Newsletter 20.19

League Statistician: Mark McNeil (blades99@rochester.rr.com)
Games Coordinator: Dave Stewart (david_stewart@comcast.net)

Sorry guys to be a little late, some family issues I had to deal with and then the game last night ran way later than expected so here you go. A good bunch of games in the Wild Card round, with a mild upset and some closer contests, what will round 2 hold for us? Game files are located on the website for the second round of the playoffs, please get the files and go ahead and get your games set up though there is plenty of time to get the games in as they are due Monday, January 16^th at 10 pm eastern.

I am now accepting ballot props per the separate email I have sent out, feel free to discuss anything you would like over the list and then provide me with fully fleshed out proposals by Sunday, January 15^th so I can do a preliminary ballot and we can try and have voting complete by the end of the playoffs. Remember as always, if you do not plan to return next season I would ask that you please refrain from the ballot discussion. Thanks.

Also accepting awards nominations now, please head over to the survey and help out if you have some time. These are not mandatory (the final vote is though) but if you want to be a part of it, feel free to register your nominations - https://kwiksurveys.com/s/sifz2C22

I can’t stress enough that you need to IMMEDIATELY send me your game export when the game is complete. Send your write up later on, that’s fine, but I MUST have the game export as soon as the game ends or I’ll have to sim the game to keep things moving along if it is missing at the deadline.

***There is a new game update available on the website, dated 10/08/16 ***

Don’t forget, if you lose a player for 2 or more games, you can ask for an injury replacement, but it must be done the same week as the injury, so don’t wait, get those requests in right away and take advantage, especially the teams who are already challenged for the amount of games they have to work with. Also, be sure you give me enough names as the more injuries the more likely someone else already grabbed the guy you want.

Reminder that you MUST send a boxscore and writeup to the league after each game. The home team is responsible for this, but either team can do it, as long as it does get done. Also, you MUST send me the game export immediately after the game is complete. It takes about 30 seconds, so I shouldn’t have to chase you down for that file after a game, just get it in right away so I don’t have to guess whether a game has happened or not.

In the AFC Tennessee pulls a mild upset over the New England Patriots while Buffalo is able to avoid the season sweep and move on over Denver.

Tennessee Titans draw the unenviable task of having to travel to Foxboro to take on the formidable New England Patriots, who possess the highest power rating on the ISFL. Titans are a 6-point dog in this one. Also, a rematch from week 1, when the Pats outclassed the Titans 31-12.

Pats win the toss and defer. Titans take opening kickoff. Despite a 27-degree kickoff temp, Titans strike quickly on the third play from scrimmage as Rivers hits Landry for an 80-yard strike to take a quick 7-0 lead. Pats answer by going 80 yards in only 8 plays to knot it up at 7-7. After a penalty on the return, Titans answer with a 91-yard drive in 9 plays with the help of some play action passing, to go back on top 14-7. Pats have their own answer, again, by going 80 yards in only 6 plays, scoring on the first play of the 2^nd quarter. Game tied 14-14.

Titans drive stalls on NE 46 as Titans would find difficulty all day in trying to run against the NE front 7. It appears Titans have created a turnover, but after Instant Reply Review, NE drives continues. 15 plays and NE scores to go up 21-14. Titans get ball with 1:54 left in 2^nd quarter and piece together an efficient drive that nets 3 points as time expires. Halftime score has Pats over Titans 21-17.

Titans steal momentum out of the gate in the 2^nd half. First play from scrimmage, Chandler Jones sacks Cam Newton for a 13-yard loss on the NE 2-yd line. With NE in shotgun on 2^nd and long, Titans bring the middle blitz and ILB Avery Williamson catches Newton in the endzone for a safety. Titans close the lead to 2, 21-19. After a 71-yd punt free kick, Titans start on their own 25-yd line. Another TD drive capped on 9^th play and with the PAT, Titans go up 26-21. Pats have an immediate response, taking only 7 plays to go 80 yards. Pats take the lead back 28-26. A subsequent Titans punt, then Titans defense gets a break with the strip and recover of a Gurley fumble at the start of the 4^th quarter. Titans drive stalls and settle for a FG, but puts Titans back on top 29-28.

Next drive for NE is stymied by a Devon Kennard INT on the 8^th play of the drive. 10 plays later, Titans catch NE in a double-blitz, leaving Jarvis Landry 1 on 1 on the outside and Landry turns it into 6. After PAT, Titans lead 36-28. Pats next and last drive ends on turnover of downs and Rivers takes a knee to end the game. Titans upset favored Patriots 36-28.

Thanks to Daniele for easy scheduling and a quick game. Game was evenly matched on first downs with 26 for Titans and 27 for the Pats. Time of possession was 29:56 to 30:04, about as even as you can get.

QB Philip Rivers passes for 436 yards on 32-43 passing. Rivers ended with a 129.6 QB rating. WR Jarvis Landry had 11 catches for 204 yards and 2 TD’s. Greg Olsen also ended with over 100 yards receiving (8-110-1). Todd Gurley had 128 yards rushing for NE.

BUFFALO, JANUARY 2ND, 2017: Bob Ashley summed it up best in his post-game conference, "The third time's a charm".

Denver, which had swept the two regular season contests against Buffalo, couldn't do it a third time, and fell hard against the AFC East Champions, 44-28.

The game got out of hand early, with Buffalo scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions, then getting a huge pick six from Kurt Coleman to make it 20-0 late in the first quarter.

The Broncos leaned heavily on their ground game throughout the contest, racking up 288 yards rushing on 41 rushes (7.0), but their passing attack betrayed them, as Nick Foles and Brandon Weeden combined to throw three interceptions in the contest.

The Bills relied on a more balanced attack, getting 136 yards on the ground on 23 carries (5.9) and netting 183 passing on 21 attempts (8.7).

The Broncos dominated most of the stats, but that is entirely deceptive. Buffalo went up 14-0 on touchdowns passes from Jay Cutler of 33 yards to Martavis Bryant and 3 yards to Andre Hopkins in the first eleven minutes, sandwiched around a Broncos punt. They led only 13-0 as the Broncos blocked the second point after touchdown try. But the Coleman pick six made it 20-0. And once the Bills went ahead 20-0 in the first quarter, both teams knew the Broncos passing attack was inadequate to the task at hand.

So Buffalo was content to sit back in a nickel defense for most of the contest, content to let the Broncos do the dirty work of running out the clock for Buffalo, and Denver could not help but oblige.

The Broncos cut the lead to 20-7 on a long drive that took 7:23 off the clock spanning the end of the first quarter and almost half of the second. The drive took 12 plays and went 80 yards, with ten of the twelve plays on the ground, gaining 72 yards.

But when Buffalo came back with a long 80-yard drive of their own, taking another 7:27 off the clock and scoring a touchdown in the final two minutes of the first half to make it 27-7 in Buffalo's favor, the Broncos knew they were in dire straits.

Denver tried to mount a final drive before the half, but clock management issues caused them to end their final first half drive with time expiring with the ball on the Buffalo 31, unable to stop the clock in time to get a field goal off.

And when Brandon Weeden opened the second half in place of an ineffective Nick Foles, but was picked off by Coleman for Coleman's second pick of the game, things went from bad to worse for Denver.

Within two minutes of that pick, the Bills lead had ballooned to 37-7 on a field goal by Robbie Gould from 36 yards out, followed by Weeden's second pick in two minutes, this one returned 20 yards for yet another touchdown by cornerback Robert Alford.

So the Broncos went to work running out the clock again, and after an 10-play, 79-yard drive - all on the ground - Ronnie Hillman had punched over his second touchdown of the game, cutting the Bills lead to 37-14 with 18 minutes left.

The Bills returned the favor, running on seven of the eight plays in their next possession, ending that 64-yard drive with a Buck Allen ten-yard run for the score, Allen's second touchdown of the game, and closing out the scoring for Buffalo.

But Denver wasn't done, as Weeden lead Denver on another scoring drive following a good kickoff return by Josh Huff to the Denver 43. The Broncos converted a 4th and two to pick up the initial first down of the possession, and then Hillman ran twice more for another first down at the Bills 33. Three consecutive completions to Golden Tate put the ball the Bills three, and Weeden hit tight end Eric Ebron for the score to make it 44-21 with less than eight minutes left.

After the Bills lone three-and-out in the contest, the Broncos took over at their own nine yard line with just over five minutes left.

Mixing runs and passes, Weeden drove the Broncos to year another score, with Denver picking up 60 yards on the ground, and 31 through the air, to end the drive with Ronnie Hillman punching it over from two yards out for the final score of the contest with 1:39 left in the game, forging the final score of 44-28, making the game appear closer in the rear view mirror than it was in reality.

Game Notes: Jay Cutler was phenomenal for the first 58 minutes, completing 13 of 15 for 166 yards and two scores (152.4). But with a 44-28 lead, the Bills threw on their final five plays of the contest, and Cutler managed only 3 of 5 for 26 yards, dropping his final rating to 140.0.

Andre Ellington was the leading ground gainer for Buffalo, picking up 103 yards from scrimmage. He gained 83 on just nine rushes (9.2) and caught one pass for 20 more. Andre Hopkins led Buffalo with five receptions for 72 yards and one score.

The Broncos entered the game minus several key players, but head coach Hank Sienzant refused to use that as an excuse. Short key running back Spencer Ware (who averaged eight yards a carry this year) and two defensive starters in Jason Pierre-Paul and Kareem Jackson, the Broncos couldn't stop the Bills on offense. "We got beat like a drum today, fair and square. It's always been a philosophy here of 'Next Man Up' and we just didn't get it done out there today, on the field and on the sidelines."

The Broncos ran so often and so well against the Bills nickel defense that they had two rushers gain over 100 yards on the ground. Ronnie Hillman rushed for 112 yards on 21 carries (5.3), scoring three touchdowns on the ground. Tre Mason rushed for 102 yards on just 12 carries (8.5), while recently signed Reggie Bush did his best Spencer Ware imitation, rushing five times for 56 yards (11.2). Even seldom-used Zac Stacy contributed, rushing twice for 18 yards.

Rueben Randle caught five for 66 yards to lead the Broncos in receptions, while Brandon Weeden, playing the second half, completed all thirteen of his passes for 85 yards and two scores. Unfortunately for the Broncos, however, two of those completions and one of the scores went to Bills players. On the day, Weed was officially credited with 11 of 13 for 85 yards, one touchdown and two picks (80.0). Nick Foles, who got the start, looked horrendous, completing five of ten for 47 yards on one pick six (23.8).

DeMeco Ryans led the Bills in tackles with 13, but it was Kurt Coleman who was the Bills defensive star with six tackles and two interceptions, including a key pick six.

As noted, the Broncos won most of the stats, including time of possession (35-25); yards from scrimmage (415-319) and first downs (24-18), but they lost the most crucial two of all, turnovers (3-0), and points (44-28).

Season Notes: The loss in the wild-card round is the second time in two years the Broncos lost in the opening round. Last year the Broncos were beaten by the Dallas Cowboys, 34-28. After sweeping the playoffs in 2011 as a wildcard team, going 4-0, the Broncos are just 2-4 since then in the post season, getting eliminated twice in the Divisional round in 2013 and 2014, and then losing the wildcard games the past two years.

Buffalo has had a Phoenix-like rebirth, going from worst to first. Last year they were only 1-15, and turned that into a 10-6 regular season and winning the AFC East.

Injury Bug: The Bills came in injury-free and left that way. The Broncos suffered no new injuries, but they have the entire offseason to heal up in any case.

A Look Ahead: The Bills have a tough road game next week, as they will have to travel to Indianapolis and face the Colts, the #1 seed in the AFC after the Colts had an extra week to get healthy and prepare for the upcoming Division Round game.

The Broncos have three first round picks and eleven picks overall in the upcoming 2017 draft, including all their own picks and picks acquired from the Giants, Chiefs, and Patriots. Rumors persist that the Broncos will put together a solid package of picks to move up to select a rookie quarterback this year, although the Broncos brain trust insists no decision has been made at this point on how they will proceed in the draft.

In the NFC everything holds to form as the Carolina Panthers send the defending champion Detroit Lions home early and St. Louis beats divisional rival Kansas City to move into round 2.

A closely fought regular-season rematch, with Carolina pulling away and holding off Roethlisberger, familiar foe No. 81 Calvin Johnson, and company at the end.

Both teams traded scores early: 2 passing TDs for the home team, a Kuechly 36-yard TD interception return and a 56-yard long cross from the shotgun to Calvin for the visitors.

Detroit then took the lead in the 3rd on a 13-yard Marshawn Lynch TD run (trap versus aggressive, great call). 21-17.

Turnovers decided the outcome from that point on, as two subsequent Detroit INTs gave Carolina too many opportunities for Detroit to overcome.

No. 81 made it close, however, catching his second TD of the game to bring the Lions within 3 in the fourth. The last TD of his HOF career, fittingly, in a key moment against Carolina.

A note of congratulations to the defending ISFL champions on their run to the playoffs this year. Good game, Dave, well called.

Coming up in the AFC the conference champion Indianapolis Colts draw the 13-3 Tennessee Titans in what could be another big upset win for the Titans. The Dallas Cowboys will host the Buffalo Bills coming off their win over the Broncos, a couple of really good matchups for round 2.

Coming up in the NFC we start off with a huge divisional rivalry as the top seeded New Orleans Saints will host the Carolina Panthers. On the other side we have the St. Louis Rams travelling to match up with the high scoring Seattle Seahawks in a game that could turn into a track meet.

AFC
Buffalo Bills at Dallas Cowboys
Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts

NFC
St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks
Carolina Panthers at New Orleans Saints

***********************************************************************

OFFENSE: Derek Carr, CAR – 29 of 45 for 416 yards, 4 TDs
DEFENSE: Julius Peppers, SEA – 3 sacks, 4 tackles

OFFENSE: Blake Bortles, SD – 24 of 30 for 249 yards, 4 TDs
DEFENSE: Everson Griffen, IND – 3 sacks, 4 tackles

ISFL NEWLETTER

Return to ISFL Home Page