Houston lit up this week with a massive win over the AFC's best team. The Texans held the pats to just one score, 2.7 per carry and only 9 first downs. Great third down defence kept foricing the pats to punt, indeed they managed only 1 frist down to each of the Texan's 3. The Texans D predominatly played soft, didn't give up big plays, but chose specific times to get tough and stack against the run.
Local papers in houston will be stirring up the Texans fans this week, this game could easily feature the AFC championship matchup and its clear the Texans are ready for that level of football. Great game for the home team.

The Bengals escaped with a close win in overtime over the Colts, a perenial pain in the side of top teams. Despite good offensive stats neither team could manage to put up much of a score, a td and a fg a piece in the opeing 60 minutes.
The Bengals remain on top the Div o' Death, with the other 2 contenders breathing down their neck.

The stretch offence of outgoing coach mark Gamble caused problems for the Jets, who say back hoping to cover and disrupt the passing, managing only one interception wasn't enough to curtail the offensive juggernaught from Denver and they were therefore left in the position of having to outscore Denver at home. However with a lacklustre running attack they could not control the game with their offence, despite strong play on third downs, and a scoreless 4th quater handed the win to the home team.
New York remain 2 games of wildcard pace with the grace of an easy game against the over achieving 4-7 Rams next week.

Two third tier teams tied thanks to a two point conversion in the final quater as Miami took on Oakland. Despite niether team having nothing riding on this game it was close and competitive thoughout, with good signs for both teams.

Despite loosing the turnover war by 3 KC ambled to a comfy win over the Steelers, but it wasn't until the final quater that the Chiefs were able to separate from a scrappy stealer team. Mistakes that could have cost the Chiefs the game need to be ironed out for next weeks' challenging matchup against an unpredictable Viking team. This win puts KC as AFC's top honcho.

The Match of the Week featured the braun of the mighty Chargers, former AY champs, against the brains of the delapidated Titans. With 19 first downs each, ~140 yards rushing, and ~220 yards passing each the game was tight all the way through. Third down defence was surprisngly strong for each team. A fumble return for a TD kept San Diego in this game, but again the Chargers literally threw this game away, with 4 interceptions on the day. Unfortunately for the home team the high risk - high reward offence again fell out of balance towards the risks proving a handicap too hard to overcome.
The Titans stay a half game up on bitter rivals the Texans, with their future unguessable. The Chargers as always are right in the thick of the action, but now 3 games behind the chiefs it looks like their lack of consistency will require a playoff entry through the wildcard, a position they are quite capable of exploiting. Still a strong contender for the superbowl this year.

The Cardinals were introuble at the half, behind 20-7 against the mercurial Vikings, who's head coach is currently marauding through the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. A stern talking-to by MTP turned the tide of the game at half time and the redbirds came out to outscore the Vikings 14-0 in the 3rd quyater to sieze the game. With their signature potent offence (almost 400 yards passing 4 yard s a carry), and their creative use of some ofhte more alternative formations, airzona ran rings around the home team in teh second half, showing the form that was frightening grown men throughout last season. With 22 1sts, over 50% of 3rd downs converted, 4 TDs, 45 passigna ttempts, a scorching 50yard TD strike and a failry miserly defence by Arizona standards the redbirds should be pleased with this result against one of the league's msot renowned giant-killers. A win here could have put Minnesota 1 game behidn wildcard pace, meanwhile the Cards are strong favourites fro the second WC place.

A solid commitment to the runnign game was displayed on Lambaue this week, Philly and the Packers rushing for a total of 92 times and nearly 400 yards. Evenly matched from the start special teams and third down defence seperated the teams by just 6 points and sees both teams stay atop their divisions only a little bloodied from the encounter.

The Cowboys, doggedly determined not to loose touch, dominated the Rams in a close but comfortable win over the Rams. Despite being in the basement of the Division of Precision the Cowboys are merely 1 game behind a playoff place.

A close 2 point upset by the niners over Washington will turn a few heads this week. To come in as a new coach and establish a defensive gameplan to hold a balanced offence like Washington's to 54% and 3.3 per carry is an impressive feat, defence like that usually requires lots of thought and even more tuning. This is a wonderful start for new coach Adamson, who has hit the ground running with this well deserved, if unexpected, win. With a traditional, balanced offence favoured by some of the AY's most dependable teams the 49ers offence scored 5 times, and missed one more chance on a FG attempt. We will see if frisco can continue on in this fashion when Miami come to town next week, though they will have to do so without coach Adamson, who has walked away after only one game in San Francisco, not having sifficinet time to commit to the team.
Meanwhile Washington are but 1 gamebehind the Cards in the east and are hugnry for the playoffs, another FG in this game would have put them right up with the leaders.

The Cheekily overachieving Lions continued on their way this week with a close loss to the mighty Panthers in Carolina. Outgaining the cats by over 100 yards wasn't enough however, as 3 fumbles hurt the visitors, forcing some commentators to ask whether the Detroit centre had ever performed a shotgun snap before. The Panthers were on their game as always, though the tight coverage of the Lions DBs on their wideouts effectively took away the running threat from the gadgets, giving the team a game total of only 40 yards ont he ground.
Carolina remain slightly ahead of Atlanta onto of the NFC West, by about 60 pts for-agaisnt, with both teams seemingly unwilling to drop a game at the moment the div may come down to their sole remaining head to head game, though the interconference matchups may hand the dirty birds the oportunity they've been looking for as they host Indy, while Carolina travel up to Boston to face the AFC favourite Patriots.

On the shock news that Chicago's new golden boy Bobby Davis will be leaving after only 2 games, the Bears played without the same heart his week when tehy traveled to Atlanta and were unfortunate to suffer a drubbing by the home side. Scoring 7 times and running an offence that was effectively undisturbed on most plays this was little more than a live drill for the falcs, who now have the AY's second longest winning streak, (tied with Kansas City) at 5 wins on the trot, seemingly with about 5 more to come before we reach the playoffs.

Playoff picture:
The Pats, Chiefs and Eagles look fairly comfortable atop their divisions now, while in the other 3 armwrestles are still taking place. The panthers and falcons will take 2 playoff places unless one suffers an unexpected collapse, and the easier schedule and current form coninues to point to an Atlanta division title, perhaps the first ever.
The experience of the packers should see them take out the title in the central, with the Lions having to fight the Cards, Skins Boys and perhaps even the vikings or Rams for the wildcard scraps. As the best established franchise of these contenders Arizona will be the favourite.
If the playoff berths were handed otu today the DOD would take 3 of 5 spots, while hte Jets and Chargers would just mniss out. The most important games for the remainder of the season will be ones in which these 5 teams play each other:
WK13 Jets at Bengals
WK14 Bengals at Titans
Wk15 Texans at Jets
Wk16 Bengals at Texans

With a homeward run about as easy as they get in the AY lookout of the Titans to leapfrog to the top of the DODeath. (Skins-broncs-bengals- raiders- steelers).

Interesting games next week:
2 games this week match division leaders,
New England host Carolina and
Philly host Cinci
The home teams have breathing room to loose their game without risking their division in the short term, but these are must win games for the visitors, and the desperation should see them both win.
The Jets and Falcons should both gather much needed wins heading into the home stretch, as should the Cowboys, Lions and Chiefs.
After dispatching the Pats wih grace and ease the Texans can take that a step further this week agaisnt fellow westaustralian MTP, a cleansweep of the who's who of Perth coaches is a rare prize indeed, and is just what Houston need to keep the heat on the for the division race in the DOD. With the pressure off in terms of the NFC East race the Cards just need to find some form and stay in touch with the second wildcard spot and win their games agianst tier 2 teams int eh NFC, wk 12 is not a must win for MTP's Cards.
Another fachinating game will match the league's 2 longest recognised overachievers, the Titans and the Redskins. Both coaches seem to know how to get the best out of their players and have a plethora of experience and a proven ability to use guile an subterfuge, this would be a great game to watch, both teams are desperate for another win.
Another even matchup should be the 6-5 Chargers at the 7-4 Packers, the potent passing of San Diego against he bruising running of the Packers. If the forcast calls for snow or rain in green bay expect a packer win, if it is fair the passing of the Chargers will be unstoppable.

Prediction:
AFC7 NY-MD-HT-CI-KC-SD-OA
NFC5 CP-AF-DC-WR-DL  

--Last edited by alex on 2007-05-11 04:14:42 --

Totally outplayed the Panthers, led by 10 points for most of the game, outgained them 420-250, and for the second week in a row in a must win game lost the game on a fluke play within the 2 minute warning, this time it was the second of two fumble returns for TDs....AAARRGGHH!!!  I am so close to quitting this bloody game...

lol
Just like a RL coach having a dummy spit and throwing his headset away in disgust!


he he, its all part of the experience!  

We fell over the line for the second week in a row. They say that luck goes in threes. Is that right Alex?

I will need a lot more than luck to take the points next week!

I don't believe in luck, just probability.
You're holding onto that division lead by your fingernails it seems...

The short answer is - YES.

Nice write up Alex, l get the feeling you still don't believe in the Titans, don't blame you, it's hard to when you look at their roster!


l will be interested to hear what GOZ thinks, but the score line was not a true indicator IMHO.


The summary does not show the 3 fumble recovers by the chargers, nice going, and l don't know what you think GOZ but my fumble turnover seemed pretty soft looking at the matchup which gave you the score 7-7. l think the chargers had a season high 5 punts.


Alex, mentioned the charger picks l worked my gameplan out real radical for the toss the salad to make sure l could get them, keeping a salad tossing offence to 217 yards is low and it took a hell of a detailed defence gameplan to come up with a structure to not give him any free ones and get some picks. l was not sure how it would work as l mentioned before the game, but am thrilled at the results. My player to be added during the draft will only help add to the system in two years time, now know as "the stormin system".


GOZ you out keyed me so well done, l won't mention anything, but l will always double key that play against a toss salad offence it is so desvestating, you know the one.


l was able to stop drives much easier than in the past with the new defence, l think for all coaches out there you really need to think hard and long about a game and try and come up with ways to  counter act what a team will do. Most players just toss there hands in the air and say gameplan sucks and bail. l think to be a good coach long term you need to be able to put effort in often each week and really look at what your gameplan is doing, if you spend 1 hour in two weeks you should not expect much IMHO. l still think gameplan advanced is just a wonderful challenge of a coaches skills in creating something offence and defence. Put the time in to make sure you have a plan to stop a team and you write a gameplan to put the plan into action. lt's the most rewarding feeling when a plan works.


l think the chargers are still a very very dangerous side but my guess is a few key reductions might be slowing them down. l won't be telling you how to beat them, that's your job, l won't them to flog my rivals for me.  

l just wish Nick was here l'd love to but my new toss the saland defence "the stormin system" to the Sims test.


l remember when l was a GM, Pete used always say to me, don't build an offence to do what the dominating offences are doing build a defence squad and gameplan to stop them to get ahead of the game. l think l lost this idea for a while, but l have got my mojo back.


The other thing l wanted to say, is when l was a GM l saw lots and lots of advanced gameplans, and to be honest 90% of them where very very basic, so really they were under utilising the game and there results suffered. You can break down yards to line and down and time and downs for a reason to really create some very detailed stuctures, take the time to work at them and your results will improve.


Good luck to all another fantastic season coming to a head.


Tommy, you must be impressed now, or at least shit scared. l'd say our match coming up will be a sell out.
 

--Last edited by alex on 2007-05-14 20:47:29 --

another good read alex thank you for the effort

a good and well deserved win to the texans who called a great game (as martyn always does)the patriots struggled on both sides of the ball but then i always seem to struggle a bit at this part of the season and i really don't know why so the loss to a quality team like the texans was no real surprise another tough one next week against the panthers will be another struggle but have never playing another legend of the game is always something to look forward to

though the result may not be something to look forward to

Norman, I am shaking in my boots.

Thanks for the heads up too. I might actually submit a gameplan for our game.

Aaaarrrrggggghh!!! We got Gicked!  

Quote :

stormin wrote : l think to be a good coach long term you need to be able to put effort in often each week

I have to admit I've been putting less and less time into my gameplans of late and I really paid the price this week. I got hammered by Chris Hatfield's Texans yesterday in BS (although a loss was always on the cards there!) and now this! We were pretty comfortable in the first half and then let it slip in the second. With a bit more (/any!) prep, this game could've been there for the taking ... although I'm not sure a whole week's planning would've prepared me for the awesome potency of DT out of D (what the .. ?!?)

I just don't seem to be able to raise the effort to put in a real scheming session any more (gameplanners' block, mid-gameplan crisis?!?) - I had a four-day weekend just gone, but kept finding other things to be doing rather than Gameplan. I'm not planning on leaving the game any time soon, but I know I need to rediscover my appetite for it if I'm going to be anything more than a mid-table plodder in competitive leagues!


Good write-up again anyway, Alex.

I love this league! As Norm has said, every week you have to really think about your GP because undoubtedly you are facing a top opponent. Almost every time I get a win in AY I end up feeling more satisfied than when I've won SB's and GBs in some of my other leagues!

Beating Greg this week was huge, not only for the revenge factor of last season's AFC Champ game defeat but also becuase playing in the toughest GP division ever I knew I couldn't afford to lose any more ground on the Titans and Bengals. My D GP did exactly what I wanted, and if I'm honest my O did better than I expected, two turnovers in FG range stopped me winning by a few more .When planning for the game I really couldn't spot a weakness in the Pats D so I just focused on my Texans strengths and changed my GP around to do two things only and challenge the Pats D to stop me, and they couldn't.

The Titans win again, Norm continues to work wonders IMO, I dread to think what he could do with my Texans roster, while the Bengals fluke another one (damn!)  

Only joking Tom but I've been gutted recently when I've been so desperate for your Bengals to slip up and you keep on getting the results - just! The sign of Champions, winning when your not playing your best.

Thanks to the DOD I'm really enjoying AY at present, I just hope we get all three teams into the playoffs becuase God knows we all deserve to be there!

Tom, l don't think a gameplan is going to help you, but by all means toss one in for the Titans, l improved my "stormin system" by two lines today from the GOZ match and lets face it you are a salad tosser as well.


Martyn, yeah it would be a hell of an effort if Tom, you and l all made the playoffs, l was sad to see Marc leave AY l think he is also a top player, l hope Nick Sims comes back to gameplan we have a steelers team in the divison of death waiting for him.
 

--Last edited by STORMIN on 2007-05-14 12:53:10 --

Martyn, I think we may well see 3 teams from the central in the playoffs.  I agree gameplan is good in the AY with plenty of great matches every week to look forward to.

The Chargers have slipped a bit and their season will probably be determined this week. The Colts are probably uncoached which is sad cause Dex was doing some great things there.  I hope that missing the playoffs last year was not the reason.

As for us at least our fate is in our own hands. I need to win at least 4 more for the division and that may not be enough if you guys go undefeated.

It could go down to the wire!

I note today that the Vikes in fact lost on a hail mary on the last play of the game. Nasty.

Yep, Paul you were unlucky with that one!

Glad to hear that you have re-signed your contract & look forward to future battles!

Hope you having a great sojourn in Europe.