Week 2 Games

There weren't many close games on the scoreboard. There was a big group of games that were decided on one statistic.....

I had better stats or near better stats in most categories and was destroyed on the scoreboard in my loss

This group of games the losing team lost by double digits despite having more yards, time of possession, and/or 1st downs.

Baltic 52 Rio 17 (4 int, 2 fumble)
BPJ 54 Turigtians 9 (5 int)
Outlaws 42 Girona 28 (5 int, 1 fumble)
Torpedos 33 Pizti 20 (4 int)

All four of these games the losing team had more yards, 1st downs, and time of poss. but turned it over at least 4 times.


Out of the remaining games there were only 3 that were close in score.....

Moors 20 La Chargers 16

I'm only noting that the Chargers were able to keep this a close game with the Moors. The Moors held the lead almost the entire game but the Chargers were always within a score. Statistically it was about as even a game as you could want.

Mulheim Seahawks 24 Quack Attack 17

This was a real back and forth game! They exchanged leads in the 1st half with it closing at a 10-10 score. If you like defensive games then you would like seeing that there were 13 combined punts and 2 field goal misses. Although both misses were Quack ones.

The first 5 possessions of the 2nd half were no scores. Then with 15 minutes left to go in the game both teams went on long scoring drives. First the Seahawks went on a 15 play 95 yard drive for a td. Taking a 17-10 lead. The Quack said not today! They went on a 15 play 77 yard drive for a td. Both drives were over 6 minutes. With 5 minutes left in the game the Seahawks went 11 plays 80 yards for the game winning td. The Quack did get the all back and were driving to midfield when time expired. It is almost like both defenses quit in the 4th quarter.

SF 20 Mulheim Steelers 13

Much like the game above there were plenty of punts (11 combined) and a field goal miss.

Also like that game the halftime score was 10-10. It could have been much worse for SF as the Steelers drove down to the SF 5 and threw an interception that ended up as an SF field goal. That is a 10 point swing as half time could have easily been Steelers 17 and SF 7.

The second half was a snoozer as there were only 3 scoring drives with 2 of them in the first 2 drives of the second half. Don't get me wrong, I was on the edge of my seat expecting to throw an interception for a td or give up a punt return for a td. It was essentially a sigh relief to keep a drive from scoring against me. Our reward for a close game is we get to play each other tomorrow in the supercup lol.

Week 3

We have 5 close games to review here! We nearly had several "upsets" this week.

BPJ 28 Devils 23

This was like a quarterly ping pong match. lol.

1st Quarter: BPJ had a touchdown drive but otherwise it was punting back and forth. 7-0 BPJ

2nd Quarter: BPJ managed only 13 total yards on 13 plays. Meanwhile the Devils ended up with 3 scoring drives for 13 points taking a half time lead of 13-7.

3rd Quarter: This is where the Janitors cleaned up whatever was ailing them. They had two drives that ate up over 11 minutes of time for 14 points and the Devils got their one drive for 3 points. BPJ has 21-16 lead.

4th Quarter: Starts off with a Devils touchdown on the first drive of the quarter to give them a 23-21 lead. BPJ gets it signatory play the long touchdown with a 54 yard pass to answer the Devils score to take the final lead 28-23.

Guns&Roses 24 Pizti 21

Pizti gave GR all they could handle! Would have been an upset (no disrespect intended).

1st Quarter: Snoozefest as it was punt after punt.

2nd Quarter: Much more interesting! After a Pizti punt GR then throws an interception giving Pizti an opening ......only for them to then throw their own interception to give it right back. To make sting a bit more GR netted 15 yards with the interception exchange. They did only get a field goal out of it. The rest of the quarter was a touchdown drive by both. That brings us to halftime with GR clinging to a 10-7 lead.

3rd Quarter: Starts off with a GR interception that leads to a Pizti touchdown getting them to a 14-10 lead. The remainder of the quarter the two teams trade off touchdown drives. The quarter ends with Pizti leading 21-17, however GR was on the move....

4th Quarter: The drive in the 3rd quarter by GR finished up in the 4th with a 7 minute touchdown drive. Giving them a lead of 24-21. Pizti had what appeared to be at least a chance for a field goal if not a td. With over 4 minutes left in the game and the ball on the 4 yard GR line....Pizti fumbles on first down and pretty much sealing the game.

Paladins 23 Lonestar 17

This game was 17-10 Lonestar leading going into the 4th quarter. The Paladins were driving in the 3rd quarter after a missed Lonestar field goal. That drive finished in the 4th quarter with a TD that tied the game up. It was after that the Paladins were able to take advantage of special teams and defense to capitalize. First they returned a punt deep into Lonestar territory that netted them a field goal to take a 3 point lead then on Lonestars next possession they threw an interception that was returned deep into their territory that also resulted in a field goal that brought us to the final score of 23-17.

Mulheim Seahawks 34 Baltic Stars 31

A little early season divisional fireworks! Basically the defenses stay off the field...for the most part. lol. These two teams combined for 65 first downs, 900 yards of offense, and 65 points. The first 4 drives of the game were double digit play, clock eating drives for touchdowns. They had 5 total punts in the game combined!

Panthers 24 Blackmanes 15

I'm super tired so here is the quick version and if tomorrow I'm feeling up to it I'll put more details in. Blackmanes took a 12-10 lead into the 4th quarter. Much like the Paladins/Lonestar game the 4th quarter had 2 scoring drives sandwiching an interception. Panthers had a long touchdown drive followed by a Blackmanes interception that led to another Panther touchdown drive and thus sealing the game.

It would have been the biggest upset since Eli's SuperBowls

Rarely has a loss left me so happy. Now my team must keep up this level. It won't be easy.

Week 4


Place holder for later. I'll put some comments under each one tomorrow.

Baltic 30 France 27

France actually out gained Baltic in most categories. Partly what propelled Baltic in the first half to take the 23-10 halftime lead was an interception return for a td and a missed field goal that they turned into a touchdown. In the 3rd quarter France didn't turn it over and with 2 long scoring drives pulled to within 3 with a score of 20-23 after 3 quarters. To start the fourth quarter though France threw another interception that was returned for a td. The 10 point gap was too much for France to overcome in the 4th quarter.

Gardians 31 SF 24

Despite the loss I do take the moral victory in that I lost by 7 despite turning the ball over 4 times compared to Gardians 0 times. Gives me hope for the next game. The stats below pretty much spell out how the game went:

SF No turnovers: 8 drives average 10 plays for 43 yards each
SF Turnovers: 4 drives average 4 plays for 18 yards each

Gardians off of Turnovers 4 drives 5 plays 34 yards each for 17 points
Gardians drives 8 drives 5 plays 20 yards each for 7 points
Gardians score touchdown off kickoff return.

High Desert Outlaws 27 Blackmanes 26

Statistically a very close game. The first half was a little ho hum with the Blackmanes comfortably winning the field goal game 9-3 by halftime.

The second half was a little different Blackmanes went all or nothing in this half. They had 2 touchdown passes of 69 and 76 yards with one other field goal drive. However the Outlaws were playing a game of keep away with 3 touchdown drives and getting a field goal off of a fumble recovery.

I think the turning point that decided the game was when the Outlaws took the lead 20-19 with 5 minutes to go. That scoring drive was an 80 yarder that took 5 minutes. Outlaws converted 2 key 3rd downs with the 2nd one being 3rd and goal from the 6. A stop there and it is a different game.

Outlaws 32 BPJ 27

Do you know how many first downs were in this game? 31! What? With the scores so high you wouldn't think it. Outlaws had 25 first downs to the BPJ's 6 first downs. If you go through the stats it is pretty similar in this regard. How wa BPJ still in this game then? The same way they were last season with long touchdown bombs of 69, 75, and 50 yards. Also getting an interception deep in Outlaw territory for a field goal.

Moors 37 Werewolves 28

Moors outgained the Werewolves in most categories but still those Werewolves had a chance. The end of the 3rd quarter they had a 21-20 lead. What hurt them was not stopping Moors on 2 touchdown drives where they had to convert four 3rd downs. Stopping just one of those 3rd downs would have stopped the scoring drive. I just hope this game doesn't play too much in the playoff picture with the Moors due to go bot.

Rio 37 Seahawks 21

Can you believe there were only 5 punts this entire game combined? That is as much as some teams had in a half by themselves. Wowser. You might be asking why review this game when the final score wasn't close. Well...

The first 3 quarters for the Seahawks was a consistent touchdown per quarter for 21 points. Rio on the other hand was all over the place with 3 in the first, 21 in the second, and 0 in the 3rd for 24 points. So starting the 4th quarter it was a 3 point game.

What hurt Seahawks the most was the 2 interceptions that led to 10 Rio points. One of those interceptions was on the Rio 27 yard line so a possible fg or td was actually lost. Those turnovers deep in opponent territory are tough because if they score it is more of a point swing in what they scored but also the points you lost out on potentially. I consider that a 6 to 10 point swing and not just a 3 point swing.

Rio is on fire by the way!

Things are heating up on Rio! I am still not fully confident after being awfully beaten on the first 2 games but the Gardians and Seahawks games were awesome for me. Let's see if my team is more like the one from the beginning or a real contender for bigger things.

Week 5

I do apologize as it seems I completely forgot to do a review for that week. I guess the Dolphins beat me so bad I lost all sense of what was going on......so I'm skipping week 5 lol.


Week 6

We have 4 games that were close....

The Battle of Budapest..... Wolves 13 Janitors 7

There are some games where teams can combine for 15 or fewer possessions total. In Battle of Budapest these two teams combined for 17 punts, 2 fumbles, 2 interceptions, a turnover on downs, and 4 scoring drives. The 2 field goals were off of drives less than 36 yards. 1 touchdown was an 80 yard touchdown pass and shockingly it was the Wolves and not the Janitors with that bomb. There isn't much to write about it being back and forth as both teams had so many possessions there were plenty of chances for the game to have changed. If you want a low scoring defensive battle this is your cup of tea.

Panthers stay unbeaten.....barely by squeaking by High Desert Outlaws 24-17

This game started off well with both teams scoring first quarter touchdowns with nice long drives. Followed by 10 minutes of punting. Then the last 5 minutes was 3 scoring drives. First the Panthers had two good drives for a field goal and a touchdown and looking to take a 17-7 half time lead. However the Outlaws had other plans when they tossed a 70+ yard touchdown pass with a minute to go. Until that play the Outlaws had 32 total yards of offense in the 2nd quarter.

In the 3rd quarter both teams went into an offensive hibernation combining for 6 punts and an interception and no scores.

In the fourth quarter the outlaws tied the game up with a field goal with 10 minutes left. The Panthers promptly went down the field and scored a touchdown with a 5 minute drive. Outlaws had a chance, they drove down to the Panther 12 yard line and attempted a field goal on 3rd down and 21 seconds remaining. I'm sure the Outlaws will fix that little playbook blip as even a field goal would have been pointless at that juncture. They had 2 potential pass plays available to them.


SF 37 OTR 30

This was absolutely a tale of 2 halves. After the first half I was about to lose it. I admit I was messaging OTR asking what was wrong with my playbook after throwing 3 picks (I had also had the same problems last game).

My first 6 possessions were Int, Int, Touchdown with missed XP, punt, interception, missed field goal. While OTR took care of business with their 1st half drives being punt, field goal, touchdown, punt, field goal, touchdown, field goal. Half time OTR had a commanding 23-6 lead.

In the second half we switch roles as OTR had a touchdown, interception, and the rest punts while I had 4 touchdown drives and a field goal drive. After taking the first lead of the game 30-23 the OTR's responded with their only scoring drive to tie it up. Eating up 5 minutes of clock I finished with a scoring drive to take the final lead.

There can be only one! Guns&Roses 26 Jackalopes 21

That was a Highlander reference in case you were wondering about the title of the game.

The first quarter was plenty of punting, a missed Jackalope field goal, and a Jackalope touchdown off of a GR interception.

The second quarter began with Jackalopes finishing up a touchdown drive to take a 14-0 lead. GR responds with a touchdown drive with a missed xp. Jackalopes punt then GR drives down for a missed field goal. This half ends with Jackalopes coming up roses with a 14-6 lead.

The 3rd quarter begins with GR making a statement with a 5 minute 80 yard touchdown drive to get within a point. After some back and forth punting GR makes another mistake in throwing an interception. Jackalopes returned the interception to the GR 27 yard line. This ended up a touchdown for Jackalopes giving them back the 8 point lead they had lost with a score of 21-13.

The fourth quarter was just not good for Jackalopes as they had only 3 possessions that were 7 plays 10 yards and a punt, 1 play and a fumble, and finally 4 plays 8 yards and a punt. 18 yards in the fourth quarter total. GR meanwhile had two good field goal drives that brought them to within 2 points with a score of 19-21. With 5 minutes to go in the game and that 2 point lead the Jackalopes fumbled at their own 20 yard line (their only turnover of the game). A few minutes later and 3rd and goal the GR scores the final points of the game with a touchdown.

Week 7

We had 5 close games this last round....

BPJ 17 Girona Dragons 12 in an ugly ugly game.

This game had 29 total points with 19 of those off of turnovers or missed field goals. 5 turnovers, 15 punts, and only 4 drives with double digit number of plays. Two of those drives were a missed field goal and fumble. Girona had chances in the fourth quarter but threw and interception and fumbled in the 4th quarter.

Steelers 29 Gardians 27 in nail biter!

This game was the opposite of the BPJ/Girona game where there were at least 10 drives that were 10 plays or more. Gardians never punted in this game and didn't turn it over until the dreaded 4th quarter.

With 9 minutes left in the game the Gardians had taken a 27-12 lead. The only chance the Steelers really had was turnovers with both teams exchanging long drives that eat up a lot of time....of which the Steelers were running out of.

The last 9 minutes went like this....Steelers drove down rather quickly for an 11 play 81 yard drive that ate up less than four minutes of time for a touchdown. This brought them to 19-27 with 5 and half minutes to go. They are still down 2 scores. On the second play of the next drive the Gardians throw an interception. The Gardian defense was able to keep the Steelers to a field goal on a short field. It is is now 22-27. On the 4th play of the next drive for the Gardians they throw another interception that was returned to the Gardians 20 yard line. There is only 1:38 left in the game. On 3rd and goal from the 5 yard line and only 14 seconds left (the last play of the game) the Steelers run it in for a touchdown to win the game!

Paladins come from waaaay back to win 24-21 over Panthers

The first half was all punts from Paladins with one field goal as time expired in the 2nd quarter. Little did Paladins know how valuable that field goal was going to be. Panthers on the other hand had 2 touchdown drives, a fumble (that led to the field goal for Paladins), and the rest punts.

The 3rd quarter was one touchdown drive for Panthers and the Paladins only punted. At the end of the 3rd quarter it is 21-3 Panthers lead.

The 4th quarter the Paladins woke up? The had 3 drives that were a total of 36 plays, 222 yards, almost 13 minutes, and 21 points. Those 3 drives the Paladins only had to face 1 third down.

Jackalopes 17 Marines 12

A lot of punts and missed field goals. The score changes were back and forth. 6 of the 7 scores resulted in a tie or lead change. In the fourth quarter the Jackalopes were able to put together a masterful 80 yard drive for a touchdown that ate up 5 minutes of clock to take the 17-12 lead. That is important because the Marines were driving down the field on the Jackalope defense like knife through hot butter. If there was another minute or so on the clock the score could very well have been different.

Week 8...we are halfway there!

Guns& Roses shows St. Pauli the meaning of Safety in this tight 22-17 win.

This nearly became another big upset of the season with a tie score and less than 6 minutes remaining.

The story for St. Pauli in the 1st half was the inability to convert 3rd and 4th downs. GR drives down for a touchdown and a St. Pauli punt is followed by GR fumbling the ball. St. Pauli drives down to the GR 40 yard line but can't convert the 3rd and 12 and punts it away. GR gets another touchdown drive followed by a fg from St. Pauli. On the final drive of that half St. Pauli is driving and gets to the GR 41 and doesn't convert a 4th and 1.

Halftime is 14-3 GR

The 3rd quarter GR gets a field goal after St. Pauli drove down for a TD. The end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th finishes with another St. Pauli TD and ties the score 17-17. GR then misses its 2nd field goal of the day and after a few punts St. Pauli has the ball 3rd and 9 on their own 7 yard line. Look, even if you don't convert you can punt, right? I mean GR hasn't put on an offensive show or anything. Just don't turn it over.....and this is where GR gives St. Pauli a lesson on safety....literally. That 3rd and 9 St. Pauli goes back to pass and is sacked for 8 yards and a safety. Killing all St. Pauli momentum. GR tacks on another field goal later on for the final score. I bet next time St. Pauli will probably run it that close to the goal line.

I'll post the others a little later today.

The Rest of Week 8

High Desert Outlaws upset Gardians 25-21

I don't mean any disrespect to Outlaws. When I say upset I'm basing it on the fact Gardians was a playoff team last season and although they had 3 losses before this game their opponent record is 29-11. They have had a tough schedule. Also their ratings are significantly higher than Desert Outlaws.

I won't get too technical as I have a headache just looking at the the number of formations on offense and the number of defense formations for each offense formation is staggering.

Overall the Outlaws outplayed the Gardians. Statistically they were better in yards, first downs, time of poss., and other stats by a large margin.

At halftime it was a 14-13 Gardians lead. I feel that they were fortunate to have the lead at that point. Gardians had one TD drive that started on the Outlaws 39 yard line and Outlaws had to kick a field goal when they didn't convert third and goal from the 1 yard line.

The second half the Outlaws owned it all. The Gardians only score in the second half was a 45 yard pass play late in the fourth quarter after the Outlaws had an 11 point lead. In the fourth quarter the Gardians had 4 total yards outside of the 45 yard pass play.

Gardians are still a good team and the season is only halfway there so a lot can change in the standings. They just had a bad game.

Jackalopes controlled the flow of the game in a 30-26 win over Steelers

What I mean by controlling the flow I mean Jackalopes held the lead for all but 3 minutes of the game. That combined with Jackalopes doubling Steelers in yards and first downs.

Congratulations to the Jackalopes For me they were already before the game the clearly better team and this they have also shown throughout the game. Really good performance I'm just glad that I could keep the result so close