Here I am again, Jim Beam and coke in hand, waiting for gameplan to arrive. Norman has decided to come to the party and we are about to have a phone hookup for this critical season defining match.
A loss here for either of us and its "hasta la vista baby".

I must admit that I am pretty confident that I have put in the right defensive adjustments for Norman's brand of spears. On offense I have made a few adjustments to reduce mistakes.

As Norman says, 3rd downs and short yardage are going to decide this game. I have done some very subtle changes to my gameplan  that may catch Norman flat footed. Bonuses and keys have also been tweaked. In fact I have done some stuff that I have never done before after a brainwave hit me 2 days ago. It worked in the AR and I have carried it over here. On the other hand the offensive play that I tried in AR was a dud so it will not appear tonight.

That bus did not appear and my gameplan went in this morning without a hitch. Hopefully no major glitches as I double checked every line!

Best of luck to all and I will continue this post if I win. A loss and I will probably dissapear for a while.

Jets firing on all engines!
What an upset, this is what the final weeks are all about, damn New York have got some impressive wins lately! Bengals and Pats back to back. Only 1 game off pace with a huge gaime against the Texans next week.

Upset of the round, maybe the year? Bears crush cheeseheads to dust
What happened at soldier field?


Tomahawk defence saves Chiefs from disgrace
A fumble return for a TD and a pick return for a TD


New Coach in Oakland
Only good news for the Raiders in a huge blowout loss to the mighty Chargers is that there's new blood on the way just in time for the NFLAY draft.


Mercurial Vikings do it again, suggesting Lions aren't there yet Looks like an interesitng game a bizarre mix of FB power and WR speediness caught my attention and respect in Detroits offence, but the overachieving Viking defence was up to the task.


Falcons get feathers severely ruffled, Niners are putting the pride back
15 last quater points, including the all important 2 point conversion force atlanta to play OT in the city by the bay, any correlation with the arrival of Ay's prodigal son Sam Chillari- you bet!

Playoff ramifications of these big games
Texans hold a half a game on the Titans who are in #1 WC slot, the Chargers are still in the #2 slot, with both NY and Cinci just a game behind.
Jets still alive for the division title by the way, patriots with a huge game against the Chiefs, Jets might like the chances of a Patriot collapse as they try to keep something in reserve for a possible week 19 conference match against hte Chiefs.

Cards are only 1 game out of a WC slot, and can pull a loss from the Panthers with a win this week at home, Its a win win for the Cards as Packers and Redskins play next week, both are in very good WC spots. Cowboys fall out of it, Vikings out of it are still causing teams pain though. Lions have an easy game in St Louis should help cement div lead, at least for a week-

wow what a week!  

--Last edited by alex on 2007-06-22 02:01:09 --

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Alex wrote : [img] Upset of the round, maybe the year? Bears crush cheeseheads to dust What happened at soldier field?

I have no idea, but there will be changes made because of it!  

Looks like being too little too late for the Cardinals...

Will need to win both matches (Panthers & Eagles) and hope other results go my way as well to make the playoffs!

NFC Playoff Picture:-

Panthers 9-5 +201 (can lose both games and will still be in)

Lions 8-6 +44 (one more win should seal their place)

Packers 8-6 -47 (two losses would help Arizona!)

Redskins 7-7 +45 (two losses would be good here too - but will probably win both)

Cardinals 7-7 -37 (need help!)

My expected wildcard qualifiers are Panthers & Redskins.  

--Last edited by The Cardinal on 2007-06-22 10:43:45 --

Can't take credit for the close result with the 49ers this week as I officially took control after the game concluded. Next week will be my first in charge at the 49ers but at least I saw some life in the team this week against the Falcons...even though it didn't appear until the final quarter.

49ers played poorly for three quarters but exploded in the 4th culminating with a long TD with DL v WC the last play of the game making it 21-19 and the conversion attempt was good making it 21-21 and OT. OT started badly with a 45yd kick return by the Falcons and only a handful of plays later and a TD gave the win to the Falcons.

Now that I have seen the roster will be looking at a 4-3 next season but that may wait until the cull. Some players will be waived in coming weeks but haven't decided who yet. Will be moving around some players. Exciting times to be a niner and looking forward to the coming weeks/seasons.

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49ers played poorly for three quarters but exploded in the 4th culminating with a long TD with DL v WC the last play of the game making it 21-19

That wideout must have known you were watching, and was desperate to impress so he stays off the chopping block!

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That wideout must have known you were watching, and was desperate to impress so he stays off the chopping block!

Noticed it more as it was mostly run after the catch then a long pass. Love to see players run with the ball then the deep ball making up all the yards.

Would have loved it more if it was a long run from a RB from a running play.
 

I have two words for you about that guy : Jerry Rice

Those of you who have been around the forum long enough over the last two seasons, have come to expect one thing and one thing only from a Bengals/Titans Richards/Goetz pre-match build up and this match was like the previous three no different, lots and lots of hype and plenty of trash talk, and like a good chief these arch rivals in the division of death did not disappoint and delivered in spades. As GoGo said when asked about Ferrari, "Ferrari.....Italian Trash!"


When these teams go into the pre-match it always reminds me of a heavyweight boxing title fight, the "thriller in Manila" Ali Vs Frazier the "rumble in the jungle" Ali Vs Foreman. lt's mind games at it's finest, styles of play are abused, tactics are questions and levels of commitment are put to the test.


Well at 1am Melbourne time we had a live reading over the phone going through GPvcon, Tom with a burbon and coke and Stormin with his $5 dollar shake. l could hear the ice cubes in the burbon swilling around during every play.


To be honest before the kick off l really felt the game could in fact go either way, l respect Tom as a coach and our head to head  is now 2-2. The Bengals tourched us in week 2, butchered us like a back packer in hostle 37-0. The Titans had much pride to get back.


The drive summary...
Titans KO TB at the 20
Bengals, 1st play experienced the new Titans defence, fumble run back 11 yards.

TN at the 12 two plays TD 7-0 TN

TN ko tb at 20

CI went on a long drive marched 80 yards until the Titans D stopped a 3rd and short CI take the FG 7-3 TN

CI ko to the 1 TN run back 31 yards

TN at the 68 three plays later GP gives back a fumble and not recovered

CI at 29 five plays TN Defence another monster 3rd and short to hold the big cats to a FG 7-6 TN

CI ko tb at 20

TN at the 80 five plays later TD titans 14-6 TN

TN ko to the 5 no return

CI at the 95
eight plays another critial titan 3rd and short stop on Defence, CI punt.

TN at 86, five plays and bengals make a monster 3rd and short, TN  punt.

CI at 95, first play fumble and recovered. Three plays later on 3rd down we see the first of what appears to be Tom's next worst enemy a gameplan error, titans hold on 3rd down, ci punt.

TN at 76, six plays later tn punt.

CI at 60, three plays later on 3rd and short titans defence hold again, but the second of Tom's worst enemies, another gameplan line with another error on it, ci punt.

TN at 98, seven plays half time.

14-6 TN at the half. Make no mistakes this game was in the balance, but l think the presence of two errors in Tom's gameplan  which would likely come back to haunt him in the second half, and  one play which appeared not to be doing what he had hoped against the Titans defence, plus l commented at half time l really felt his defence philosophy for this match might open some doors for the titans in the second half....

CI ko tb

TN at 80, three plays CI a big 3rd and short stop, tn punt.

CI at 86, a 13 play drive, of which much happened the 3rd play was a fumble recovered by offence, a pass completion into coverage, some critical 3rd and short conversions, then out of the blue the titan defence came up with back to back plays a 2nd and medium stuffed and a 3rd down pass knocked down to end a promising drive, and to add insult to injury the big tiger missed the FG. the score line remains at 14-6 TN

This match was tighter than pamies bra strap, and still in the balance.

TN at 68, nine plays as per the bengals last drive this was very eventful, ending in a 3rd and medium which looked like a good matchup for the titans ended in a fumble and recovered by titans,  they took and got the FG 17-6 TN

At this point the game was still in reach a converted TD and a FG would level the scores and take it into OT, but to achieve this everything had to go right for the bengals.

CI at 80, a monster 19 play drive which like most of the game was  very action packed, a 3rd and medium gameplan error actually came out as a positive to get the down, then it came back to miss the 3rd and short, leaving them with a short 4th down with the season  on the line and no turning back Coach Tom Richards called Jon Kitna to the sidelines with a timeout read him the riot act gave him the play call, the the tigers put the season on the knife edge and went for the 4th and short, and converted to keep the season alive. The drive moves to the top of the 4th quarter, bengals hanging on to their season for dear life, a monster sack by the defence, a pass completion into coverage left the bengals 3rd and short and that gameplan error did it's final dance on the  bengals marble cubbie house, the titans defence held the 3rd and short, cincy take a FG 17-9 TN

lt looked out of reach but really one converted TD and we are in OT, the match of the season living up to all expectations.

TN at 89, it was again up to the tigers defence to show the way, this drive showed the commitment of the bengals 1st play penalty on the defence, then a sack then another penalty, then what coach  Goetz had commented about at half time really ended the season, titans score 60 yard TD 24-9 TN

All in all a great match, could have gone either way, bengals can still make the playoffs but much of it is out of their hands, they need to win both matches which won't be easy and they will count on others losing, but the bengals pride is on the line, l think they will go down fighting, as would the titans.


Jon Gick's Jets fly over foxboro and do the business, monster performance from the the Jets, who are still in the hunt and have really sounded the warning bells around the AFC, take us lightly at your own risk.


Martyn Williams Texans road show came to town and got the job done, the steelers need new blood and the word in the locker room  is a rookie coach by the name of Erol Emirali is in the wings and  should beef up the steelers in the post season ready for a run at the division. The Texans are only half a game clear of the Titans, Williams cannot slip up in the next two matches, the Titans have the softer run home, Williams needs to win both matches and boy Martyn's life is on hold, the Texans have to travel to the inform Jon Gick Jets next week, Gick has been taking scalps of late and with a playoff birth at the JEts this game is no easy matchup, then the Texans face the bengals with a point to make, Texans have traditionally battled against the Richards style. ln fact Texans could go 0-2 in the final two weeks after leading the division of death all season and fall out of the playoffs or a wild card at best to end up facing the Chargers or the JEts again, what a reality check, it would be a really harsh ending for the Texans who have lead from start to finish, but that's life in the AFC's toughest division the division of death "DOD". Williams cannot put a foot wrong from here on end because the Titans are not just coming, they have arrived...


Dave's chiefs what can you say, at times l am lost for words, the best record in the AFC, in fact the second best record behind the  in form 14-0 unbeaten green machine from philly. A 3 point win against the new found fire power which is the Robert Philip Denver Broncos. You cannot question the chiefs record they have the points on the board. Can a team with this sort of defence actually make it through to the big dance? Can you leak 34 points in the playoffs and expect to score 37 points in the playoffs to win it? Are the chiefs over rated? Time will tell, and Dave Vader  Flesfader will need to really put his homework into this team. He  appears to have the Chargers covered but the broncos play a similar game maybe a slightly better version and this score line might give GOZ some food for thought.


Paul Gorner's superbowl champion Chargers, the only superbowl ring holder left in the league, which is sad, l hope Paul decides to stand and defend for many more seasons, as this league is the quality that all coaches want. The Bolts torched the Raiders l'd say probably for the very last time. New Coach Andrew Risson takes over and this guy can play, Risson has been playing since the early 90's in OZ, so expect Andrew Risson to turn this Raider  army back into a lean mean fighting machine, the Silver and Black  skull and swords are back baby and what ever style they bring to Oakland you can be sure it will be the old "Just win baby" attitude of the 70's raiders behind the Jim Plunkett led raider powerhouse.


l will leave the NFC up to someone else, a great week in the NFLAY and the season gets hotter than Jessica Simpson in shorts.

Quote :

I have two words for you about that guy : Jerry Rice

Would look even better if it was Montana to Rice.

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stormin wrote : Paul Gorner's superbowl champion Chargers

Last time I checked, the coachless Panthers were the reigning champs!  

All hail Goz though, he is the only active coach with an AY Super Bowl ring and his Chargers are the reigning champs in C, where he's gunning for a three-peat ... although I expect your Colts will have something to say about that, eh Norm?

Quote :

Alex wrote: Jets still alive for the division title by the way

Barely! I can see the Patriots losing to the Chiefs, but there's no way they'll lose to the uncoached Colts. I reckon my only way in's through the Wild Card and even that's a bit of a longshot. If we can beat the Texans, I might almost start fancying our chances, but they're due a result against us ...  

--Last edited by Jon G on 2007-06-25 21:30:12 --

they're champs in my book, just not the most recent ones.

Quote :

stormin wrote : All in all a great match, could have gone either way, bengals can still make the playoffs but much of it is out of their hands, they need to win both matches which won't be easy and they will count on others losing, but the bengals pride is on the line, l think they will go down fighting, as would the titans.

Thanks for the run down of the match Stormin, great to read all the action. Thses classic matchups are what its all about!

Quote :

Jon Gick's Jets fly over foxboro and do the business, monster performance from the the Jets, who are still in the hunt and have really sounded the warning bells around the AFC, take us lightly at your own risk.

The AFC air raid shelters are full as the Jets perform their version of the blitz. Impressive run by the Gick and if it weren't for some early season bad luck would be a shoe in for a playoff spot.

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Dave's chiefs what can you say, at times l am lost for words, the best record in the AFC, in fact the second best record behind the  in form 14-0 unbeaten green machine from philly. A 3 point win against the new found fire power which is the Robert Philip Denver Broncos. You cannot question the chiefs record they have the points on the board. Can a team with this sort of defence actually make it through to the big dance? Can you leak 34 points in the playoffs and expect to score 37 points in the playoffs to win it? Are the chiefs over rated? Time will tell, and Dave Vader  Flesfader will need to really put his homework into this team. He  appears to have the Chargers covered but the broncos play a similar game maybe a slightly better version and this score line might give GOZ some food for thought.

Very ugly performance in KC. I experimented around a little on defence trying to find some extra moves for the dance floor. Despite the scoreline and yard count, i was not too worried as it actually was a great learning game. The Broncs have a quality offence and proved it once again.  I think you will find the Tomahawk defence will be a little less generous come playoff time, and the next two games against the Masters in Salmon and Gorner will be a fine buildup to the January action. I am already shining up the dancing shoes and ready to jive....  

fixed your citation formating- alex  

--Last edited by alex on 2007-06-26 15:27:01 --

Fish and Goz in the last 2 weeks, what a test!

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stormin wrote :l will leave the NFC up to someone else, a great week in the NFLAY and the season gets hotter than Jessica Simpson in shorts.

Look back at week 14 in the NFC
A week 2 loss to the Cowboys got the Cards season off to a bad start, so revenge was sweet this week, MTP shot out to a 24-0 half time lead- Airzona football at its best, but with a new focus, 46 carries for arizona at 3 yards a carry- FB plays and lead running, the NFC East may soon be the runningest of divisions, passing was superb, with the commitment to the run taking the pressure off, and the Cards had no picks. The boys were really agressive on defence, and the cards lost 3 fumbles as a result. Recent defensive changes by MTP are paying enormous dividends, grabing 4 picks from dallas and 2 fumbles- I'vecreated a monster! 3 form gains for the Cards as the only DC TD was a return.

My earlier game against the skins was decided by only 4 points, and I'm always abit edgy playing the old grand master Jedi Kitching. The skins gashing lead runs (SW that makes you want to cry) and the best deep ability I've ever seen from a team not in S or D is bloody hard to defend against, but I jsut played it soft and took chances when the oportunity arose, overall I think the Skins were a little down in this game, perhaps my D GP is well suited to containing him, Eagles had the ball for 37 minutes, not much the skins could do with the ball in the intervening time.
Arnie would have wanted this win so bad he could taste it, but it goes begging and he's gonna have to beat Beats and then the Boys to make it, and try to get his percentage up as high as possible.

All looked to be going ggreat for Parr's lions, up 14-0 at the quater and 17-3 at the half, the Vikings came from behind in the last quater, going for and getting a 2 point conversion, to put them up by 3 points. Plenty of blitzing by the Vikings against Detroit's Shotgun spread formation forced 12 hurries an 4 sacks, including a safety. Lions looking good still but not a dominant force yet, a competitive one sure, but not yet all powerful. If Paul can beat the Lions when putting in an adhoc gameplan from a net cafe in the french riviera imagine what he can do now that he's home, soon to return to the dull drudgery of work needing something fun to take his minde of it- scary!

I did a oscar winning double-take when I saw this score CB 28 GB 10. I thought the Pack's defence was a good one, but it just goes to show the salad tossers are a hard one to stop. Chicago had been set up under NFC's dominant Arturton, and later Mr Buckle to pass pass pass, with a bit of draw running and new coach Bobby Davis knew that the best way to win in gameplan is just to put 4 WRs on the field and call long passes for most of the day- well it worked agian this week. Green bays' pass rush couldn't get through, got well toasted by the looks of it, bringing the free safety and also dropping a lineman to spy under. BEWARE if you don't have your salad defence ready when you play Chicago you'll be in trouble.

What is there to say about another Panthers win and another Falcons win in the Sarah Lee division? The top 2 teams beat the bottom 2 every time, regardless of coaching activity. Thank goodness Sam "dynasty" Chillari has signed up long term to give this division a shake up like the central and east have been experiencing in recent seasons.

As an interesting note, in 2 weeks time of the 8 teams not in the Panther's Den (NFC West) 7 of them will have won their division once in the last 4 years (if you ionclude the bears who won it twice in the 4 years under Arthurton during their golden age). Either the Lions or Packers will win the division, and the other team will be hte only out of 8 not to have won their div int eh last 8 years, now that's a shake up the likes of which the West could do with!
(It looks to me like it will be Lions to win the div now, and that make sth packers the only one to have not won their div of these 8 teams, so you'd think they're hte weakest, but this would make it 3 years in arow finishing second, 2nd in a row a very close second.

The NFC is starting to get messy, there is only 2 crappy teams left that could use coaches the East is full the Central is gona get really hot next year, the Panthers will decline without a coach and the niners will move up, so we could see a lot of teams next year finish up like the East this year, all one or two games either side of the 8-8 mark.


Thanks for reading, this NFC report brought to you by Alex's house of hounds.