Other than exploit ball, the most frustrating thing about MFN are the standings glitches. In case you're new or been living under a rock, you should pay little attention to the "x" and "e", as there is something in the code that screws this up. JDB has said they use NFL tiebreakers, but at some point MFN diverges from that and I've never had a clear answer as to where. The teams involved, Georgia, Florida, and Detroit are all aware of the situation this season, but it will likely come up again in the future.
Week 14 had a lot of games featuring playoff hopefuls, but with just 2 weeks to play, the number of teams in contention are dwindling. The playoff rundown is here.
Gamblers 26 Panthers 10
No special teams shenanigans this week for the Gamblers as they put a dent in the Michigan playoff chances with today's victory. After an early FG, Tony Dean tossed a pair of first half TD passes as Houston led 23-0 at the break. Michigan scored a 3rd qtr FG and got a Larry Henderson TD pass early in the 4th to pull within 23-10, but the Gamblers defense stiffened the rest of the game. Tony Dean completed 28/50, 331 yards, 2 TD and an INT while Lloyd Ellis had a 128 combined yards, leading the team in rushing and receiving yards.
Blitz 16 Outlaws 10
Chicago earned a hard fought win today, and coupled with New Jersey's loss, the Blitz are now the hottest team in the league. The defenses ruled the first half, as each team could only muster a FG. In the 3rd qtr, Oklahoma took advantage of good starting field position, thanks to their punter pinning the Blitz at their 1. John Crisp led the Outlaws down the field and Douglas Arnold's 2 yard TD run gave Oklahoma a 10-3 lead. The Chicago offense finally put together back to back TD drives in the 4th as Dale Davis ran in the first score from 3 yards out, then Ronald Brown had a 6 yard TD pass to David Karim. The XP was no good following the 2nd TD, but the Blitz still led 16-10, and Oklahoma's last 2 drives ended on an INT and on downs. Chicago now has sole possession of 1st place in the Midwest.
Wheels 10 SaberCats 3
Detroit played pretty good on offense today, rushing for 133 yards, with 370 total yards, had 1 turnover (so did San Jose), converted 8/17 on 3rd down and had 5 red zone trips. The red zone was quite an adventure for the Wheels as they got all of 10 points out of all the red zone action, thanks mainly to K Kent Olden missing 4/5 FG tries. I don't know if Olden had the bad day, or if it was holder or snapper related, but no matter how you slice it, that's too many points to leave on the field. Good thing for Detroit their defense shut down the 4th ranked offense of San Jose. The Wheels held the SaberCats to just 137 yards, well off their average of 407. They sacked Jake Plummer 3 times and kept them out of the red zone all day. The second half was scoreless, but at least it was 58 degrees at kickoff in Detroit so the fans didn't freeze.
Storm 44 Invaders 0
This was likely the last chance Portland has to win a game by such a high margin as the Storm will face nothing but playoff teams until next season. Portland didn't force any turnovers but their defense held Oakland to 115 total yards, while Melvin Driggers and Jeffrey Frost led a 548 yard offensive attack. Driggers was 30/42, 290 yards, 5 TD, and 1 INT while Frost had 195 combined yards, rushing for 151 and a TD. Jose Moses chipped in 70 rushing yards and led the team in receiving yards, catching 6 for 82 yards and a TD. Richard Robinson had 79 receiving yards and 2 TDs as Driggers spread the ball around.
Gold 37 Sun 0
It's safe to say neither Portland or Denver were looking ahead to their rematch next week that will help determine who wins the West and possibly a BYE. You just read about the Storm's shutout win and the Gold matched them defensively. Denver held Southern California to 109 total yards, sacking Gary Wiggins twice and intercepting him 3 times. Andrew Brewer threw for 239 yards and 2 TDs while Fredrick Whidden ran for 134 yards and a TD to lead the Gold offense. Denver scored their first points via punt return, with Douglas Crowley taking one 81 yards for a TD. Overall, the Sun barely had the ball as Denver hogged it for 45:30.
Express 27 Thunderbolts 13
Los Angeles took another step toward a wildcard berth as David Tavarez completed 22/28, 251 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT while getting support from the running game scoring 2 TDs as the Express got out to a 17-3 halftime lead. Cleveland tried to come back in the second half, but could not get any closer than 7 points. The Thunderbolts hung with Los Angeles in yardage, but they lost the turnover battle 3-1 behind 2 Tony Romo INTs. There were a combined 8 red zone trips and all had scoring but Los Angeles got the best of that, with 3 TD and 2 FG in 5 trips. Cleveland's 3 trips resulted in 1 TD and 2 FG.
Showboats 27 Generals 6
Memphis opted to go back to Norman Maldonado at QB, but the Showboats would need a good game from their defense as they hosted East winners New Jersey and their #1 ranked offense. Maldonado gave Memphis an early 7-0 lead with a 43 yard TD pass to Mark Glenn then added a FG after recovering a New Jersey fumble. The Generals clawed back with a pair of Al Borland FGs to trail at the half 10-6. New Jersey got the ball to start the 3rd qtr and Don Ferguson wasted little time giving Memphis good field position with his first INT of the game. The Showboats cashed it in when USFL leading rusher Steve Ransome scored the first of his 2 second half TD runs. The Generals defense bottled him up, allowing just 57 yards on 25 carries but Ransome was also the leading receiver with 88 yards. New Jersey's offense couldn't put drives together as they ended the game punt, punt, punt, downs, INT, INT.
Federals 62 Hornets 9
Washington dominated Charlotte, yet the box score doesn't quite look like you think it would. Charlotte had 17 first downs, Washington 8...Charlotte converted 9/26 on third down, Washington 2/13...Charlotte QB Robert Ament completed 34/67 while Washington's Scott Bieber was 13/24. Charlotte also had a slight edge in time of possession and there were a combined 17 accepted penalties. Now for numbers you expect...Scott Bieber threw for 359 yards on those 13 completions, including 5 TDs while Ament got 264 yards from his 34 completions...39 if you count his 5 completions to Washington defensive players (I could have just said INT's, whatever lol). The only TD pass Ament threw was a pick six to Billy McCaa. Federals RB Robert Trammell had 60 yards rushing with another 111 and 2 TDs on 6 catches while fellow RB James Dunn ran for 123 and 2 scores.
Renegades 10 VooDoo 6
Not sure if the Orlando players are just tired or if their strategy is to play like crap to get it out of their system before the playoffs, but whatever it was it almost got them beat. The Orlando defense intercepted Joseph Jones on the opening drive and Trey Lyons turned that into a 13 yard TD pass to Rufus Williams. The Renegades forced a three and out, then added a FG for a quick 10-0 lead. At this point Orlando pulled a Costanza, feeling they hit their high note they just up and left.
They didn't really walk off the field, but they were done being productive as Lyons ended up throwing 3 INTs. New Orleans couldn't take advantage however, letting the Renegades off the hook for their uninspired performance.
Steamer 30 Bandits 6
Shreveport beat Tampa Bay and clinched the South division in the process. This game boiled down to the play of the 2 QBs, as George Marcil completed 25/33, albeit for just 156 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs. The Steamer also ran the ball often, even if they didn't run well. Their RBBC combined to rush 41 times for 101 yards and the offense held the ball over 40 minutes and had 7 red zone possessions. For Tampa Bay, I am running out of ways to describe how bad Antonio Martinez plays at times, but I think I have this game covered...disastrous. Martinez completed just 15/53 for 188 yards and 7 INTs. Without WR Luis Dean (6-112), I shudder to think how bad the stat line would be for MarINTez (I know it's spelled wrong).
Blazers 13 Stallions 0
Florida may have broken their TD drought but their offense is still sluggish as they close in on a wildcard berth (they already have it if you believe MFN and their standings of lies). Birmingham held the Blazers to 213 offensive yards, 55 rushing on 35 carries, 2/14 on 3rd down and just 2 FGs in 3 red zone trips. The only problem is the Stallions offense wasn't any better except for 3rd down, where they converted 5/17. The biggest difference was turnovers as Florida lost a fumble but Birmingham QB Willie Benge threw 3 INTs. The Stallions crossed the 50 three times with those drives ending INT, punt, missed FG.
End of Blog for this week
Sorry if I didn't get to your game, but I got sidetracked by some stupid stuff and now I have to find 2 new owners instead of 1. I've been up nearly 24 hours, I need to eat and I won't be in the mood to finish this tomorrow.
