Hi Folks,

Here's what happens when you sit an NFL Junkie down in front of
multiple big screens with Sunday Ticket and fresh batteries in the
remote…

Great snap shot Sunday in Baltimore. As the clock ticked down and
Shayne Graham prepared to attempt the game winning field goal, former
starter and now backup QB Jon Kitna was grinning from ear to ear as he
hugged Carson Palmer's neck. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning
squinting with anticipation and then straining his eyes to see the
kick go through the uprights. That's just right on so many levels.

When a guy wears normal every day clothes on the sideline, why do they
call it "street clothes"?

I'm a Dick Vitale fan. If you catch him on ESPN's Mike & Mike Show
Monday mornings, you might be surprised to know he's awfully
knowledgeable about a whole range of sports, not just college
basketball.

Back to the Bengal QBs, Palmer and Kitna often golf together on their
day off. In the "Six Days to Sunday" special on the NFL Network, the
cameras followed the pair to the golf course. Kitna looked into the
camera and whispered, "Watch this." Palmer drove by in his golf cart
and Kitna had rigged his golf clubs so they came flying off.

In the same way, it was cool to see Pittsburgh's Tommy Maddox actively
helping Ben Roethlisberger on the sidelines.

The Colts scored five offensive TDs Sunday but only one came from
inside the 10 yard line.

Carolina kicker John Kasay made a 40 yard field goal Sunday but a
penalty nullified the kick and moved the ball back 10 yards. Coach
John Fox sent the punt team in but Kasay stood his ground emphatically
waving them off. He eventually won out and kicked the ball through for
a 50 yard field goal. Defensive back Artrell Hawkins shouted in the
locker room afterwards, "How about John Kasay waving off the punt
team?" That was so gangsta!"

Coach Fox smiled and spun it this way, "We had a miscommunication on
the sideline. One of our coaches was yelling for punt, and basically
we saw the yard line and changed our mind. ... And John helped."

Arizona QB John Navarre completed as many passes to Dre' Bly (2) as he
did Larry Fitzgerald. The problem of course is that Bly plays
cornerback for the Lions.

After the Arizona game, the Cardinals reported that Navarre had a
finger injury but it was deemed minor. Coach Denny Green said, "I
imagine John will start next week against San Francisco."
Interestingly, Navarre's injury was deemed more serious and Josh
McCown was named the starter after Green had a chance to look at the
game film…

College football note – Hats off to Footballguys subscriber Kari
Chisholm for their very cool site http://www.heismanprojection.com/
They track the votes cast by actual voters (and announced in their
newspaper columns, on the air, etc.) and then project the winner. Last
year, they correctly projected the top four in order and were off by
an average of only 1.5% on the vote count. Check them out if you want
to get the scoop over your buddies.

Coach Jim Haslett looks like he's about to snap. "If you have a
suggestion, send it in," Haslett told one reporter who asked about the
slow starts. "This thing has been going on for two years now."

Colts linebacker Rob Morris picked up a blocked field goal attempt and
managed to return it 68 yards for a score. "I got some blocks and
luckily it was all big, slow guys chasing me," Morris said.

You gotta like Raiders QB Kerry Collins with the black long sleeves.
Collins was 27 of 41 for 343 yards Sunday and has nine TDs and just
two interceptions over his last three games.

The Redskins have scored 18 touchdowns this season. The Colts have scored 57.

Odd call in New York. On the Texans first drive, they found themselves
facing 4th and 10 from the Jets 33. And they went for it. I realize
that's sort of no man's land between a punt and a field goal but that
seemed like an odd call that early.

"I think we're cursed," he said. "Every week -- it's unbelievable." –
Miami cornerback Patrick Surtain

Dallas rookie cornerback Nate Jones drew Jerry Rice Monday night.
Jones was three years old when Rice was a 49er rookie. The veteran
wide receiver toyed with the young guy as he scored on the opening
drive. Rice got away with blatant offensive interference on the
touchdown reception but part of being Jerry Rice is that the calls
lean your way a little. Especially on Monday Night.

The AP reported this week that the NFL will fine Steelers quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger $5,000 if he does not remove the letters "PFJ" from
his shoes. The letters stand for Playing For Jesus and
Roethlisberger's had "PFJ" on his shoes since high school. The league
doesn't allow players to carry a visible message on their uniform.
Much like the Pat Tillman issue where Denver QB Jake Plummer wanted to
wear the "40" decal on his helmet. Roethlisberger said he'd still have
the letters this week in a less visible location.

Mike Tice was his normal honest self at the post game press
conference: "Well, that was an absolutely horrible performance.
Chicago kicked our ***. They deserve the victory, the spoils. That's
the way it works in athletics. To the victor belongs the spoils and
Chicago gets them all today."

Along that line, if Chicago can pull a few more of these out of the
hat, I don't see how anyone but Lovie Smith can be Coach of the Year.
He's done more with less than any coach in the league.

My six year old son, Jake, hopped into my lap Sunday right at the end
of the Cincinnati – Baltimore game. I was explaining the game
situation to him and he was pretty excited as the Bengals were driving
for the win. With 33 seconds left, Carson Palmer completed a 22 yard
pass to Chad Johnson. He cheered. On the next play, Rudi Johnson ran
up the middle gaining one yard. He sort of smiled. With 17 seconds
left, Palmer took a 2 yard loss in an ugly sort of dive / kneel down
in order to center the ball. Jake looked up and me and said, "Well,
that sucked."

I like Terry Robiskie in Cleveland. "I think going in, we knew that
New England was a pretty good football team. Standing on the
sidelines, you can see New England is a pretty good football team."

Sorry if I seem a little distracted. I've had a tough time pulling
myself away from the Mia Hamm soccer special …

Jerheme Urban doesn't look like his name
http://www.nfl.com/players/playerpage/397275  He looks more like a
Josh Smith. But then it hit me that his name is pronounced Jeremy.

Corey Dillon owners who receive bonuses for 100 yard games can thank
their player for lobbying the coaching staff to let him back in the
game. Dillon hurt his leg after gaining 98 yards but talked the
coaches into letting him have one carry in the 2nd half. "I had to go
to the Supreme Court," he said. "They put me back in to see how I was
and I was fine, so we just decided it would be smart to look at the
big picture down the road and we made that decision [to take him out
again]."

It's pretty much the LaDainian Tomlinson show in San Diego with Brees
and Gates thrown in for good measure. Check this series:

1-10-DEN21 (9:54) Tomlinson left tackle to DEN 17 for 4 yards
2-6-DEN17 (9:20) Tomlinson left tackle pushed ob at DEN 15 for 2 yards
3-4-DEN15 (8:59) Brees pass to Gates to DEN 5 for 10 yards
1-5-DEN5 (8:23) Tomlinson left tackle to DEN 2 for 3 yards
2-2-DEN2 (7:47) Tomlinson up the middle to DEN 1 for 1 yard
3-1-DEN1 (7:09) Tomlinson up the middle for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.

Washington's Patrick Ramsey looked like a different guy. He completed
86% of his passes including three TDs. Has he turned the corner?

I wrote last week about Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers and his
incredible athleticism. Apparently, Panther coach John Fox is a Random
Shots reader as Peppers saw time on the field Sunday as a tight end.

Tennessee head coach Jeff Fisher mentioned the chance of using the on
side kick earlier this week.  When questioned about giving the Colts
good field position, Fisher reported said "What does it matter?  Their
offense will have them there within four plays anyway". As you
probably know, the Titans attempted three onside kicks in the first
quarter, recovering two of them.

After throwing for 180 yards in the first quarter, Titans QB Billy
Volek passed for 89 yards over the final three-quarters.

According to Sporting New columnist Dan Pompei, A.J. Feeley took a
shot against the Seahawks that swelled one side of his lower back and
buttocks to two and a half times the size of the other side. The
injury was so grotesque, Dolphins officials took photos and the bruise
remained two weeks later. Feeley's girlfriend, U.S. women's soccer
star Heather Mitts had this to say. "Did you see his butt? It looks
like Barney's."

Tampa coach Jon Gruden could barely talk after the game. He's always
hoarse but Sunday night you could barely hear him. Given the Warren
Sapp and Keenan McCardell situations of late, he did say something you
might want to file away. "Derrick Brooks will be a Buc next year. Some
people want to play General Manager but Brooks will be here next
year."

Philadelphia's Freddie Mitchell threw a tantrum in the end zone when
he beat the corner but McNabb didn't throw him the ball. The Eagles
were up by 38 at the time.

Wide receiver Jerry Porter tried living up to the Raider image Sunday.
He made a sideline catch during the third quarter and, almost
simultaneously, stuck his free arm into the face of Dexter McCleon as
the Chiefs cornerback was shoving him out of bounds. Porter was called
for a 15-yard unnecessary-roughness penalty but debated the
infraction. "Another nonsense call," he said. "I didn't even stiff-arm
him good. I just hit the bottom of his face mask and in the chest. I
thought it was a contact sport."

Terrell Owens on the sideline Sunday said, "They 'ain't ready for
this". And he was right.

Speaking of Owens, here's a good story that probably won't make much
news. He turned 31 this past week and threw a big party. He asked all
the guests to bring unwrapped teddy bears as a gift that Owens will
donate to local children's hospitals.

I've heard Jay Leno say he's afraid to take a vacation because he
doesn't want to give anyone else a shot at his job. Watching Suzy
Kolber Monday on ESPN's countdown show, that's advice Stuart Scott
might want to take note of.

As usual, Indy coach Tony Dungy was gracious in victory. "In the 2nd
half, it was just sort of attrition. They ran out of players and we
just had more bodies than they did."

Another guy that was cool after a win was New England's Tom Brady: "A
lot of things bounced our way."

One benefit to signing a huge contract is that the fines don't hurt as
much. Washington running back said he switched out his white socks for
red: "I'll probably get fined, but white socks have been killing us,
man. I had to go out and change my outfit. If you're not looking
sweet, you really can't play too sweet." With the way he played, I
wouldn't be surprised if Danny Snyder paid the fines for him.

I love Eagles coach Andy Reid. He doesn't sound like he'll let the
team get complacent: "You throw down a couple of cheese burgers and
you move on." That's classic.

I wasn't glad to see William Green fumble, but I'd be lying if I said
I didn't like to see Black Eyed Joe All Name Team RB Adimchinobe
Echemandu in the game. On a side note, Echemandu's team mates call him
"Joe". That's really why I like him…

Washington TE Chris Cooley came close to being this week's version of
Mark Campbell and Steve Heiden. The rookie TE caught two TD passes
although one was nullified due to penalty.

It's the time of year when many of you guys can smell the Fantasy
Championship victory in the air. I'll remind you that my friends at
Fantasy Trophy make a killer trophy. We use them for the Footballguys
Staff league and it's awesome.
http://www.fantasytrophy.com/products.php

Riddle me this: With 1:50 on the clock in the 4th quarter, and the
Ravens trailing by one point, the situation is 3rd and 17 from the
Bengals 27. They are clearly in Stover's field goal range and need to
run time down off the clock. Instead of a run, Baltimore's Kyle Boller
throws an incomplete pass to Travis Taylor. Six whole seconds are
used. Stover kicks the go ahead field goal on 4th down with 1:44.
After the kickoff, Cincinnati has the ball with a whopping 1:37 left.
I know they have faith in their defense, but why throw the ball there
on 3rd down and kill the clock? At least make it tougher on the
Bengals to drive down the field and score with one less time out.

I think Mike Alstott's knee is feeling better:

1-10-ATL26 (3:37) Alstott left tackle to ATL 12 for 14 yards
1-10-ATL12 (3:04) Alstott up the middle to ATL 6 for 6 yards
2-4-ATL6 (2:19) Alstott up the middle to ATL 5 for 1 yard
3-3-ATL5 (2:00) Alstott up the middle for 5 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

What is baseball going to do when Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's record
home run record? My one comment on this: If you juiced and got caught,
be a man and admit it. But don't look me in the eye and assume I'm
stupid enough to believe you really didn't know what you were doing.

Speaking of steroids, David Boston reportedly tested positive this
week. Now there's a shocker… When I heard the news it made me remember
an ESPN feature last year when Boston was asked point blank if he used
steroids and he looked right into the camera and said no. There's a
line from Christopher Walken in True Romance about the "Liar's
Pantomime" that probably applies here.

I'm with the Chicago Tribune, it took Chad Hutchison two months to
learn this offense? Isn't he a Stanford guy?

Cincinnati's Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh both played for
Oregon State. They said they had so much fun Sunday that it felt like
their 2000 Fiesta Bowl when they demolished Notre Dame. "You know what
it felt like today. It felt like the Fiesta Bowl," Johnson said. Then
he turned to Houshmandzadeh, who was talking with reporters in the
adjoining locker, and said, "Fool, fool, did that not feel like the
Fiesta Bowl today?" Houshmandzadeh said. Yeah. The whole game."

Houshmandzadeh scored a touchdown and then was flagged for excessive
celebration after he and Johnson bumped chests. Johnson described
coach Marvin Lewis' reaction to their penalty. "He said, 'Bleep,
bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep,' "

Note to Green Bay, Minnesota and Atlanta: What was THAT?

Exhibit A of why they don't hand out trophies in week 8? Carolina and
the New York Giants. A 16 game season is the perfect length I think
for shaking out reality.

I couldn't believe the Cowboys passed on Steven Jackson in April to
select Julius Jones. Jackson looked special to me and he's done
nothing to make me think otherwise. But I think we're seeing now what
the Cowboys saw in Jones.

You may have caught the Monday Night blurb with Michelle Tafoya on
Julius Jones' mom. She was a coal miner in West Virginia for many
years. Those days ended when son Thomas Jones was drafted. Cool story.

Isaac Bruce's best play didn't involve a catch. In fact he was
penalized for it. Bruce was in the end zone and Chris Chandler threw
an ugly pass into double coverage. Bruce broke up the would be
interception and was flagged for offensive interference.

As long as Tom Coughlin's been in this league, I can't believe he
forgot the "Bench the Veteran QB For The New Guy But Make Sure To
Fabricate A Mysterious Injury For The Vet So You Can Switch Back When
the New Guy Flops" rule. He should call Bill Parcells if he needs any
pointers on how it works…

Atlanta QB Mike Vick keeps a hard plastic tube of lip balm in his
helmet. That was part of the problem when he took a hard shot from
Tampa Bay's Derrick Brooks Sunday. The lip balm apparently was driven
into his forehead, leaving a painful bump. Who keeps lip balm in their
helmet? I mean, really? You can't wait till you get to the sidelines
for that?

Baltimore Sun writer Mike Preston had this on Ravens WR Clarence
Taylor: "Taylor makes difficult catches look easy, and the easy ones
look hard." Twice during Sunday's game, he short armed passes across
the middle looking like he was afraid to be hit.

Carolina running back Nick Goings set a Panthers record Sunday with 36
carries. Goings played in 15 games last year and totaled 10 carries
for the season.

Here's what losing does to a team. Miami TE Randy McMichael's been a
bright spot this year for a terrible Dolphins team. But one game after
he failed to get the looks he thought he deserved, he said, "We gave
the game away as usual on offense," McMichael said, referring to the
offense's seven turnovers. "Look at my face right now. I go [from] the
go-to guy to out the door. Whatever. We didn't get the playmakers the
ball enough and we got a loss."

Hard Luck Awards

MIA RB Minor 1 yard rush to the 2 (Feeley to Chambers TD)
MIA QB Feeley 10 yard pass to the 3 to WR Gilmore (Minor TD)
HOU RB Davis 60 yard TD rush nullified by penalty
NYJ QB Pennington 6 yard pass to the 2 to RB Sowell (Pennington to Becht TD)
TEN QB Volek 30 yard TD pass to TE Troupe nullified by penalty
DET QB Harrington 45 yard pass to the 4 to WR Williams (Jones TD)
DEN DEF / SS Kennedy 95 yard interception TD challenged and reversed
(Kaeding FG)
NE QB Brady 4 yard pass to the 1 to WR Givens (Dillon TD)
KC QB Green 6 yard pass to the 5 to WR Kennison (Johnson TD)
MIN RB Smith 26 yard rush to the 2 (Culpepper to Burleson TD)
CHI RB Thomas 17 yard rush to the 3
CHI RB Thomas 2 yard rush to the 1 (Hutchison to McKie TD)
WAS QB Ramsey 8 yard pass to the 1 to TE Kozlowski (Portis TD)
WAS QB Ramsey 16 yard pass to the 4 to WR Gardner (Ramsey to Portis TD)
WAS QB Ramsey 38 yard TD pass to TE Cooley nullified by penalty
BAL RB White 16 yard rush to the 1 (Taylor TD)
GB RB Davenport rush for no gain from the 1 (Nall to Henderson TD)
DAL RB Jones 16 yard TD rush nullified by penalty (Cundiff FG)

Sometimes it's better to just not know.

Thanks for playing along and I hope you have fun with whatever life is
bringing you.

Joe

Thanks to Bob Harris for the help on this. If you've got a Random Shot
of your own, shoot me an email at [email protected]