Just less than 12 hours ago I wrote my last 2 game reviews, and here’s the 7th one, for the 7th day in the series. It’s been a true, daily game review series, and I hope to keep it that way for a bit. Maybe I can actually go to sleep early tonight since I’m writing this now, but less on my sleep schedule and more on these games.
I’ve been doing a lot of older games and I decided for the next couple of games I’d try to make it more recent, and I have something very special planned for #10, because that’s always a milestone, right? The goal is to hit 100 reviews, and at that point I don’t even know what I’d do. Right now I’m just speeding through a lot of these games, and they are all good games, but I need to start spreading them out so I don’t go through all the good games at once, and I can spread it out. I already have some good ones in mind that I want to save for some special milestones, and I can’t wait to write about those.
For this game, I decided to look towards S20, week 5. The Second Line travels to Arizona to take on the rookie Jay Cue. This game ended up deciding head to head, and who went to the playoffs that season, so it was obviously a very important game.
NOLA goes 3 and out on the first drive of the game, and Arizona does a bit better with their opening drive, but they decide to run on 3rd and 10 for some reason, and guess what, they don’t convert, so they have to punt. It’s all Francisco, Gump and Toriki on the next drive, and a clutch 3rd and 5 conversion keeps the NOLA drive alive, but an incomplete pass a could plays later forces NOLA to kick the first points of the game, and they take the lead, 3-0, with under 8 and half left in the first quarter. 2 good runs by Ruff brings AZ out from their own 5 yard line, but penalties by both teams sets up AZ in a bad spot and they fail to convert, and punt. A great return by Gump sets NOLA up in FG range essentially, and they can’t get a first down but still kick a FG, making the score 6-0. It’s a game of field position at this point. Another terrible return for AZ sets them up at their own 4 yard line, and after a -2 yard rush by Cue, they are 2 yards away from their own endzone. A 3 yard rush by Ruff and 13 yard pass to Irving sets them up well however. Some more good rushes by Ruff and another big 23 yard pass to Irving sets AZ up well in NOLA territory, but a broken up pass on 3rd and 2 forces a FG kick, making the score 6-3. With just under 15 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Francisco wasn’t fazed by 2 straight incompletions setting up 3rd and 10, and delivers a 13 yard pass, but the drive stalls out after that, and they are forced to punt. Another terrible return sets up AZ at their own 1 yard line, but Cue manages to find Irving for 27 yards, allowing them some breathing room, but 2 sacks by Ironside would stall out the drive, despite another 16 yard completion to Irving. A penalty kills NOLA’s next drive, and they punt with under 7 minutes to go in the half. A penalty kills the Outlaws’ drive, and they punt right back. A good return sets uo NOLA on their own 40 yard line, but a sack by Swift on 3rd and 5 would end the drive and force a punt. 2 sacks by Slothface completely wrecks the drive, and they punt back to NOLA with under 2 minutes in the half. Neither team can muster any offense, and they each punt once more before taking it to halftime.
A good drive by Arizona set up with a good return by Donut stalls on the NOLA 30, and a stuffed run on 4th and 1 ends up giving NOLA the ball back, but they can’t do much past midfield, and punt back to Arizona. Cue catches on fire, going 3/3 for for 71 yards and a TD, giving Zona their first lead of the game at 10-6, with under 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. It’s all runningbacks for NOLA, as Gump and Toriki steal the show. Francisco tries to join the fun but after a 2 yard scramble he fumbles and Arizona picks it up. Back to back great passes by Cue sets them up in FG range, and the drive stalls out there, and Arizona kicks a FG, going up 13-6 as the 3rd quarter comes to an end. 3 straight rushes by NOLA go nowhere and they punt. After an incompletion and a sack, it’s 3rd and 21 from the AZ 39, with under 12 minutes left. Cue drops back, scrambles to his right, sees Bur’Berry open, and he launches it, and his receiver breaks the first tackle and gets pushed out of bounds after a while. It’s a 53 yard play, and a couple of throws later, Cue throws a 7 yard TD pass to Irving, but the XP is no good, so it’s only 19-6. NOLA is down 13 points with 8 minutes left. That missed XP may come back to bite them in the butt. A great return + rush brings NOLA to their own 45 yard line. 2 penalties later, they are at the Arizona 24 yard line. 2 great rushes by Toriki sets up a Francisco rushing touchdown. The score is 19-13 with under 5 minutes left to play. Arizona has the ball, and all they need are a couple first downs to chew the clock and end the game, but they go 3 and out. NOLA gets the ball back, and 3 rushes later there is only 2 and a half minutes left in the game, and it’s 2nd and 5 from the NOLA 45. They are wasting a lot of clock. They decide to throw, and Francisco gets pressured in the pocket, so he rolls out left, but there’s no one open, so he scrambles, and jukes out one defender, outruns another, and gets tackled out of bounds after a 33 yard run. 2 plays later, Francisco finds Jones open in the endzone for 21 yards and a TD, and they make the XP, gaining the lead, 20-19, with under half a minute to play. Arizona manages to get to the NOLA 29 yard line but time expired, so they couldn’t kick a FG.
NOLA wins 20-19, but if Arizona had made that XP on the TD this would have been a different story, or even if Arizona had 15 more seconds to spike the ball at the end of the game and kick a FG. But alas, they did not, and NOLA ended up with more points at the end of the day.
I’ve been doing a lot of older games and I decided for the next couple of games I’d try to make it more recent, and I have something very special planned for #10, because that’s always a milestone, right? The goal is to hit 100 reviews, and at that point I don’t even know what I’d do. Right now I’m just speeding through a lot of these games, and they are all good games, but I need to start spreading them out so I don’t go through all the good games at once, and I can spread it out. I already have some good ones in mind that I want to save for some special milestones, and I can’t wait to write about those.
For this game, I decided to look towards S20, week 5. The Second Line travels to Arizona to take on the rookie Jay Cue. This game ended up deciding head to head, and who went to the playoffs that season, so it was obviously a very important game.
NOLA goes 3 and out on the first drive of the game, and Arizona does a bit better with their opening drive, but they decide to run on 3rd and 10 for some reason, and guess what, they don’t convert, so they have to punt. It’s all Francisco, Gump and Toriki on the next drive, and a clutch 3rd and 5 conversion keeps the NOLA drive alive, but an incomplete pass a could plays later forces NOLA to kick the first points of the game, and they take the lead, 3-0, with under 8 and half left in the first quarter. 2 good runs by Ruff brings AZ out from their own 5 yard line, but penalties by both teams sets up AZ in a bad spot and they fail to convert, and punt. A great return by Gump sets NOLA up in FG range essentially, and they can’t get a first down but still kick a FG, making the score 6-0. It’s a game of field position at this point. Another terrible return for AZ sets them up at their own 4 yard line, and after a -2 yard rush by Cue, they are 2 yards away from their own endzone. A 3 yard rush by Ruff and 13 yard pass to Irving sets them up well however. Some more good rushes by Ruff and another big 23 yard pass to Irving sets AZ up well in NOLA territory, but a broken up pass on 3rd and 2 forces a FG kick, making the score 6-3. With just under 15 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Francisco wasn’t fazed by 2 straight incompletions setting up 3rd and 10, and delivers a 13 yard pass, but the drive stalls out after that, and they are forced to punt. Another terrible return sets up AZ at their own 1 yard line, but Cue manages to find Irving for 27 yards, allowing them some breathing room, but 2 sacks by Ironside would stall out the drive, despite another 16 yard completion to Irving. A penalty kills NOLA’s next drive, and they punt with under 7 minutes to go in the half. A penalty kills the Outlaws’ drive, and they punt right back. A good return sets uo NOLA on their own 40 yard line, but a sack by Swift on 3rd and 5 would end the drive and force a punt. 2 sacks by Slothface completely wrecks the drive, and they punt back to NOLA with under 2 minutes in the half. Neither team can muster any offense, and they each punt once more before taking it to halftime.
A good drive by Arizona set up with a good return by Donut stalls on the NOLA 30, and a stuffed run on 4th and 1 ends up giving NOLA the ball back, but they can’t do much past midfield, and punt back to Arizona. Cue catches on fire, going 3/3 for for 71 yards and a TD, giving Zona their first lead of the game at 10-6, with under 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. It’s all runningbacks for NOLA, as Gump and Toriki steal the show. Francisco tries to join the fun but after a 2 yard scramble he fumbles and Arizona picks it up. Back to back great passes by Cue sets them up in FG range, and the drive stalls out there, and Arizona kicks a FG, going up 13-6 as the 3rd quarter comes to an end. 3 straight rushes by NOLA go nowhere and they punt. After an incompletion and a sack, it’s 3rd and 21 from the AZ 39, with under 12 minutes left. Cue drops back, scrambles to his right, sees Bur’Berry open, and he launches it, and his receiver breaks the first tackle and gets pushed out of bounds after a while. It’s a 53 yard play, and a couple of throws later, Cue throws a 7 yard TD pass to Irving, but the XP is no good, so it’s only 19-6. NOLA is down 13 points with 8 minutes left. That missed XP may come back to bite them in the butt. A great return + rush brings NOLA to their own 45 yard line. 2 penalties later, they are at the Arizona 24 yard line. 2 great rushes by Toriki sets up a Francisco rushing touchdown. The score is 19-13 with under 5 minutes left to play. Arizona has the ball, and all they need are a couple first downs to chew the clock and end the game, but they go 3 and out. NOLA gets the ball back, and 3 rushes later there is only 2 and a half minutes left in the game, and it’s 2nd and 5 from the NOLA 45. They are wasting a lot of clock. They decide to throw, and Francisco gets pressured in the pocket, so he rolls out left, but there’s no one open, so he scrambles, and jukes out one defender, outruns another, and gets tackled out of bounds after a 33 yard run. 2 plays later, Francisco finds Jones open in the endzone for 21 yards and a TD, and they make the XP, gaining the lead, 20-19, with under half a minute to play. Arizona manages to get to the NOLA 29 yard line but time expired, so they couldn’t kick a FG.
NOLA wins 20-19, but if Arizona had made that XP on the TD this would have been a different story, or even if Arizona had 15 more seconds to spike the ball at the end of the game and kick a FG. But alas, they did not, and NOLA ended up with more points at the end of the day.
