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Random Shots Hi Folks, Here�s what happens when you
mix an NFL Junkie, Sunday Ticket, a big screen TV and fresh batteries in the
remote� Denver Broncos fans at 11 PM Sunday:�
"Uh�um...Brian?�� H-hey
Brian? Ya still there?�� Buddy? Yeah um,
we were just joking about that whole �Steve is Da Man� business�� Interesting
to listen to the pregame talk show guys speculating Sunday that Pittsburgh�s Tommy
Maddox might be done for good.�
Three days later Maddox is possibly the starter for week 13. I
wonder if the same fans that booed Kordell Stewart at the Penguins
hockey game are booing now? Emmitt
Smith being
surprised that the Cowboys are going a different direction once Smith broke the
record is a little sad.�� Didn�t
everyone know that was the plan?�� Everyone
but Smith evidently. San
Diego�s Marcellus Wiley seems like a fun guy (when he�s on your
side)�� That �shakin� it out� thing he
does where he shakes his head real fast and his lips and spit are just flying
was funny.� He and Steve Spurrier should
have a contest� How
do you break your hand answering the phone?��
I
can�t remember a worse field surface than what Pittsburgh gave us Sunday.�� Almost made you long for the old Veteran�s
Stadium.�� Ok, let�s not get carried
away. I
bet Danny Wuerffel would be an awesome shot putter� Did
they really say Chad Pennington�s real name is Chadwick Pennington? Kurt
Warner
threw 100 TDs in his first 50 games.��
People forget real fast how great he�s been. I�m
ready to say Curtis Martin is playing at 110% now. ��The ankle looks beyond good to me. Randy
Moss gets
ripped (and rightly so) for not going hard on every play.�� Stopping on his deep route on the last play
of the game was bad.�� But I�m amazed at
how many people don�t give him credit for going across the middle of the
field.�� He�s not Ed McCaffrey
(who is?) but he takes some tough shots.�
Victor Green absolutely nailed him Sunday and Moss popped right up. Good
example of a veteran and a guy contributing even when his talent is less than
his teammates: ��The Rams� Ricky
Proehl grabbed up Mike Martz to make sure he challenged the Lamar Gordon
fumble.�� Proehl was right and the Rams
got the ball back. I
dog Danny Wuerffel but I like the guy.��
Had the pleasure of hearing him speak a few years back at an FCA
event.�� You may remember the play when
he was with New Orleans where he was facemasked on a sack and his helmet spun
around on his head.� He got up looking
out the earhole.�� It was crazy looking
because you couldn�t see his face and it looked like Linda Blair from the
Exorcist.�� Wuerffel tells the story
that the Equipment Managers told him the only reason his neck didn�t snap was
that his helmet was underinflated and too loose.�� The manager then took the helmet from Wuerffel and started
adding more air� Kurt
Warner
opened the game with 15 consecutive completions.� So much for the rust. Amazing
how one play can change the entire outlook.��
With the Rams looking to win or at least tie the game Sunday, a missed
block by much maligned OL John St. Claire (plus a great play by LaVarr
Arrington) changed the whole week. Howie
Long was
riding Terry Bradshaw pretty hard about how Bradshaw should be
considered for the �Sexiest Man� award.��
Bradshaw did the �look� into the camera and Long was �Oh, you know women
across America are saying, �I gotta have some of that� �. Ever
notice when a RB hesitates at the line of scrimmage and is tackled for no gain,
he�s �tentative�.�� When he hesitates at
the line and gains yards he�s showing �patience�. Carolina
Panthers?�� We thought so. Faulk owners beware.�� He may not play this weekend against the
Eagles, and if the Rams lose they'll have 7 losses for the year.�� Seven losses would pretty much guarantee
they would not make the playoffs, and shutting down Faulk for the remainder of
the season would certainly be an option. Good
to see Green Bay�s Donald Driver sign a new contract.�� I like that guy. I
don�t understand the Tampa Bay Fan�s fascination with backup QB Shawn
King.�� Always
thought it�d be a good idea to have several guys on the coaching staff who
could keep an eye on the other sidelines and read lips.�� You wouldn�t need them with Jon Gruden
though as anyone can read his lips. It
took Seattle 12 weeks to put together a TD drive of more than 80 yards.�� It
could have been the ribs bothering him but Keyshawn Johnson dropped two
crucial passes the first couple of times he was targeted.�� One for an interception and the other was a
catch he should have made to convert a 3rd down. If
I�m a star athlete, I don�t think they could pay me enough to endorse Chunky
Soup.�� That�s a worse curse than being
on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Koy
Detmer�s TD
�dance�?�� I�m sorry, I don�t know what
to say about that� I
think if I�m Mike Sherman, I�d have given strong consideration to
discussing the Chad Clifton hit with Warren Sapp by telephone� Seriously,
the one angle I don�t hear much about is that Sherman�s confrontation could be
the spark this team needed.�� Right or
wrong, if your coach is willing to risk serious harm in confronting a guy like
Sapp, your players have to love you for it.��
While most of the world thought Sherman was wrong, I bet the guys in his
locker room didn�t.�� And those are the
guys Sherman worries about. Clinton
Portis was
in kindergarten when Steve Beuerlein was a rookie.�� That�s pretty funny. Speaking
of Sapp, he was probably just a little edgy because Brett Favre had more
tackles than he did� I�ll
admit it, Jerry Jones kinda scares me now� Emmitt
Smith saw
20 carries Sunday while Troy Hambrick only managed 4.�� Who says taking your dirty laundry to the
media doesn�t work?� Did
you see the Steam Roller trying to repair the field in Pittsburgh?�� Dunno that I�ve ever seen that before.� Marty
Mornhinweg
seems like a genuinely good guy but I have to be honest � If I owned the Lions,
I�d have fired him Sunday night.�� At
some point, the line for tolerating mistakes has to be drawn. Can
Tom Coughlin possibly use half the plays he has on the billboard of a
play card he carries? I
love the new Motorola technology and the radio stuff but don�t you sort of miss
the guys who had to keep up with the headset cords?�� Some of those coaches gave them a workout. Anyone
else think it was interesting that ESPN Primetime�s first highlight clip for
the Detroit � Chicago game came 57 minutes into the game? I
love to hear the ESPN guys rave about �their� exclusive, innovative Sky-Cam
like they invented it.�� We football
junkies who watched the XFL every Saturday just chuckle.� Is
there a quicker QB � RB tandem than Atlanta�s Mike Vick and Warrick
Dunn?�� Although you could pair Vick
with Cory Schlesinger and still have a quicker tandem than pretty much anyone. Definition
of owning another team.�� In two games
this year, Atlanta�s beaten Carolina for a combined score of 71-0. Ok,
I�m officially warming up to Cleveland�s William Green.�� Message to all the NFL's
�elite� teams...You all have a major problem on your hands come playoff time.
Mike Vick can win games all by himself, and the Falcons defense is very very
good.�� Atlanta�s suddenly the team
nobody wants to play. I�ve
always believed that integrity and honor and character count a great deal when
it comes to athletics.�� But I do wonder
why the Army and Navy football teams aren�t better. Easily
the prime highlight of the weekend was Miami TE Randy McMichael dancing
with the cheerleaders.�� Although
McMichael owners would probably prefer for him to have caught at least one pass
Sunday� Hasn�t
Tim Couch been right on the edge of being a good QB for a long time now? I
knew Dallas would have a tough time replacing Troy Aikman, but did you
really think it�d be this hard? Wasn�t
it just a couple of weeks ago that we were worried about the Packers clinching
the division too early? If
you can believe it, check this line from a Steve Spurrier Coached team
Sunday: 1-10-STL14����������� (6:05) Stephen Davis right
end to SL 6 for 8 yards 2-2-STL6����������� (5:28) Stephen Davis left
guard to SL 5 for 1 yard 3-1-STL5����������� (4:46) Stephen Davis left
guard to SL 1 for 4 yards 1-1-STL1����������� (4:06) Stephen Davis up the
middle to SL 1 for no gain 2-1-STL1����������� (3:31) Stephen Davis left end
for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. Priest
Holmes has
more TD�s than Drew Bledsoe and Jeff Garcia.�� He�s tied with Brett Favre.�� That�s just sick� I
think I saw a human come as close to the brink of a heart attack as possible
Sunday as Dave Wannstedt nearly exploded on the referee. Pick Up Your Jock Award: Chad Pennington put Buffalo LB Eddie Robinson, a 10 year vet, on the ground with
his goalline juke and score.�� You have
to like Pennington:� "It wasn't
pretty. I think the move was so bad, he'd never seen it before so he kind of
fell down. He had the angle on me, I was just trying to do something and find a
way to get into the end zone.�� It was a
disgrace to the quarterback position that has Donovan McNabb and Michael
Vick."�� They all count 6
points though. Pay
attention to Rich Gannon here.�
You could be watching history as he chases down Marino�s yardage
record.�� Houston�s
David Carr has been sacked 58 times.��
Some guys go a career without being sacked 58 times.�� He�s a tough young man though.�� Although it�s hard to watch sometimes.�� At one point in the 3rd quarter,
he had more sacks than completions. Good
to see Joe Jurevicius score a TD.��
As Jurevicius is a tall white guy, the announcers made the mandatory
comparisons to Ed McCaffrey within the required 10 seconds� Exhibit
A of why you�d better come to play every Sunday � Houston 16 � New York Giants
14 Very
weird game in Houston Sunday.�� Ron Dayne
was the only RB to carry the ball that did not fumble his first carry.�� I bet that�s never happened before. How
old is Gary Anderson?�� The
legendary Mike Webster was his long snapper.�� For 10 years. Reason
# 1 why a Coach should not cross the Fantasy Football Community � Cleveland 24
- New Orleans 15.�� It comes back to ya� Last
week I talked about �money� players in Moe Williams and Steve McNair.�� Of course I jinxed them and neither scored
last week� You
probably saw Indy PK Mike Vanderjagt win the game with the clutch kick
in the wintry conditions in Denver.� The
long snapper for Vanderjagt is named Snow� Is
there a more up and down RB than Shaun Alexander?�� Combine his best two games and he�s totaled
284 rushing yards.�� In his other 9 games
combined, he�s gained 276 rushing yards. Lawrence
Phillips
won a championship last weekend with the Montreal Alouettes.�� Just in case you keep up with Larry.�� Don�t know that he�s the biggest waste of
talent I�ve ever seen, but he�s close. Washington�s
rookie FB is named Rock Cartwright.��
Is there a better name for a full back than Rock Cartwright?�� I don�t think so. Denver�s
Jason Elam missed his first extra point since he was a rookie in
1993.� I can live with that. When did the job of kicking
for the Steelers become tougher than breaking out of Alcatraz? There
may be an unsettled QB situation in Washington but one thing is for sure.�� They won�t be turning to Chris Doering
anytime soon.�� Passing �attempt� is
probably the best way to describe that thing he did Sunday� Brett
Favre is
0-5 at Tampa Bay.�� And you know he�s
2-9 in the Metrodome where they played last week.�� I bet he wasn�t happy last year when the schedule came out to
see those games back to back on the road. Hard
Luck Awards (Formerly the Corey Dillon Awards) MIA
RB Ricky Williams 14 yard TD nullified by penalty on Chris Chambers
(Lucas to McNight TD) MIA
QB Ray Lucas no gain to the 1 (Williams TD) MIA
QB Ray Lucas 77 yard pass to WR James McKnight to the 5 (Mare FG) TEN
DB Andre Dyson 28 yard interception TD nullified by penalty on Keith
Bulluck NO
PK John Carney 30 yard FG good but nullified by penalty DET
RB James Stewart no gain to the 2 DET
RB James Stewart 1 yard rush to the 1 DET
QB Joey Harrington no gain to the 1 (Harrington to Crowell TD) JAX
RB Fred Taylor fumble at the endzone NE
RB Antowain Smith 4 yard rush to the 1 (Brady to Fauria TD) TB
RB Mike Alstott no gain to the 2 TB
RB Michael Pittman minus 1 to the 3 (Johnson to Dilger TD) NYJ
PK John Hall 27 yard FG good but nullified by accepted penalty on
Buffalo (Jordan TD) SEA
RB Shaun Alexander 4 yard rush to the 2 (Hasselbeck to Strong TD) SEA
KR James Williams 82 yard kick return TD nullified by penalty IND
RB Edgerrin James 5 yard rush to 1�
(Mungro TD) STL
QB Kurt Warner 31 yard TD pass to WR Torry Holt nullified by
penalty on James Hodgins (Warner to Proehl TD) PIT
QB Kordell Stewart 12 yard rush to the 2 (Bettis TD) CIN
QB Jon Kitna 19 yard pass to WR Chad Johnson to the 2 (Dillon TD) OAK
RB Charlie Garner 13 yard TD nullified by penalty on Jerry Rice (Gannon
to Porter TD) OAK
QB Rich Gannon 11 yard pass to RB Charlie Garner to the 2
(Wheatley TD) OAK
QB Rich Gannon 14 yard TD pass to WR Tim Brown nullified by
penalty on Jerry Porter� (Janikowski FG) ARZ
QB Jake Plummer 31 yard pass to WR Frank Sanders to the 3 (Marcel
Shipp TD) ARZ
QB Jake Plummer 5 yard pass to WR Steve Bush to the 1 (Plummer to
Makovicka TD) SF
QB Jeff Garcia 5 yard rush to the 3 (Garcia to Owens TD) PHI
QB Koy Detmer 37 yard pass to WR James Thrash to the 1 (Detmer TD) Sometimes
it�s better to just not know� That�ll
do it for this week.�� Hope you have a
great Thanksgiving.� Eat too much and
have fun watching Football and Being Thankful.�� Joe Joe
Bryant is the co-owner of www.footballguys.com�� You can usually find him on Sunday
afternoon staring at the Sunday Ticket broadcast muttering �this is so cool�� Big
Thanks to Jeff Lewis and Michael Brown for help on these Random
Shots this week. |