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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... Thanks to the Coors Light
commercials, that age old debate amongst Footballguys has changed from “Ginger
or Mary Ann?” to “Twins or Cheerleaders?”... New England’s Antowain
Smith gained more yards in his first series Sunday than he did for the
whole game in week 5. I saw Detroit’s James
Stewart break a tackle Sunday.
Seriously. I love the World
Series... It means Baseball is almost
over. Can you imagine Football fans
tolerating that stupid rally monkey thing? The Oakland Raiders
have never been 5-0. Ever. While we’re on the Raiders... I like them a lot but going for the TD on 4th
and 1 from the St. Louis 3 with 12:57 left in the 1st quarter was a
bush league move. With that call,
you’re clearly telling the Rams “Watch this - you can’t stop us”. DT Ryan Pickett stuffed the 4th
down rush and the Rams never looked back.
From that point on, the Rams played with the fire and enthusiasm that
had been noticeably absent. St. Louis
may not make the playoffs but you don’t do that to them in their house. Exhibit A for how shoddy the
Titans Pass defense is: Patrick
Ramsey. He played like a Hall of
Famer against Tennessee but looked awful against the Saints. I finally figured out what
I’m buying Dodds for Christmas.You can see it here at mrbling.com He’s gonna be off the hook in these... Green Bay’s Gilbert Brown
has “slimmed down” to 339 pounds. You
have to like that. You think Tom Brady
missed WR Troy Brown? Me too. Is there a harder luck QB in
the league than Daunte Culpepper?
His guys just seem to have trouble hanging onto the ball. And when they don’t hang on, it usually goes
to the defensive back. I’ve seen enough of Detroit
QB Joey Harrington to be totally on the bandwagon. I’ve got to believe Steve
Spurrier has a weird feeling about the Redskin’s new (old) helmets. If I was Mike Sherman, I’d fly Bobby
Bowden up to Green Bay and have him stand with me on the sidelines... At one point early in the
New Orleans – Washington game, the Saints started drives from the Washington 5,
the Washington 8, the Washington 15 and the Washington 18. The fact that Washington kept it close is a
testament to their defense. Carolina’s venerable QB Rodney
Peete needs reading glasses to see the plays on his wristband. That can’t be good... Is it just me, or does Randy
Moss not make the incredible catches like he used to? I think he’s spoiled us. Now every time he’s within 10 yards of a
pass, he’s expected to catch the ball.
Never mind that he has two defensive backs hanging on him. He’s made so many catches like that it’s
sort of expected now. Wasn’t it cool to see the Denver
– Miami game live up to all the hype? During the Green Bay – New
England game, did you notice how Side Judge Tom Hill #97 jumped in front
of the official and waved off the Donald Driver completion? The official originally called it complete
and Hill just exploded then bounded over in front of the guy overruling his
call. The play was reviewed and called
a completion. On the replay, not only
could you see Driver had control of the ball, but Hill was in a horrible
position to see whether Driver had control or not. That seemed weird to me. Green Bay’s Ahman Green
picked up several tough blitzes. The
facts that he can run and catch the ball are not the only reason Brett Favre
likes this guy... Detroit QB Joey
Harrington completed passes to 7 different receivers in the first
half. Not what you’d expect from a
rookie. And he’s doing all this
without his best WR Germane Crowell.
If he can return, look out. Does anyone play the QB spot
with more enthusiasm than Brett Favre?
After one of his TD passes, he head butted LB Hardy Nickerson
four times in succession. Nickerson
looked like a bobblehead doll. Detroit’s Marty
Mornhinweg may not be the greatest coach in the league, but you gotta love
a guy who’ll say of his player: “He
really saved my butt”. Tough Guy Award this week
goes to Miami QB Jay Fiedler who led his team to victory Sunday
night...with a broken thumb on his throwing hand. Did you catch the bet on the
CBS set between Deion Sanders and Boomer Esiason? If Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh, Deion would
wear Boomer’s old Bengal jersey on the set this week. We know that didn’t happen.
That means Esiason will have to wear one of Deion’s suits on camera
Sunday. That alone will be worth
tuning into. I still don’t get the Fox
ads with the Voodoo guys at Mardi Gras carrying signs with Donovan McNabb’s
head on them... Kansas City’s Marc
Boerigter is the Chief’s go to WR?
Oh yeah, we saw that coming... The rules allow the coach to
talk to the QB through his headset up until 15 seconds are left on the play
clock. Watching Steve Spurrier
yelling, I bet Patrick Ramsey wishes he could roll back the clock to the
no radio days... Terrell Owens signs the Football with a sharpie pen he’d stashed
in his sock. What do you say about
that? Judging from media hand
wringing, signing the autograph means Owens is the antichrist. Relax.
This wasn’t near the level of running out to the star in Dallas. Not even close. Classic Owens comment – “If you don’t like what I do when I
score a TD, then keep me out of the Endzone” Missing Persons Report has
been issued for Oakland’s Tyrone Wheatley. The order seems to be Garner, Kirby, Jordan, Crockett,
Wheatley. Wheatley had one carry
for -1 yards Sunday. Anyone lose a game because Jason
Elam had the field goal before half time taken off the board with the
penalty? I’m not sure I remember seeing
that before. While I’m on the subject of
Hard Luck... Tennessee’s Eddie George
52 yard TD run nullified by penalty. Tennessee’s Steve McNair
and Justin McCareins 20 yard TD nullified by penalty Tennessee’s Steve McNair
and Drew Bennett 6 yard pass to the 1 (Eddie George TD) Minnesota’s Michael
Bennett 2 yard run to the 1 (Culpepper – Kleinsasser TD) Minnesota’s Randy Moss
25 yard reception to the 2 (Moe Williams TD) Green Bay’s Donald Driver
29 yards reception to the 2 (Favre – Franks TD) Washington’s Stephen
Davis stuffed for no gain at the 1.
(Patrick Ramsey rush TD) St. Louis’ Marshall Faulk
32 yard rush to the 1 (Marc Bulger rush
TD) Oakland’s Tim Brown 5
yard reception to the 2 (Gannon – Kirby
TD) And the sneakiest Hard Luck
of all last week: Buffalo’s Drew Bledsoe and Jay
Reimersma 8 yard TD nullified by
penalty on Travis Henry. Henry ran for
a 23 yard TD on the following play. Sometimes it’s better not to
know... Michael Vick is most definitely the future in Atlanta but backup
Doug Johnson looked good Sunday. 257
yards, 1 TD and no interceptions in the win at the Giants. Talk about taking over. Buccaneer RB Mike Alstott touched
the ball on all 5 plays of the 55 yard drive including the TD. Makes for a pretty cool stat line: 1-10-TB45 (2:10) M.Alstott
left tackle to CLV 49 for 6 yards (A.Henry; K.Bentley). 2-4-CLE49 (1:36) M.Alstott
up the middle to CLV 24 for 25 yards (A.Henry). 1-10-CLE24 (1:02) M.Alstott
up the middle to CLV 21 for 3 yards (M.Word K.Bentley). 2-7-CLE21 (:23) M.Alstott up
the middle to CLV 17 for 4 yards (K.Bentley; K.Lang). Fourth Quarter Tampa Bay Buccaneers
continued... 3-3-CLE17 (15:00) M.Alstott
left tackle for 17 yards TOUCHDOWN. Carolina PK Shayne
Graham’s had a tough go and his job is far from secure. So I was glad to see him make the 50 yarder
Sunday. If the New Orleans defensive
backs had gone with the Lester Hayes stickum, they would’ve had 9
interceptions on Patrick Ramsey Sunday... Announcers say Washington’s Chris
Doering reminds them of Ed McCaffrey. I think it’s in the contract that you’re obligated to say any
tall white WR reminds you of Ed McCaffrey... Minnesota was called for
their first pass interference call Sunday.
You don’t look for penalties but I’d like to think my DBs were a little
more aggressive than that. San Diego’s John Butler
raised a few eyebrows in the 2001 draft allowing Michael Vick to get
away. They wound up with Drew Brees
and LaDainian Tomlinson which isn’t too shabby... Rams QB Marc Bulger
started his career from his own 3 yard line.
Worked out pretty well for the young man. He took an absolute beating during that game yet afterwards,
looked like he’d hardly broken a sweat. Refreshing moment on
Bulger. Asked in pregame warmups if he
was nervous: “Oh Yeah. I’m nervous.” How bad is Atlanta’s Rush
Defense? Ron Dayne averaged 4.8
yards per carry. That’s about 4 yards
per carry more than normal... Minnesota’s Mike Tice
didn’t just get the Gatorade bath after the Vikings first win. He got the Orange Gatorade bath. That’s harsh. Knocked his ever present pencil from his ear but he quickly
recovered. Were the accounts (mine
included) of Eddie George’s apparent death were exaggerated? I hope so. Do you get the feeling that
Titan Coach Jeff Fisher is one of those guys who wears sunglasses
indoors? I dunno about you, but I can
hardly wait to see the “Sea Creature” that attacks one of the “tough guys” on
this week’s Survivor... Need a picture of a guy
hoisting his team on his shoulders and flat out carrying them? See Marshall Faulk – Week 6 Coach Mike Martz
wears his jacket inside at the Dome. I
have no idea why that makes me nervous... Another funny sideline shot
in St. Louis was Kurt Warner waving a towel at Marc Bulger
jokingly trying to cool off the red hot QB. The surest curse in
sports. Announcer Greg Gumbel
start talking about how Rich Gannon hasn’t thrown an interception in 100
passes. He was intercepted on the next
play but the DB was ruled out of bounds.
He was intercepted for real a few plays later. I love the Shuttle
Pass. It almost always good for at
least 7 yards. Great NFL story in 29 year
old NFL rookie Michael Lewis.
Did not attend college and was driving a truck last year. Now he’s one of just a handful of NFL
players to score a punt return TD and kick return TD in the same game. Pay attention to Jerry
Rice. He doesn’t make a big deal
about himself but we’re privileged to be watching one of the greatest football
players, if not the greatest football player of all time. Happy 40th birthday, Mr. Rice. If Oakland’s Charlie
Garner wasn’t 100% recovered from his hamstring injury, I’d hate to see him
at 100%. I take back those things I
said about Marshall Faulk looking like an average RB. Sorry. Not surprising that Jerry
Rice has his own special sports drink on the sidelines. Hey, when you’re Jerry Rice and you’ve
played like he has for that long, you can drink whatever you want. Washington’s Patrick
Ramsey added to that old Football adage that it’s easier for a QB to
perform off the bench than it is as the starter. Arguing the opposite angle is Pittsburgh’s Tommy Maddox. I’ll admit it. Edgerrin James doesn’t look the same
to me. Seems like it used to take a
lot more to bring him down. I think ESPN’s Tom
Jackson is my favorite sports TV personality. He’s just solid. When Mike Alstott
gets rolling and his shirt is hanging out, you know bad things are coming for
the defense... Champagne corks were popping
after the Oakland loss. The 1972
Dolphins undefeated season record is safe for another year. I’d venture to say it’s safe for a long
time. The NFL2K3 commercials with
a screaming Jevon Kearse, Warren Sapp and Brian Urlacher
are pretty good. But they scare my 3
year old. No shame in that. They scare me a little too... Chad Johnson is the # 1 WR for Bengals. Just so you know. You know it’s a good season
for Drew Bledsoe when he has a “bad” game that’s “only” 254 yards and 2
TDs. If I ever get so far off the
dork scale that I buy some of those Dockers stain resistant pants, someone
please put me out of my misery. Watching guys like Peyton
Manning and Brett Favre use the play fake so effectively, I gotta
ask why more QBs aren’t better at this.
It’s not like it takes any skill.
I mean I could be world class at faking the ball to Edgerrin James. It’s that 60 yard rope to Marvin
Harrison that I struggle with... Fox has the new show coming
with Tony Siragusa and Michael Irvin. I’m on pins and needles waiting for that one... Congratulations to Denver’s Ed
McCaffrey who caught his 500th pass Sunday. That would mean he’s taken 475 hits across
the middle that would put most WRs out of commission. McCaffrey was asked if he
watched the video replay of the ugly broken leg hit he took last year. “I don’t need to see it on video. I was there.” If I’m Pittsburgh’s Plaxico
Burress, I’m buying the lineman dinner so they keep Tommy Maddox
healthy. No receiver’s gained more
from the Stewart – Maddox transition. Denver’s Kanoy Kennedy
will be fined and suspended one game for the hit on Miami’s Chris
Chambers. For a clear shot, here’s a
pic Clearly, Kennedy has his head down. Although you can make a case that his
teammate pushing Chambers from behind had an effect. I don’t really know how you legislate this. It’s all well and good to talk about here
but this game moves so fast with such force, the DBs are in a tough spot. I love to watch Jerome
Bettis rumble but can he go more than 40 yards without the oxygen
tank? It’s not like they were playing
in Denver... Wasn’t on the field but
Chicago’s Anthony Thomas may have had the play of the week when he
pulled a guy out of a burning car last week.
That’s cool. Have a great
one. 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...” |