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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 some value for you.
We'll see. Now let's get to it.
J
In case you've ever wondered what Bill Belichick writes in that little notebook...
Charles Woodson's been rocking the ascot on Monday nights.
So hoping someone gives him a Thurston Howell Hat one night...
Woodson took things to another level Monday night though with the pink jacket to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Which also means it's our annual chance to break out the Chris Berman Breast Awareness clip.
Yeah, I'm twelve. But if you're a regular reader, you knew that already. If you're not a regular reader, this is pretty much what you can expect here. You've been warned.
Odell Beckham Jr doing Odell Beckham Jr things in warmups...
Although I'm still beating the drum that we're making too much of these one handed catches...
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
Rex Ryan may not be the greatest coach in the world. But he's pretty fun. He dialed into a conference call for media people to ask Julian Edelman questions last week.
Carson Wentz can't miss. This is how he spent his bye week.
Jerry Jones said this about Dez Bryant before the game last week:
Mr. Jones can say what he wants. Because he's Mr. Jones. But this type of quote always pegs the "Lameness Meter". He's basically saying his player will be out there if he's tough enough. Seems like an ungood way to run a business.
Speaking of Jerry Jones, this fan shows the surest way not to get an autographed helmet...
Just Randy Moss blowing a giant horn before the Vikings Game...
I'm leaving that one right there...
Jay Cutler. New Haircut. Same Expression.
And you know what Cutler thinks of my opinion?
And I love that about him.
Ping Pong doesn't get enough love on Random Shots. Or anywhere, really.
That should change.
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
Music note of the week. The Lumineers have become super popular but I still love their sound.
"Ophelia" stays right in line with their catchy but heartfelt sound. Click here to see. But mostly to hear.
ESPN's Trent Dilfer brought up an interesting point Sunday morning. Three of the young quarterbacks excelling this season are coached by guys who were backup QBs to great starting QBs. Dilfer's theory is the lessons these coaches learned backing up the Hall of Fame QBs is playing out in them being able to coach up these young guys. Makes sense to me.
I kind of love it that Romeo Crennel and Vince Wilfork are almost the same size.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were pretty excited to hang out with Tom Brady. Click here to see.
Cole Beasley runs with the ball like he stole it.
That's a good one.
College Football Note. Oh those wacky LSU Folks...
From SportsPickle: BATON ROUGE, LA — LSU is reportedly scrambling to identify a long-term replacement for Les Miles after finding out that the program’s â„–1 choice, Eric Taylor, is a fictional person from a television show.
Athletic director Joe Alleva fired Miles after Saturday’s loss to Auburn because he was confident he could lure the dynamic East Dillion Lions coach from rural Texas to Louisiana for the bright lights of the SEC. But according to sources, soon after terminating Miles, Alleva was unable to get Taylor on the phone and then ultimately discovered the coach was a character played by Kyle Chandler, a 51-year old actor from Buffalo. Panicked, Alleva then hired Ed Orgeron as LSU’s interim head coach.
“Joe thought ‘Friday Night Lights’ was a documentary,” said a prominent LSU booster. “We all did. It was very realistic and gritty. We wanted Eric and Tammy Taylor here and thought we were going to have a home run hire. Instead, we have Ed Orgeron. I’m worried we made a big mistake.”
That's pretty funny.
Pros do the little things. The boxscore will show a nice run by David Johnson. What I saw was a great block by Larry Fitzgerald on the defensive back crashing in that could have blown up the play.
Here's something I don't understand. Before Sunday's game, writers in the Boston Globe were talking up the "dangers" of "risking" Julian Edelman as the backup QB. ESPN's Chris Berman said the same thing Sunday morning.
Are they asking Edelman to possibly play quarterback? Or bust the wedge on the kickoff coverage team?
I live in Knoxville, Tennessee. Which means I pull for the University of Tennessee Vols. That's what you do. This week was another crazy game for UT as they pulled out a fortunate last second win against Georgia.
Recently released video explains how Jauan Jennings was able to make the catch. Click here to see.
Thanks to Footballguy Justin Bailey for that one.
Here's a "Soapbox Joe" thought on pulling for the home team. And as usual, it relates to a bigger thing. I was born in Tennessee. But grew up in Texas. I attended the University of Tennessee for my Freshman year and then transferred to Texas A&M where I graduated. I then moved to Tennessee and for the last 27 years, I've lived in Knoxville.
For the first five years back in Knoxville, I was "that guy" flying the Texas Flag and talking non stop about how awesome things were "back home". You all know people like that. For a seemingly inordinate share of those people, Texas is "back home'. But they come from all the different states.
However, they all share one common thing: They're dumbasses.
I finally came to the crystal clear realization that I was hopefully going to live a pretty good while longer. And things would be better for me and everyone around me if I was happy where I lived during that time. It's not a lot more complicated than that. So if you're that guy who can't stop talking about how awesome things are "back home", do yourself a favor and move back there. Trust me, everyone around you will be glad you did.
And yes, moving isn't an option for some people. If you're stationed in the military or something like that, you'll have to stick it out for a while. I'm talking about the vast majority of people who aren't in that type of situation. And "my job" isn't an excuse. If "back home" is so awesome, quit your job and move back home and get a new job there. Either that or stop whining.
And that doesn't mean you can't be proud of where you came from. I'm enormously proud of Texas. I love that Sam Houston grew up in Tennessee and then went to Texas, serving as governor of both states. I love Davy Crockett's famous line telling his constituents in Tennessee as a Tennessee congressman that if he lost the election, "You can go to hell. I'm going to Texas". He lost and Crockett wound up at the Alamo where he died.
So be proud of where you're from. Our history and our differences are what makes us who we are. Celebrate them as they're an important part of your story. But more than that, be happy where you are. And if you're not there now, get there.
Off the Soapbox.
Minnesota lost Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson and they're 4-0. Just like we all expected...
God Bless The Dude.
Washington WR DeSean Jackson wore cleats in warmups Sunday to bring attention to the important issue of violence in our country and how it relates to the Police and Citizens.
Jackson issued this statement regarding the cleats.
“Today is the start of my attempts to be part of a solution and start dialogue about the senseless killings of both citizens and police. I have chosen to wear these cleats in pregame today to use my platform as a pro athlete to add to this discussion. This isn’t meant to be any kind of protest against the good men and women in law enforcement in this country. I just want to express my concern in a peaceful and productive way about issues that are currently impacting our country.”
Statement from the Washington Redskins:
“We stand in support of both DeSean and the law enforcement community. We have great respect for law enforcement and the sacrifices they make each and every day to protect and serve our communities. We continue to have open dialogue with our players about issues that are important to them and support their efforts to bring awareness to those issues when done in a responsible manner.”
Well done, Young Man.
Who knew that former Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman was the problem with their defense?
And yes, I fully admit this may have been nothing more than a shameless way to insert an "Inglourious Basterds" clip...
From the broadcast Sunday: "The Browns have scored on four consecutive possessions.". Don't get that a lot.
Things quickly returned to the normal "Factory of Sadness" state for Cleveland when the officials incorrectly awarded a fumble to Washington.
The call was bad enough to make ESPN's C'mon Man Monday night.
And NFL Investigative Journalist Casey Matheny gave us this diagram with the official pointing to the ground while Duke Johnson Jr held the ball.
Bad calls happen. It's part of the game. Usually the officials and the league acknowledge the error and move on.
But this one is weird as the league seems to be going to great lengths to defend the incorrect call. The conspiracy theorists would point to the fact it was line judge Sarah Thomas who missed the call. Thomas is the only female game official in the league and is in her second year. I love that the league has women officials. But the fact they're going out of the way it seems to defend a blown call here seems odd. Thomas I think would be the first to say she doesn't want or need any special protection. She just wants to be "an official". By all accounts I've seen, she seems to have been doing just that. John Harbaugh called her a "good ref". Up till now, I don't recall her name mentioned very often. Which is what you want. Officials and long snappers are doing a good job when you don't hear about them.
TheBigLead.com has plenty of pictures and backup for their story on how the league is "bizarrely" defending the call. For all the details, read it here.
Bottom line: My message to the league is this: Let her do her job. And if she makes a mistake, don't add to the pressure already on her by putting up some weird protection thing.
Thanks to Footballguy Justin Bailey for that one.
On a lighter note for officiating, my favorite call of the week was Josh Norman's penalty for "Shooting a bow and arrow".
Thanks to Footballguy Bruce Henderson for that one.
Saints running back John Kuhn scored three touchdowns Sunday. Yes Mark Ingram owners, Sean Payton really does hate you.
Baseball note.
Broadcasting Legend Vin Scully signed off for the final time Sunday.
And he left us this gem: “Don’t be sad that it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
Love it.
Note for Rob Gronkowski Owners: I know you're nervous and feeling like Richard Nixon here.
Tom has a message for you.
For you Old Timers, that's then Vice-President Nixon from the first ever televised Presidential Debate in 1960 where Nixon went against then Senator John Kennedy. Many people felt Nixon's appearance and nervousness were factors in the debate. It's important as the debates were a turning point for media and the role of television. As the History.com article explains, "while most radio listeners called the first debate a draw or pronounced Nixon the victor, the senator from Massachusetts won over the 70 million television viewers by a broad margin."
A Gronkowski, Brady and Presidential Debate History reference all in one Random Shot? I feel like Julio Jones against the Carolina secondary...
Thanks to @NFLRT for that one.
Cam Newton took some heat Sunday for appearing not to run hard into the endzone. That doesn't work at this level.
Or actually any level. Tennessee's Jalen Hurd learned this Saturday...
Ouch.
I'm with Marcus Peters. It was pretty ugly out there.
Thanks to Diego Lopez for that one.
Golf Note. For any you single guys with lots of married friends, Rickie Fowler is your guy.
Closer view.
Somehow I think he'll be OK...
More Ryder Cup.
Phil Mickelson showing off his hops.
Rick Reilly nailed it.
More cleats.
Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown rocked these sweet Arnold Palmer tributes Sunday night.
Brown seemed genuinely inspired by Palmer when they were together not too long ago.
When quarterbacks have nightmares, they see James Harrison...
Maybe I should backtrack on that not being worried about Julian Edelman playing QB thing...
Jason Garrett's worse at High Fives than Tom Brady.
The man played quarterback in the NFL. How is this even possible?
I should probably quit right there...
When you're as good as Mary K. Blige, you get the umbrella whether it's raining or not.
In case you overslept and missed the Colts and Jaguars in London, here's the recap.
Ryan Fitzpatrick's 10 interceptions are more than CHI, KC, BUF, SD, OAK, GB, DAL, MIN, NE and PHI have thrown. Combined.
Thanks to Footballguy David Dodds for that one.
It's Post Season Baseball Time. I'm all for seeing the Cubs win big but this just feels like a bad idea to me...
The key to winning football games is running the ball effectively. Right? Don't tell that to Cleveland fans...
Fun College Football note - Michigan threw out the "Centipede Formation" against Wisconsin...
Thanks to Footballguys Anthony Tredon and David Dodds for that one.
With the Patriots finally looking like a team playing with their third QB Sunday, I saw some of the Tom Brady guys posting and asking if the internet still thought Tom Brady was a "SYSTEM QUARTERBACK NOW????"
Ok Then...
Brandon Bolden with the fogged visor.
I know they have stuff to help with this but I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.
Wrapping with a good "Life As Sports" thing. Colorado’s DJ LeMahieu won the National League Batting Title Sunday. He did this by protecting his batting average by sitting out the last two games, and four out of the last five games. He was battling Washington's Daniel Murphy who had not been playing the last couple of weeks.
“It was unique in that the other guy he was battling with wasn’t playing,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “If they’re both playing and going at it, that’s one thing. I didn’t want him to lose it that way.”
So basically, LeMahieu played it safe and didn't risk playing and possibly lowering his batting average.
That's lame. And don't even get me started on Colorado players winning batting titles. But sitting out to not risk lowering the batting average is lame.
But to be fair, it's not uncommon. Jose Reyes did something similar in 2011. In fact, the article headline reads, "Rockies pull an extreme Jose Reyes to get infielder batting title". But just because something's happened before doesn't make it any less lame.
You know what's not lame? History lesson time. Heading into the last day, a double header, of the 1941 season, 23 year old Ted Williams' batting average was .39955. He could have sat out the meaningless last two games of the last day and his average would have rounded to the hallowed .400 mark.
From the sabr.org article: "In his autobiography, My Turn At Bat, Williams recalls Joe Cronin telling him, 'You don’t have to be put in if you don’t want to. You’re officially .400.' Ted reports his reaction: 'Well, God, that hit me like a ***damn lightning bolt! What do you mean I don’t have to play today?'"
But you probably know the story. Williams put his .400 mark at risk and played. Both games. And went 6 for 8 finishing the year at .406.
That's badass.
How that applies to you and me is simple. I feel pretty safe in saying we're not going to hit .400 in the majors. But we all get to walk to the plate every day and take some swings. Take yours.
Thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, David Dodds, Casey Matheny, Justin Bailey, Diego Lopez, Bruce Henderson and Anthony Tredon 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