Its been eirily quiet around here this week, the calm before the storm perhaps.

I've been moping around with a cold, that has hampered my preparation, as I haven't been able to concentrate for too long at a time. Lots of reviewing of my GP found a few faults that will be fixed, and a few tweaks of the playcalling on defence to match the pnathers offence.

Overall not much has changed this week, as I figure to get here it must be pretty decent already and I don't want to fall intot he trap of second guessing myself.

All ready and eager for the game, and the draft, Philly will waive another offensive lineman this week, what a great way to thank the linemen who have helped Westy to over 2,000 yards from scrimage this year- a pink slip! Hoping to add another lineman through the draft, making a total of all 5 linemen in the team 3 years or less.
 

--Last edited by Alex  on 2007-08-17 01:23:25 --

Only hours till gametime and I'm getting stressed, 5 tipsters and their evenly spread...

Drawing first blood on the opening drive the Cats went out to an early lead, which was narrowed to 4 points with an Akers 3 pointer on Philly's first drive.
Three plays later on 3rd and long the Cats went deep against a blitz on third and long, when perhaps a safer option would have set up a conservative punt, but the gamble hurt when Delhome was sacked and lost it to the eagles at the 14, Philly Capitalised with a TD, to lead 10-7.
To close out the first quater Carolina had a short drive and a punt.

Philly ground out a 5 minute 58 yard TD drive to put the score at 17-7 after 20 minutes.
The cats drove again, but punted out of the back of the endzone, having learnt their mistake and run on third and long.
Philly had it and punted, giving the Cats just enough time to drive into FG range as time expired and put in a 52 yarder to make it 17-10 Philly.

Both teams punted after short drives, then Philly did this again and field position was even until Carolina fumbled on a gadget thanks to tight DB coverage, and the corner was there to take it all the way the other way, 24-10 Philly.
Four plays later a quick Delholme pass was tipped and picked off, returned to midfield.
Philly used up the last 5 minutes of the 3rd quater and scored 3 as the 4th quater opened.

Going into a shotgun snap the Panthers went deep, repeating the same play twice on consecutive identical matchups, and ont he second oen the WR was nailed and lost the ball.
Three short drives and punts followed, with Carolina failing to score in their 2 minute drill, Philly getting the ball for the last play, McNabb knealling on it to seal the win.

I'm very happy to triumph in this one! My first ever advanced playoffs win, that's made my yearly goals complete, and I'm very pleased with this year in teh AY, if I manage to do anything else that will just be icing on the cake.

Make no mistakes the Panthers offence was white hot, the deep passing gouged me as I put the bonuses on short pass D instead, and went for a softer defensive playcalling than in the past. Short pass D was my best (and 3rd) best category, while DPL DPL was my worst. So although they got lots of yards they couldn't keep drives moving consistently and punted and turned the ball over.

Keeping my mistakes minimal, having 0 giveaways was a great boon, and shows the difference of having a good QB, before I trained him up to a 5 pointer 3 point McNabb would throw picks even on LO RD etc, but not in this game. In this game with a lowly QB rating of 64 the only important thing was not turning it over. Two Carolina giveaways in the 3rd quater hurt the chance of a comeback and at -4 overall proved too mcuh to overcome.

Eagles MVP was RCB Taylor, with good tight coverage leading to a EV ND fumble TD, and a pick- though all the DBs got burned at times.
Game MVP would be Carolina reciever Young, who found a way to get open when the primary targets were covered throughout the game, gathering 9 receptions for 209 yards.  

--Last edited by Alex  on 2007-08-17 03:37:23 --

Well done on taking the first step to the Bowl game. Now all you need to do is make sure you finish the job you started.

Would love to see you go undefeated but that will greatly depend on the teams left...

Goz's Chargers @ Dave's Chiefs for the AFC Crown
Horton's Falcons @ your Eagles for the NFC Crown

4 top teams and should be real interesting for the AFC/NFC title games.

Could go either way but would pay top money to go to any of these matchups.

Congratulations Al Supremo!!

No excuses for not getting to the Superbowl now......


A Fles v Al game would be great for Ozland!