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stkelly52 · 11-23-2004, 01:59 AM

WEEK 5
BYE

WEEK 6
Atlanta 2-2 @ Arizona 3-2
We go into Arizona who is riding a two game winning streak and an offence that uses a good combination between rushing and passing. However they have the worst running defense in the league, allowing 5.12 yards per carry, and 147.6 yards per game. They are also bruised and beat up with nine players currently injured. I think that we stand a decent chance in this game, in spite of the fact that the odds makers place us at 8 point underdogs.

Nixon struggled much of the game. He was able to pick up just 89 yards on 24 carries. For those bad at math that is a paltry 2.6 yard average. His one shining moment was a 17 yard TD run late in the 2nd quarter that put us up for good. We were able to hold on to the lead with good defensive play solid punting, and ball control. The final score was 28-18. But our victory came at a price. Three more players will be out for the next couple of weeks, and a couple more will be questionable for next Sunday's game.

Week 7
Carolina 2-4 @ Atlanta 3-2
We come into this game as heavy favorites. Carolina has a poor offence, a terrible running defense and a good pass defense. That pass defense won't help much this week though as we don't pass much. Carolina needs to win this week if they want any hope of getting back in the hunt for the division title. Before this game we need to sign a new DT to replace our starter Norbert Wells who is out for the year with a high ankle sprain.

Leland Nixon was a work horse today, running 40 times for 152 yards and 1 TD. The key drive of the game though was one that didn't score. Three times Nixon had third down conversions on the last drive of the game. This allowed us to run off the final 4:34 off of the clock and stymie the Panthers' late comeback attempt. Final 20-17.

Week 8
Atlanta 4-2 @ San Francisco 4-3
We come into Frisco favored by one point hoping to hold onto our 1 game lead in the division. The 49ers have a good group of linemen, but terrible LBs. Overall the 49ers have the 4th worst defense in the league. They win their games by having the highest scoring offence in the NFL. This offence is led by the best QB in league history, Moe Swift. This game is significant for me because Swift was my star QB for nine years with the Chargers. We both left the Chargers at the same time and this is the first time that he has been my opponent. Swift comes into this game having the best season of his career, with a QB rating of 118.8, and having only tossed 2 picks compared to 17 TDs.

This was an offensive showcase. We racked up 534 yards of total offence, second most in team history. But San Francisco played a great offensive game as well, coming up with 490 yards of total offence. With three minutes left in the game, we were trailing by 14, but we were knocking on the door, just 4 yards away from the end zone. On the next play a four yard pass brought us within 8. The PAT would cut that to 7... or it would have had we made the PAT, but instead our rookie kicker missed the kick. With just under three minutes left though our chances of winning the game were slim. We had just one time out, so our only real hope was to try for the onside kick, and miracles of miracles we recovered the kick. With 2:52 left we needed to go 56 yards to win try to tie the game. Thanks to three 49er penalties we were able to move the ball quickly, capping the drive with a 26 yard TD pass. The 2 point conversion was successful and the game was now tied. The only bad thing was that we may have moved the ball too quickly, using less than one minute. Fortunately, three incomplete passes sent this game into OT.

We won the toss and elected to receive. We then began a final 6:25 minute, 80 yard drive, capped by a 4 yard TD pass. Thanks to a phenomenal last few minutes we were able to pull out an incredible 37-31 victory. Nixon runs for ran for 242 yards, the second largest rushing total in NFL history. His average was an excellent 6.2 yards per carry. Even though he was held out of the end zone, this was a solid all around performance for our hero. The only negative today was Leland's one fumble, which was covered by our center.

Week 9
St. Louis 7-1 @ Atlanta 5-2
There is no team in the NFL with as many wins this season as St. Louis. St. Louis has gotten to this point in spite of having a sub par QB and a mediocre RB. So how can they be the 4th highest scoring team in the league? Well first, they cause the most turnovers in the NFL. This does not bode well for Leland Nixon and the fumble problems that he has. Second, their league best defense gives their offence a short field more often than not. This stingy defense could make it hard for us to pick up the yards on the ground that we want. Finally, the Rams have a spectacular kicker who could be on his way to a new single season record. He just seems to be able to make every drive come up with at least three points.

Even though the Rams look to be such a great team, the odds makers are not convinced by their QB/RB combo. They have listed this game as even. If I were a betting man though, I would put my money with the Rams.

This great Rams defense had a lot of trouble slowing Nixon down. With 32 carries Nixon was able to run for 125 yards, and when he scored a TD to go up 17-0 late in the third it looked like this game was well in hand. Then our team just fell apart. We gave up 3 TDs (with two missed conversions, and one successful) on three consecutive drives to fall behind 20-17. During this time our offence struggled with a 56 yard drive that ended with a INT in the end zone, a 3 and out, and a 42 yard drive that ended with a missed 35 yard field goal. Finally, with under 2:00 left in the game our offence took the field and mounted a last gasp drive to set up a 52 yard kick to send the game into OT, and the kicked sailed true. For the second week we were in OT. Last week we won when we won the toss and were able to sore on the opening drive of OT, this week we lost the toss and thanks to a 50 yard TD pass by the Rams, we were left without a victory. Final 26-20. I don't feel bad losing to a team like the Rams, but the way that we lost was just demoralizing. At least there were no new injuries this week.

Mid Season Review
Half way through the year and in spite of last week's heart breaker, this team is in a good position to reach all of our goals. At 5-3 we are currently tied with Tampa for the lead in the NFC South, and we have a 1 game lead in the wild card race. Nine wins and a playoff birth seem to be very doable tasks.

Our pass defense looks very weak this year, as evidenced by the way St. Louis was able to move the ball at will at the end of last week's game. We have the 3rd worst passing defense in the NFL. In our scoring defense is the 6th worst in the league. One big stat that hurts us is that we are 2nd worst in turnover margin. We don't give up the ball an inordinate amount of the time, (in spite of all of Leland's fumbles, it seems we are usually able to fall on the ball) but we are worst in the league at causing turnovers with just 6 (the average is over 12). Next season we are going to have to come up with help for our poor secondary.

As for Nixon he is having a solid sophomore season. He has 241 carries for a league best 978 yards and a league leading 8 TDs. Baring an injury he should have no problem reaching my goal of 1500 yards rushing, and in fact if he can just improve slightly he stands an outside shot of reaching 2000s this year. I should also note that Nixon has improved his average to 4.0 yards per carry. This is by no means a world beater average, but it is a solid showing.

As far as negative things about Nixon, Nixon has the third most fumbles in the league, with 6.

11-23-2004, 01:59 AM	#22
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 5 BYE WEEK 6 Atlanta 2-2 @ Arizona 3-2 We go into Arizona who is riding a two game winning streak and an offence that uses a good combination between rushing and passing. However they have the worst running defense in the league, allowing 5.12 yards per carry, and 147.6 yards per game. They are also bruised and beat up with nine players currently injured. I think that we stand a decent chance in this game, in spite of the fact that the odds makers place us at 8 point underdogs. Nixon struggled much of the game. He was able to pick up just 89 yards on 24 carries. For those bad at math that is a paltry 2.6 yard average. His one shining moment was a 17 yard TD run late in the 2nd quarter that put us up for good. We were able to hold on to the lead with good defensive play solid punting, and ball control. The final score was 28-18. But our victory came at a price. Three more players will be out for the next couple of weeks, and a couple more will be questionable for next Sunday's game. Week 7 Carolina 2-4 @ Atlanta 3-2 We come into this game as heavy favorites. Carolina has a poor offence, a terrible running defense and a good pass defense. That pass defense won't help much this week though as we don't pass much. Carolina needs to win this week if they want any hope of getting back in the hunt for the division title. Before this game we need to sign a new DT to replace our starter Norbert Wells who is out for the year with a high ankle sprain. Leland Nixon was a work horse today, running 40 times for 152 yards and 1 TD. The key drive of the game though was one that didn't score. Three times Nixon had third down conversions on the last drive of the game. This allowed us to run off the final 4:34 off of the clock and stymie the Panthers' late comeback attempt. Final 20-17. Week 8 Atlanta 4-2 @ San Francisco 4-3 We come into Frisco favored by one point hoping to hold onto our 1 game lead in the division. The 49ers have a good group of linemen, but terrible LBs. Overall the 49ers have the 4th worst defense in the league. They win their games by having the highest scoring offence in the NFL. This offence is led by the best QB in league history, Moe Swift. This game is significant for me because Swift was my star QB for nine years with the Chargers. We both left the Chargers at the same time and this is the first time that he has been my opponent. Swift comes into this game having the best season of his career, with a QB rating of 118.8, and having only tossed 2 picks compared to 17 TDs. This was an offensive showcase. We racked up 534 yards of total offence, second most in team history. But San Francisco played a great offensive game as well, coming up with 490 yards of total offence. With three minutes left in the game, we were trailing by 14, but we were knocking on the door, just 4 yards away from the end zone. On the next play a four yard pass brought us within 8. The PAT would cut that to 7... or it would have had we made the PAT, but instead our rookie kicker missed the kick. With just under three minutes left though our chances of winning the game were slim. We had just one time out, so our only real hope was to try for the onside kick, and miracles of miracles we recovered the kick. With 2:52 left we needed to go 56 yards to win try to tie the game. Thanks to three 49er penalties we were able to move the ball quickly, capping the drive with a 26 yard TD pass. The 2 point conversion was successful and the game was now tied. The only bad thing was that we may have moved the ball too quickly, using less than one minute. Fortunately, three incomplete passes sent this game into OT. We won the toss and elected to receive. We then began a final 6:25 minute, 80 yard drive, capped by a 4 yard TD pass. Thanks to a phenomenal last few minutes we were able to pull out an incredible 37-31 victory. Nixon runs for ran for 242 yards, the second largest rushing total in NFL history. His average was an excellent 6.2 yards per carry. Even though he was held out of the end zone, this was a solid all around performance for our hero. The only negative today was Leland's one fumble, which was covered by our center. Week 9 St. Louis 7-1 @ Atlanta 5-2 There is no team in the NFL with as many wins this season as St. Louis. St. Louis has gotten to this point in spite of having a sub par QB and a mediocre RB. So how can they be the 4th highest scoring team in the league? Well first, they cause the most turnovers in the NFL. This does not bode well for Leland Nixon and the fumble problems that he has. Second, their league best defense gives their offence a short field more often than not. This stingy defense could make it hard for us to pick up the yards on the ground that we want. Finally, the Rams have a spectacular kicker who could be on his way to a new single season record. He just seems to be able to make every drive come up with at least three points. Even though the Rams look to be such a great team, the odds makers are not convinced by their QB/RB combo. They have listed this game as even. If I were a betting man though, I would put my money with the Rams. This great Rams defense had a lot of trouble slowing Nixon down. With 32 carries Nixon was able to run for 125 yards, and when he scored a TD to go up 17-0 late in the third it looked like this game was well in hand. Then our team just fell apart. We gave up 3 TDs (with two missed conversions, and one successful) on three consecutive drives to fall behind 20-17. During this time our offence struggled with a 56 yard drive that ended with a INT in the end zone, a 3 and out, and a 42 yard drive that ended with a missed 35 yard field goal. Finally, with under 2:00 left in the game our offence took the field and mounted a last gasp drive to set up a 52 yard kick to send the game into OT, and the kicked sailed true. For the second week we were in OT. Last week we won when we won the toss and were able to sore on the opening drive of OT, this week we lost the toss and thanks to a 50 yard TD pass by the Rams, we were left without a victory. Final 26-20. I don't feel bad losing to a team like the Rams, but the way that we lost was just demoralizing. At least there were no new injuries this week. Mid Season Review Half way through the year and in spite of last week's heart breaker, this team is in a good position to reach all of our goals. At 5-3 we are currently tied with Tampa for the lead in the NFC South, and we have a 1 game lead in the wild card race. Nine wins and a playoff birth seem to be very doable tasks. Our pass defense looks very weak this year, as evidenced by the way St. Louis was able to move the ball at will at the end of last week's game. We have the 3rd worst passing defense in the NFL. In our scoring defense is the 6th worst in the league. One big stat that hurts us is that we are 2nd worst in turnover margin. We don't give up the ball an inordinate amount of the time, (in spite of all of Leland's fumbles, it seems we are usually able to fall on the ball) but we are worst in the league at causing turnovers with just 6 (the average is over 12). Next season we are going to have to come up with help for our poor secondary. As for Nixon he is having a solid sophomore season. He has 241 carries for a league best 978 yards and a league leading 8 TDs. Baring an injury he should have no problem reaching my goal of 1500 yards rushing, and in fact if he can just improve slightly he stands an outside shot of reaching 2000s this year. I should also note that Nixon has improved his average to 4.0 yards per carry. This is by no means a world beater average, but it is a solid showing. As far as negative things about Nixon, Nixon has the third most fumbles in the league, with 6.