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Random Shots From Week 1

Joe Bryant's Random Shots From Week 1
By Joe Bryant, September 14, 2022

Random Shots From Week 1
Photo: USA Today Sports

Hi Folks,

We do a ton of insightful, thoughtful, and serious features here at Footballguys with 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 brain 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 manage. Here's hoping it has some value for you.

We'll see. Now let's get to it.

J

It's On.

With the NFL season kicking off Thursday night, I was feeling like this throwback picture of Jimmy Johnson. It's the same way every year.

Another year. Another draft in my beloved local league, THE LEAGUE. And yes, that's the trophy and my friend Casey in our advertising.

On the Soapbox.

I love the big fantasy football contests. I love the FFPC High Stakes leagues, and I love our Footballguys Players Championship with a $500,000 Grand Prize. Nigel Eccles, co-founder of FanDuel is a good friend and I'm an early investor in Underdog. I love all that.

But the regular local home league has always been and will always be the backbone and foundation of fantasy football for me.

And therefore, it'll be the foundation and focus of Footballguys. The smack talk, community, and camaraderie are the heart and soul of this industry, and it'll always be at the forefront of how I think of Fantasy Football. All the other ways to play are great. But they're all in addition to the local league.

Friends enjoying each other and enjoying football always has been what I love about Fantasy Sports. And yeah, this is what I said last year. My guess is I'll say it next year too. The big stuff is fun. But the local league is where my heart's at. And where Footballguys will be.

Be on the lookout in the Footballguys Merchandise Store for our "Draft Local shirts". It's what I love. And where I'm steering Footballguys.

Off the Soapbox.

If a fantasy football season were 9 seconds like this video, we're about half a second in. But so far, this feels pretty accurate.

Still one of my favorites this year. Make sure to have the sound on.

Accurate.

The "Leonard Fournette is so fat he might get benched" talk from this summer seems like a long time ago...

You know it's coming. But it still hits you.

Rams were forced to use a silent count at home on opening weekend.

The NFL is back.

As a D'Andre Swift fan, this hurts.

But it's true.

More truth.

Steelers had fun.

We had a drawing and picked a random Footballguys Premium Subscriber to co-own a team with me in the FFPC Main Event. Grand Prize is a cool 1 million dollars and the winner from the drawing gets to have all of anything we win. I love this.

Saints brought the pain.

Can't say I saw this coming.

Music Note of the Week is an old favorite. John Craigie to me is the picture of California Chill. As the weather starts to turn a bit more cool, this song hits me in all the right spots. So good.

Just like we all predicted...

Be careful what you wish for.

"Life moves pretty fast" is a regular line for me. From one of the best movies of all time...

It's especially true of the NFL.

Until it's not.

This was from Monday after the Week 1 opener.

From last year.

It's easy to forget the Packers were blown out in the opening weekend of 2021 and looked awful.

Maybe True Detective is more apt than Ferris Bueller on this one...

Although there's some truth here.

Thanks to Footballguy Clayton Gray for that one.

It's been a rough week for Nebraska. But congratulations to former USC head coach and now Georgia Southern's coach Clay Helton on a big win in Lincoln.

The answer to "Who will Nebraska hire next?" seems obvious.

It's time to bring him home...

Amidst the screaming about who's an idiot or who should be fired after the Broncos - Seahawks game, this was a sweet moment.

And this might be the line of the week.

For everyone out there who's been overlooked or dismissed or written off, Geno Smith is your guy.

I can't say I've ever thought, "I'm just not seeing enough of the Mannings on television".

But this kind of brotherly back and forth is good.

Shannon Sharpe was talking about how the fans receive a player returning to play against their former team and asked Peyton how it was going back to Indianapolis.

Eli quickly jumped in, "He was cut."

Smack talk is fun in fantasy football.

It's fun in real football too.

I and many others noted Sunday night how Tampa Bay's Leonard Fournette made a great block on Micah Parsons.

Parsons didn't agree.

Fournette's reply to Parsons...

Meanwhile, Tom Brady thinking about the next time Tampa might play Dallas...

People are awesome.

You probably saw the Kansas City game where kicker Harrison Butker injured his ankle and safety Justin Reid stepped in to make an extra point and then boot the kickoff through the uprights.

Here's a bit more behind-the-scenes video. My favorite part was how calm Reid stayed. He asked his coach for the kickoff, "You want me to send it out of the endzone?" Before the extra point, Reid and holder/punter Tommy Townsend dialed in their celebratory handshake before they went in.

I'm fully aware there's no more sensitive group of people in football than Kyle Pitts fans, so this might be unwise. And I know Marshon Lattimore is amazing.

But I'm just going to drop this fact right here from my friend Ryan McDowell...

Who says the NFL isn't artsy?

Thanks to Footballguys Adam Harstad and John Lee for those.

And the video.

This is what a compliment looks like from Mike Tomlin.

I love the Old School guys.

Thanks to Footballguy Keith Overton for that one.

Tuesday morning Twitter was mostly, "OMG OMG, you can't pay Russell Wilson $250 Million and kick it on 4th and 5!!!"

That's classic Sunk Cost Fallacy.

There are lots of reasons why Nathaniel Hackett should have let Russell Wilson try to convert on 4th and 5. But Wilson's salary is not one of them. You make the call that gives you the best chance to win. No matter what you're paying them.

Formula 1 Racing has subtitles. I had no idea.

Ok, that's funny. But Muaaz Mia needs to get out more if that's the funniest thing they've ever seen.

My sweet 81-year-old Dad is awesome. Still sharp as a tack. Most of what I know about business and service, I learned from him.

He doesn't really do much internet stuff and doesn't fully understand our business. But he's proud of me and what we've built here. He loves it that his friends think Footballguys is cool.

He's not much of a sports fan but will casually watch a game here and there.

Our conversation Friday morning:

Dad: "Dang. That quarterback from Buffalo is something. Man, oh man. You're on that kid, right?".

Me: "Yes, Dad. We're on him".

Chicago cornerback Jalen Johnson said they beat San Francisco and Trey Lance because "We made him play quarterback".

Ouch.

This one will be interesting to watch.

The 49ers, of course, will say resigning Jimmy Garoppolo had nothing to do with their confidence in Lance.

Not buying it.

Sometimes navigating fantasy football is about more than picking good players.

And one more reason to be nice to your significant other.

Not a lot of plays for 3rd and 93.

Alvin Kamara is chill.

I don't think I've ever seen this called before.

There are compliments. And there are compliments.

Poor Gators.

I love Justin Herbert clapping and yelling, "Let's go team!" way more than I probably should.

Geno Smith: 17-of-18 for 164 and two touchdowns in the first half. This game of predicting fantasy football will keep you humble.

Also, things usually even out.

You know some cornerbacks around the league were sharing this tweet Monday morning...

Wrapping with this one.

Truth.

On a serious note, Andrew Sullivan wrote this after the Queen died.

Full disclosure. I've never understood the fascination with the English Monarchy. But that's beside the point. And I know she obviously wasn't the political leader of the country. That's beside the point as well. She was a prominent and powerful public figure and, by most accounts, exemplified the traits Sullivan described: restraint, duty, grace, reticence, and persistence. I won't say they're disappearing from the world as that makes me sound older than I am. But I feel like they're a bit less common than they once were. Especially among people of influence. Let's make those more common. Let's celebrate people who bring those traits to the table. Thank you, Queen.

Thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, John Lee, Adam Harstad, and Clayton Gray for the help on this one. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, send me an email at bryant@footballguys.com.

Thanks 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

Photos provided by USA TODAY Sports
Tags Fun Timeless Davante Adams Jaire Alexander Tom Brady Harrison Butker Leonard Fournette Jimmy Garoppolo Derrick Henry Justin Herbert Justin Jefferson Alvin Kamara Trey Lance Marshon Lattimore Cam Newton Micah Parsons Kyle Pitts Justin Reid Aaron Rodgers Geno Smith Jaylen Warren Jamaal Williams Russell Wilson

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