1
Dec
2012
Martellus Bennett – aka “Black Unicorn” – saves a fan, gets the animated super hero treatment (VIDEO)
(via juanelway.com)
Giants tight end Martellus Bennett has a reputation as a colorful guy, always reliable for a good quote or tweet, and even going so far as to give himself the nickname “Black Unicorn”.
After the Giants’ 38-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, Bennett made headlines for saving a middle-aged man who fell from the stands when Bennett threw his gloves into the crowd. Afterward, Bennet said he “tapped into my inner super hero, which I do have”, quickly springing into action to catch the man before he could hit the ground.
“I’m usually a ninja, but my Spidey-senses told me he was going to take a fall, so I saved his life. He owes me his firstborn or something. Actually, I don’t want that. Maybe a sandwich or something.”
Well fortunately for us, Black Unicorn told the story to the guys at TheNOC, who give Bennett the animated super hero treatement, bringing his words to life through vivid, poorly drawn animation. It’s pretty great:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
26
Sep
2012
Aaron Rodgers says what needed to be said about the NFL and the referees labor dispute
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren via espn.com)
After being on the losing-end of quite possibly the worst call in professional football history (and certainly the most scrutinized), Packers QB Aaron Rodgers stepped up to the mic on his weekly ESPN Radio show yesterday, where he calmly and clearly stated exactly what needed to be said about the NFL and their ongoing labor dispute with the referees.
Rodgers went on a tirade about the overall stance the NFL has taken in all this, later digging into their convoluted statement about the “Innacurate Reception”, and did so with unprecedented candor from an all-pro player (who have all been warned against speaking out against the refs. He even went so far as to apologize to the fans on behalf of the players, noting that the NFL would never do such a thing. And while Rodgers can most certainly expect a fine from Mr. Goodell, if finally having a marquis player step up and make a statement like this forces the league to take a long hard look at itself, then it will all be more than worth it.
You can listen to the whole thing for yourselves HERE, but these are the key excerpts:
“Some stuff just needs to be said,” Rodgers said. “First of all, I’ve got to do something that the NFL is not going to do, and I have to apologize to the fans. Our sport is generated, the multi-billion machine, is generated by people who pay good money to come watch us play. And the product on the field is not being complemented by an appropriate set of officials. The games are getting out of control.
“Like I said in the first week, I said, ‘I’m OK with replacement refs as long as they don’t have a direct impact on the game.’ Obviously last night there was a direct impact on the game on multiple plays that we’ll get into. But my thing is I just feel bad for the fans. Because they’re pay good money to watch this. The game is being tarnished by an NFL that obviously cares more about saving some money than having the integrity of the game diminished a little bit.“
Rodgers went on to point out that this is a league who had previously locked out the players, and are now gambling on low-level officials who are in way over their heads.
25
Sep
2012
Well, it’s official: the replacement refs finally broke the NFL (PIC & GIFS)
This will be the image that encapsulates the replacement referees’ saga during the 2012 NFL season. And hopefully, it will be the moment that finally breaks the back on the league’s lockout of the regular refs:
(Photo: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images via nytimes.com)
You’ve all seen it by now (VIDEO HERE). Â The Seahawks beat the Packers on a last-second hail mary that was somehow ruled a touchdown by one official at the same time as the back judge ruled it an interception. Â A “Touchception”, if you will. And madness ensued.
The officials even went under the hood to review the play – although technically, posession is not reviewable – and came back with the same decision: Golden Tate had achieved simultaneous posession with M.D. Jennings, awarding the Seahawks a TD. This, despite seemingly obvious video evidence that clearly showed Jennings clutching the ball to his chest before Tate reached an arm in and wrestled the ball away in the pile.
(via sbnation.com)
(via sbnation.com)
17
Sep
2012
NFL GIFs of the Week: 2012 Week Two
We love our GIFs here at ReadAndReact, so we’ve started a new weekly feature where we collect the best GIFs from each NFL week, and post them all in one convenient spot for your viewing enjoyment. Â
Most of these come courtesy of the always-awesome GIFulmination, @SBNation GIF or@CJZero Twitter… so special thanks to those guys.  Submit your favorites GIFs to info@readandreact.net, and PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE THIS PAGE LOADS.
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Jay Cutler kicks Charles Woodson while he’s down:
(via cjzero.com)
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Packers score on a fake 44-yard Field Goal:
(via sbnation.com)
13
Sep
2012
Packers-Bears rivalry is NFL’s oldest, and probably the best (VIDEO)
(via cnbc.com)
In anticipation for tonight’s Packers-Bears game – the 185th meeting in the NFL’s oldest rivalry – we give you this video, which was created by NBC for last December’s match-up between the bitter adversaries.
Watch it and get up-to-speed on the depth and intensity of the Bears-Packers rivalry. It provides all the context you need to understand why these two teams (and to a degree, these two cities) don’t like each other very much:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
9
Sep
2012
David Akers ties NFL record with 63-yard field goal (GIF)
Veteran kicker David Akers tied the NFL record for the longest field goal in league history, with a 63-yarder that bounced over the crossbar the end the first half of today’s 49ers-Packers game.
And then, up 17-6 heading into the locker room, the Niners celebrated like they had just won the Super Bowl:
(AP Photo via yahoo.com)
Watch the VIDEO HERE.
It’s an impressive feat, no doubt, for Akers, who joins Sebastian Janikowski, Jason Elam and Tom Dempsey in the record books. Especially considering that two of those kicks were done at altitude, and one was done with half a foot and a modified shoe.
But he loses points, obviously, for the crossbar assist … so I guess it all evens out (for those keeping score at home).
GIFs AFTER THE JUMP
18
Aug
2012
Brett Favre is settling in as High School coordinator quite nicely (VIDEO)
Brett Favre won his first game as offensive coordinator for Oak Grove High School of Hattiesburg, Mississippi last night, unleashing his troops for a 64-6 stomping of Sumrall, their unsuspecting opponents.
(Photo: Ryan Moore via Deadspin.com)
As you can tell from the photo above, Favre seems to be settling into his role as a coach quite nicely, tearing into an official after a blown call like he’s been doing it for years. And based on the lopsided score, it seems that the 3-time NFL MVP’s offensive game plan for the Warriors did the trick too. With the win, Favre continued his personal streak of debut victories, having won his first starts with the Packers, Jets and Vikings as a player.
ESPN’s Ed Werder visited with Favre and spoke with the ole’ gunslinger about the challenges of his new position. To his credit, Favre genuinely seems to not want to be a distraction to his players, and is trying to be “just one of the guys”. And of course, Favre is bringing his trademark child-like enthusiasm for the game, which must be a blast for these high school kids to be around.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
3
Apr
2012
New Nike NFL uniforms look pretty much the same (PHOTOS)
After much hype and build-up, the NFL unveiled new uniforms from Nike for all 32 teams today … and aside from the Seattle Seahawks, your favorite team will pretty much look the same next year.
(Photo: Nike)
There had been some concern among fans that Nike was going to redesign every team’s uniform to look like the Oregon Ducks, but in general the changes are barely perceptible.
The biggest change across the board is to the collar, where Nike added their “Flywire” design which supposedly helps keep the collar flat against the pads, and some teams have included a two-tone color scheme to go along with it.  There are some other updates to the construction, fit, fabric and color shadings that I’m sure are huge differences to the uni-geeks over at Nike, but nothing the average fan would really notice.
The fine folks at uni-watch.com have a detailed team-by-team breakdown of changes to the uniform, and you can VIEW UP-CLOSE PHOTOS OF ALL 32 NEW UNIFORMS HERE.
It turns out the Packers, Raiders, Eagles, Falcons and Panthers passed entirely on the opportunity to update their unis, essentially rejecting Nike’s proposed modifications. But the Seahawks decided to go for it, re-vamping their color scheme to include neon green and updating the helmet logo for a completely new look. You can check out more detailed photos of the Seahawks uniform at this gallery, but it’s not nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be (photo below).
17
Jan
2012
This fan’s choice of nail polish is why the Packers lost (VIDEO)
You know those crazy-superstitious sports fans who insist that their gameday routine and attire somehow impacts the success or failure of their favorite team? Well, sometimes they’re right.
Poor Casey here – a die-hard Packers fan – apparently let her “friend” Megan convince her to apply sparkles to her nails and don a Clay Matthews jersey on Sunday instead of her normally-preferred Aaron Rodgers gear to the sports bar. And inevitably, Green Bay lost.
Here is Casey’s reaction to this chain of events::
UPDATE: Even Clay Matthews agrees: it’s all Megan’s fault
16
Jan
2012
Giants stun Packers to advance to NFC Championship (as told through PICS & GIFS)
Manning took the belt from Rodgers on Sunday! (Photo via tinypic.com)
In Sunday’s big matchup, the New York Giants soundly defeated the defending champion Packers 37-20 in Green Bay yesterday, and will head to San Francisco on Sunday for a re-match of their week 10 loss … not to mention the fabled 2002 wild card comeback and 1990 NFC Championship game.
With the win, Eli Manning may have finally cemented himself as an “elite” quarterback (whatever that means), improving to 6-3 all-time in the post-season after throwing for 330 yards and 3 TDs and outperforming his more-heralded counterpart, Aaron Rodgers (264 yards, 2 TDs). Giants WR Hakeem Nicks was once again the best receiver on the field, pulling in 7 catches for 165 yards and two TDs. The Giants defense once again came to play, harassing Rodgers for four sacks and causing three turnovers and ending the Packers 15-1 season unceremoniously.
And now, here’s your game recap in photos and GIFs (CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE):
Win or lose, this guy's Lambeau field hat is amazing (Photo via Reddit.com/r/nfl)
Nicks struck the first big blow for NY with a 66-yard score in the 1st quarter (photo: Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)
In the second quarter, it looked as though the Giants got hosed by the refs, who somehow ruled Greg Jennings down on a fumble when video evidence clearly showed otherwise :
Hell, even Mike Pereira thought it was a fumble (Image via Sportsgrid.com)
Just before halftime, the Giants went for it all with a 37-yard hail mary to Hakeem Nicks
