That Magic Moment: Pick one moment from a playoff game and describe what made it so amazing to watch.
The magic moment for the DSFL playoffs was magically in a couple of different ways. The play that was so magical, at least to me, was the fourth down attempt by the Tijuana Luchadores in the fourth quarter of the Ultimini on their own 37 yard line. First and foremost we need to look at it from the perspective of Tijuana. This is actually extremely difficult as there are really no words as to what the head coach of Tijuana was thinking. First off it was a tie game, it's not like they were down and time was running out and they needed to keep their hopes alive. In fact, the game was tied at the time. This leads me to believe that Tijuana's head coach had no faith whatsoever in his defense to make another stop. Now on to the side of Portland. When the Portland defense made a third down stop to get the ball back for their offense they were pretty happy about it, but when the Tijuana offense stayed on the field, they were down right exstatic. Of course they knew they still had to make the stop, which after third down was now six yards. With the ball on the Tijuana 35, the Python defense knew if they could make the stop they'd set up their offense basically already in scoring range. Brad Pennington would drop back and look for a man, unfortunately no one was open and he kind of panicked. He panicked a little and threw it to his tight end, Crindy, who he hoped could make some magic happen, unfortunately for him and fortunately for Portland Creed Bratton was right there and pulled him down after 2 yards. This did in fact setup Portland in scoring range as on the next play they would secure the lead and go on to win.
Robbed: Write about why a team that failed to make the playoffs should have over somebody else.
The NSFL playoffs gave birth to one of the biggest travesties the league has ever seen. Not only that, but it robbed the league and its fans the opportunity to possibly see a major upset. What is this travesty I'm talking about? It's simple and it's the fact that the San Jose Sabercats were left out of the playoffs. So how can a team that went 5-9 and not make the playoffs be something to be angry about? It's because the team that made it instead of them, the Arizona Outlaws, basically spread their holes wide open and let the Otters do whatever they wanted to them. The fact is that if the Sabercats had been in their place they would have given people and actual playoff game to watch. Some may ask how I can so boldly say something like that and I'd tell them go look at the matchups and the previous games they played. In fact, in one of their games during the regular season, the Sabercats held Orange County to the fewest points they had scored in a game on the year. Now sure, the Otters probably would have won anyways, but San Jose most definitely got robbed and in turn the NSFL fans got robbed.
Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups.
Marshalls @ Luchadores - SFC
This is a game that people thought would be a decent contest coming in, but in the end it was a drubbing from start to finish. San Antonio basically didn't show up for the game at all as their offense was abysmal. If you think that's bit hyperbole you'd be mistaking as the Marshalls were only 2 of 13 on third down. On the other side of the ball the Marshall defenders had no answers either as Pennington shredded their defense through the air and Spinelli gave a Barry Sanders-esque performance. Tijuana rolled 22-10.
Coyotes @ Pythons - NFC
Both of these teams were powerhouses in the regular season so as the titans dueled it out, a pretty much defensive performance was shown. Neither team's quarterback was very accurate and was having trouble all day with the opposing defenses so it was up to the running backs to make it a game. The double headed monster of Scott & Gore for Portland had extremely similar games both going over five and a half yards per carry, while only Speedy showed up for Kansas City. 2 is better than 1 so Portland won 19-13.
Luchadores @ Pythons - Ultimini
The Ultimini was actually a better game than most had anticipated. Most were expecting Portland to run away with this one and things weren't looking good as Scott was slicing and dicing through the Luchadores defense and the Pythons went up 14 to nil early. Tijuana wasn't going anywhere though and fought hard. They would actually tie it up in the fourth quarter, but Portland wasn't going to let their near perfect season end and continued to feed Scott. Cole McCoy would come up with the biggest throw of his career though and find Mark Grau for 37 yards for the lead. That'd be enough as Portland rolled 24-17.
Championship Game Recap: Do a recap of the best play from the championship game.
The best play from the Ultimini was a pretty easy one to pick as it was the game winner and somewhat unexpected. With just under five minutes left in the game, Cole McCoy managed to make some magic happen and found Mark Grau for a 37 yard bomb that would send the Pythons home victors. It's almost obvious that the best play from the championship game be a pass from the DSFL's leader in passing yards to the DSFL's leader in receiving yards, but it's also the kind of result that you love to see. Despite McCoy and Grau being high profile players, in the NFC both players were both actually pretty underwhelming, especially when you consider McCoy only completed twelve passes and overall was less than fifty percent passing and Grau only hauled in 71 yards. In the biggest game of the year though you kind of have to expect the big players to show up and make big plays. Both players did just. Prior to the play, had done a decent job and was slightly above fifty percent, but still Portland was being carried by Scott. Prior to the play, Tijuana actually decided to go for it on 4th down on their own 37 despite the game being tied. After the Luchadores failed, McCoy only needed on play and sat cool and tall in the pocket and threw a perfectly tight spiral right to Grau at a point where only he could make it for easily the best pass of his career.
The magic moment for the DSFL playoffs was magically in a couple of different ways. The play that was so magical, at least to me, was the fourth down attempt by the Tijuana Luchadores in the fourth quarter of the Ultimini on their own 37 yard line. First and foremost we need to look at it from the perspective of Tijuana. This is actually extremely difficult as there are really no words as to what the head coach of Tijuana was thinking. First off it was a tie game, it's not like they were down and time was running out and they needed to keep their hopes alive. In fact, the game was tied at the time. This leads me to believe that Tijuana's head coach had no faith whatsoever in his defense to make another stop. Now on to the side of Portland. When the Portland defense made a third down stop to get the ball back for their offense they were pretty happy about it, but when the Tijuana offense stayed on the field, they were down right exstatic. Of course they knew they still had to make the stop, which after third down was now six yards. With the ball on the Tijuana 35, the Python defense knew if they could make the stop they'd set up their offense basically already in scoring range. Brad Pennington would drop back and look for a man, unfortunately no one was open and he kind of panicked. He panicked a little and threw it to his tight end, Crindy, who he hoped could make some magic happen, unfortunately for him and fortunately for Portland Creed Bratton was right there and pulled him down after 2 yards. This did in fact setup Portland in scoring range as on the next play they would secure the lead and go on to win.
Robbed: Write about why a team that failed to make the playoffs should have over somebody else.
The NSFL playoffs gave birth to one of the biggest travesties the league has ever seen. Not only that, but it robbed the league and its fans the opportunity to possibly see a major upset. What is this travesty I'm talking about? It's simple and it's the fact that the San Jose Sabercats were left out of the playoffs. So how can a team that went 5-9 and not make the playoffs be something to be angry about? It's because the team that made it instead of them, the Arizona Outlaws, basically spread their holes wide open and let the Otters do whatever they wanted to them. The fact is that if the Sabercats had been in their place they would have given people and actual playoff game to watch. Some may ask how I can so boldly say something like that and I'd tell them go look at the matchups and the previous games they played. In fact, in one of their games during the regular season, the Sabercats held Orange County to the fewest points they had scored in a game on the year. Now sure, the Otters probably would have won anyways, but San Jose most definitely got robbed and in turn the NSFL fans got robbed.
Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups.
Marshalls @ Luchadores - SFC
This is a game that people thought would be a decent contest coming in, but in the end it was a drubbing from start to finish. San Antonio basically didn't show up for the game at all as their offense was abysmal. If you think that's bit hyperbole you'd be mistaking as the Marshalls were only 2 of 13 on third down. On the other side of the ball the Marshall defenders had no answers either as Pennington shredded their defense through the air and Spinelli gave a Barry Sanders-esque performance. Tijuana rolled 22-10.
Coyotes @ Pythons - NFC
Both of these teams were powerhouses in the regular season so as the titans dueled it out, a pretty much defensive performance was shown. Neither team's quarterback was very accurate and was having trouble all day with the opposing defenses so it was up to the running backs to make it a game. The double headed monster of Scott & Gore for Portland had extremely similar games both going over five and a half yards per carry, while only Speedy showed up for Kansas City. 2 is better than 1 so Portland won 19-13.
Luchadores @ Pythons - Ultimini
The Ultimini was actually a better game than most had anticipated. Most were expecting Portland to run away with this one and things weren't looking good as Scott was slicing and dicing through the Luchadores defense and the Pythons went up 14 to nil early. Tijuana wasn't going anywhere though and fought hard. They would actually tie it up in the fourth quarter, but Portland wasn't going to let their near perfect season end and continued to feed Scott. Cole McCoy would come up with the biggest throw of his career though and find Mark Grau for 37 yards for the lead. That'd be enough as Portland rolled 24-17.
Championship Game Recap: Do a recap of the best play from the championship game.
The best play from the Ultimini was a pretty easy one to pick as it was the game winner and somewhat unexpected. With just under five minutes left in the game, Cole McCoy managed to make some magic happen and found Mark Grau for a 37 yard bomb that would send the Pythons home victors. It's almost obvious that the best play from the championship game be a pass from the DSFL's leader in passing yards to the DSFL's leader in receiving yards, but it's also the kind of result that you love to see. Despite McCoy and Grau being high profile players, in the NFC both players were both actually pretty underwhelming, especially when you consider McCoy only completed twelve passes and overall was less than fifty percent passing and Grau only hauled in 71 yards. In the biggest game of the year though you kind of have to expect the big players to show up and make big plays. Both players did just. Prior to the play, had done a decent job and was slightly above fifty percent, but still Portland was being carried by Scott. Prior to the play, Tijuana actually decided to go for it on 4th down on their own 37 despite the game being tied. After the Luchadores failed, McCoy only needed on play and sat cool and tall in the pocket and threw a perfectly tight spiral right to Grau at a point where only he could make it for easily the best pass of his career.
|------------------------------------------|
| |
| SPACE FOR RENT |
| |
|------------------------------------------|
