bowles, most Jets fans feel like him. But partly because of him. Which is a little awkward.
Thanks to Footballguy Joseph Pavano for that one.
Cold weather games are different for teams. Prepared in Chicago.
My favorite thing about Derek Carr this week was how he turned into Emilio Estevez from the Breakfast Club.
Thanks to Footballguy Lawson Douvier for that one.
Bonus session for the Music Notes This Week. The Holidays are a time for joining together so the Twenty One Pilots + Mutemath Session seemed like the perfect selection. Two rad bands in a very well done video with five songs. AND you can download the songs for free. Check the link in the YouTube description.
Enjoy.
Sportswriting can be tough. Maybe not for teams this year like Dallas or New England where they're playing well. But writing for a team that's struggling in December isn't easy. Hats off to Tim Graham of the Buffalo News for this masterpiece.
The aimless Buffalo Bills beat the winless Cleveland Browns, 33-13.
The game was hollow, and nobody will ever Google to find this quick recap. Bills fans might glance at this on Sunday. Then my typing will be forgotten forever.
Sad, really.
So to give a poor article life beyond Sunday, I am going to overload it with search terms that will cause people to click on it.
Let's mention Patrick Kane and Lou Gramm right at the top. Good times.
Did O.J. Simpson do it? Keep reading for conclusive evidence -- if you dare.
This probably is the first time Doug Marrone, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and Chance the Rapper have appeared in the same sentence.
Imma toss in some references to Negan, deadly clown sightings, Slender Man, "Making a Murderer" and Shawn Mendes.
Brexit.
Let's acknowledge the new law firm of Bieber, Cena, Sia and Vader while we're at it. And then there is Van Halen's reunion with David Lee Roth and Khloe Kardashian's engagement to Roblox.
Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt.
LeBron James traded to the Golden State Warriors? Not if that Samsung Galaxy phone explodes first!
Lady Gaga.
So many deaths in 2016: Prince, Muhammad Ali, Alan Thicke, Fidel Castro, Abe Vigoda, Glen Frey, Florence Henderson, Arnold Palmer, Gene Wilder, John Glenn, David Bowie ...
I'm going to make sure Russia sees this post by mentioning Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin together. Hillary Clinton needs an appearance along with, oh, Pokemon Go.
Benghazi.
Well done, Tim Graham.
Giants punter Brad Wing couldn't understand how Golden Tate could be so open...
Thanks to Footballguy Charles Aquilina for that one.
Titans fans received an early gift this year from Andy Reid who tried to ice Tennessee kicker Ryan Succop. You know the drill. Coach thinks he's smart calling timeout as the ball is snapped. Kicker misses the field goal and gets valuable information on what he needs to do right the next time. Tries the kick again and makes it. Reid knew what he'd done here...
As Dan Hanzus writes, this is the dumbest move in Football. It's indefensible. Why in the world you'd want to give a kicker a practice shot at the field goal can only be attributed to the worst of reasons - "It's what you're supposed to do". Well not if you're trying to win the game.
At some point, real live common sense takes over. It's why you're seeing more coaches go for the two-point conversion. It's why baseball managers are re-thinking how closers should be used. Hanzus writes:
One thought: NFL coaches should look to baseball for a path to freedom here. The 2016 season was a game-changer for strategy in MLB as managers across the league suddenly bought into the idea that it was wise to use their best relief pitchers in a game's most high-leverage situation, whether it be in the ninth inning or the fifth.
The logic was all there and it undeniably helped both the Cubs and Indians reach the World Series. In the same postseason, we saw the old-school strategy -- "My closer only pitches in the final inning with a lead!" -- cost the Orioles their season. It was like a eureka moment for an entire sport.
Are we really behind baseball when it comes to progressive thinking?
Although who am I kidding? How can you not love Andy Reid?...
Ezekiel Elliott's jump into the Salvation Army Red Kettle was good for everyone. Cowboys fans were thrilled.
Giants fans had fun:
The Salvation Army saw a spike in online donations after the game and tweeted out pictures encouraging more donations. Sweet.
The one guy who didn't win was ESPN's Darren Rovell who for some reason felt the need to respond.
To which the Salvation Army replied
Live look in on Salvation Army Headquarters...
College Football Note.
San Diego's Philip Rivers said the Chargers went with a silent snap count all game against Oakland because the crowd was so loud. That's normal on road games. This game was in San Diego.
NBA Note. The Celtics used Rock Paper Scissors to decide who would shoot a technical foul.
Mike Evans is good at Football.
Speaking of Tampa Bay...
Jameis Winston's been a fantastic example of why it's dangerous to permanently label someone based on their 19 year old self. The jokes are fun I guess even if they're a few years old. Thankfully, he's given us plenty of positives to talk about since then.
More finger injuries. We had Derek Carr a couple of weeks ago. This week it was Falcons safety Keanu Neal.
Torry Holt still says hi.
Sign of the Week goes to this Cowboy Fan.
"P.I. On The White Guy" has to be someone's team name next year...
Well, it IS almost Christmas...
Jeff Fisher said he'd like a chance to play the Rams.
The Social Media Team at Madden replied:
Still seems weird with 88 lined up in the backfield.
I'm not sure what's goofier. Jordan Reed punching a guy in the helmet with his bare hand. Or squaring up afterward acting like he was going to box the whole team.
This happened.
That was a close one. For a second there I thought they might have to call a penalty on the defense...
I'm going to wrap the 2016 Random Shots just like I did the 2015 Random Shots. I'm not sure how these turned into me jumping on to my Soap Box at the end but here's the last one of those for this year. It's something I shared with some of my Young Guns I hang out with and it might be of interest to you guys. It's just a reminder of stuff you already know.
Here's my thought: Be present.
This can be the most time-crunched time of the year trying to juggle everything. From parties to dinners to gifts to decorating to making food. I get it. I like all those things. But here's the deal - when time gets tight, some things have to go. Some things aren't going to make the cut and simply won't happen. This means we have to prioritize and make sure the most important things DO get done. And sometimes that looks like just BEING WITH the people you love.
I can say with confidence, the most important thing those around you want is very simply just you. I'm sure your secret recipe dessert is awesome. But what they really want is you. The people closest to you want you to look them in the eye and hear, really hear what they're saying. So when you have to decide between running out and getting that last gift or hanging out with that person who needs it, choose the person. Always choose the person. Always. You can make the cool dessert some other time.
And I'm talking to myself here more than you guys. As I usually am.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and I hope you have a fantastic week. This will be the last Random Shots of 2016 and next week I'll do a "Best Of" where I recap some of my favorite lines from the year.
Thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, David Dodds, Clayton Gray, Joseph Pavano, Lawson Douvier and Charles Aquilina for the help with this one.
And thanks to you for playing along and I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
