Week 21 Game Summary: This was the best game in weeks and weeks. 8 on 8 game with both great offensive plays and great defensive plays. I really haven't enjoyed a game that much in a very long time - well I enjoyed most of it. I have been absolutely sick about the last two drives for days now as you'll see when you read below:


Red - Burleson, Barry, Chris, Brecht, Cain, Nick (for a while), Matt Day, Ethan, Dainton, Paul
Yellow - Adam, Louis, Casey, Leo, Chenault, Dave, Neubauer, Chris, and eventually Nick

Game Starts 6 on 6

Yellow
1-15 from the 10: Run by Adam for 15 yards - stopped by Matt.
1-25 from the 25: Pass by Leo to Dave - incomplete.
2-25 from the 25: Interception way down the field by Burleson - stopped by Dave

Red
1-10 from the 15: Pass by Burleson to Barry for 13 yards - stopped by Dave.

Brecht shows up at 9:30

1-22 from the 28: Pass by Burleson to Paul - incomplete. Paul comes out of the backfield up the left side and crosses right but the throw is wide.

Nick shows up at 9:40. Game is now 7 on 7.

2-22 from the 28: Pass by Burleson to Barry - incomplete. Play action fake left to Paul and then the ball is flipped forward to Barry from the Left TE spot moving right behind the line.
3-22 from the 28: Pass by Burleson to Ethan - incomplete. Ball slipped out of the QB's hand and went into the ground.
4-22 from the 28: Punt

Yellow
1-18 from the 7: Pass by Leo to Casey for 8 yards - stopped by Paul. Little slant route to Casey underneath. Paul had a great line on ball but Casey made the catch.
2-10 from the 15: Pass by Leo to Louis for 9 yards - stopped by Barry. Pushed out of bounds just short.
3-1 from the 24: Leo is under serious pressure, rolls left under pressure and throws it away.
4-1 from the 24: Pass by Leo to Casey - incomplete. Ball was thrown a little out of reach.

Red
1-Goal from the 24: Pass by Nick to Matt Day for 10 yards - stopped by Adam.
2-Goal from the 14: Pass by Nick to Paul - incomplete. Leo defenses the out route but Paul prevents him from making the pick.
3-Goal from the 14: Thrown on an out to Matt but picked by Adam who was immediately stopped by Matt.

Yellow
1-17 from the 8: Pass by Leo to Neubauer for 5 yards - stopped by Matt Day.
2-12 from the 13: Pass by Leo to Adam - incomplete. Actually thrown to Neubauer on a 10 yard turn around but Adam was coming on a cross underneath and thought it was too him. However, he dropped it.
3-12 from the 13: Pass by Leo to Unknown - incomplete.
4-12 from the 13: Punt.

Cain joins Red and Chris joins Yellow. Game is now 8 on 8

Red
1-3 from the 22: Pass by Nick to Barry for 24 yards - stopped by Louis. 20 Yard in route.

1-4 from the 29: Twins left with Barry wide against the line. Route is a deep slant out by Ethan from the slot. When Barry just stands at the line, Adam (who's covering him) looks in the backfield and sees looking for Ethan and back pedals to pick the ball. Ethan makes the stop immediately.

Yellow
1-10 from the 15: Pass by Leo to Chenault - incomplete. Flea flicker to Adam back to Leo who throws way down the field to Chenault. Burleson comes in from the safety slot and knocks it down.
2-10 from the 15: Cuba Libre thrown to Chenault but the ball was thrown wide and Nick picked it. Chenault on the stop.

Red
1-Goal from the 17: Pass by Nick to Matt Day - incomplete. Good pressure on Nick who steps up and makes a tough throw but a little wide. Matt could only get one outstretched hand on it on his crossing route.
2-Goal from the 17: TD pass to Cain. 1-0, Red.

Yellow
1-15 from the 10: Called double reverse to Chris then Neubauer. Dainton gets the stop for a 5 yard loss when he gets Chris before the pitch back to Neubauer.
2-20 from the 5: Pass by Leo to Neubauer - incomplete.
3-20 from the 5: Pass by Leo to Casey for 8 yards - stopped by Matt Day.
4-12 from the 13: Punt

Red
1-23 from the 27: Pass by Nick to Paul - incomplete.
2-23 from the 27: Pass by Nick to Dainton - incomplete. Good pressure on the QB causes Nick to have to unload it a little dump route at 2 yards past the line of scrimmage.
3-23 from the 27: Casey gets the pick from the Safety spot and makes a rumbling, stumbling, bumbling, crashing, bashing, smashing run back and Matt saves the TD.

Yellow
1-Goal from the 15: Play action pass. Louis gets it on an underneath pattern takes it for the TD.

1-1, Tie.

Red
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Nick to for -4 yards - stopped by . Ball was pitched right to Burleson but bobbled and dropped for a 4 yard loss. Play looked like it was supposed to be a throwback to Paul.
2-19 from the 6: Ball thrown long to Cain but picked by Louis who had a nice run back before Paul pushed him out of bounds.

Yellow
1-Goal from the 10: Flea flicker to Chenault and there's a bad pitch back to Leo and Brecht nearly picks the pitch but it drops.
2-Goal from the 21: Great pressure by Ethan but Leo is able to throw it as Ethan is leaping to block it. Chris comes down with the ball in the end zone for a TD.

2-1, Yellow.

Red
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Nick to Ethan for -5 yards - stopped by Chenault. Great pressure and the ball pops loose and is considered tipped. Ethan, who is on the line, gets the ball and Chenault is able to stop him. Play results in a 5 yard loss.
2-20 from the 5: Pass by Nick to Cain for 10 yards - stopped by Dave.
3-10 from the 15: Pass by Nick to Cain for 13 yards - stopped by Adam. Nice out throw.

1-22 from the 28: Pass by Nick to Barry for 7 yards - stopped by Adam.
2-15 from the 35: Pass by Nick to Matt Day - incomplete. Ball thrown long and wide out of bounds.
3-15 from the 35: Pass by Nick to Cain for 13 yards - stopped by Louis. Louis saved a much bigger gain.
4-2 from the 27: Pass by Nick to Cain - incomplete. Good pressure/coverage takes away the three underneath routes and Nick has to throw to the end zone to Cain who is covered one-on-one by Leo but the ball is long. Turnover on downs.

Yellow
1-23 from the 27: Pass by Leo to Neubauer - incomplete. Long throw up the right sideline out of reach.
2-23 from the 27: Brian comes in as a corner blitz and no one on the line sees him so he gets a 10 yard sack.
3-8 from the 17: Pass by Leo to Chris for yards - stopped by Chris. Ball thrown to Chris but picked by Burleson who is stopped by Chris. The net change in yardage is about what would have occurred with a punt.

Red
1-24 from the 26: Pass by Burleson to Dainton for 34 yards - stopped by Adam. Adam thought saw the catch out of the corner of his eye and thought Dave had picked it so he went and to block for him before realizing that it was Brian so he turned to chase him down.

1-Goal from the 15: Pass by Burleson to Dainton for 5 yards - stopped by Adam.
2-Goal from the 10: Pass by Burleson to Paul - incomplete. Burleson makes a nice play action fake and throws high and long to Paul.
3-Goal from the 10: Beautiful dart of a thrown to Ethan in the end zone for a TD.

2-2, Tie.

Yellow
1-15 from the 10: Ball was overthrown.
2-15 from the 10: Ball tipped by Leo and caught by Casey who makes a guy miss, gets a first down, gets another 10 and then decides to pitch it back to Dainton (on the other team) who is stopped by Adam.

Red
1-1 from the 26: Burleson rolls left and throws a long ball into the end zone to Cain who started as right WR and runs a long, deep curl to the left side of the field and catches the TD.

3-2, Red.

Yellow
1-15 from the 10: Ball is thrown long to Leo in double coverage by Cain and Paul. The ball is slightly underthrown and Leo has to slow down and catch it backwards. The ball is 40 yards in the air and then Leo turns around and makes it up the field for a TD.

3-3 Tie.

Red
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Burleson to Unknown - incomplete.
2-15 from the 10: Leo gets the sack for 7 yard loss.
3-22 from the 3: Pass by Burleson to Paul for 24 yards - stopped by Louis. Paul finds himself so open he's standing there waiting for the ball. Louis saves a TD because there was no one on that side of the field or deeper than Paul to have a chance to stop him.

1-23 from the 27: Big 10 yard sack by Neubauer.
2-33 from the 17: Pass by Burleson to Unknown for 24 yards - stopped by Unknown.
3-9 from the 34: Ugly duckling of a pass way up the middle of the field. Casey and Louis go up for it and basically take each other out of the play. Paul comes down with it and goes in untouched for the TD.

4-3, Red.

Yellow
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Nick to Leo for 20 yards - stopped by Paul. Fake pitch left, roll right and throw long down the right sideline.

1-20 from the 30: Pass by Nick to Chenault - incomplete. Hook and Ladder to Chenault with Leo as the intended ladder. Paul is covering Leo and nearly intercepts the ball on the initial pass.
2-20 from the 30: Run by Neubauer for 4 yards - stopped by Louis. Neubauer starts lined up on the left and comes in motion. Ball pitched forward on hike and Neubauer turns it up field for a small gain.
3-16 from the 34: Pass by Nick to Chenault - incomplete. Chenault said he dropped it.
4-16 from the 34: Pass by Nick to Chenault - incomplete. Nick rolls right and throws to Chenault. A nice ball on Chenault's favorite crossing route but dropped. Turnover on downs.

Red
1-9 from the 34: Pass by Cain to Ethan - incomplete. 10 Yard out pattern that would have been good for a first but Dave made a terrific play coming over the top to defense the ball.
2-9 from the 34: Pass by Burleson to Barry for 8 yards - stopped by Dave.
3-1 from the 26: Run by Brecht for -2 yards - stopped by Chris. Draw play with Paul blocking but Chris makes nice stop for a loss.
4-3 from the 28: Neubauer makes big 8 yard sack. Turnover on downs.

Yellow
1-14 from the 36: Pass by Nick to Leo - incomplete. Paul had very nice position and nearly picked it.
2-14 from the 36: Pass by Nick to Leo for 13 yards - stopped by Matt Day.
3-1 from the 26: Pass by Nick to Chris for 9 yards - stopped by Matt Day. Fake pitch left - throw right.

1-Goal from the 17: Draw play to Leo. The line opens a nice hole but then Leo basically just runs straight and makes little hip moves while running straight ahead at full speed and makes 3 other guys who had clean shots miss.

4-4, Tie.

Red
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Burleson to Dainton - incomplete. Thrown long up the right sideline but out of bounds.
2-15 from the 10: Pass by Burleson to Paul - incomplete. Ugly ball that should have been picked by Leo.
3-15 from the 10: Pass by Burleson to Paul for 22 yards - stopped by Unknown. Leo blitzes off of his corner spot against Paul and Paul gets the ball for a big gain.

1-18 from the 32: Pass by Burleson to Barry - incomplete. Long ball out of bounds.
2-18 from the 32: Pass by Burleson to Paul - incomplete. Ball thrown long and wide out of bounds.
3-18 from the 32: Pass by Burleson to Cain - incomplete. Cain makes an in and then an out move but the ball is overthrown
4-18 from the 32: Punt

Yellow LAST DRIVE
1-20 from the 5: Pass by Nick to Neubauer for 7 yards - stopped by Barry.
2-13 from the 12: Pass by Nick to Adam - incomplete. Timing route on a 10 and out to Adam. Ball was a little low but nicely timed and should have been caught. Drop by Adam.
3-13 from the 12: Pass by Nick to Neubauer for 13 yards - stopped by Barry.

1-25 from the 25: Pass by Nick to Adam for yards - stopped by . Fly route to Adam but ball was on outside and Adam looked inside.
2-25 from the 25: Failed Cuba Libre. Adam comes from left TE to right and gets the catch at 5 but Adam took too long and was past the Right Tackle spot where Leo had lined up. Leo had started moving in the opposite direction and Adam made a bad pitch which dropped between he and Leo. Net of 2 yards. Had the pitch been successful, it would have been possible that Leo would have taken it the whole way. Then entire defense was moving right with me and Leo was moving left and had that whole side of the field empty.
3-23 from the 27: Pass by Nick to Casey - incomplete. Nick's arm was hit as he threw.
4-23 from the 27: Punt

Red LAST DRIVE
1-12 from the 13: Pass by Burleson to Dainton - incomplete. Basically a 10 yard turn around. The ball was a bit low and Louis went over the top to defense it. Dainton went down with what he described as a pop in his calf. I'm very concerned.
2-12 from the 13: Dead play of some kind that got settled as a loss of down.
3-12 from the 13: Pass by Burleson to Paul for 25 yards - stopped by Adam. Paul in the Left Slot - Cain wide Left - Adam on Paul and Leo on Cain. Paul and Cain cross at about 15 yards. Adam thought he and Leo were playing zone and when they crossed, he went with Cain until he realized that Leo was still with Cain. So Paul makes an easy catch from his knees and gets up running. When Adam goes in for the stop, Paul pitches to Cain. Adam finally makes a good play having anticipated the pitch and playing it rather than Paul and gets the stop on Cain 2 yards past the pitch point.
1-12 from the 37: Burleson makes his second perfect throw of the day with an amazing long throw to Cain who was very well covered by Louis. The ball landed literally 6 inches past Louis' outreached arm. Louis really had amazing position but Burleson made the perfect throw. TD.

Final score: 5-4, Red.

MVP - This was a little tough - fortunately, I had Matt's stat compilation to help. Had Yellow won or tied, I would have been looking at Leo pretty hard for the MVP for throwing two, catching one, running for another and probably having another on the failed Cuba Libre (which was Adam's fault) and getting a nice sack. Nick also had a nice game with a TD passes for both teams and a interception while play defense but then he had 4 picks too. Cain made a claim with 3 TD catches but didn't have the picks that he normally does.

The winner this week is Kris Burleson. Although he had a number of overthrows/wide passes, he passed for 262 yards, 4 TDs, 52% completion and no picks. Further, his bad passes were generally good decisions (throwing to a receiver that he had a chance to hit if the throw was better). He also had 2 picks playing defense. That's very nice game.

Goat of the Week (with a nod to Peter King) - this is the first time I've done this and its pretty easy. While Casey killed a drive with his ill-advised pitch to the other team. And while this gave Red great field position and then an easy touchdown on the next play, the dishonor goes to Adam.

On the final two drives Adam made a number of key mistakes that cost Yellow the game. First, the drop on the out pattern that could have been turned up the field for at least a first down and perhaps more. Then the bad Cuba Libre which could have resulted in a TD by Leo (seriously, there was a monster hole for him going left on his route and the entire defense was moving fast to the right).

On Red's final drive, Adam made the cardinal sin of not communicating with his other corner man in Twins set and left his man uncovered at a key moment in the game. Had he not done this, the next play would not likely have been a TD because it would have been too long a throw considering Louis' coverage. What makes this sin worse is that listening to the recording I found that after the previous play (where Red had Trips to that same side) Adam and Leo had been talking about coverage in general and Adam was opining that after some distance (10-15 yards), you should almost always stick with man even if you start with zone. So although he and Leo did not specify that this would be the plan, Adam had already shown the wisdom of understanding this coverage rule and then second guessed it and stuck with the zone coverage that he thought was in play thus giving up the big play.

*Out of third person to express my personal feelings now* - What makes matters worse is that up until this point, I had been having a really great game. It started on the very first play with a very nice 15 yard run where I got one block and made two people miss before being stopped. I then had two nice picks - one where I had to fight through for the ball against Matt and another where I just read the play and dropped off my own man to find the perfect spot for the pick. It was also the first time in weeks that I lined up against anyone and everyone and had the speed and endurance to play really good coverage - Hell, Cain is practically half my age and other than the play where I bumped him from 8 yards off the line, I had nice coverage. So the meltdown at the end was really disappointing. I'm going to need a good game this week to get that bad taste of those last two drives out of my mouth.

Week 22: Not costing my team the game would be nice : )

Link of the week: http://home.hawaii.rr.com/snlcn/franken/stuart.html