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 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. Let's go.
Have you ever wondered what NFL Logos might look like if they were "redesigned as European Football (Soccer) Badges."? I can't honestly say that thought has ever crossed my mind. But if it has for you, wonder no more. You can browse the collection at FootballAsFootball.com.
Here's their take on the Jets.
What do you think?
Interesting note. Colin Cowherd reported Monday morning that 69% of NFL games have been within seven points in the fourth quarter this year. Crazy.
The Giants at 3-6 are still totally in it.
The Dolphins rushed for two yards on fourteen carries Monday night. That's five inches per carry. Let that sink in.
Thanks to Footballguy James Schneider for that one.
Love this picture of Leslie Frazier's X-Box controller for Madden.
I don't blame him one bit….
I'd vote for the Vikings to play every NFL Network game just so we can see more of Mooch and Ragnar on the motorcycle. I don't ask for a lot.
I said last week I thought it was ridiculous to see people whine about Jerry Jones being on the Dallas sideline. Predictably, lots of Jerruh haters disagreed. Whatever.
Jerry is fun (which helps me write this column) but I don't always support him. The Rob Ryan firing looks to be working out pretty much exactly how most of us thought it would.
Sunday, Jones said the decision to fire Ryan doesn't look good right now.
"We thought it was best for us to go in the direction that we are, and it doesn't look good right now," Jones said. "Hopefully we can make it look good, but I have all the feelings that you have when you want to look back at a decision, and I realize when some of them work you have to have a few things go along with it.
"Candidly, we're having some of the same things that Rob had last year. Frankly, to be fair to Rob, he lost a lot of guys on defense. We lost more this year. That's the game, though. That's what we play. That's the NFL."
That's as close to "I was wrong" as you're going to get there.
The Good News:
Joe Flacco and Eli Manning have a QB rating of 145.8.
The Bad News:
That's 145.8 combined.
I told you last week about the New Orleans Pelicans mascot being creepy.
But it also looked weirdly familiar. Footballguy Seth Hieken helped me out reminding me that it was from an old episode of Lost In Space.
While I'm on mascots, California's Coachella Valley High School features an "Angry Arab" as their mascot complete with belly dancing cheerleaders.
Hmmmm.
Broncos Owner & CEO Pat Bowlen earned his 300th win Sunday. That's impressive. More impressive is that he did it in 30 years of ownership. Hats off.
Non Sports Note of the week. If you have kids, especially teenagers, this video from Ashton Kutcher is spot on.
He talks about opportunity, being sexy and building a life. Well worth it. If you think you're too cool to learn anything from Ashton Kutcher, I'd beg to differ.
Things worked out in overtime but Baltimore's James Ihedigbo violated the one rule for defending the Hail Mary.
NHL Moment Of The Week. Chicago Blackhawks player Brandon Bollig checked Winnipeg's Adam Pardy into the glass which came loose leaving Pardy leaning into the Chicago crowd.
Then this.
Moral of the story. If you get checked through the glass in Chicago. they'll wear your helmet and pour beer on your head.
Here's how focused we are on Richie Incognito. The suspended lineman was called for a penalty Monday night.
I know not everyone agrees with me and that's fine. But this is pretty much where I'm at with the Miami ordeal.
My general rule of thumb for NFL coverage is "When Katie Couric is covering the story, I'm out".
You go, Justin Tucker…
I told you last week how the Packers have started three quarterbacks in the last 21 years. If Scott Tolzien starts this week, the Packers will have started three different quarterbacks in the last thirteen days.
Here's another picture of how quickly things change.
We all remember Miley Cyrus on TV recently.
And then this…
Rock on Little Seahawk Dude.
I know some people squall about the rules protecting the quarterback. I don't mind as the game suffers when the best QBs aren't on the field.
This is not how you want to see the post game handshake go down when the Bears and Packers play.
Along that line, Peyton Manning was not happy being touched Sunday.
Evidently, the referee didn't understand it was Peyton Manning.
Philadelphia's Chip Kelly had kind words for Green Bay and Lambeau Field. “This place is awesome,” he said as he looked around Lambeau Field, per NFL Network's Albert Breer.
“It’s a special place. I think it’s just one of the iconic places in the league or even in football when you talk about playing a game in Lambeau Field,” he added after the game. “I thought the fans were really, really good. Most of the time when we come in on a bus we don’t usually have people clapping for us, and I think that says something about the fans of Green Bay that they are just big fans of the game. And there is so much history. That’s the same field that Vince Lombardi coached on, and I think that’s pretty neat, and I think it’s a lot neater when you win.”
That's pretty cool.
I like Chip Kelly and I like the new look Eagles as I think they're interesting.
But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that mostly I root for Nick Foles to do well so I can keep the Napoleon Dynamite stuff rolling.
I'm mentally 12. You know that by now as I'm assuming this isn't our first rodeo together.
Quarterback Dance Party for this week is headlined by Andrew Luck
And Aaron Rodgers
Check out the rest here.
Going Throwback for the Music Note of the Week.
Like many people my age, the Beastie Boys were one of the bands that "changed things". Licensed To Ill came out in 1986. And all these years later, they're still just as fun.
Picking three Beastie Boys songs is impossible but I'll give it a shot.
Sabotage is a classic.
Their silly side was on full display for the Intergalactic video. While they didn't seem to mind adding lots of layers and instruments and even goofy stuff for the video, I think my favorites from them are when they strip away most of the extras and it's just them with the DJ. That's probably why I love Three MCs and One DJ so much.
Bonus points is I get to repost one of my favorite 80's pictures featuring the boys, David Lee Roth and Sean Penn.
Rock on Beastie Boys. Rock on, MCA.
I've criticized Charger fans in the past for not supporting their team loudly enough. The Chargers have maybe the least effective home field advantage in the league. (For the crowd anyways. The ocean and beautiful weather are a home field advantage, but they don't help too much in disrupting the visiting team's offense).
Here's a story that would be unbelievable in just about any other NFL or college stadium. A Charger fan was fined $280 for throwing a football while tailgating at Qualcomm Stadium before the game.
Makes perfect sense.
If you google "what is Marshawn Lynch beast mode?", you'll get this image as a result.
Lord have mercy.
FauxJohnMadden with exclusive footage of 49er Colin Kaepernick driving home after the game…
Everyone loved the Donald Penn Tackle Eligible TD and Dunk from Monday.
For you guys old enough to remember Paul Harvey, here's a "rest of the story" moment from the play.
The Buccaneers had called the play with Penn set to receive the pass. But the game was delayed as running back Mike James was injured.
This gave the stadium folks the opportunity to do something nice in honoring Tampa Bay's Donald Penn for making his 100th consecutive start.
That was all well and good except the highlight they chose to run on the Jumbotron for Penn was a play where the lineman caught a surprise TD pass a few years ago.
The same play the Buccaneers were about to run.
From the Tampa Tribune:
“We’d already called the play when Mike goes down,’’ Schiano said Tuesday. “During that stoppage, I knew we were going to recognize Donald because his 100th (consecutive) start came on the road. I was great with that, but then (quarterbacks coach) John McNulty says, ‘They’re playing it on the board.’ ”
As a video of of Penn’s previous scoring catch against the 49ers was displayed for all to see in front of a sold-out crowd at Raymond James Stadium — and any attentive Dolphins — Bucs coaches couldn’t believe their eyes.
“The conversation on the headset, you wouldn’t believe it,’’ Schiano said. “You can’t make this stuff up. But cooler minds prevailed. One of our coaches said we can’t let the JumboTron make our decisions."
Despite showing their hand inadvertently, the Bucs stuck with the original call and Penn found himself uncovered for a quick 7-0 advantage.
“I’ve been lobbying for the play all year and they finally put it in,’’ said Penn. “I was a little nervous because they showed me on the big screen, but it was a great pass by Mike."
And that's the rest of the story. Good Day.
Hard Luck Awards for Week 10
And the Nullified TDs:
CHI RB Matt Forte left end for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN NULLIFIED by Penalty.
Sometimes it's better to just not know...
That'll do it for this week, Folks. Thanks to Footballguy Doug Drinen, Seth Hieken and James Schneider 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.
Note for you folks inclined to pray or those that care enough to read all the way down this far. This season of Random Shots is dedicated to my close friend Mike Wenger who apparently has decided to upstage Chuck Pagano this year. Mike's been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. Much Love, Buddy. Mad Respect. Go Chiefs.
A ton of you folks have been so kind to reach out with nice comments for Mike. I wanted to let you know that we've got a cool fund raiser we're doing for the family where our good friends at Slantshirts.com have printed up MIKESTRONG shirts for us.
Click Here to order. Profits from the shirt sales will be donated to the Wenger family to help offset bills. Plus there are lots more cool shirts on Slantshirts.com . Much thanks.
Thanks for playing along. I hope you make the most of whatever you're doing in your life. Love your neighbor and stick together.