Week 15 Game Summary: Once again, close but no cigar. The voice recorder died about 40 minutes before the end of the game. At the time I thought it was the battery. When I got home, I discovered that it was broken. Fortunately, I was able to take it apart, clean it up and get it working again. So we didn't lose this week's info (other than the last 40 minutes I couldn't record while it was broken). Onto the game:

Red: Chris, Bennie, Matt Day, Adam, Chenault, David, Rich, Cain

Yellow: Erik, Patrick, Mark C, Paul, Brian Zieser, Joe, Casey

Game started as 6 on 6 as Bennie, David, and Joe did not arrive before the start. Extra player was on Red because Adam went into the game with a pulled hamstring that limited him to offensive line and line backer early and so the plan was to sub out a lot. Casey was playing with a pulled groin and quad and played a lot of line for yellow.

Red Drive 1 - Cain QB
1-15: 20 Yards up the field to Chris in double coverage and incomplete
2-15: 10 Yard crossing route to Rich thrown behind him incomplete.
3-15: Cain under pressure throws behind Chris incomplete
4-15: Punt

Yellow Drive 1 - Zieser QB
1-20 from the 30: Flip to Paul from the TE crossing behind the line. Paul pitches back to Mark running a reverse the other way for an 18 yard gain - Adam on the stop.
2-2: 4 Yard run to Patrick, Chenault on the stop.

1-Goal from the 23: Crossing play to Paul over thrown and nearly picked by Matt coming out of the safety slot.
2-Goal: Ball thrown into ground to Mark running an out from crossing route with the the slot WR and TE.
3-Goal: 10 yard turnaround route thrown pretty well to Paul but defensed by Cain.
4-Goal: Post route to the middle of the field to Paul but Cain made the "Interception/Drop" play at the 1 where the defender grabs the ball out of the air and chooses to drop it prior to completing the act of the catch. This results in a take over on downs at the 23.

Red Drive 2 - Cain QB - Bennie subs in for Adam
1-2 from the 23: Broken play with Cain rolling left, throwing left underneath to Bennie but the ball was well defensed by Mark.
2-2: Another broken play with a throw to a 15 Yard cross for Bennie but well defensed by Erik who slapped the ball away.
3-2: Safety blitz by Paul. Cain throws the Chenault for 6 yards. Unknown flag.

1-21 from the 29: Broken play with Cain yelling "go deeper". Thrown deep to Rich in double coverage and despite 3 players all converging, none is able to put a finger on the ball which drops in the center of the collapsing triangle.
2-21: Broken play where Cain literally is running around for about 15 seconds and finally throws a catchable through not beautiful ball to Chenault who drops it.
3-21: Chris QBs and throws a ball that should have been picked by Paul but was dropped.
4-21: Punt.

Joe has arrived so the game goes up to 7 on 7 with Joe joining Yellow and Adam going back in on Red.

Yellow Drive 2 - Zieser QB
1-20 from the 5: Scrambling left throws about 25 yards in the air to Mark despite pretty good coverage by Chris. Chris misses the tackle and Paul throws a good downfield block on Cain that allows Mark to score.

1-0, Yellow

Red Drive 3 - Cain QB
1-15 from the 10: Broken play with lots of time finally throwing to Chris incomplete
2-15: 6 yard out to Adam thrown high (especially given the aforementioned hamstring limitations) incomplete
3-15: Little pressure so Cain throws from the pocket for the first time a little long to Matt up the sideline. Erik could have intercepted it but didn't and his contact with the ball caused Mark who was also in position to intercept the ball to miss it.
4-15: Punt

David subs in for Adam

Yellow Drive 3 - Zieser QB
1-15 from the 35: TE out play to Casey thrown low and behind incomplete.
2-15: Stop and Go to Paul who had a step on Cain but Cain makes it back into the play to intercept the ball. Paul on the stop.

Red Drive 4 - Cain QB
1-12.5 from the 12.5: Chenault QB pitching to Cain who ran for a little over a 5 yard gain.
2-7: 15 Yard Cross to Bennie with Paul and Erik basically mash each other going for the pick incomplete.
3-7: 10 Yard out route to Chenault for a first down

1-22 from the 28: Throws 15 out to Chenault that was dropped.
2-22: Long to Rich just out of reach.
3-22: Flea-Flicker to Chenault and then back to Cain who runs for 11.
4-11: Under the best pressure all day, Cain scrambles and completes to Chenault for 16.

1-Goal from the 20: Flea-flicker that results in a 10 yard sack by Patrick
2-Goal from the 30: Thrown into the endzone to Bennie that should've/would've been intercepted by Erik but before completing the act of making the catch Bennie turns defender and pries Erik's hands apart.
3-Goal: Safety blitz by Paul with a throw incomplete to either Chenault and Bennie. Neither is able to turn to make a play on the ball due to the mud.
4-Goal: Looked like it was intended to be a 10 yard Cuba Libra to Chenault back to Cain but the initial pass was dropped.

Adam subs in for Chenault

Yellow Drive 4 - Zieser QB
1-20 from the 30: Hand off to Erik from the TE spot who throws the ball down the field to Paul. Cain, from the safety spot, dives and knocks the ball down.
2-20: Quick WR throw to Joe on the line incomplete
3-20: Out and Up to Paul but Paul lost his footing turning it up and is unable to reach the ball.
4-20: Punt

Matt out on this series

Red Drive 5 - Cain QB
1-10 from the 15: Pressure with Adam coming back to be a release option. Ball thrown at his feet incomplete though it only would have been a 2 yard gain any way.
2-10: Lot of pressure and Cain throws wildly off his backfoot. Fortunately, the three defenders who were in the area were all so worried about killing each other that they all pulled up and the ball was not picked.
3-10: Thrown incomplete to Dave.
4-10: Punt

Matt comes in for Chris

Yellow Drive 5 - Zieser QB
1-20 from the 30: Thrown to Mark but low and incomplete
2-20: 15 Yard Sack just before throwing what would have been a touchdown.
3-35: Ball to Mark but overthrown and out of bounds
4-35: Punt.

Rich sits for Chris

Red Drive 6 - Cain QB
1-25 from the 25: 25 yard running play to Chenault with some good blocking, some missed tackles, and some broken tackles results in a 1st down. Erik on the stop.

1-Goal from the 25: 15 yard cross to Bennie overthrown.
2-Goal: 7 yard out pattern thrown very low.
3-Goal: Underthrown to Adam in the endzone intercepted by Erik. Touchback by Adam

Rich comes in Adam goes out.

Yellow Drive 6 - Erik QB
1-15 from the 10: Fade route slapped down by Bennie.
2-15: Throws long but Cain intercepts it from the safety slot. Mark got the stop.

Red Drive 7 - Cain QB
1-Goal from the 22: Broken plan where ball is finally thrown to Matt but Erik makes a great defensive play on the ball so its incomplete.
2-Goal: Running play to Dave for 10 yards with a stop by Mark
3-Goal from the 12: Fake to Dave left, throwing the ball right to Chris on an out route that was just barely out of reach.
4-Goal: Thrown long into the end zone for Matt but overthrown incomplete.

Adam back in and Dave is out

Yellow Drive 7 - Erik QB
1-13 from the 12: out route good for 19 yards stop by Adam

1-18 from the 32: Out route to Zieser with Matt coming underneath to slap it away.
2-18: Joe takes a knee to the quad from Rich covering an out route.

Joe sits and Dave subs for him

3-18: 7 yard out route to Paul with stop by Chris.
4-11: Fly route to Paul who had contact with Cain when both went for the ball which was incomplete.

Joe is back in on Yellow and Dave is out.

Red Drive 8 - Cain QB
1- 14 from the 36: Fake left thrown back to Bennie right but dropped.
2-14: Chenault pass blocks for a moment and then slips out on a short out but ball is incomplete.
3-14: 10 Yard crossing route to Bennie stop by Erik
4-4: Ball thrown long to Chenault incomplete.

Bennie out and Dave back in

Yellow Drive 9 - Erik QB
1-21 from the 29: Double H-back set with Mark and Patrick. Pitch to Patrick for a 2 yard gain, Adam on stop.
2-19: Not sure what happened here
3-?: 10 Yard in to Joe thrown behind and should have been picked by Rich since it was thrown to him but he was looking at the receiver, not the ball.
4-?: Punt

Chenault's out and Bennie's in

Red Drive 10 - Cain QB
1-20 from the 5: Stack formation with Chris and Adam. 8 Yard gain by Adam with Zieser on the stop.
2-12: Zieser punches Adam after Patrick gets the sack for no loss
3-12: Sack by Paul down to the 1 which actually was good because the ball was picked.
4-24: Punt

Chenault Stays out

Yellow Drive 10 - Erik QB
1st and 6 from the 31
2-6: 15 Yard out route to Paul thrown wide incomplete
3-6: 15 Yard out to Zieser who cuts back across the field and is missed by Matt, Chris, and Adam. TD.

2-0, Yellow

Matt out, Chenault back in

Red Drive 11 - Cain QB
1-15 from the 10: Throw to Dave who was well covered, incomplete
2-15: 7 Yard Cross to Bennie but intercepted by Erik who ran it it for a TD.

3-0, Yellow

Red Drive 12 - Cain QB
1-15 from the 10: Broken play, incomplete pass
2-15: incomplete pass
3-15: Long throw to Chris but overthrown
4-15: Thrown short and out of bounds to Chris but it would have been short of the first anyway.

Chris out and Matt back in

Yellow Drive 12 - Erik QB
1-Goal from the 10: Intercepted by Rich in the endzone. He brings it out to the 22.


Red Drive 13 - Cain QB
1-3 from the 22: Little throw to Dave who pitches back to Cain for about 6 yards

1-22 from the 28: Another flea-flicker run supposed to be thrown to Bennie but it end up just being run for 10 yards. Zieser on the stop.
2-12 from the 18: Handoff to Dave for 5 yards
3-7: Run by Dave for 4, stop by Erik
4-3: Sack by Joe. Turnover on downs

Cain's out

Yellow Drive 13 - Erik QB
1-23 from the 27: Out route to Paul for about 18. Dave on the stop.
2-5: Throw to Patrick that was nearly picked but the deflection keeps Patrick from getting it.
3-5: Z-Run to Paul good for 15. Adam on the stop.

1-Goal from the 15: Fade route to Paul at the back of the end zone. Overthrown.
2-Goal: Timing route to a spot for Mark but Mark didn't get to the spot.
3-Goal: Twins play with a quick pass to Paul cutting from outside underneath for 1 yard. Chenault on the stop.
4-Goal: Thrown to Paul in the endzone only able to get one foot in.

Dave's out, Cain's back in.

Red Drive 14 - Cain QB
1-11 from the 14: Chenault runs an out to the right for a 4 yard gain with Zieser on the stop.
2-7: Out route to Adam for 9. Zieser on the stop.

1-23 from the 27: 10 Yard cross to Adam who makes one guy miss with a hip move and stiff-arms another and takes it 48 yards for a TD (hamstring had been loosening up all game and apparently was much better).

Dave's in and Rich is out.

3-1, Yellow

Yellow Drive 14 - Zieser QB
1-15 from the 10: Trips play thrown underneath to Paul for 4 yards, Stop by Matt.
2-11: Out route to Erik for 9 yards. Erik steps out right after catch.
3-2: HBack set with Joe and Paul. Joe runs an out route at about 6 yards but doesn't bring the ball in.
4-2: Pitch to Erik in the backfield who runs towards the first down. Adam misses the flag. Just before getting to the line of scrimmage, he throws complete to Joe for 13 yards. Cain on the stop.

1-14 from the 36: Broken play with Brian throwing across his body and Chris coming flying in to deflect it away.
2-14: Erik takes a step back from the WR slot to take a backward pass and then throws to Zieser for 5 yards. Cain on the stop.
3-9: 15 Yard out. Chris cuts under the receiver and should have picked it but at least keeps the receiver from getting the ball.
4-9: 4 Yard sack by Bennie

Adam out Rich back in.

Red Drive 15 - Cain QB
1-13 on t: Flea flicker to Dave back to Cain intended to be thrown to Chris who fell down so Cain runs it for 17 with Zieser on the Stop

1-Goal from the 21: Running play to Dave for 5 yards. Zieser on the stop.
2-Goal: Cain under pressure throws the ball away.
3-Goal: Intercepted by Erik who runs out the back of the end zone for a Safety.

This generated some controversy during the game so I went and got the rules on Safeties. A safety is "scored for the opposing team when the ball is dead on or behind a team’s own goal line if the impetus came from a player on that team." There are a few exceptions:

1) Player intercepts a pass with both feet inbounds in the field of play and his momentum carries him into his own end zone. Ball is put in play at spot of interception.

2) Player intercepts a pass in his own end zone and is downed in the end zone, even after recovering in the end zone. Impetus came from passing team, not from defense. (Touchback)

In this case, the interception was in the endzone by Erik. He then continued running away from Red players and looking back up the field. He then ran out the back of the endzone. It was not his momentum which carried him out of the endzone because he was running more or less parallel to the back of the endzone when he intercepted the ball. It was only as he began looking up field that he rounded his route enough to step out of the back. The only part of the call that I'm not happy with is the fact that we don't have lines at the back of the endzone and its hard for a player to know where the boundaries are. There have been many times where a player was running down the sideline and had plenty of room to run yet was called out because someone from a better vantage point could see that his foot stepped on the missing line. Had we had a line on those occasions (or this one) its not clear that a player would have stepped out.

We may want to discuss some kind of good faith ruling on these cases in the future.

4-1.5, Yellow

Red Drive 16 - Cain QB
1-15 from the 10: Intended to be a Cuba Libra to Matt back to Adam but Matt was too well covered so the ball was thrown unexpected back to Chenault who dropped it.
2-15: Roll right throw back to Chenault for 1. Paul on the stop.
3-14: Flea Flicker - Flea flicker run for 11 yards with Zieser on the stop.
4-3: Good pressure forces a bad throw to Chenault incomplete.

Chenault has to leave

Yellow Drive 16 - Zieser QB
1-Goal from the 22: 10 Yard Out to Patrick from TE slot. Stop by Bennie.
2-Goal: Slant out route to Joe into the endzone. Good throw but stripped by Adam.
3-Goal: Out of hands for Mark on an underneath route, intercepted by Bennie, stopped by Paul.

Red Drive 17 - Cain QB
1-10 from the 15: 7 yard sack by Joe
2-17: 5 yard route to Adam. Stop by Paul
3-12: Throw to Chris over the top for a 1st down.

1-25 from the 25: Pick by Erik. Dave on the stop.

Yellow Drive 17 - Zieser QB
1-Goal from the 20: Recorder broke.

Final score was like 6 to 1.5, Yellow.

MVP: Based on a review of the stats, I think the honor this week goes to Erik. He and Zieser had the best games. Their QB stats were similar though Erik had a better completion rate and they both stopped 7 plays on defense. However, Zieser's seven stops were flags and 4 of Erik's stops were interceptions.

Week 16 Preview: Alright, we're past the holidays so I'm expecting a pretty big turn out. Please arrive on time because I'd be surprised if we had less than 9 on 9 and we'll need to get going fast if everyone is going to get a good chance to have some plays.

Link of the week: http://www.tophundredvideos.com/video/Humanity-Lobotomy