Oh yeah. It's not over in the EFC West. Not yet.

[Mario ADK]

you missed a thriller....

Dinwiddies (QB2!) TD pass to Pinkard (TE3!) came at a 4th down with still 5 min(!!!)  left to play. a thriller......

AND:
It was not only the first time EVER Pinkard caught a ball and caught a ball for a TD, it was also Dinwiddies first ever TD-pass......

[jcompton-Orlando]

I've seen that phenomenon a few times in real life, too. Backup/rookie/unheralded QB comes in and makes a reliable connection with a similarly undersung backup, often in fact a tight end.

[Mario ADK]

Looking at our schedules (and me facing Frankfurt in week 13) it really might not be over if you beat me in FWL-Classic XXVI.
Should be a very good game.

Pity i cannot kick you out of the Playoffs with a win. Would have liked that :-)

[Paul-London]

I've seen that phenomenon a few times in real life, too. Backup/rookie/unheralded QB comes in and makes a reliable connection with a similarly undersung backup, often in fact a tight end.

Despite making a huge touchdown catch in one of the biggest games of the season for Austria and one of the most exciting TE Pinkard was then cut this week to make room for QB Alli Abrew !!!

Feel sorry for Pinkard !  One of the biggest catches in one of the biggest games in years and now hes back on the FA scrapheap !

[Niki]

Feel sorry for Pinkard !  One of the biggest catches in one of the biggest games in years and now hes back on the FA scrapheap !

I am still in shock about that play, but I think his main problem is his low ST

[Mario ADK]

i feel sorry for him as well but FWL is a tough business to be in.

i am really having troubles to release ANYBODY except my aging LB BUT i only got 6 LBs so i just cannot do that. in fact i will have troubles next year as i need an LB but have only a few picks.... (and my BIR-OH-deal does not gel as it should have been.....). So i got rid of my 3rd string TE who is rarely rarely used.....

"IF" i knew that i would pick up another FA i would have traded away one of my backups very cheaply but that was not the case. I treid to sell Pinkard earlier but due to his low ST nobody was interested.

That is live.

So long, my friend.

[Paul-London]

Well one reason why you win a lot is because you are ruthless to your players which is good.

Must admit i am very loyal (too loyal !) to my players, i love Bouman and want him to get 3000 yards before giving him a rest.  Norris Blundin is one of the best WR's of all time so he'll start at WR1 now whatever.  I was going to do a radical shake up of my team earlier this season with Adamson coming in at QB1 and a new WR but i just couldnt do it !

Glad to see my vets like Mark Word, Kinnon Tatum and Earl Riley do well and break records.  Once Bouman goes over 3000 yards and if i lose to Montreal then i will start Adamson for the last 2 games but Bouman has impressed me late this season with a lot of yards.  He has no rushing attack to fall back on, Wiley started well but has regressed and is more of a FB.

I'm stunned Travis Anglin has come through well at WR2, on his way for about 800 yards which is good for a WR2

[Niki]

Well one reason why you win a lot is because you are ruthless to your players which is good.

always be ruthless. the best players always have to start!

Look at the players I already have bench during the past seasons:

RB Reed, a couple a weeks after he had a 1000+ season
RB Kuchi after he had a 930 yds season (in 10 or 11 games)
TE Winston after he was teh first TE with a 1000+ season
WR Shearer after a 99 for 1262yds 7 td season
DB Gustin after a 84 tackels  and 2 int
Dliner Vartanian after a 37 tackels and 12 sacks

All players have been bench the year after due to the fact I had better players for them

[Paul-London]

Well i know what you mean but i'm going to be loyal though !  I dont mind if i dont win 5 FWL Bowls in a row, be weird if the Surge whos GM is also the league commish won all the time !

I enjoy seeing the stats year after year, love doing and seeing alltime.htm so to me its weird when a QB has 3000 yards then the next year 0 or a TE like Winston has 1000 yards then 0.  But the best GM's in this league have been ruthless so you have to be like that, as for me and the Surge because of the one moment of greatness in Sacramentos history (FWL Bowl X) i'm quite loyal to the players who helped me get there

The ones i have traded in the past (Eg HB Roel van Teefelen) i feel guilty and eventually trade back for them !  Trading van Teefelen after he led me in rushing in Season 10 and helped me get to the FWL Bowl was a mistake.  My new starter Mike Green was better on paper and had some decent years but i never made it back to the FWL Bowl.  Bit like getting rid of Trent Dilfer for Elvis Grbac.  Grbac was the better QB and was coming off a 4000 yard season but didnt gell with his teammates.

Getting rid of my leading RB who led me to FWL Bowl glory was a mistake.  I like to think a player who is 80 80 80 80 and has just had 1000 yards is still better than a player whos skills are 90 90 90 90 and is coming off a 600 yard season.  Look at Vance Blundin, Pat Barnes , Stoney Case and Joe Aska and Bobby Phillips.  Their skills were quite poor but they still played very well.  Thats one thing i love about the software.  A player who is 95 95 95 95 doesnt mean he'll be the best at his position.  To me if a player can 'play' in the FWL then forget his player stats.

[Niki]

Well i know what you mean but i'm going to be loyal though !  I dont mind if i dont win 5 FWL Bowls in a row, be weird if the Surge whos GM is also the league commish won all the time !

I think it will be hard to win every year, since at some points you also need some luck to win! Montreal had a great team the last 5/6 years but the last two years we had no GM chances and you already see that the number of strong teams is increasing! To be more correct we do not really have weak teams in the league! After 7 weeks Birmingham was 0-7 and is now 3-8. By record R-D and the Claymores look weak but I think both teams are now going for the first overall pick .... (battle of the Munro's)

[jcompton-Orlando]

I was really torn about who to root for in today's EFC West tilt, of course... the Austria win pushes Paris further down the wild card contention list, but of course pushes Austria closer to the divisional crown. So the Austria victory was the "safer" play for London, but of course it's so terribly, terribly unsatisfying to see Austria win... well, anything ever, really.

[jcompton-Orlando]

...okay, now it's over in the EFC West.

((((((((((((((((((((

[Mario ADK]

did you expect anything else, really?

i was playing at full strengh and you missed some key players, i did not think i can lose this. what is really annoying is my poor offense, just doing what the need to survive. But that will not be enough in the playoffs and I WANT TO GET INTO THE EFC-game!!!

i just cannot say that "my dream" would come true but in fact you are facing a possible desaster if Paris wins next game. London not in the playoffs? i get used to that thought......

[Paul-London]

I think its good you arent doing the 'i'm going to win it all' approach and laying low with your predictions etc

But at this moment in time if you didnt make the FWL Bowl you would become the first team who were 10-1 to miss the FWL Bowl which isnt a great record. I think in all years gone past the #1 seed has always got to the FWL Bowl for one conference

[Mario ADK]

But at this moment in time if you didnt make the FWL Bowl you would become the first team who were 10-1 to miss the FWL Bowl which isnt a great record. I think in all years gone past the #1 seed has always got to the FWL Bowl for one conference

But that "moment" came before all my injuries. I do not think that Jackson can be evenly matched by Allen. Whenever Allen was playing he was playing mediocre at best. And losing the DE2 does not help either.

Damn.

I seem to have a "post-regular-season-injury-jinx" as almost exactly the same happend last season where i had to replace at least 3 starters in the wildcard game. I did not mind much last season as my chances where limited anyway but as i told before i wanted to win at least the wildcard-game and given the strenghs of the other teams i doubt that.....

[Niki]

That is why I prefer that as much as possible good players in my team then a couple of super stars + ok players. In that way injuries and retirements does not hurt that much. Sacremento is not in the play offs due to a RB injury so whenever it will happen it always hurts your team. Most teams that have won the bowl had almost no injuries or had very good back ups at the positions they had long injuries

and yes I know you are just building up a team.

[Paul-London]

Very true, Montreal suffered this year with a host of injuries at RB.  San Antonio are a red hot team thanks to their HB and same with Ohio.

If NY lost DeMario Brown that would affect them a huge amount.  Allen isnt bad, like i say he had a good first start for Austria then went downhill after that.  His first start i thought he had about 80 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving if i remember.

In a way its good Mario has played a lot of backups this year as at least they have gametime.  Several teams round playoff time seem to get injuries.