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+---- Thread: *Excelsior's Daily Game Review #21 (/showthread.php?tid=28307)
*Excelsior's Daily Game Review #21 - excelsior - 12-15-2020
For my 21st game review, we are celebrating my 3 week anniversary of writing these game reviews, and I thought I’d do a playoff game, because I haven’t done enough big games, I’ve only been doing like low scoring games that are extremely close due to a late last second score or something.
I’m going to be doing a game from a season I haven’t reviewed before. Now, I’ve reviewed every game in each “era” except from like S12-S16. So I decided to review the S11 Ultimus! We haven’t done an Ultimus since the first game review, and what better time to bring it back than the 20th edition of this series.
The two teams we have here in this Ultimus bout are both dominant ones, each got the top seed in their conference and blew out the opposing team in the conference championship. Both of these teams won by at least 4 scores in their respective conference championship games. The 2 teams we have here are the 9-5 Hawks and the 11-3 Second Line. These teams played each other twice in the regular season, and both of these games were extremely exciting, and both actually went to overtime. There wasn’t a clear winner in 60 minutes. NOLA won twice, both times in overtime. I wonder if that trend will continue today. Or will Baltimore pull off the upset?
Baltimore features a well balanced team, 3rd in the league in offense and defense. NOLA however, is a completely pass first offense, leading the league in passing offense and points scored. Their defense is right behind Baltimore in terms of level of play.
The first play of the S11 Ultimus is a sack by the rookie Keita for 6 yards. A 5 yard rush makes it 3rd and 11, and an incomplete pass after forces Baltimore to punt with the first possession of the game. NOLA doesn’t start much better, and they go 4 and out after back to back to back incompletions by Maximus. Baltimore starts on their own 47 yard line. On 3rd and 7 on Baltimore’s next drive, another 3 and out looks like it’s going to occur, but Applehort goes deep to L’Alto, who hauls it in for 26 yards. A couple of plays later it’s 1st and goal from the NOLA 2 and Applehort throws a fade to Harp in the endzone for a TD. Baltimore strikes first, 7-0, with 9:28 left in the first. NOLA starts off out on their own 17 yard line, and they hand it off to Smallwood 7 straight times, and brings it all the way to the Baltimore 44 yard line, where Maximus takes over from there, throwing 6 consecutive times to bring it to the Baltimore 12 yard line. Then, Maximus throws a screen to Smallwood who gets pushed out of bounds at the 1! He finishes the job on the next play though, and runs it in for a TD to tie it up, 7-7. Baltimore goes 3 and out on their next drive after a penalty and NOLA gets the ball right back. But wait, Maximus doesn’t even get to go out on the field, because Fyodorovich finds a lane and guns it, returning the punt for a TD! NOLA goes up 14-7 on a huge play in the Ultimus! Baltimore knows they need to strike here, so on 3rd and 3, they got exactly that. Willie flashes his big play ability as he catches a simple out route but stiff arms a defender and runs it for a 37 yard gain. A couple of plays later it’s 3rd and 3 from the NOLA 7. Taylor takes things into his own hands, with a 5 yard rush, and then a 2 yard diving one, getting the TD and tying the game up at 14-14 to start the 2nd quarter. Is this the shootout we expected? Not really. But it’s the shootout we want to see! The NOLA offense can only manage to get 1 first down before punting it back to a red hot Baltimore offense. It’s all Applehort on this drive, who attempts 10 passes, completing 7 for 53 yards. Sprinkle in a couple good runs and that’s how you get yourself a solid drive, but it ends with a 36 yard FG. Baltimore goes up 17-14. That was the most methodical, surgical drive I’ve seen all game. NOLA manages to convert a 3rd and 7 off of a 14 yard pass on their next drive, but on the next 3rd and 7, Baltimore blitzes and Trey Willie, the star WR, gets a sack. Baltimore gets the ball back, and a terrible play by Applehort ends up leading to an 11 yard sack on 3rd and 2, leading to a 3 and out. NOLA gets the ball back with 3 minutes left in the half. Maximus goes 4/4 for 34 yards, putting them at the Baltimore 29 yard line. On the very next play, Maximus keeps his hot streak up, going deep for Fyodorovich, who hauls in an amazing over the shoulder catch for 29 yards and the TD! With 8 seconds left in the half, NOLA goes up 21-17.
NOLA starts the 2nd half opening drive a lot like Baltimore’s 1st half drive. But this time they actually get a 1st down, but unfortunately a sack will force a 3rd and long and that becomes too much to overcome, and NOLA punts. It’s all Applehort on the next drive, who rushes for 6 yards, and then passes for 10. After a short rush by Owen Taylor, Applehort completes back to back to back passes for 27 yards combined. Then, back to back passes to Willie go incomplete, as one flies over his head and the other is a perfect pass, but it’s just dropped. On 3rd and 10, Applehort throws a checkdown to Taylor who breaks a tackle and runs for 14 yards and the first. Applehort goes back to Willie on the next play who hauls it in for 22 yards. A couple of plays later, it’s 3rd and 3 from the NOLA 10 and a shot to the endzone is broken up by Keita. The rookie is all over the field tonight. Baltimore started this drive out on their own 1 yard line, and drove 89 yards in 5 minutes just to kick a FG. NOLA still leads 21-20. NOLA starts out on their own 11, but 2 first downs help bring them to their own 36. A penalty and some bad plays lead to 3rd and 21, but Maximus shows off his arm talent with a perfect sideline pass to LeClair for 27 yards. A hawks penalty on the next play pushes them all the way to the Baltimore 33. And back to back 12 yard passes by Maximus plus a 9 yard run by Smallwood in the middle get them a TD, and NOLA goes uo 28-20 with under 2 to go in the 3rd quarter. Baltimore answers well, with a good kickoff return setting them up at their own 36. Then a screen pass explodes for 27 yards, and they are the NOLA 37. A couple of plays later it’s 2nd and 10 from the NOLA 21. Applehort goes deep down the middle for Valentine, who catches it in the endzone for a 21 yard score. They opt to kick a XP instead of going for 2, and the score is 28-27, NOLA on top. They drove down the field quickly, getting 64 yards in a minute and a half. With the first possession of the 4th quarter, NOLA gets 1 first down and then can’t get another one after that after a great pass deflection by the rookie Arnold. Baltimore gets the ball back with 14 minute left. Applehort gets in his groove, throwing 4 consecutive complete passes to total 51 yards. They move the ball with ease and sprinkle in a few runs and they’re already 1st and goal from the NOLA 9. After a run from Taylor that looked like a TD, after initial review he was down at the 1, but on the next play Applehort throws a slant to L’Alto in the endzone for the score. The 2 point conversion fails, and Baltimore goes up 33-27. NOLA converts on a 3rd and 2 on their next drive, but on a 3rd and 7, a sack from the rookie Mbanefo forces a punt. With 7 minutes left, Baltimore gets the ball back with a chance to put this game away. On the first play, Rax punches the ball out from Taylor on a running play, and the rookie Keita picks it up. NOLA gets a lucky break, and now has the ball on the Baltimore 43 yard line with 6:41 in the game. A huge 25 yard pass to Law moves the sticks, and 1 play after, Maximus goes back to his trusty Fyodorovich for 7 yards and a TD. The 2 point conversion is also good, and NOLA takes back the lead, 36-33. With 4:30 left to go, Baltimore gets a great return for 40 yards by Valentine, boosting their offense and giving them the momentum they needed. Now the field they have to drive is much shorter, and they only need around 25 yards for a FG. They get more than that, and they manage to get it to the NOLA 20 after a couple of great passes, and they kick a FG to tie it up, 36-33, with 1:47 to go. Both teams here go 3 and out, and this game is going into overtime!
Wow, for the 3rd straight matchup between these two teams, it’s going into overtime. Both sides can’t help but laugh as the initial coin toss happens, as they’ve been in this exact situation twice already. Baltimore can only get 1 first down before punting. On NOLA’s next drive, Maximus bombs it, and I mean, BOMBS it, for 50 yards to DiMirio. An 11 yard rush sets them up at the Baltimore 26, and it looks like they’ll win for sure, but instead, some penalties make it 3rd and 20 and they get pushed out of FG range! They punt back to Baltimore, who goes 3 and out again! NOLA gets the ball back and moves it to the Baltimore 46 instantly, but some useless plays end up forcing them to punt back again! A clutch sack by Rex forces Baltimore to punt back to NOLA with 6 minutes left in the game. That terrible punt set up NOLA at the Baltimore 42 yard line, and a great 18 yard pass by Maximus really closes the door as they get to the Baltimore 19. It’s all Smallwood from here, who runs it 4 straight times for 13 yards, and then catches the game winning TD in overtime. What a legend.
NOLA wins a thriller, 42-36! What an Ultimus. Both these teams played well and it was very representative of their previous two meetings in the regular season.