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 some value for you.
We’ll see how it goes. Let’s get to it.
J
Starting off this week with a classic. If you've read anything we do at Footballguys over the years, you have Clayton Gray to thank. Clayton does just about everything at Footballguys and we affectionately call him Carlton. Partly because readers used to spell his name wrong and partly because everyone loves Carlton from the Fresh Prince. Including Mike Tolbert.
Rock on Mike Tolbert. Rock on Clayton Gray.
Alfonso Ribeiro, the actor who played Carlton won the day though.
Thanks to Footballguy Sigmund Bloom for that one.
Another week, another HE'S AN ALIEN moment from Odell Beckham, Jr.
The announcer called this "indescribable". I'll take a shot: "Really good one handed catch".
But this was fun.
I told you a couple of weeks ago how Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro killed the Dab.
If kickers doing your move can kill it, what can Jimmy Johnson spazzing out over it do?
Click here for video.
I'm pretty sure Google / SkyNet is getting close to becoming self aware. It knows Charlie Whitehurst is "Clipboard Jesus".
Thanks to Footballguy Michael Horlacher for that one.
Even the officials don't like Cam Newton giving footballs to kids...
Antonio Brown as Super Mario. Sweet.
God Bless Bills Fans.
And God Bless Browns Fans.
(AP/Dave Richard)
And God Bless Steeler Fans. My cousin Ted Wilson made the official Steelers Twitter feed. Sweet.
I told you last week about how the best part of the Monmouth team is their bench. Click here for the celebration goofiness.
Which is apparently too much fun for the NCAA...
No Eagle player had more receiving yards than Tom Brady Sunday.
Ok then...
Thanks to Footballguy Jeff Grobaski for that one.
Word.
Thanks to Reddit for that one.
If you needed more context, click here.
I hope this is true.
Thanks to Footballguy Jack Dirks for that one.
You knew this was coming.
More new school post game jersey swapping.
Young guys like Hopkins and Watkins aren't surprising here. I wonder though how into this Bryant would be if the Cowboys had lost? He doesn't strike me as that kind of smile after a losing game type.
I think I'm with these guys...
More pre game cold weather shirtless goofiness. This time from the Texans Charles James II in Buffalo. Pretty impressive for a Florida guy now living in Houston.
ESPN seems unwilling to bail on the Stephen A. Smith on Sunday Countdown trainwreck but that's fine by me. This column is built on trainwrecks. Tom Jackson's expressions each week are priceless. Here's the latest from Sunday.
I bet Tom made the "You Mean To Tell Me" face when he was a baby.
Keyshawn Johnson wrapped the segment with this zinger: “You get on back over there with Skip".
How much could Johnny Manziel use Josh Gordon this coming week? A lot. Thinking about him had me thinking about his article from last January. It's an interesting read into a guy deeper than many give him credit for. I hope he can pull things together to get back on the field.
I know he's a football coach and not a model, but is this really the best picture ESPN can come up with of Bill Muir for the Monday Night Football segment on Matt Cassel's offensive coordinators?
You old timers may have looked at the Seattle at Minnesota game Sunday and had one of those weird "deja-vu but something's not right" moments.
Minnesota in the home jerseys. Playing outside under a cold gray December sky. Quarterback scrambling and untouchable.
Except it was Russell Wilson and not Fran Tarkenton.
More on the Seattle - Minnesota game.
Here's a lesson on time and place. Or context. Cordarrelle Patterson with the Prime Time High Step is fine.
Down 35-0, it's a little different.
Observation as I was watching the games Sunday Afternoon: Shaun Draughn in my lineup today has scored 16 times as many points as Eddie Lacy did for me and he still has almost two quarters to go...
The guys in my league looked like Bill here...
Note to Bill though. You can't do this.
Granted, the still shot looked way worse than the video. And it was a good way to see which news services are trying to spin the story. If you wanted it as anti Belichick as possible, go with the still picture.
Click here for the video.
Still not a good look. Or to use my new least favorite try to sound smart buzzword, it's bad optics.
I'm with Marcus Grant, future 49er defensive player right here...
Move over Bo and Deion. Latavius Murray is the new Baseball / Football star.
Oh Cleveland.
Romeo Crennel steals the show in this week's "What He Looks Like".
I love it that the league has longtime good coaches named Romeo and Lovie. The world needs more of that.
Looks like some Browns fans are Random Shots readers.
Nike unveiled their Pro Bowl uniforms and they're pretty cool. Clean and sleek with lots of gold accent to celebrate the 50 Year Super Bowl thing.
I'm not going to act like I'm a big Pro Bowl fan. But I will say they league seems to be trying to do what they can. Cool uniforms are part of that. And I love the subtle team patch on the shoulder. Best of all, no more of these...
Bears free safety Adrian Amos felt better two seconds before this picture than he did two seconds after.
Maybe they should have let Odell Beckham Jr try the field goal...
Denver's Von Miller with some sort of Robot Sack Dance.
This will never be as good as Miller's post game style though.
It's Von Miller's World and we're just living in it...
If you've been thinking about applying for a job as the Spider Cam Operator, I'm guessing there's a vacancy after this weekend...
Fun headline on an Odell Beckham story this week.
Odell Beckham explains why the theory that gloves give him an unfair advantage is all wrong
Clipped from the article:
Tim Brown said, "The guy's (Beckham) a freak of nature, no doubt about it, I'll give you that. He has the big hands and all that," Brown told the LA Times. "But those gloves are so 'tackified' these days that that's part of the reason you see guys making those kinds of catches."
Beckham replied with: "You know, your quarterbacks are throwing forty miles per hour in a spiral," he said. "When you go without gloves, it doesn’t feel good when the ball hits your hand a certain way. The gloves are really there to help with the friction. They don’t make you catch a football."
Anyone who's ever tried a pair of the gloves on and experienced how grippy they make a football responded like Stephen Colbert.
Beckham did go on to say, "They definitely could help you, if you got the right ones on," he said. "But I could never give credit to my gloves for something that, you know, I sit there and practice doing. Like I said, [gloves] definitely help, but I don’t think [they are] the ultimate decider."
Of course they don't make you catch the football on their own. But seriously, you owe it to yourself to stop into a sporting goods store to try a pair of the gloves on and toss a football around. They make catching a regulation size football feel like snagging a nerf ball. And these are the ones anyone can buy. I have to believe the gloves the pros use are even better. I'm not faulting Beckham. They're legal (for now) and I'd wear them too. Any player who catches or carries the ball would be crazy not to. But to act like the gloves aren't a significant reason for the circus catches is laughable.
And yes, Dallas Clark was crazy...
Crazy good. But he'd have been even better with gloves. As everyone has figured out today.
Note to Browns defensive back Tashaun Gipson: Eye On The Ball. Or at least: Pay Attention. Click here for video.
It's never a good thing when the hardest hit of the day is on your team mate.
Matt Forte celebrated the birth of his child with a "Rock The Baby" touchdown tribute.
I'm with The Cauldron, it was a nail biter for Miami...
I miss Steve Smith.
I understand "heated discussion". Brandon Browner looks to me like he's going past that here with new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Click here for video.
This goes back to the Greg Hardy / Ray Rice rule. Browner's not good enough to talk like that to his coach.
Shannon Sharpe nailed it.
Fun Fact. Larry Fitzgerald worked the sidelines as a kid for the Vikings.
Jersey of the Week.
Marcus Mariota Pineapple Guy Fan was killing it Sunday.
Wrapping up this week with Bruce Arians with hair. Because like Kirk Cousins, I know you like that.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Keith Overton, Michael Horlacher, Sigmund Bloom, Jeff Grobaski and Jack Dirks 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.
Peace and Grace to you.
J
