An NFL legend calling it a career, a nearly unwatchable Monday Night Football game, and a suspension of arguably the NFL’s top wide receiver. It’s Tuesday’s Cheat Sheet…
Charles Woodson is retiring, which means he’ll be a Hall of Famer in 5 years
After 18 incredible years playing in the NFL, Oakland Raiders safety Charles Woodson announced on Monday that he is retiring from the league at the end of the season.
Even at 39, Woodson has eight takeaways this season, which ranks second in the NFL. He’s one of only five players in the NFL this season with at least 65 tackles and five interceptions. So he’s most definitely not retiring as damaged goods and could’ve kept playing maybe even a few more years if he really wanted to.
Woodson’s career achievements are just astonishing. Some examples of that, provided by Twitter:
What a HOF resume looks like on paper for a DB: 249 games started 155 PDs 65 INTs 33 FFs 18 FRs 13 Def. TDs #CharlesWoodson
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) December 22, 2015
Charles Woodson is the only player in NFL history to record 50+ interceptions and 20+ sacks in their career https://t.co/F9SR7ggA3D
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 22, 2015
Most INT returned for TD, all-time Rod Woodson 12 Charles Woodson 11 Darren Sharper 11 — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 22, 2015
What a career. Thank you for everything, Charles Woodson pic.twitter.com/IeXc8iq3G3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 22, 2015
Oh, and he is still the only primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.
You get the point: it’s been an unbelievable football career and Woodson is a lockdown first-ballot Hall of Famer. And his explanation for what he’s going to miss most about gamedays is pretty awesome:
Charles Woodson on what he’ll miss most in retirement: “The national anthem, listening to the words. This is a great, great country.”
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) December 22, 2015
MNF: Lions beat Saints in bad football game
If you missed the Detroit Lions-New Orleans Saints game on Monday night, consider yourself lucky. Simply seeing the 35-27 final score may make you think it was a fun, close game, but it was basically just awful defense from the Saints and the Lions trying their best to Lions the game away (Detroit was up 28-3 at one point). It’s certainly no surprise that a Week 15 game between two teams that are now both 5-9 wasn’t very fun, and it’s lame ESPN and Monday Night Football can’t flex games like NBC and Sunday Night Football can.
There were a couple of cool moments to come out of the game for Drew Brees though, as he just keeps piling on incredible achievements in his his career:
Drew Brees: 4th player in NFL history with 60,000 passing yards, joining Peyton Manning, Brett Favre & Dan Marino pic.twitter.com/4msjfuve6w — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 22, 2015
Drew Brees has now reached 4,000 passing yards for a 10th straight season, extending his NFL record (followed by Peyton Manning, 6) — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 22, 2015
NFL suspends Odell Beckham Jr. one game for cheap shot; Beckham-Norman feud details are getting weird
Yesterday at the Cheat Sheet, we talked about the possibility of New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham being suspended following his cheap shot on Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, and the NFL indeed has handed OBJ a one-game suspension. While there is no excuse for what Beckham did and the suspension seems like the fair decision here, ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Norman wielded a baseball bat on the sideline Sunday, and made Beckham feel threatened. Yes, a baseball bat, as the Panthers (and other teams) for some reason are allowed to bring one on the field and use as some sort of symbol of motivation. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora goes further with what Schefter is hearing, and says that the Giants are convinced from information they’ve gathered that Beckham was “threatened physically and called homophobic slurs”.
Giants reviewed pregame incidents b/n Panthers players and Beckham. Are convinced he was threatened physically and called homophobic slurs — Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) December 21, 2015
This whole thing is really weird, and while the NFL surely loves all the publicity this is getting, it’s a pretty embarrassing feud between arguably the best wide receiver and best cornerback in the NFL this season.
Quick Hits
– By now you’ve likely seen the painful video of Steve Harvey announcing the incorrect Miss Universe winner, but the Twitter reactions (also featured in that link) will crack you up.
– Star Wars: The Force Awakens just had the biggest box office weekend of all-time.
– As bad as things seem off the field for the NFL these days, we actually have the longest streak going without an active player being arrested in this millenium.
– Big blow to the Arizona Cardinals defense (and potentially their Super Bowl hopes) as Tyrann Mathieu is done for the year with a torn ACL.
– Peyton Manning thinks Ian Rapoport’s reporting is “bullshit”.
– A Philadephia Eagles fan had a crazy NSFW rant following the team’s Sunday night loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
– IMPORTANT: Why the heck is USC playing Notre Dame in Die Hard?
– The Atlanta Hawks’ Dennis Schroder had his tooth knocked out in-game, and put it in his sock.
– A sports reporter dropped 23 Star Wars references during Jaguars-Falcons highlights.
– President Obama is going to be on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
– Kevin Durant hit a game-winning jumper in the final seconds to lead the Thunder over a struggling Clippers in Los Angeles on Monday night:
One last breath of gratuitous procrastination
The original 1983 Star Wars arcade game.
