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
This.
Probably my favorite image and 1 second video of the week.
This has been on infinite loop at Footballguys Headquarters this week.
Sometimes this thing writes itself.
Thanks to Footballguy Brian Sumner and TheChive.com for that one. And Cam Newton.
NFL fans are the foundation of the league. Here's what each team's fans are saying this season...
The Knile Davis Jets Highlight Reel.
Rad Helmet Of The Week goes to Duke with these 1942 Rose Bowl Throwbacks.
I had no idea the Alex Rodriguez - Pete Rose business would be this fun.
For the Millennials in your life...
I do think it's funny this kind of stuff gets so much play. Because my experience is I see very little of this. I tell old people my age they need to hang around better young people.
I rag on the silly records like the Jaguars or Texans establishing an "ALL TIME LEADING ________" for the franchise. Yawn. But when the Raiders set a team record for penalties, that's doing something.
Oakland racked up 23 Accepted Penalties Sunday. For comparison, San Francisco has a total of 31 Accepted Penalties in seven games...
Yay Chip Kelly.
Richard Sherman wins the Dad of the Week award dressing up like Harry Potter for his press conference this week because his young son asked him to.
Although Sherman's a well known Harry Potter fan. I doubt his son had to ask twice.
College Mascot Costume Fun. The Oregon Duck as a Teddy Bear...
Last week I told you about the Ryan Fitzpatrick - Todd Bowles "WAR OF WORDS"...
Coach Todd Bowles replied with the perfect response.
Of course, some tried to breathlessly turn this into "There's an escalating WAR OF WORDS developing between Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets front office!"
Actually, it was two grown ups expressing themselves. The way grown ups do. Next question.
Not surprisingly, what I solved in two paragraphs, ESPN milked for ten minutes Sunday morning... Move along.
Seattle's Earl Thomas is one of the league's hardest hitters. He's also a hugger.
Here's one from the Cardinals game.
But as everyone knows, it takes two to hug. The official this weekend was not as receptive...
It's the right call. You can't touch a ref. And remember to always make sure your hug is mutual. That's one of those "Football is like real life" things.
These guys make a lot of money. They earn a lot of money.
Welcome to New England. Where sometimes Halloween costumes just happen by themselves...
More on Belichick and Halloween.
ESPN brought out the classic Belichick as a Pirate from a few years ago when Randy Moss organized a party.
They went deep behind the scenes though with footage of Moss asking Belichick about having the party.
From Belichick's look here, he apparently was thinking about going as a turtle...
CBS ran a story last week that Ezekiel Elliott might still be facing a possible suspension over the Domestic Violence allegations from this summer. Seems like a long shot but I posted what we've been telling our customers for a while - Alfred Morris is probably the most valuable backup RB in the league given the Dallas offensive line and their situation.
My "Soapbox" segment last week was all about "Knowing The Weight Of Your Words" and "Assuming The Best" of others. I used the example of Joe Namath's goofy tweet criticizing Geno Smith for not getting back in the game when in fact, Smith had a torn ACL.
This week, Joe confirmed he is not a Random Shots reader.
Namath not a Random Shots Guy? I have to admit, that kind of hurts.
Side note: Is anyone surprised Namath's Twitter Background is the picture of him as the center of attention looking cool at the pool with a bunch of dorky sports writers clamoring for his time?
Oh that Joe...
Namath may not be a Random Shots reader but Saints coach Sean Payton is on our page for the NFL hiring full time officials.
Payton said this week: "We're the only league that has officials that have primary other jobs, which is really madness. We can pay these guys. They should be full-time NFL officials, and they should be working throughout the week, communicating. And I know they get their hour in here, their hour in there, and maybe even more than that. But by and large, every other sports league employs full-time officials. And ours, these guys all have other significant jobs. And I just think it's very difficult to do with the speed of the game."
I envision this going down like this as the NFL suits are sitting around the Park Avenue office when one of the guys says, "Here's a crazy idea. Stick with me here. What if we made the officials, you know, the guys who have a huge part in the overall quality of our product, FULL TIME EMPLOYEES?"
You'd think the reaction would be
Instead we get:
It's not that hard.
And while I'm at it for officials, Joe as Commissioner For The Day (Again, a GREAT idea) would have a few more things. I'd have a minimum 40 yard dash time for officials of 7 seconds. Which would eliminate about half of the current guys. And a maximum age of 70 which would eliminate about 25%. And maybe some other requirements. Give me a minute to think here.
Serious note on officiating. I hear some tough guys talk about how we're "sissifying" the game trying to take the Helmet To Helmet hits out.
Brandon Tate's face (and brain) are why Helmet to Helmet hits need to be out of the game.
One more note to Sean Payton: Coach. I was just kidding about you hating Mark Ingram owners giving the ball to other players at the goal line. Benching him for Tim Hightower is taking things too far.
Nailed It.
Green Bay's Official Inactive List for last Sunday: RB James Starks, WR Randall Cobb, WR Ty Montgomery, TE Jared Cook, LB Clay Mathews, CB Damarious Randall, CB Quinten Rollins
It's never a good sign to recognize all the the names on the Inactive List...
NBA Logo Fun.
The surest way to know a player is hurt is to watch the guys on the other team. You knew it was serious for Alex Smith here when the Colts were waving for the Kansas City Trainers.
Players know.
Bringing back an old one here. Looks like more several kickers need a Madden update...
I'm not saying ESPN would try to stir up drama, but these were back to back pictures on the ESPN Instagram feed
I think they have the "Player Complains About A Ref" Template ready each week. It's right next to the "Tim Tebow Took A Breath" Template.
Music Note this week is a fun song from Vance Joy. "Riptide" isn't going to change your life but it's just solid fun music. Which is often all that I'm looking for. Click here to hear.
Denver's Romi Bean won Halloween in the Cheerleading Division with her T-Rex costume. As Patrick Peterson showed us a couple of weeks ago, this thing just wins.
Not sure what's more remarkable. The fact Cam Newton's shoes cost $1,100. Or that they're literally made of pepper jack cheese...
NBA Low Note. What makes a grown man do this?
Bitter Rivals. But it's still just a game.
Lots of talk this week with many upset over the tie in the London game.
I didn't mind the tie one bit. And neither did many of the London folks who are also Soccer fans and comfortable with ties. My good friend and Footballguys Guru Simon Shepherd lives in London. I asked him what he thought and he said the game was fantastic.
He said, "Quite the British ending wasn't it? Well done, Lads". I'm still working on a way to mix in James Bond with these games...
Love it.
In case you'd forgotten, David Johnson is an alien.
You probably saw the scary collision during the Denver game where Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips was bowled over by San Diego's Melvin Gordon on the sideline.
Phillips won the Internet with this:
After the loss to Dallas, Eagles WR Nelson Agholor talked about his performance and his dropped pass.
“At the end of the day, man, that s--- is nothing. You just got to make the next one. Everybody runs routes, sometimes they're contested, sometimes you drop them. But if you make as many as you possibly can that come your way, you're gonna put yourself in a good position. No one's perfect.
“I don't look at no drops, none of that type of s---. I'm tired of hearing that s---. That s--- [is] stupid. We play football. I dropped the first one, I ain't drop one after that. What does it matter? Because if we lose, now it's like one play is blamed. 'Oh this person did this.' No!
“As a team, we had a responsibility to win football games and I get it. Certain plays could have helped. But there's still four quarters of football to be played and we gotta win. You heard it from me. I don't have time for that no more, man. I got time to win football games only. No statistics, no who did this. Win! That's all that matters. That's what this coaching staff cares about, that's what I care about, that's what we all care about: winning football games.”
Coach Doug Pederson (and many Eagles fans) weren't happy with Algohor's comments.
"We're disappointed, I'm disappointed in the type of comments," Pederson said. "I think each individual has to be responsible for their own job, obviously. We've got to make good, smart choices. Everybody is mad and disappointed and angry after tough losses like we just came through, and cooler heads prevail. We just have to bite our lip sometimes and just suck it up and get to work. And that's what we've got to do this week."
Here's how I see it. Athletes don't have normal perspectives on mistakes. They're trained to shrug off mistakes and move forward to the next play. it's the only way they can function. That's really all Algohor was doing. A wide receiver doesn't focus on the drop. He focuses on the next play. Just like every player. Algohor's mistake here was in talking honestly with a reporter. He should have just shrugged off the question.
But when an athlete shrugs off the question, we criticize him for pouting like we do Cam Newton after a loss. It's a no win situation.
So the only real answer is we want our athletes to stand there and deliver fake robotic neutral answers. Because we can't handle the truth. I'm not sure where this leaves us other than ignoring most of what's said after a game. Which is where I've been for a while now.
ESPN's Danny Kanell won Halloween in the TV Personality Division with his Scott Van Pelt outfit.
Matt Hasselbeck as Brian Urlacher was a close second.
Trent Dilfer trademarked "Manage The Game". Seriously.
Wow.
#BillsMafia is hardcore. Even when nobody is around to see.
And yes, I'm fully open to the idea that "hardcore" isn't the correct adjective there...
You know the next guy thinking about asking for new big money is going to remember what happened to the last who asked for new big money.
DeAngelo Williams wins Halloween in the NFL Player Division. Which is a little unfair as he's got more money to spend on a costume than most of us...
Disclaimer: I like the Eagles. But I'm just going to leave this one right here...
Back to real life: The Eagles are good. Don't sleep on them.
Oh those wacky Bills fans...
Danny Trevathan dropped what should have been an interception, looked at his hands, and remembered why he's not a tight end...
Kenneth Arthur said what we've all be thinking...
What it's been like to be a Bears fan this year...
The bounce off Alshon Jeffery's helmet was sort of funny. But watch the video and see how tough that throw was. Especially from the angle of what Cutler saw. The guy has an arm. And he can play. They just have to put it all together.
I told you last week there's not a quarterback in the league that lines up better with my goofy sense of humor than Aaron Rodgers. Here's another example for a couple of years ago.
Rodgers used this pre snap hand signal as a tribute to the Smokin' Jay Cutler memes.
How can you not love that?
Or this.
With that said. Please Don't Smoke, Kids. Seriously.
I said in our Footballguys Staff Slack Channel this week that "I love Jay Cutler". And I do.
One of the guys said, "That's because you write Random Shots".
Ok.
Los Angeles' Paul Pierce won Halloween in the NBA Division with his Rick James outfit.
Wide receiver Andre Johnson retired this week. And the "Is He A Hall Of Famer?" talk began. I'm not sure. And if I'm truly honest with you, I don't really care that much.
He'll make the Random Shots Hall of Fame for finishing the fight Cortland Finnegan started.
And for buying kids tons of presents every year. And by "tons of presents" I mean about $20,000 every year since 2007 for a special event where he allows at risk Houston kids to have a shopping spree at Toys R Us.
“I am just blessed to be in the position to be able to make a difference in the lives of these kids during the holidays,” Johnson said. “I always look forward to this event each year because I am able to show my appreciation to my community and give back.”
Every year.
Rock on, Andre Johnson.
Dang, Bears Guy. Severed Viking Head?
Political Note.
How serious is Football in my home state of Tennessee? Political candidates slam their opponents by comparing them to former UT coaches Derek Dooley and Lane Kiffin...
God Help Us.
For the other end of the spectrum, here's my favorite political ad of the season.
Serious note. Go Vote. It's the right thing to do. As I said last week, most every election is about more than the Presidential Race which gets so much attention. There are local offices and laws and referendums and all that. It's a privilege. Take advantage of it.
And last thing. And this one is serious. By this time next week, the election will be over. If your candidate wins, please show some grace in victory. This has been a painful election season. And real damage has been done I feel. But it's damage that can be healed. IF, and that's a real "if", the side who wins initiates that healing. And it has to come from the winner. That's just how things work. God willing, we're going to have a new President-elect next week. If it's the person you've wanted to win, consider how the "other" side might be feeling. And don't rub it in. It's the only way I think we can move forward.
Thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, Clayton Gray, David Dodds and Brian Sumner 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