16
Dec
2010
Petition to Save Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Beard
Just look at it ... it's glorious (Image via Reddit)
SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE RYAN FITZPATRICK’S BEARD
One of the great stories that nobody’s talking about in the NFL this season revolves around Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick … and more specifically, the development of his fantastically wonderful beard.
Now, living in Buffalo is obviously going to effect people in different ways, and for whatever reason – perhaps to help protect himself from the biting lake-effect cold – Fitzpatrick decided to grow a beard this year. That by itself isn’t particularly worth noting. But it’s the volume, the sheer girth of this particular beard that’s starting to become the most interesting story in an otherwise forgettable Bills season.
Young Phil Jackson set the bar high (Image via SI.com)
Following in the grand tradition of Phil Jackson, Kimbo Slice, Brian Wilson and Zach Galifianakis, Fitzpatrick has been growing out his facial hair all season long. And over the past few months, it’s quietly matured into one of the finest beards the sports world has ever seen. It has become something special that beard aficionados everywhere can appreciate, and those of us who can only grow patchy/lame beards can envy. And if you ask me, it even makes the Harvard grad look more distinguished. In a Jedi-meets-Yukon Cornelius kind of way.
But yesterday, Fitzpatrick said that he’s planning to shave his beautiful beard following the Bills regular season finale on January 2nd. Apparently, some of Fitpatrick’s Bills teammates have been giving him a hard time of late, wondering if he’s preparing for a Civil War re-enactment of some sort. Drayton Florence even went so far to give him the nickname, the “Amish Rifle” (which you have to admit is pretty awesome). And it seems that Ryan’s wife isn’t the biggest fan of the scratchy beard, and is looking forward to getting her clean-shaven husband back.
But we here at ReadAndReact are calling on the sports fans of America to Save Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Beard! In fact, we’ve gone ahead and created an online petition to rally support behind our cause. So if you’re like us and appreciate Fitzpatrick’s beard and don’t want to see it go, sign the petition and share it around the interwebs, so this noble movement can start gaining momentum.
This thing is bigger than all of us, people. Bills fans or not, let’s finally all come together and do something good for a change … ‘Tis the season, right?
SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE RYAN FITZPATRICK’S BEARD
5
Dec
2010
VIDEO: Brett Favre knocked out of game by Bills
Will this be the hit that ends Favre's streak? (AP Photo via ABCNews.com)
UPDATE: Favre has been diagnosed with a sprained shoulder, but X-rays were negative, and HC Leslie Frasier said that Favre will still be the Vikings starter next week …”if he’s healthy”. It will probably be a while before they determine his official status, but by now I guess we know they’ll prop Favre up out there like Weekend at Bernie’s to keep the streak intact. So I guess we went and got all excited for nothing.
____________________________________
After starting his 297th consecutive NFL game, Vikings QB Brett Favre was knocked out less than 3 minutes into today’s contest against the Bills, and is not expected to return. Favre suffered a shoulder injury early in the first quarter after getting drilled by LB Arthur Moats. The play was a designed rollout on 3rd & 5, intended to get Favre out of the pocket. But when the ol’ gunslinger pulled up to try and extend the play, Moats came in at full speed to deliver a brutal blindside hit. It was a clean, textbook hit by Moats that sent the ball floating into the awaiting arms of CB Drayton Florence for the interception.
And after looking at the way Favre crumples to the turf, it’s hard to imagine the 41-year-old grandpa will be able to keep his consecutive start streak intact next week:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
30
Nov
2010
NFL Week 13 Power Rankings (featuring the “Berserker Number”)
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Does anyone want to play the Bills right now? (Source: BuffaloNews.com)
Note: For the teams from 32-17, I’ve tagged them with my BERSERKER NUMBER (B#). Ranging from 1 to 100, it rates a team’s ability to cause havoc for teams attempting a playoff run. Young, developing squads just beginning to show power (but stuck with losing records) are helped, in my rankings, by a high B#.
For the teams from 16-1, I’ve added my DESTINY SCORE (DS). Again, 1 to 100. Here, I’m attempting to weed out teams resembling, for instance, the 1988 Chicago Bears. Teams with towering regular season records that (we all know) will not get to — back to — the Super Bowl. Teams, well, missing something special.
My (totally subjective, imperfect) Week 13 Power Rankings:
32 Carolina Panthers (1-10) (B#4)
31 Arizona Cardinals (3-8) (B#8)
30 Cincinnati Bengals (2-9) (B#14)
29 San Francisco 49ers (4-7) (B#22)
28 Denver Broncos (3-8) (B#33)
27 Detroit Lions (2-9) (B#28)
26 Buffalo Bills (2-9) (B#68)
25 Dallas Cowboys (3-8) (B#41)
24 Minnesota Vikings (4-7) (B#42)
23 Oakland Raiders (5-6) (B#52)
22 Washington Redskins (5-6) (B#43)
21 Seattle Seahawks (5-6) (B#54)
20 Cleveland Browns (4-7) (B#73)
26
Oct
2010
Hit Of The Week: Brandon Meriweather and Todd Heap, Revisited (VIDEO)
(Photo via Boston.com)
We’ve started a new tradition here at ReadAndReact by bringing you the Hit of the Week! We’ll find the most brutal tackle (or block) from each weekend of NFL games, and present it for your viewing pleasure.
Since the NFL is so intent on removing violent collisions from the game these days, we’re going to play along and not include any hits as part of this feature that could be considered illegal (well, at least for one week). In fact, in an effort to keep this issue top of mind for everyone, today we’ve decided to revisit the two participants in last week’s “hit heard ’round the world” – Brandon Meriweather and Todd Heap – to see how they fared this time around.
Meriweather has been the primary focus of the league’s crackdown on illegal shots to the head, and was under the microscope every time he made a tackle during the Patriots 23-20 win over the Chargers. Here, Meriweather showed that he’s capable of delivering a clean hit (and perhaps even that he was heeding the league’s warnings) as he delivers a huge – but legal – shot on WR Patrick Crayton:
And the NFL should really like this next one, since it doesn’t feature any contact whatsoever! On the other hand, it raises a completely new player-safety issue that the league is going to have to deal with. Perhaps still feeling the effects from Meriweather’s shot to the head from last week, Todd Heap collapsed untouched on the field during the Ravens 23-20 OT win over the Bills :
WATCH TODD HEAP’S SCARY MOMENT AFTER THE JUMP
3
Oct
2010
Tomlinson and Jets dominate Bills, improve to 3-1 (VIDEO)
(Photo: Kevin Hoffman/US Presswire)
LaDanian Tomlinson proved that he still has some gas left in the tank this afternoon, as he rushed for over 133 yards and 2 touchdowns in leading the Jets to a 38-14 rout of the Buffalo Bills. Tomlinson had his first 100-yard game in over two years, and passed Tony Dorsett to move into 7th place on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 12, 381 yards.
From the very start, Tomlinson looked like the LdT of old, and the Jets offense had their way with the Buffalo defense. Shonn Green added 177 yards rushing and Mark Sanchez threw 2 touchdowns to TE Dustin Keller, as the Jets improved to 3-1 at the quarter-season mark.
But today belonged to the 31-year-old Tomlinson, who was cut by the San Diego Chargers this off-season and widely considered washed up before finding a new home with the Jets. After the game, he credited head coach Rex Ryan for believing in him, and inspiring him to perform:
“I know what age I am. It doesn’t mean I can’t play,” Tomlinson said. “I never lost confidence. I always knew I could do it. It was just about having an opportunity.”
Watch as Tomlinson leaving a defender flying in his wake, en route to a 26-yard score in the third quarter, putting the game away for New York :
SEE TOMLINSON’S TOUCHDOWN RUN AFTER THE JUMP
3
Oct
2010
Runaway train — WAR HILLIS
A couple of thoughts:
* Few things of late are more satisfying than the sight of Peyton Hillis running through the Baltimore Ravens defense. It has been 20 years since the Browns had anything like it on the ground. Not sure it will last — this is Cleveland, he’ll probably tear his ACL tomorrow — and the Browns still LOST to the Ravens, but I don’t care. Watching this guy smash through that traitorous mess of a team was fantastic.
This guy is AFC North material. (Source: Zimbio.com)
* When I ask myself which team better step up huge and win at home this week PRONTO — or face a house cleaning — it’s the New York Giants. This team is on the brink of disaster, but a win over the 3-0 Bears (who don’t scare anyone yet) will go a long way to fixing the beginning of the season. New York seems like a team in search of something — anything — to grasp onto.
* Love how everyone spends all offseason talking about the Cowboys and Giants — and, to some degree, the Redskins due to McNabb and Shanny — and then Philly goes out, once again, and outplays everyone.
* Wicked tired of the Steelers.
* Have the Pats become the late-80s Chicago Bears? We respect them due to their somewhat-recent history, some of the star players are still hanging around, and we know they’ll win 11 games and reach the playoffs — but something is just out of place. They aren’t a Super Bowl team, and we all know it — and they know it. They’ve become the team that gets bumped in the Divisional round for the next three years.
* Detroit fans would take that life in a second.
* I just fell asleep for a few seconds while typing…
* Last night I had a strange dream where Belichick traded Brady to the Bucs for a second- and fifth-round pick. My wife didn’t feel the dream was significant enough to wake her up to recount at 4:03 a.m. — she made that clear. Sounds absurd, but BB’s the same guy who jettisoned Kosar and Bledsoe early enough to shock everyone.
* I hate doing laundry. It always somehow drops into my Sat/Sun schedule. Then I refuse to do it, and I’m fishing button-down shirts out of the hamper to start the workweek. Driving to the office in a wrinkled blue mess that smells slightly like jogging shorts that were peed in — the Browns 0-4 and nobody made coffee.
* T.O. and Ochocinco = snoozefest. Slightly more intriguing than Albert Haynesworth. Slightly less intriguing than Phil Simms and his folksy non-attempts at humor.
* Problem: Fourteen teams are impossible to believe as playoff contenders.
* NFC East might feature one playoff team.
* AFC East might feature three (but Miami needs to start winning prime-time games at home).
* Brady has soft, womanly hair. I think he’s had some sort of work done — fueled by Giselle’s input. Some sort of hair transplant, softening, thinning, conditioning type thing. He was dealing with male-pattern baldness a few years back — now he looks 22. Something ain’t right. I think some people are aliens.
* If Peyton Manning grew his hair out like that he’d look like some sort of half-baked, poor-man’s Matthew McConaughy (I’m tired and don’t care if I spelled that wrong). Peyton needs to do something unusual. He’s a dull robot.
* I get annoyed by: People who rave about the commercial acting of the Manning Bros. They are relentlessly tedious.
28
Sep
2010
4:30 Tuesday Afternoon Phone Call: Trent Edwards and Terrell Owens
Do they have Buffalo Wings in Jacksonville?
Trent Edwards: Hey, TO it’s me Trent – got a moment?
Terrell Owens: Losman! What is happening! Send me some wings? Where are my Buffalo wings? FedEx them… do it now!
TE: TO – the Bills let me go…I’m packing up right now. I can’t send you shit. Listen, I got a favor to ask.
TO: Why are they called Buffalo wings anyway? Like have you ever seen a Buffalo in Buffalo? They should call them something else… like Fat People Really Love These Yummy Things Wings- that makes some sense right there. I tell you Trent life sure can be funny!
TE: Right… this was a mistake, looks like my agent is on the other line – maybe the Jets will pick me up.
TO: The Jets! There is another one… what is that… they should be called the New Jersey Hobos.
TE: The Hobos…?
TO: The Bindle Sticks!
TE: What?
TO: The Wayne County Hoovervilles!
TE: Holy God did you watch PBS last night?
TO: Hell yeah buddy – my cat, Stevie Nicks and me!
TE: This conversation isn’t really working out
TO: Hang on I’m cinching up my pants! Oh nice and cinchy!
TE: Listen, TO, can you just please put in a good word for me with Marvin?
TO: Marvin…
TE: Marvin Lewis… your head coach.
TO: Wait… really?
TE: Well can you just let him know I’m available?
TO: Tell that to Stevie Nicks!
TE: Oh no… I really don’t want to talk to your cat.
TO: Meow?
TE: TO, It’s been a long week; I know that’s you.
TO: Meow… it’s me the greatest cat ever! Stevie Nicks.
TE: I really need to go.
TO: How can Stevie Nicks help you Yale man?
TE: It’s Stanford… I went to Stanford.
TO: My friend Socks went there too, meow!
TE: Bye Terrell – my agent is texting about the Jags…
TO: Meow!!
TE: (hangs up)
4
Dec
2009
Braylon Edwards still can’t catch
The New York Jets may have defeated the Buffalo Bills 19-13 last night, and they may have even been helped along by the efforts of WR Braylon Edwards, who had a 13-yd TD catch.
But that doesn’t mean that Edwards has shaken his long-standing problems with dropping perfectly thrown footballs. Check out this play from last night’s game, where Braylon gets wide open downfield, but can’t seem to reel in Mark Sanchez’ gorgeous deep ball. Probably ’cause it hits him in a bad spot … the face:
17
Nov
2009
BILLS FIRE DICK JAURON
The NFL Network reports that the Buffalo Bills have fired Head Coach Dick Jauron.
(Source: Grant Halverson/Getty Images North America)
16
Nov
2009
VIDEO: Titans’ owner Bud Adams flips the Bills the bird
Here’s 86-year-old Titans’ owner Bud Adams expressing his feelings toward the visiting sidelines at the end of his team’s 41-17 home win over the Buffalo Bills. Note the stylish triple-pump single birds followed by an emphatic double bird to finish it off.
Bud, you sassy ole’ bastard, you.
Word is Roger Goodell was actually in the owner’s box with Bud during the game … we’ll surely see what Roger has to say about this one.
