Clowney turns trash cans into treasure

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles was not offended by remarks from Texans defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who called him "trash" after Jacksonville's 45-7 rout of Houston last Sunday.

Bortles responded gracefully to the insult, saying it didn't faze him, according to the team's website: "If how we're playing and how I'm playing is trash, then I'm fine with being trash."

But some enterprising Jaguars fans couldn't let Clowney's comments slide without a clapback. At least two of them shipped trash bins to the defensive end at the Texans' NRG Stadium.

"Hi Jadeveon, wanted you to have something to sit on while you watch Bortles in the playoffs!" Dustin Hegedus wrote in a note accompanying the delivery, according to a Thursday tweet.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, JADEVEON! LOVE, A TRASH-LOVING JAGUARS FAN," Bonnie Upright wrote in a gift receipt to the defensive end.

Those tweets were later picked up by ESPN, CBS Sports and a host of other news outlets that had a field day with the feel good story about how frontier justice can play out on social media.

By the way, throwing for 300-plus yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions is far from trash. And, as ESPN pointed out, Bortles has been the best quarterback in the league this month.

Trash talking is part of what makes sports so much fun. On Friday Clowney turned a potential negative into a positive.