The Bowl is coming up.....

[Mario ADK]

Well,
Champoinship-games where decided a flip of a coin. as i said before....

[Paul-London]

Yeah i think its a shame the games have been like that. On the other hand i think this year was just 'one of those seasons' where the playoffs were tight as anything.  Next year the games maybe 40-0 etc !

We've had similar games in the past i think, when Mexico and Ohio got to their first FWL Bowls they had some very very tight games.

Surprised at Montreal and Austria not rushing the ball well though at home.

Frankfurt do have a great defense and Ohio are just on a roll.  To me theyve peaked at the right time...

8-2 in their last 10 games.  Among the way theyve beaten NY, San Antonio , Montreal.  They are a very decent side

Even after their 0-3 start they lost 2 of those games by just 8 and 2 points. 

[Marco_Frankfurt]

Please Mario, not like this !

If Austria has a great comeback its the best team in the world, if Frankfurt holds the best regular season team to a home loss then its just a flip of a coin ??

Maybe its just the history of the Galaxy winning in Austria t playoff time, we did it before ;-)

But as your masterplan goes, you will rule the FWL next season and from there on many seasons to come, so allow me a last chance to win the EFC, before your decade of EFC titles starts :-)

[Andrew-Neutral]

What were the scores? I can't look at the FWL site whilst at work!

[Paul-London]

Dont get me wrong there is luck involved in a lot of these playoff games and i agree most of the time the first team to get the ball in OT is the one to win it

BUT then look at the rest of the plays in the game, if Davey didnt complete a late pass in the first half to get Kastle in range for a FG on the last play of the first half then it could be a different story.

So many other big plays in the game.

19-10 down if Austria had kicked an XP instead of going for a 2 pointer they would have won it at the end of the game.

But its true what Marco said, after the Amsterdam/Austria playoff game i didnt hear Mario much saying it was just down to luck etc.

Frankfurt played a great game, shut down the Austria rushing attack, played well away from home and came away with a great win.

[Paul-London]

What were the scores? I can't look at the FWL site whilst at work!

Frankfurt defeated Austria 22-19 in OT

Ohio upset Montreal 18-16 with a FG on the last play of the game.

[Mario ADK]

But its true what Marco said, after the Amsterdam/Austria playoff game i didnt hear Mario much saying it was just down to luck etc.
rushing attack, played well away from home and came away with a great win.

i was just referring to the discussion we had recently about how close games are in the playoffs and that luck can bounce back. In this case it did.

i got no problem with the loss, but hey it is starting to bothe rmy why i am 1-4 now in PO-games against Frankfurt 

Austria had a terrific season and i am not too worried about having lost this game. I will be back very much stronger next season (as i will have not a single retirment on starting positions!!!) 

[Paul-London]

If Austria can solve its rushing attack, Marlion Jackson one week runs for 100 yards next week 20 and the offense clicks a bit more then yes i think you will be playoff bound for sure.

Your defense was ranked 1st but your offense just 11th.  I think the constant changing of QB's didnt help.  Ohio played their starting QB/HB/WR all season long and got to the final.  If someone is injured i could understand but i think playing a rookie QB late in the year when you didnt need to was perhaps not needed.

I think you need consistent games from your starters and they can only have that if they constantly start.  Anyway what do i know, your teams better than mine so i should listen to you !

But seriously if Austria can get that offense going then you will have an amazing team.  Anes played very well the last 2 games considering he had no rushing attack.  A lot of teams have good #2 WR's as well, i think you need to get one.  Moore is a great PR but not a great WR.  If you can get an offense like some other teams out there, eg WR1 gets 1200+ yards, WR2 gets 750+ yards you should be very good

You have the great defense anyway, just get that offense clicking a bit more and you should be laughing

[velcro]

That play by play had me on the edge of my seat. Ryan Dutton's punt to the one followed by the Tackle for a loss may have been the clincher.

That said the win came at a price as I have picked up a couple of injuries before the game, not least james Whalen my TE who has been spectacular of late - and was having a great game before he went down.

Still I can't complain, I never expected to make it this far.

[Marco_Frankfurt]

I also start to think the game has some hidden factor that takes into account how often the player play in that position together.

look at my often criticised WR2 Knight. He stated weak, but while I kept playing him he got better and started to make big plays at the end of the season. He now seems to have a good working relationship with Davey.

I know that the Madden Game has such a factor (especially important for OL) but never heard of something like that in FBPro.

[Paul-London]

Yep i agree, my WR Anglin started off really really bad but then developed into a fine #2 and finished the year with good stats for a WR2.

As for Ohio the loss of Whalen will hurt but TE2 Kane Anderson despite poor HA seems to play very well and catches some long bombs

[Mario ADK]

Surprised Austria not rushing the ball well though at home.

Cmon Paul, i have learned my lesson: Jackson had to go in because of Allens injury but he was P-1 and ended up ith an average of 1,7yds wheres the non-injured backup Allen got 4,3yds/carry.

What i have learned is: NEVER HAVE INJURED PLAYERS PLAY!

Congratulations to Marco, but this loss really hurts because it was so close AND i only lost due to a mistake in play-calling (2pter instead of XP) and NOT because i had the worse team....

(and hey, i am open for those who and to diss me... )

GO OHIO!!!

[Paul-London]

No you have it wrong, Jackson had 12 carries for 20 yards, Allen was 4 for 9 yards (10L) and ANES was 3 for 13.

Jackson had 7 for 98 yards which showed he had a great game receiving, just this week against the tough Galaxy defense he had no where to run (and nor did any other HB)

If Jackson was 12 for 20 and 3 catches for 15 yards then i would agree with you but his pass receiving showed he was okay.  He wasnt injured anymore and left the game as OK if you look at the team rosters.

Even though Frankfurt were 9th against the run this year they have been in the top 10 ALWAYS against the run so historically the Galaxy are very tough to run on. 

Dont keep bringing up Jacksons injury, he was fine receiving just had a bad game rushing bbut like i sai thats because Frankfurt are great against the run

Agree with you though about the 2 pointer, that was a stupid play by the computer.  I remember Ohio had a bad call a few seasons back when they knelt down i think to run out the clock but the QB was sacked in the end zone for a game winning safety !

At 19-10 down i dont know why after you scored a touchdown the computer chose a 2 point conversion.  Perhaps it was like an XP which was a bad snap so they attempted the 2 pointer instead ?

Can only apologise for that, 'sometimes' very rarely the computer does do crazy decisions like that, i've seen a few in my time.  Pity it did affect the outcome of the game i admit but those type of calls can go against anyone.  Just a pity it happened in a frickin Championship game. 

[Paul-London]

That play by play had me on the edge of my seat. Ryan Dutton's punt to the one followed by the Tackle for a loss may have been the clincher.

I totally agree with you.  David runs a FBPro league and i get him to send me the play by plays, so many of them are very very exciting

Because of that i now do that with NFL games i may miss, eg last nights sunday night game...

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/playbyplay/NFL_20051113_CLE@PIT

Make the window small and scroll down a play at a time to read it 'live' if you dont know the score.  Much better way if you have time than just seeing the score instantly.

[Paul-London]

Well looking at Jackson carries running the ball i've broken them down...

First carry...

3rd & 2 on Frankfurts 48, run left , defense was right with run left , Jackson - 2 yards

(Defense guessd right, wouldnt blame it on Jackson)

2nd carry - 1st & 10, 4 yard run  (Decent run)

3rd carry

1st & 10 - 1 yard run (run middle vs pass medium) - bad run

(Not a good carry, always seems to have a run on 1st down)

4th carry

1st & 10 - 1 yard run, (run right vs run right), Galaxy guessed right again

(Frankfurt guessed right, another 1st down run)

5th carry

3rd & less than 1 - 1 yard run by Jackson - First Down

(Good play, dive over the top for the first down)

6th carry

1st & 10 - 1 yard loss (Roscoe) bad run

(Roscoe made 2 good tackles on Jackson, this one of them)

7th carry

5 yards on 2nd & 6

(good run)

8th carry

2 yards on 3rd & 1

(Good 3rd down conversion)

9th carry

1st & 10 - Jackson 2 yard run

(Yet another 1st down run)

10th carry

1st & 10 - Jackson 0 yard run (not a great run as it was run vs pass of Frankfurt)

(Not a great run, again another 1st & 10)

11th carry

3rd & 1 - 2 yard run (run right vs goalline)

(Yet another 3rd down conversion)

12th carry

2nd & 10 - 6 yard run

(Decent run)

So you have to look at the full picture, Jackson had a lot of carries on first down which may have been predictable, Frankfurt did a good job there.  But 3 of his runs which generated only a few yards were for 3 first downs.  3/4 (one 3rd down conversion was unsucessful)  is very good.   I would rather my HB get yards on 3rd down to convert than 1st down.

Jackson was excellent in the air (showing his injury didnt really slow him down) just running the ball was tough against the powerful Frankfurt defense.  Out of his 12 runs, 3 were for first downs, Frankfurt guessed right on a few plays as well

[David-Montreal]

Well,
Champoinship-games where decided a flip of a coin. as i said before....

Whatever... you telling me the 2 point difference is a safety for them, or the lack of getting a 2-point conversion for me?

I knew reading both games that the differnce would be 3 or less and sure enough it was.  Hardly ANY suspese if you ask me... and predictable.

[Mario ADK]

hey, i did not blame the loss on Jackson. actually i do not blame the loss on any of my players or even on "MY" stupid playcalling on that 2pointer.

As i said:
This years playoff-games where merely not won by the "better" team, they where won by the "luckier of equal" teams. That is what i wanted to say by "flip of a coin" as the luck could have gone either way....

I was on the lucky side in the wildcard-game but was on the other side of the coin in the EFC-game.

Well. I am angry, yes. Well, i did not spend minutes and minutes to read the stats etc etc just BECAUSE  i am angry.
But i cannot blame anyone or anything for that. "Flip of a coin", thats all. DAMN!

I built a good team. And i got 2 1st round picks including #3 which will give me another instant starter and #16 which will give me a very good young backup at the O-Line. And even if POs are more a question of luck nowadays than skill. i announce that i want the EFC-title next season. And of course the EFC-WEST which i intend to get for at least the next 3-4 season. And i wnat the Bowl within the next three seasons. Because after that i will have to rebuild my franchise again.

BRING ON SEASON #15!!!
GO OHIO in FWL-BOWL #14!!!

[velcro]

What this shows is just how close the top teams in the league are right now.

I'm sure if we played the play offs another 10 times we'd have 10 slightly different outcomes but still close...

As has been said on this thread this week - making the playoffs is a sign of being a good coach - winning the Bowl takes some luck.

[Mario ADK]

Well... for me personally everything that i can add to my signature in terms of titles is what i want to achieve season by season. "Just" making the playoffs is not enough (unless i win the EFC like Ohio won the AFC despite not having won the division-title........)

At least i got the division-title this season and i survived a scare to reach my goal of winning at least one PO-game. But i must admit another EFC-title would have looked pretty. Never dreamed of the Bowl, though.

Can please somebody stand up and end Frankfurts reign in the EFC East and EFC?
You would get my full support. Thanks.

[Marco_Frankfurt]

Hey Mario, you dont need support to do it, just do it yourself :-)

In the East I see Amsterdam more and more comming, Rhein did beat me two times this season and if Miguel gets back to his old level of activity he will get a dominant team again. And Berlin will bounce back, as soon as they stop playing veterans till their end.

One reason of having 5 Losses is the high level of competition in the East. Most of the season all teams were very close together in the standings !

I have to admit that now I want to win the Bowl, but during season I was allways thinking, please let me just have a positive season and another playoff apprearance. The Division title was a great bonus to my wish but I never imagined beeing back in the Bowl.