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Random Shots From Week 2

Joe Bryant's Random Shots From Week 2
By Joe Bryant, September 20, 2023

Random Shots From Week 2
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

They say men can't multi-task. My buddy Andrew Cooper proves they're wrong.

If my Tennessee Vols always played as well as Joe Milton does pre-game handshakes, we'd never lose a game...

Narrator Voice: They do not always play as well as Joe Milton does pre-game handshakes.

Knoxville late Saturday night...

I was still representing on Sunday, though. Let's face it, win or lose, it's hard to go wrong with Old Skool Vans.

The reality, I think, is simply this: Consistently winning college football is really hard. And the NIL and Transfer Portal rules have leveled the field for many schools. I enjoy the passion and fun, but it's tougher than ever to be consistently good.

Things move pretty fast around here.

Football can be a cruel game. Cover your eyes, Bears fans.

From Tony Holzman-Escareno

"Patrick Mahomes II & Justin Fields will be the first matchup in NFL history between a starting QB that had 1,000+ rush yards & a starting QB that had 5,000+ pass yards in the previous season.

"It will also be the first matchup since the 1970 merger between the QB with the highest career win pct (Mahomes: .793) and the QB with the lowest career win pct (Fields: .185).* *Minimum 25 starts

"The Bears selected Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes II in the 2017 NFL Draft."

Although my buddy Dave Kluge said, "I take solace as a Bears fan in knowing that if they drafted Mahomes over Trubisky, they'd have probably ruined him, too."

Current status for Minnesota fans.

Music note of the week. Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska is one of my favorite albums of all time. The album had a transformational effect on me as a young person in 1982 in how I viewed and heard music. I fell in love with it the first time I heard that haunting harmonica on the opening track. And still love it just as much today.

Atlantic City is a classic track from Nebraska. It's desperate and real and like all good music, transfers emotion from the artist to the listener.

Well, they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last nightAnd they blew up his house, tooDown on the boardwalk they're ready for a fightGonna see what them racket boys can do

Now there's trouble busin' in from outta stateAnd the D.A. can't get no reliefGonna be a rumble on the promenadeAnd the gamblin' commissioner's hangin' on by the skin of his teeth

Everything dies, baby, that's a factBut maybe everything that dies some day comes backPut your makeup on, fix your hair up prettyAnd meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Well, I got a job and I put my money awayBut I got the kind of debts that no honest man can paySo I drew out what I had from the Central TrustAnd I bought us two tickets on that Coast City bus

Everything dies, baby, that's a factBut maybe everything that dies some day comes backPut your makeup on, fix your hair up prettyAnd meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Now our luck may have died and our love may be coldBut with you forever I'll stayWe'll be goin' out where the sand turn to goldBut put your stockings on 'cause it might get cold

Oh, everything dies, baby, that's a factBut maybe everything that dies some day comes backPut your makeup on, fix your hair up prettyAnd meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Now I've been a-lookin' for a job, but it's hard to findThere's winners and there's losersAnd I am south of the lineWell, I'm tired of gettin' caught out on the losin' endBut I talked to a man last nightGonna do a little favor for him

Well, everything dies, baby that's a factBut maybe everything that dies some day comes backPut your makeup on, fix your hair up prettyAnd meet me tonight in Atlantic City

I was sitting in a brewery last Friday afternoon and heard a different version by an obviously different artist. Way more lively and folksy and light than the dark and gritty Springsteen version.

I looked up the song on Shazam and was floored to see it was from The Band.

Music critic Bruce Eder described the Band as "one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics ... as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones." You know, I'm sure their songs "The Weight," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," and “Up on Cripple Creek”.

I thought to myself, "Hold on. I know The Band started in the '60s. And Nebraska came out in 1982. Springsteen's Atlantic City is not original, and a cover of The Band?"

Mind blown.

A quick Google search made me feel better (a little) to find out Springsteen did record the song first, as I thought, and The Band actually covered it on their 1993 album, Jericho.

Meaning I'm old enough to have one of my favorite songs released when I was in high school be covered by a band that was formed in 1967.

So there's that. I should probably stop right here and take some vitamins...

Maybe it's 2022 Lions / D'Andre Swift trauma, but this one hits a little too close to home...

Baseball note.

You may know it's 127 feet, 3 3/8 inches from third base to first base.

But this picture is a nice way to see how that relates to a football field. For you young folks, yes, back in ancient days, some MLB and NFL teams shared a stadium. And September was a problem.

The point here, though, is the way third basemen make routine plays throwing a pinpoint rope to first is pretty amazing.

I get it; Zach Wilson isn't very good. But let's give this Cowboys Defense and Micah Parsons some props.

My new favorite player. Chris Howell was made for Random Shots.

Brett Kollman had the line of the day, "Philip Rivers walked so this man could fly."

Robert Griffin III broke out some new glasses. The internet had thoughts.

Justin Fields is that guy at work who drives you crazy most of the time and you think he probably should be fired, but every once in a while, he brings delicious homemade cookies in for everyone.

Colt tight end Kylen Granson caught his first touchdown pass Sunday. With a delayed confirmation, he missed out on a proper celebration.

The Colts' social media account made up for it...

Troy Aikman wasn't buying Deshaun Watson's "visualization" techniques...

Football looks like a video game sometimes. Pickens accidentally pressed "Y"...

As Brandon Staley drives this outstanding roster into another loss, Justin Herbert was Charger fans everywhere...

Tony Romo with the Dan Quinn voiceover.

Shannon Sharpe is a treasure.

Bill Belichick's challenge told you everything you need to know about the Miami game.

I like Cris Collinsworth. But no, Tua Tagovailoa does not remind me of Dan Marino...

Seems like they should have given him the first down here just on principle.

Christian D'Andrea nailed it: "NO WAY. COLE STRANGE YOU BEAUTIFUL SOFT-HANDED MOOSE OF A MAN"

Be careful Freddie!

How 'bout them Cowboys?

Or have we seen this movie before?

That's the beauty of an NFL season. The answer is, "We'll see..."

Ja'Marr Chase to everyone who drafted him this year...

This felt oddly familiar.

If this season isn't going as expected, you're not alone.

I'm ready to change the name of this column from "Random Shots" to "Talking To America."

We've all been there, Jordan Love.

I'm down for the Patriots and Browns making a permanent move to keep their uniforms from Week 2.

and

I'm with PFTCommenter, the heaviest guy on the team should always be eligible to catch a pass.

These may not be for everyone. But for people of a certain age, the old helmets are gold.

Same old story with Kirk Cousins coming up "small" in a Prime Time game. One of these days, he'll prove the doubters wrong. Apparently, that'll take throwing for 600 yards and 7 touchdowns in a game.

Wrapping with this one.

I called out the Derek Carr clip last week. But the best part was Saints backup QB Jameis Winston wholeheartedly agreeing "YES" with Carr that they needed to take a shot deep.

That's fun. But here's something way more important. ESPN caught Winston before the game in Week 2, shaking the hand of every player and staffer before the game and encouraging them. Apparently, he does this before every game, and he's been doing this since his days at Florida State.

This video went viral, and many people confirmed this was his normal thing. Winston is a good quarterback, but he's the backup here. This is Derek Carr's team right now. But instead of sitting back or doing enough to get by, Winston's doing everything he can to build up this team. He may not be the #1, but he's doing his part. And more. I'm sure it's tough to go from college star to highly drafted NFL player and through the ups and downs of his career thus far. But I think this kind of thing of being a good teammate and doing all you can to help the team win is a big deal.

Rock on, Jameis Winston.

Thank you for being part of this goofy journey with us.

And thanks to Footballguys Keith Overton, Rick Scott, Jake Bryant, and Clayton Gray for the help. If you've got a Random Shot of your own, email me 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 Joe Burrow Derek Carr Ja'Marr Chase Kirk Cousins Justin Fields Kylen Granson Justin Herbert Sam Howell Josh Jacobs Jordan Love Patrick Mahomes II Baker Mayfield Micah Parsons Desmond Ridder D'Andre Swift Tua Tagovailoa Mitch Trubisky Deshaun Watson Zach Wilson Jameis Winston

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