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
Let's start with those Carolina Panthers. And coach Ron Rivera. Our favorite guy who looks like he'd wear a lei for his entire vacation in Hawaii.
Rex Ryan being Rex Ryan.
For the Bills upcoming game with the Jets Thursday night, Ryan said on Monday that one of his captains for this week's game is going to be IK Enemkpali. Not that there are a lot of IK Enemkpali's in the league, but that's the same Enemkpali who broke Jets quarterback Geno Smith's jaw earlier this year.
I don't know which sponsor has the commercial before the coin toss Thursday night but you can bet they feel like Dwight.
Another Rex moment.
Here's how he opened Tuesday's press conference...
For context. Ryan's son plays for Clemson. But still fun.
Who knew Andrew Luck was a Patriots fan?
Thanks to Footballguys TJ Scholand and his son for that one.
Here's a question. Did they charge full price for Sam Bradford vs Matt Cassel Sunday?
Jerry has the answer...
Bills fans go hard. Click the picture or here for video.
Inhaling ammonia "smelling salts" can't be good for you, right? Click here to see what they do to Greg Hardy.
Before we rip Hardy too hard here, he's not the only guy who does these...
And for the love of Unitas, can we please get Peyton a bigger helmet? How many times do I have to ask?
Denver's Aqib Talib with the Three Stooges Eye Poke for Dwayne Allen.
Talib after the game said he thought Allen was milking it. "From my angle, I see (Allen) head butt Von a little bit. I went over to poke his head, and I think my hand slipped and hit his face," Talib said "He acted like he got in an 18-passenger car wreck. I guess that's what type of guy he is."
An "18 passenger car wreck"? Where does that come from?
Here's the view from Dwayne Allen's helmet camera...
And here we go.
Favre tells Manning, "Two can play that game..."
Basketball Note Of The Week: Russell Westbrook, you're kind of ridiculous.
Click the picture or click here for the video.
If you look up "With Authority", you'll get that clip.
Here's a little life lesson example.
Green Bay's Ha Ha Clinton-Dix exchanged some heated words with Julius Peppers and then was shoved by B.J. Raji on the sidelines Sunday.
It's awesome enough that Black Eyed Joe's All Name Team Captain Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was so serious. But look at who he's scuffling with. Peppers and Raji weigh a combined 624 pounds. Clinton-Dix checks in at 208.
But here's the serious note and the life lesson.
After the game, Clinton-Dix owned his actions and apologized.
Peppers and Raji were on board as well.
"Sometimes it's an emotional game, sometimes things are said, things are done," Raji said, per ESPN.com's Jason Wilde. "But ultimately we're a family, and we stick together. We'll discuss it and move forward. It's an in-house thing, it's a family issue and we'll take care of it."
"You want emotional guys on the team. That's what we have. Sometimes, emotions flare. It happens," Peppers said, per Wilde. "We were down 20 points, obviously. If you're not frustrated and you're not upset, then something's wrong."
That's how you handle things like that. For the example of how not to handle issues like this, see Greg Hardy and the clipboard incident.
No Carlos Hyde. No Vernon Davis. Blaine Gabbert under center. And San Francisco beats Atlanta.
Yeah, we saw that coming...
Aaron Rodgers would rather have an iPad.
Lamarcus Joyner hit Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater Sunday.
Mike Zimmer apparently was not happy about the play and gave Jeff Fisher the Fly By after the game.
This one was interesting as the reaction seemed all over the map. From "suspend Joyner" to Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson saying he didn't believe the hit was dirty.
“Initial reaction, I actually just took off sprinting over there towards the Rams players because you know I seen it and it looked bad,” Peterson said on Monday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio. “It looked dirty, but as I was over there kind of in the midst of those guys I wanted to watch the replay before I reacted and I do anything crazy but, you know, that is our guy. It appeared dirty but watching the replay I honestly feel, my opinion, that he didn’t target him. If he was targeting him he did a bad job of executing.
“I feel like it was a bang-bang play. Teddy slid; unfortunately his head came up. If his head’s flat, I think the guy’s shoulder misses but that’s not normally how a quarterbacks’s head is when he’s sliding. . . . It was still, though, you see the quarterback approaching you so you should you know he’s going to slide. You see him in his slide formation. You should just do a run by anyway and not put yourself in that position, but unfortunately for him he did, and it was upsetting to say the least.”
If nothing else, we finally have some clarity on where it's safe to hit players.
"PALO ALTO, CA—In light of a troubling number of major injuries in the NFL this season, a new study published Monday by the Stanford University Sports Medicine Center revealed that the only safe part of the body to tackle a football player is a 4-inch portion of the right thigh. “Our findings showed players have a substantially higher risk of incurring critical, sometimes permanent damage when receiving a hit anywhere outside this 10-centimeter-square area of the upper right leg,” said lead researcher Dr. Mark Domianci, explaining that regardless of age or level, all football players should avoid direct contact to the head, neck, chest, back, shoulders, arms, abdomen, hips, knees, shins, and ankles. “Given how much bigger, faster, and stronger today’s athletes are becoming, the only way to prevent serious head trauma, high-grade muscle tears, bone fractures, or spinal injuries is by ensuring players target this small region of the right thigh when delivering a hit. Tackling anywhere else on the body—even just a few inches from this area—is extremely dangerous for both players involved.” Domianci went on to recommend that as a general rule, no one should ever play the sport of football under any circumstances."
God Bless The Onion
I did too.
So Cam Newton ripped down a Green Bay banner hanging in the Panthers stadium Sunday.
"I was just shocked, shocked," said Mike Dobs, who spent $500 on the sign and had planned to hang it in his "man room."
Newton had this to say:
"It was a Green Bay banner in Bank of America Stadium," Newton said. "It just doesn't match. No disrespect to any Green Bay Packer there, it's just a respect thing. We take pride in having an edge in playing in front of the Carolinas each and every week.
"It's something that I feel it's my due diligence to protect this house. ... You're not about to sell a Whopper at a McDonald's. That's the gist of the story."
Couple of things.
First off, $500 for that?
Secondly, Panthers stadium policy is that "No banners or flags expressing support of visiting teams may be affixed to or displayed on any surface," per the team's official site.
Third, Dobs said he reported the incident to the police inside the stadium and planned to press charges for theft. How good would it have been if the Stadium Police replied with...
Lastly, don't say stuff on social media like this. Dobs' son in law, David Sessoms reportedly posted this on his Facebook page after the incident.
"Exactly John Williams, now he will have to deal with his dumb move tomorrow. He is so lucky my finger wasn’t hurt. It was wrapped in the cord attached to the banner. When he ran up, I was gonna just say “sorry sir, I never carry cash”. But he wasn’t begging for money, he was ghetto and took our property. Not to mention that her parents spent 4K on 5 tickets for front row!
#asshole"
Basically - don't be that Packer fan.
Be this Packer fan.
Fun with Ndamukong Suh Sunday. You can see on this play he shows fairly admirable restraint in not taking down Tyrod Taylor. Note the audio on the video below has a NSFW word at the end.
Suh accurately told the ref: “You gotta call that dead or I’m gonna slam the f*ck out of him next time.”
Jersey of the Week is an easy one with Brady fan rocking the Ideal Gas Law formula...
Will this ever die? Receipt from a Colorado 7-11 store.
And finally...
OK. That was funny.
If I ever need to hire an agent, I'm calling the guy who landed Toby Gerhart's deal...
Heads. Tails. Whatever.
Click the picture or click here for the video.
Bears coach John Fox declared Matt Forte out on Saturday before the Monday Night game. When John Fox jumps out and declares a guy out two whole days prior to the game, that might mean he'll never play again.
Not really. But Foxy doesn't just play it close to the vest. He's inside the vest.
The Chicago - San Diego game in one graphic.
Oh Michael...
After the big win comeback a couple of weeks ago, Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins had some words for his doubters. Click the picture or click here to see the video.
Because this is America, they made a T-shirt.
Thanks to Footballguy Matt Waldman for that one.
If this quarterback gig ever goes bad for Philip Rivers, he could be a drum major.
The Packers haven't won a game since the Mike Ditka Sweater McDonalds commercial aired...
I'm normally a big fan of the alternative Nike uniforms. But this "Color Rush" stuff just seems weak. How much creativity does it take to do a solid color?
Some say they look like Power Rangers.
My first thought was Gumby.
Non Football Goofy Hair Note
and
Speaking of hair, here's what fun about local leagues.
And I'll say right up front, I'm fully aware you couldn't care less about any league but your own. But you might like this story. Stay with me here.
This is my Buddy, Tom. You may have seen him on the Footballguys site.
Tom and I were going head to head this week in a battle for first place in our local league. We were three points apart going into Monday night with each of us having one player left. Tom with Jeremy Langford. Me with Antonio Gates.
In one of the more questionable ideas I've had in quite some time, I decided to challenge Tom to a bet before the MNF game.
Assuming we could get enough other guys to pitch in money, if I won, Tom would have to shave his beard.
If I lost, I would have to shave my head.
And for context, his beard's grown out a good bit now. Here's a screenshot from the video Tom posted in our league Groupme Monday night taunting me with his comb. Let's just say Tom is quite emotionally attached to his facial hair.
If you saw the game, you saw Antonio Gates have a late touchdown nullified by penalty which sealed my fate. Not that I'm bitter or anything...
So here's the deal - the twelve guys in my league put up $500 to a good cause to make this happen. If we can get $500 (and hopefully much more) from the Random Shots audience by this weekend, we'll break out the clippers for your author. As if me shaving my head wasn't enough fun, I'll sweeten the pot even more. We'll throw in five Footballguys Insider PRO subscriptions that will cover the rest of this year and all of 2016 that we'll randomly award to five people who donate. If you're already an Insider PRO, we'll add another year to your subscription if you win.
Minimum donation is $1. If I were smart I'd do something like give people who donate more money more chances to win but that's not the spirit here. Follow your heart and throw some money in and we'll pick five winners. Plus pics of Shaved Head Joe in next week's Random Shots. All donations will go towards paying for some local Knoxville, TN High School students to go to a week of Young Life Summer Camp this year in Colorado. I've been involved with Young Life for a while and love it.
Here's how you donate and register to win:
Click here to go to Knoxville Young Life.
Click on the Green Tab on the left side of the screen that says "Give One Time Gift"
It looks like this.
Enter a dollar amount to give in "Amount" Box.
Under "Frequency" select "One Time"
Check the box that says "This gift is in honor or memory of someone special."
Select: "In Honor Of" (Do not select "In Memory Of" as I'm hopeful shaving my head doesn't kill me...)
Enter in First Name: Joe
Enter in Last Name: Bryant
Click the Orange "ADD GIFT" button.
Then click the Orange "CHECKOUT" button. Enter your info and you're set. Make sure to use a valid email address as we'll contact the winners by the address you enter.
And that's it. A few bucks for me shaving my head right before winter is easily worth that, right? And even better, some kids will have the best week of their lives at an awesome camp.
BUT...
Here's the bigger picture. Fantasy Football is about fun. And it's about Community. I get it. The national and online contests are fun. I play daily and I play in a FFPC league and I love our Footballguys Players Championship online leagues. But the "community" there is basically you and your computer. Don't lose sight of the real community and local league goofiness that comes with a real live local league. It's absolutely the Heart and Soul of Fantasy Football I believe. If your local league is fading, find ways to pump it up. (I don't recommend it for everyone but I can say with authority that throwing out bets of shaving beards and heads will add excitement to your league). And if you're not in a local league, get in one. Whatever it takes. Seriously, the community and camaraderie from your local league is the foundation and spring board for everything else related to Fantasy Sports. I firmly believe that.
OK, off the soapbox. Throw some money down and see if we can raise enough so next week we'll have goofy pictures here. As if we didn't have enough goofy pictures already.
Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell gave us a great example of how to handle trolls this week.
He received comments on Twitter that were unbelievable. And responded with class.
#1. What is wrong with people?
#2. Rock on, Le'Veon Bell.
Wrapping up with this one with a fun note from Carolina.
Cam Newton scored and Julius Peppers threw the ball away Sunday.
Newton ran after the ball and gave it to a 6 year old fan in the stands. But as often the case, there's much more to the story.
"That fan is 6-year-old Colin Toler, who was attending the game with his grandfathers just weeks after his father died on Sept. 30, according to WSET13. According to the report, Toler's father had promised to take Colin to a Panthers game but died from a medical condition. Friends gave Colin and his family tickets and he was able to attend the game. When Newton headed his way after the touchdown, Toler didn't know what to think.
"I was like oh gosh, oh gosh," Toler said via WSET13. "Am I going to be on the big screen or am I going to be on TV? I was jumping up and down like yeah!"
The lessons here are Persevere and Do The Right Thing. Newton didn't know the boy's situation. He just did what he always does. Do the right thing.
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguys Doug Drinen, Clayton Gray, Jon Gippe, Bruce Soles, Matt Waldman, and T.J. Scholand and his son 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