Game Summary - Had quite a scare this week. Only 9 showed up at first but then shortly after we started 4 on 4 with an all-time QB and a 1 man line - Jesse showed up to even out the numbers. What was funny is that Jesse had moved away much earlier this year and when we were bemoaning the lack of attendance, Matt asked about where Jesse had been. We all said "oh, he moved to Victoria so he's done."

We came up with a new idea this week. In the past, when we've had 5 on 5, we've played a "4 Mississippi" game without a line. This week we decided to play with a 1 man line and it was actually a lot more fun. Glad we did it.

Onto the game itself:

Red - Tom, Kris Burleson, Bedeeh, Mike, and Casey
Yellow - Leo, Adam, Chenault, Matt Day, and Jesse

Game starts 4 on 4 + an all time QB (Jesse hadn't yet arrive and wasn't expected). 1 man line with 3 eligibles.

Red 1
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Tom to Kris for 16 yards - stopped by Adam. Little 10 yard turnaround play and Kris made the first guy miss and turned it up field.

1-24 from the 26: Pass by Tom to Casey for 6 yards - stopped by Chenault.
2-18 from the 32: Pass by Tom to Casey for 38 yards - stopped by Adam. Flag guard called at the 5.

1-Goal from the 5: Pass by Tom to Kris in the endzone for the TD. 1-0, Yellow.

Jesse shows up and joins Yellow

Yellow 1
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Chenault to Adam - incomplete. Thrown wide and short.
2-15 from the 10: Run by Leo for 15 yards - stopped by Kris. Leo comes in motion on set and gets the pitch. Very good blocking up field and basically Leo is forced out by Kris just after the first.

1-25 from the 25: Pass by Chenault to Jesse for 5 yards - stopped by Kris. Little throw underneath. Jesse gets possession and then drops it after a couple steps.
2-20 from the 30: Pass by Chenault to Jesse - incomplete. Long route but too long for the throw.
3-20 from the 30: Run by Leo for 15 yards - stopped by . Adam comes in motion on set and gets the pitch. Adam hands it back off to Leo on the reverse for a nice gain with Chenault downfield blocking.
4-5 from the 30: Pass by Chenault to Adam - incomplete. Ball was too low but not a good enough attempt anyway.

Red 2
1-20 from the 30: Pass by Tom to Mike - incomplete. Long route but ball was longer still.
2-20 from the 30: Pass by Tom to Bedeeh for 8 yards - stopped by Matt.
3-12 from the 37: Leo blitzes off Kris who is lined up at TE. Tom reads Kris is the hot read and he throws the out. Adam comes up from Safety and gets the pick. Kris on the immediate stop.

Yellow 2
1-18 from the 32: Pass by Leo to Adam - incomplete. Little high but really dropped.
2-18 from the 32: Pass by Leo to Jesse - incomplete.
3-18 from the 32: Pass by Leo to Jesse for 26 yards - stopped by going out of bounds. Very nice 15 yard slant route across the entire field from right to left.

1-Goal from the 17: Run by Matt for 0 yards - stopped by Kris. Leo fakes the handoff to Jesse on his right and actually gives the ball to Matt from the TE moving behind the line.
2-Goal from the 17: Pass by Leo to Jesse - incomplete. Ball was thrown out the back of the endzone.
3-Goal from the 17: Pass by Leo to Adam - incomplete. Broken play and Leo puts the ball in a beautiful spot but its dropped. Mike also made contact with Adam's back just as the ball got there which didn't help.
4-Goal from the 17: Pass by Leo to Matt - incomplete. Adam and Matt ended up in the same part of the field and the ball wasn't delivered well to either of them.

Red 3
1-8 from the 17: Pass by Kris to Bedeeh - incomplete. Ball wide.
2-8 from the 17: Pass by Kris to Casey - incomplete.
3-8 from the 17: Pass by Kris to Casey - incomplete. Ball high.
4-8 from the 17: Punt.

Yellow 3
1-4 from the 21: Pass by Leo to Chenault for 2 yards - stopped by pitching the ball back to Leo badly and it hitting the ground. Chenault initially had 4 yards and then pitched back 2.
2-2 from the 23: Pass by Leo to Matt - incomplete. Drop
3-2 from the 23: Pass by Leo to Matt - incomplete. Overthrown, possibly due to miscommunication.
4-2 from the 23: Pass by Leo to Matt - incomplete. Nice throw but well defensed by Mike. Turnover on downs.

Red 4
1-Goal from the 23: Pass by Kris to Tom - incomplete. Ball out of bounds.
2-Goal from the 23: Run by Bedeeh for -2 yards - stopped by . Pitch forward to Tom coming out of the left slot moving right. Pitch back to Bedeeh moving left with Chenault on the stop for a 2 yard loss. The real key to the play was Chenault deciding to move to his right ather than up the field at the QB so he was in the middle of the play.
3-Goal from the 25: Pass by Kris to Casey for 11 yards - stopped by Leo.
4-Goal from the 14: Pass by Kris to Tom on a cross. Ball was a little behind Tom and tipped. Adam picked it and took it back to the 19. Stop by Kris based on a flag guard where he grabbed Adam's off hand.

Yellow 4
1-6 from the 19: Run by Adam for 4 yards - stopped by Unknown.
2-2 from the 23: Pass by Leo to Chenault for 9 yards - stopped by Casey. Play action pass.

1-18 from the 32: Pass by Leo to Adam - incomplete.
2-18 from the 32: Pass from Leo to Matt picked by Tom who is stopped by Matt.

Red 5
1-17 from the 8: Pass by Tom to Mike - incomplete. Ball overthrown.
2-17 from the 8: Pass by Tom to Casey - incomplete. Ball high.
3-17 from the 8: Pass by Tom to Kris - incomplete. Ball underthrown.
4-17 from the 8: Punt.

Yellow 5
1-22 from the 28: Pass by Leo to Jesse for 12 yards - stopped by Tom.
2-10 from the 35: Broken play. Leo hits Adam and a little 5 yard drag who has nice blocking by Jesse and Chenault and uses two big cuts to get the TD. 1-1 Tie.

Red 6
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Tom to Casey for 6 yards - stopped by Adam.
2-9 from the 16: Pass by Tom to Bedeeh - incomplete.
3-5 from the 20: Leo gets a piece of Tom's arm as he throws to Mike and Jesse picks it getting a huge run back (35 yards or so) before being stopped by Kris at the 20.

Yellow 6
1-Goal from the 20: Pass by Leo to Chenault for 18 yards - stopped by Tom.
2-Goal from the 2: Run by Leo for -11 yards - stopped by Mike. Mike corner blitzes and no one saw him coming so he had a big sack. Really huge because Yellow doesn't punch it in on the next 2 plays and probably would have from the 2.
3-12 from the 13: Pass by Leo to Jesse - incomplete. Dropped ball.
4-12 from the 13: Pass by Leo to Chenault - incomplete. Another drop. Turnover on downs.

Red 7
1-12 from the 13: Pass by Kris to Mike - incomplete. Just a little out of reach.
2-12 from the 13: Pass by Kris to Unknown - incomplete.
3-12 from the 13: Pass by Kris to Tom for 30 yards - stopped by Adam.

1-7 from the 32: Pass by Kris to Mike - incomplete. Play action pass but the ball was thrown out of bounds.
2-7 from the 32: Run by Mike for -1 yards - stopped by Adam. Mike came from the slot behind the line for a handoff.
3-8 from the 33: Pass by Kris to Mike - incomplete. Ball overthrown.
4-8 from the 33: Pass by Kris to Bedeeh for 7 yards - stopped by Matt. Controversy over where the stop was made. The ball was clearly short if you use where the flag was pulled. If you use center of mass of the ball carrier (i.e. middle of the belt) where the flag was pulled it was likely a first down (especially when we don't have lines to use). The down was replayed.
4-8 from the 33: Pass by Kris to Mike - incomplete. Overthrown a bit on a nice deep route. Turnover on downs.

Mike has to leave so we go back to 4 on 4 with an all-time QB/offensive plaver (Leo).

Yellow 7
1-17 from the 33: Pass by Leo to Adam - incomplete. Nice deep route but unable to reach ball (despite some ugly reaching)
2-17 from the 33: Pass by Leo to Matt for 10 yards - stopped by going out of bounds.
3-7 from the 32: Run by Chenault for 32 yards - stopped by . Adam takes the handoff and hands back to Chenault who was at the TE spot and stepped backwards to take the handoff. Chenault runs it 32 yards for the TD. 2-1, Yellow.

Red 8
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Tom - incomplete. Deep cross route. Ball a little too far out in front.
2-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Kris for 35 yards - stopped by Adam.

1-5 from the 30: Very nice throw by Leo to Casey for the TD. 2-2, Tie

Yellow 8
1-15 from the 10: Chenault plays QB and hands off to Leo who takes it 65 for the TD. 3-2, Yellow.

Red 9
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Kris to Tom for 36 yards - stopped by Adam. Very nicely placed ball - better catch.
1-4 from the 29: Pass by Kris to Bedeeh for 28 yards - stopped by Adam. Adam bit on the flea-flicker and left Bedeeh wide open.

1-Goal from the 1: Pass by Kris to Tom for the TD. 3-3, Tie.

Yellow 9
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Jesse - incomplete. Ball was a bit long or Jesse slowed down depending on who you believe.
2-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Chenault - incomplete. Ball a bit high.
3-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Chenault - incomplete. Casey defenses the ball.
4-15 from the 10: Pass by Leo to Chenault - incomplete. Overthrown. Turnover on downs.

Leo has to leave so we go to 4 on 4 with a 4 Mississippi Rush.

Red 10
1-Goal from the 10: Pass by Kris to Tom for 7 yards - stopped by Adam.
2-Goal from the 3: Pass by Kris to Tom for 3 yards - stopped by . Pass by Kris to Casey caught by Tom who flashes in front of him in the endzone for the TD. 4-3, Red.

Yellow 10
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Matt to Jesse - incomplete. Blitz by Red and Matt gets rid of it fast.
2-15 from the 10: Pass by Matt to Jesse - incomplete.
3-15 from the 10: Pass by Matt to Jesse for 8 yards - stopped by Tom.
4-7 from the 18: Pass by Matt to Jesse for 10 yards - stopped by Tom.

1-22 from the 28: Pass by Matt to Adam for 29 yards - stopped by Tom. Broken play and Adam comes back underneath for a little dump off.

1-Goal from the 18: Pass by Matt to Jesse - incomplete. Thrown out the back of the endzone.
2-Goal from the 18: Pass by Matt to Adam for 18 yards - stopped by . Pass by Matt to Adam for 18 yards the TD. 4-4, Tie.

Red 11
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Kris to Bedeeh for 17 yards - stopped by Jesse.
1-23 from the 27: Pass by Kris to Bedeeh - incomplete. Blitz by Chenault and the ball is thrown long.
2-23 from the 27: Pass by Kris to Tom for 48 yards - stopped by . Pass by Kris to Tom for 48 yards and the TD. 5-4, Red.

Yellow 11
1-15 from the 10: Pass by Chenault to Jesse for 25 yards - stopped by Tom. Tom makes a beautiful behind-his-back flag grab.
1-15 from the 35: Pass by Chenault to Jesse for 40 yards - stopped by . Pass by Chenault to Jesse for 40 yards and the TD.

5-5 Tie for the final score.

Stats-

Passing

Players	Comp	Attempts	%	Yards	Passing TD	INTs	Sacked	Yards Lost
Tom	6	13	46.15%	79	1	2	0	0
Kris	9	20	45.00%	181	3	1	0	0
Leo	9	27	33.33%	177	2	1	0	0
Chenault	3	6	50.00%	70	1	0	0	0
Matt	4	7	57.14%	65	1	0	0	0

Receiving/Rushing

Players	Recpts	Targets	Yards	Rec TDs	Rushes	Yards	Rush TDs
Tom	6	9	125	3	0	0	0
Bedeeh	3	6	53	0	1	-2	0
Kris	3	5	56	1	0	0	0
Mike	0	7	0	0	1	-1	0
Casey	5	8	91	1	0	0	0
Leo	0	0	0	0	4	84	1
Adam	3	9	82	2	1	4	0
Chenault	3	7	29	0	1	32	1
Matt	1	6	10	0	1	0	0
Jesse	7	15	126	1	0	0	0

Defense

Players	Flags	Pass Def	INTs	Strips	Sacks	Sack Yards	Def TDs
Tom	6	0	1	0	0	0	0
Bedeeh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kris	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mike	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Casey	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Leo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Adam	9	0	2	0	0	0	0
Chenault	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Matt	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jesse	1	0	1	0	0	0	0

Outstanding Performances

Red - Both Tom and Kris were about 45% completions which is good in our game. They combined for 260 yards and 4 TDs (3 for Kris!) and Leo added 65 for them while playing all-time QB. All very good stats. The 3 picks were unfortunate Tom had 2 of them but on the whole solid QB performances. Tom's 6 catches on 9 targets for 125 yards and 3 TDs was the hottest rushing/receiving performance of the game but there were some other strong performances. Casey had 5 catches on 8 targets for 91 and a TD. 53 and 56 yards receiving by Bedeeh and Kris, respectively was also nice - particularly when coupled with Kris's 6 flags which tied Tom's 6 (though Tom also had a pick).

Yellow - Great day for passing. Yellow's 3 QBs (Matt, Chenault, & Leo) combined for 247 yards and 4 TDs (one each for Matt and Chenault with only 1 pick. Chenault also called a number nifty running plays that resulted in 120 yards of rushing! Amazing for our game even if 65 came on one huge run by Leo. Yellow's leading receiver was Jesse with 7 catches on 15 targets for 126 yards and 1 TD. Adam had nearly identical stats to last week as: 82 yards, 2 TDs on 3 catches (and 2 drops) on 9 targets. Adam was also Yellow's leading defender with 9 flags and 2 picks.

MVP - Louis doesn't believe in awarding an MVP in a tie game but I look at MVP as the most dominating performance regardless of whether there was a tie (though the MVP usually goes to a player on the winning team). This week, I'm giving it to Tom. 3 receiving TDs (plus one passing), 125 yards receiving, 79 passing, plus a pick and 6 flags is a damn fine game.


Week 27 Preview - As you probably noted, there was bit of controversy this week relating to where the ball is spotted when the flag is pulled. Here is what I have in the rules currently:

Ball Marking - Ball position at the end of the play is marked by the ball carrier's BELT. It is not marked by the position of the football. The reason for this is that its easier to estimate where the tackle was made and it keeps people from having major collisions in diving plays or getting scraped up too bad.

The way this has typically been explained to players is to say that we use "center of mass" (meaning roughly center of the belt around the player's waist or "where the flag was pulled".

I think we should translate this to mean that you look at where the flag was pulled and then estimate where the center of mass based on the girth of the player and where the flag was pulled. If a side flag is pulled and the player was running forward, this will pretty much mean where the flag was pulled. If the back flag was pulled and the player was running forward, then we would pretty much put the ball forward a few inches (4-5 for a thin player, 8 for a larger player - this gives an advantage for bigger backs in goal line situations : ) . If the flag is pulled in front of the player (meaning the defender is between the player and the endzone when he pulls a flag such as in the instance of a spinning ball carrier or one who is running laterally), then we'd the ball at center of mass using where the flag was pulled as the estimate.

Trust me, this isn't as complicated as it sounds and it's pretty much the way I've always spotted the ball. The key is that if a player makes it to a cone but his back flag is pulled behind the line, the player should get the forward progress - he GOT BY the defender. To spot the ball at the furthest back position doesn't credit the ball carrier with his forward progress. Similarly, if the defender was in front of the ball carrier, the ball should be spotted back a bit from where the flag was pulled (basically center of mass) because the defender prevented the ball carrier from getting by.

Link of the Week - YouTube - 1975 Ball Buster Game Commercial