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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… Drew Bledsoe’s high flying
WR corps look like an all SEC team with Eric Moulds (Mississippi State),
Peerless Price (Tennessee) and Josh Reed (LSU) Throw in former Vol Travis Henry
just for good measure. You always hear about
cornerbacks reading the QBs eyes. If
that’s the case, why don’t all the quarterbacks wear the cool looking eye
shield thing like Ricky Williams? Tommy Maddox has to be the feel good story of the year. He played for Denver so long ago, they had
the orange jerseys and the big D on the helmet… Jeremy Shockey may very well come on strong but 4th
round pick Randy McMichael just might be the best rookie TE in the
league. And Todd Heap is the
best young TE out there right now. Just another reason to
dislike Baseball – No Sunday night game from ESPN. Probably a good thing as so far this is the lowest rated World
Series in history. I think the rest of
the world is figuring out what many of us have known for years… There is one bright spot in Baseball. Taco Bell has a 15 foot diameter floating target in McCovey Cove, behind the right-field fence at Pacific Bell Park. If any player hits the target with a home run ball, everyone gets a free Taco Bell Taco. That’s everyone in America. Pretty cool. And considering they pocket $1.22 on a Pepsi that cost $1.25, it’s probably a smart move too. Early in the Seattle – St.
Louis game, the Seahawks had LB Isiah Kacyvenski trying to cover WR Isaac
Bruce. Kacyvenski’s a Harvard guy
so I’m sure he’s smart. Think he can
spell “mismatch”?… Baltimore’s been a nice
surprise but WR Brandon Stokely wins the “Ugly Play” of the week. The turf monster grabbed his foot on a
reverse as he tripped over himself. He
scrambled up and started running again only to fumble the ball. Would have been a great time to call a
sandlot version “do – over” Think Buffalo Head Coach Gregg
Williams has faith in Drew Bledsoe? With 1:02 left on the clock before halftime Buffalo had the ball
on their own 1 yard line. The Bills
ran 8 plays with 7 of them passing plays.
The one rush was by Bledsoe.
Smart football or not, that’s one coach showing confidence in his QB. I was one of the few people
not to declare Terrell Owens the antichrist over the Sharpie
incident. Some, like Joe Horn,
went out of their way to talk about how they had more class than to do
something like that. Watching Horn do
his epileptic TD “dance” thing Sunday, I had to smile… Speaking of looking in the
mirror, I’m with Peter King on this one.
One of the more outspoken critics of Owens was DT John Randle who
said Owens’ actions were “an embarrassment to the league”. Yes, that’s the same John Randle who once
sacked the QB, dropped down to all fours like a dog and then lifted his leg
pretending to urinate on the field.
Does he think nobody remembers that? Interesting note on the
Buffalo – Miami game. Bills won the
Turnover Battle 6-0. The fact that
Miami was able to keep it close given that huge difference says something about
both teams. Are we really down to having
Cher do the intro for Monday Night Football?… Anyone else roll their eyes
at the league fining Terrell Owens for having his shirt untucked when
everyone knows it was for the Sharpie thing?
Are Jerome Bettis, Charlie Garner and Mike Alstott
fined every game for having their shirt untucked? They oughta be if they’re not.
San Diego’s LaDainian
Tomlinson touched the ball 8 times in the Chargers first 9 plays. Gotta love Marty Ball. Anyone else adjust their
color on the TV when the Cleveland – Houston game came on? I thought I was watching a replay of Clemson
and Ole Miss. Orange is a difficult
color to do right and few teams in the history of sport have been able to pull
it off. Cleveland is not one of those
teams. With the shaded numbers, they’d
look killer though next time San Francisco plays on Halloween. Thinking about Denver’s Kenoy
Kennedy’s suspension and came across this quote from linebacker John
Mobley: "The Ronnie
Lotts and the Jack Tatums, I don't think they'd last a year in this
league nowadays." Probably true. Speaking of big hits and fines, keep an eye on Titan CB Samari
Rolle in the late season Jacksonville game. Rolle was fined for a hit on QB Mark Brunell. "I felt like Tom Coughlin made such a
big deal out of it. I am just ticked
off at how Jacksonville pursued it so much, and then [Jacksonville owner Wayne
Weaver] was able to get involved." Rolle has a different appeal in mind.
"The good part is, we play them again. Any feelings I have, I can take out
on them on Dec.22." Definition of a brain cramp
– Lions President Matt Millen saying on air that one of his unnamed
players was a “devout coward”. While
I’m on the subject, I’ll ask the question I’ve been asking since folks were
doing cartwheels about what a great hire Millen was way back when – I’m sure
Mr. Millen is a fine person but exactly what skill set has he shown in previous
jobs that would make him an effective President of a large and complex
organization? If ESPN ever goes out of
business, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to look back and see that the downfall
started with the Beg, Borrow, and Deal show…
Here’s a quote for you: “There are people in the league who believe
Redskins rookie QB Patrick Ramsey will be a better pro than either David
Carr or Joey Harrington. Ramsey’s
skills were not showcased at Tulane the way Carr’s were at Fresno State, or the
way Harrington’s were at Oregon. Ramsey
may be capable of more than anyone realizes.
It also won’t hurt that he has Steve Spurrier as his coach and the
Redskins will be playing an aggressive style of offense.” Outdated Preseason
forecasting? Nope. Dan Pompei in the Sporting News dated
October 21, 2002. I told you things
move fast around here… By the way, Mr.
Pompei is one of the best sportswriters in the country. The only difference between what he said a
couple of days ago and what I was saying a couple of days ago is that he writes
better. This is no rip on Pompei. It’s just one more reason why you gotta pay
attention. How can a team playing as
well as the Raiders not sell enough tickets to lift the local TV blackout? TV studio highlight of the
week – Boomer Esiason’s blue alligator shoes that Deion Sanders
picked out for him. Where do you buy
blue alligator shoes? Tampa Bay’s LB Derrick
Brooks has more Touchdowns this season than Randy Moss and Edgerrin
James. Combined. If Brooks scores another, he’ll equal the
number of offensive TDs the Bengals have scored… I have no idea who that guy
is in the Ford Truck commercial singing but he makes me not want to drive my
Ford truck… Tell the truth – Do you
think Washington Coach Steve Spurrier thought it would be like this? This is JUST an
observation. And maybe the camera guy
was having a bad day. But from the
female Raider Fans I saw on TV Sunday, I can understand why all those Oakland
guys look so angry… (and for the
record, I love the Raiders. Check my old bio at http://footballguys.com/bryantbio.htm
) I don’t think Dan Marino
liked it much when Boomer Esiason made the comment that with one game, Mike
Vick nearly matched Marino’s career rushing total… Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Jerry Porter may be the
best 3 WRs assembled in long time. I’m not trying to steal
anything away from Emmitt Smith so I’ll say this now. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wondered
why nobody made a peep about Jerry Rice breaking Walter Payton’s
total yardage record while everyone was focused on Smith and the rushing
record. The more I think about it, I
believe not only that Rice’s record is just as impressive, I think it’s more
impressive. I had a couple of people
write me and say it’s easier for a WR to gain yards than it is a RB. I disagree. Look at the list. After
Rice, the next 11 players are Running Backs.
If you’ve got a couple of
days to kill, get lost in my Buddy and Footballguy Doug Drinen’s
outstanding site www.football-reference.com I’m ok with Bill
Romanowski being ultra aggressive.
But for a veteran, he sure takes a lot of dumb penalties that hurt his
team. With the pass protection he
had, how Brad Johnson made it this long is a mystery to me. I’m not looking forward to seeing the sack
highlight posterboy Rob Johnson in there. Does Ahman Green look
like he’s making up for lost time to you?
Me too. I was hoping Green Bay would
shift to the Wishbone when they moved David Martin to H-Back and had the
full house backfield with 3 RBs… Speaking of the Wishbone, Drew
Brees looked great running the option to LaDainian Tomlinson. LB Bill Romanowski looked liked he
was saying, “What the…?” Can they not find the NFL
refs a white hat that doesn’t look like the grand Pooh-Bah? Several shots in the Oakland
stands with the blow up doll bouncing around complete with G-string and the
number 55 and “Seau” across the back.
Those wacky Raider Fans… San Diego’s Tim Dwight
doesn’t see a lot of passes thrown his way, but Drew Brees hit him on
consecutive 3rd and 10 conversions on that last drive. Marty Schottenheimer is 20-5 lifetime against the Raiders. ESPN’s Chris Berman
took a commanding lead Sunday night in the Ugliest Tie Race… Hard luck awards this week: Atlanta’s Mike Vick
68 yard TD to Willie Jackson nullified by penalty Atlanta’s Mike Vick
16 yard pass to Trevor Gaylor to the 2
(T.J. Duckett TD) Philadelphia’s Duce
Staley rush from the 1 for no gain (Donovan McNabb rushing TD) Denver’s Mike Anderson
4 yard rush to the 2 (Clinton Portis
TD) St. Louis’ Lamar Gordon
1 yard rush to the 1 (Marshall Faulk TD) San Diego’s LaDainian
Tomlinson 1 yard rush to the 1 (Drew Brees rushing TD) Detroit’s Cory
Schlesinger rush from the 1 for no gain (James Stewart TD) Chicago’s Stanley
Pritchett 2 yard rush to the 1 (Anthony Thomas TD) Baltimore’s Chris Redman
8 yard pass to Travis Taylor to the 1 (Redman to Todd Heap
TD) San Francisco’s Jeff
Garcia 12 yard pass to Kevan Barlow to the 2 (Garrison Hearst TD) Sometimes it’s better to
just not know… I got a little worried there
might be more to Jay Fiedler’s thumb injury when I saw his arm in the
sling Sunday. Footballguy.com Staff
Physician Dr. Mike Green tells me not to worry. That’s common for a thumb injury as it’s
more comfortable than letting your arm hang straight down. Miami CB Patrick Surtain
now wants everyone to start pronouncing his name “Sur-tan”. I’ll start saying that when he starts
spelling it without the “i”… Dolphin WR Dedric Ward
had a great blindside opportunity to nail Buffalo’s Nate Clements after
one of Clements’ 3 interceptions.
Instead, he bounced off Clement and wound up on his back. Terry Bradshaw says that if
cornerbacks could catch, they’d be wide receivers. I guess you could say that if wide receivers could tackle… Arizona is tied for first
place in the division. Like everyone else, I
thought Miami QB Ray Lucas was awful Sunday. But I was sort depressed after hearing him talk about how it was
the worst performance of any QB in the history of the league and all. Lighten up there, Ray… Good story about Lucas and
Bill Parcells as told by Peter King:
Parcells was coaching the Patriots in 1996, and he got a call from an
old friend, ex-Rutgers coach Doug
Graber, urging him to take a look at Lucas. "This was
about noon," Parcells said. "I got on the phone with Ray down in New Jersey
and asked him to come to our mini-camp and we'd talk. I told him he could come
the next day. It's about a five-hour drive from there to Foxboro, and at 5
o'clock that afternoon, Lucas is sitting in my office in a coat and tie." My disdain for the Carrot
top guy seems to have no end… Anyone else think the
contrast was weird as the camera went from the unveiling of the Johnny
Unitas Statue in Baltimore to Ray Lewis? I will agree with Chris
Berman that Seattle’s road jerseys look a little like Saskatchewan’s… Here’s some numbers worth
looking at. In the Rams’ first 5
games, Marshall Faulk had 66 rushing attempts. In games 6 and 7, Faulk had 58 attempts. Hmmm. I bet it’s hard for Chris
Chandler to remember which team to throw to when he drops back as he’s
played for half of them… Did you catch Joey
Harrington do the Brett Favre pat on the back after Brian
Urlacher sacked him? Atlanta QB Mike Vick
reminds me of that movie Clockstoppers where the kids have that secret watch
that lets them move so fast, it’s like everything else is in slow motion. He’s like a cartoon out there. The Lions are down 20-17
with 5 seconds left in the 4th quarter at the Bears 6 yard
line. And they run another play. A False Start penalty on Chicago saved
them. Kick the Field goal with 5
seconds left. Do you get the feeling the
Bears used up all their Miracle Finishes? If the company that makes
Sharpie Pens doesn’t grab Terrell Owens for an ad, they’re missing out. Odd (but correct) play that
had teams playing against Aaron Brooks torn up Sunday. Brooks scored with 1:58 on the clock in the
4th quarter but New Orleans was flagged for 12 men on the
field. Coach Steve Mariucci
realized with no timeouts, the Saints could run the clock out, and he declined
the penalty allowing the TD to stand.
It was the right call for San Francisco but not for you if your opponent
was starting Brooks. Through 7 games, there has
been 469 points scored in the Kansas City Chiefs games… Philadelphia’s Coach Andy
Reid seems like a good guy. The Grammatica Brothers
missed key Field Goals nearly simultaneously Sunday. I wonder if their Mom has Sunday Ticket… When San Diego can beat
Oakland with Jr. Seau and Marcellus Wiley on the sidelines,
that’s a statement. The Seattle – St. Louis game
wasn’t nearly as close as the 37-20 score would indicate. When Ahman Green is
the Question, most teams simply do not have an answer. After an ugly couple of
weeks, it was cool to see Cleveland’s Tim Couch jump (or at least try to
jump) into the stands following a TD. Detroit RB James Stewart
was dominant Sunday against the Bears defense. Yes, I really did just type that. We admitted to being worried
about Shaun Alexander a few weeks ago.
Call us officially panicked now.
The results from Alexander’s last 6 carries before giving way to Maurice
Morris: 0, -1, 5, 0, -4, 1 yards. Did anyone really think the Carolina
Panthers were good? Washington QB Patrick
Ramsey admitted the Green Bay game was the coldest weather he’d ever played
in. It was 44 degrees. Maybe it’s a good thing that Chicago deal
didn’t pan out… That’ll do it for this
week. Here’s to Football… 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…” |