We have a very exciting playoff stretch run in the American Conference, with 11 teams fighting for the 6 spots. Three of the 4 divisions in that conference have 2 teams tied at the top while Houston has a 1 game lead on Memphis. There will be a couple of legitimate playoff caliber teams that aren't going to make it. In the Pacific we have San Jose and Honolulu tied with 6-6 records while Los Angeles at 3-9 is still mathematically alive. That division will only get 1 playoff team, as the wildcards will come from the other 3 divisions. Portland and Denver are tied in the West with 9-3 records, Houston is 10-2 with a 1 game lead on 9-3 Memphis, and the Midwest is still a 3 team race. Michigan and Cleveland are tied at the top with 10-2 records and Detroit is 1 game behind at 9-3.
This week we have 3 games that qualify as pre-playoff games: Cleveland @ Detroit, Portland @ Michigan, and Honolulu @ San Jose.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows in that conference as we also had our Toilet Bowl this week, (0-11) Arizona @ (0-11) Oklahoma. Arizona deactivated QB Brian Carmichael even though he is by far their most talented signal caller, opting for a combination of Ray Charles and Mr. Magoo. Congratulations Wranglers, probably guaranteed at least the #2 pick. I hope he tanks as well, whoever it is. Weigh in here if you have any ideas on how to prevent tanking in the future.
I took Memorial Day off from the blog and left little time to do it today, plus I'm all worked up now, talking about tanking. We'll see how this edition goes...on to the games.
Stars 30 Hornets 13
Baltimore won again to run their record to 12-0, and with all the playoff drama in the other conference, the Stars road to perfection is actually flying under the radar. Today's game was unspectacular, as Charlotte forced a season high 10 punts by the Baltimore offense, but the Hornets lacked sting when they had the ball. Jon Snow "only" threw for 267 yards, but he had 4 TD passes with zero INTs. RB William Halford ran for 101 yards and caught 2 TD passes with 51 yards receiving. The Stars defense held Charlotte to 161 total yards in the win.
Federals 24 Steamer 3
Washington got 2 rushing TDs from James Dunn and a TD pass by Scott Bieber to defeat South leading Shreveport today. The Federals defense allowed 319 yards, but also intercepted 2 passes and held the Steamer to 2/14 on 3rd down.
Panthers 10 Wheels 3
Michigan put up 404 yards of offense thanks to Larry Henderson's 377 passing yards, so how did they only score 10 points? Henderson threw 4 INTs and was sacked 4 times. The game was tied at 3 until the final minute of the 3rd quarter when Henderson found Harvey Williams for a 44 yard TD. Detroit could only muster 206 offensive yards and converted 1/17 3rd downs, while K Kent Olden missed 2/3 FG tries.
Thunderbolts 31 Express 6
Former Los Angeles and New Orleans owner mwd65 had his first game of his second L.A. stint, and it went as well as Jon Gruden's return to the Raiders. The Express scored first and last, but in between Cleveland won 31-0 and shut down the L.A. offense. Cleveland's #1 ranked defense didn't force any turnovers, but they also didn't allow any 3rd down conversions, holding the Express to 161 yards and 0/11 on 3rd. Offensively, Tony Romo threw for 349 yards and 2 TDs and Bobby Colley had a combined 151 yards, 101 as a receiver. RB Evan Hershey only had 98 combined yards but he ran in 2 scores and caught Romo's other TD pass for 3 scores total.
Gold 20 (NY) Stars 13
Denver traveled cross country to New York to play the Stars, and the Gold got out to an early 13-0 lead thanks to a pair of Robert Deacon FGs and an Andrew Brewer TD pass to James Riley. New York came back with a Damien Oleary 75 yard TD pass to Albert Olson sandwiched by a pair of Ed Jetton FGs to tie the game at 13 in the 4th. On the first Denver play after the Stars tied it, Andrew Brewer found Douglas Crowley for a 75 yard catch and run TD to give Denver the lead for good. New York drove inside the Gold red zone but failed to convert a 4th and 1 from the 18, turning it over on downs.
Storm 29 SaberCats 14
San Jose QB Jake Plummer had enjoyed 4 games in a row without being sacked, but that ended today as the Storm defense sacked him 3 times. Portland also intercepted Plummer once and recovered a fumble. It wasn't all bad for the SaberCats offense as Plummer's 45 yard TD pass to Curt Boren pulled San Jose within 17-14 in the 3rd quarter. That was it though, as Portland allowed negative 2 yards the rest of the game. Offensively Portland was led by Melvin Driggers and Jeffrey Frost. Driggers threw for 326 yards and 2 TDs, 1 to Frost, who caught 11 for 222 yards.Portland scored the last 12 points of the game to pull away and earn the victory.
Hawaiians 14 Invaders 3
RB Anthony Davis had 109 combined yards and a rushing TD while Derek Henry threw a TD pass to Delmar Moeller and the Honolulu defense made that stand up for victory. Oakland went back to Andrew Moreno under center after 3 games of Martin Greene but the results were the same for the Invaders.
Gamblers 41 Renegades 17
It seemed like all or nothing in this game as the teams combined for 791 yards, 58 points but also 8 turnovers and a combined 7/36 on 3rd down. Both QBs completed < 50% but also a high yards per completion average. Tony Dean threw 3 TD passes covering 57, 78, and 66 yards respectively but he completed just 19/42, 350 yards and 3 INTs. Orlando QB Trey Lyons completed 20/45, 230 yards, a 66 yard TD pass and 4 INTs. LB Derrick Youngs got the first INT, returning it 27 yards for a score. Late in the 3rd, the Renegades had just cut the Houston lead to 14 points when Anthony Fulks permanently put himself in the record books by tying an impossible to break record with a 110 yard backbreaking kickoff return TD and Houston cruised to victory in the 4th. WR David King caught 3-122-1 for Orlando while Houston had both Jett Black (5-110-1) and Daniel Franks (4-100-1) have 100 yard games. RB Lloyd Ellis ran for 79 yards and caught 4 for 83 yards and a TD.
Showboats 29 Gunslingers 3
Memphis QB Norman Maldonado had his best game of the season (unless you go by QBR), completing 32/42, 409 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT as the Showboats win their 5th in a row to stay 1 game behind Houston. RB Erik McNamee did not play due to injury but Steve Ransome ran for 100 yards and a TD in his place to help Memphis convert 7/11 3rd downs. The Showboats held San Antonio to 185 total yards, allowing less than 19 minutes of possession and shutting them out the first 56 and a half minutes of the game.
Generals 34 Bulls 20
Jacksonville got 2 first half TD passes from Derek Joyce to William Morrisson as the Bulls gave New Jersey fits in the first half. The Generals did lead at the break 24-20, thanks to 3 Don Ferguson TD passes. Two of those went to Duncan Meyer, who caught 7 for 173 yards and the Generals defense held Jacksonville scoreless in the second half for the win.
Bell 24 Stallions 23
Birmingham RB Francis Schultz ran for 143 yards and a TD as the Stallions matched Philadelphia yard for yard. Birmingham made 6 trips into the Bell red zone, but they only scored 2 TDs, with 3 FGs and an empty trip and the Stallions defense had no answer for Jamie Epperson. QB Joseph Serio threw for 3 TDs, 2 to Craig Hines, but Epperson ran for 85 yards and caught 7 for 118 yards and a TD, for 203 combined yards. The come from behind win virtually guarantees a playoff spot for Philadelphia.
Blazers 25 VooDoo 3
Florida QB Sidney Maggard completed 23/26 for 234 yards and 2 TDs, both to William Merkel and the Blazers RBBC gained 213 yards on 43 carries as they win handily in Slowtospeak's VooDoo debut. Robert Romero led the RBBC with 90 yards and his 70 receiving yards gave him 160 for the game as the Blazers offense kept the ball over 40 minutes.
Breakers 29 Force 24
This game was back and forth, with 4 lead changes before Boston broke away in the 4th quarter. Adam Scales threw for 3 TD passes on 20/24 passing and his last TD pass gave the Breakers a 29-17 lead with 5 and a half minutes left. Milton People brought Georgia down the field, and his 2nd TD pass cut the lead to 29-24, but the Breakers ran out the remaining 3 minutes for the victory. Boston had 410 total offensive yards, 193 rushing and 217 passing, but they use a RBBC and a WRBC, so nobody had a 100 yard game. They'll take the W though.
Bandits 30 Maulers 6
Tampa Bay QB Antonio Martinez completed 21/33, 395 yards and 3 TDs, with zero INTs as the Bandits break their 4 game losing streak. Richard Miller had 155 receiving yards and Luis Dean caught 2 of the TD passes to lead the offense today. Wm Jones chipped in 81 rushing yards and the Bandits defense held Pittsburgh to 156 total yards.
Blitz 27 Sun 3
Chicago only had 8 drives all game, but they scored on 5 of them, out gaining Southern California 481-201 as the Blitz win their second game in a row. RB John Gates ran for 109 yards with 35 receiving, Dale Davis ran for 83 and a TD and Ronald Brown threw for 275 yards and 2 TDs to lead the Chicago offense.
Outlaws 30 Wranglers 0
The Arizona Wranglers have given up on 1994 as their QBs combined to complete more passes to the Outlaws defense than their own players. 4 completions in 63 attempts with 6 INTs and 4 sacks. Oklahoma out gained Arizona 410-16 and won big despite 4 turnovers of their own.
