AFC Divisional Playoff: Cleveland (12-5) at Oakland (11-5)
Oakland has a straight-ahead offense with a great interior offensive line, and a tough defense – tops in the league against the pass. Should be a tough matchup – probably another one of ball control and field position.
On the very first offensive play, Arsenault gets five yards up the middle, and the Raiders’ safety practically tears his head off after the play. After the scrum, it’s a penalty and an ejection. Raider football! Arsenault is okay, but the message is sent and received. We grind our field position, and get into a scoring chance. After a penalty sets us back, Glover hits streaking speedster Sasser, and the pass goes for a 24 yard touchdown. Touchdowns are better than field goals.
Safety Kirk Weed steps in front of a pass in the early second quarter, and has nothing but real estate ahead of him – hauling the pick back for a 59 yard touchdown. We keep them in check through the second quarter, but they get on the board just before the half, after converting on a fourth down and two third downs, to set up the kick.
Midway through the third quarter, we are driving again – but Glover gets hit hard, and seems to be hurt again. It was an outside running play to Arsenault – no reason for anyone to be after the QB in the first place. Raider football! Glover has to come off the field, and we’ll again be in the hands of a rookie quarterback. We have two penalties that push us back, but end up getting another kick to lead 17-3. As the third quarter winds down, we get another long kick from Vallejo, and lead the game 20-3.
While things look gook, the Raiders go vertical, and hit a 50-yard pass to get their first TD. It’s 20-10, and doesn’t look as comfy as it just did a while ago. With about ten minutes left, near midfield, Houston gets picked off – and it looks bad. The defender takes the ball into the open field, and only a TD-saving tackle by Bennie Heinlein saves the score. They Raiders gets it at our 21 – looking to get within a score of taking the lead. Two completions, and it’s 20-17 – our lead has dwindled to only one kick’s worth.
Needing at least a few first downs, we get only two yards – and have to punt it right back to them. They again go vertical, and again come up with a big play – down to our 24 on the very first play of the possession. From the 17, they kick a tying FG, and we get it back with the score tied, and under four minutes to play.
Arsenault powers for 8 yards, then Houston finds Blair for another 11 – a good opening sequence. Arsenault pounds twice for a couple of yards, and we face 3rd and 6 when the two minute warning sounds. Houston’s pass falls incomplete – but a Raider penalty gives us the first down. Raider football! Arsenault gets a bit 11-yard carry up the middle, and we land at their 29 yard line. Vallejo can hit from here, but we want ot keep moving forward, of course. We call a time out with the clock at 0:03, and the ball at the Oakland 11 yard line. This kick would send us into our first AFC Championship game. Vallejo is true, and we get the 23-20 lead as the clock ticks to zero.
Roderick Arsenault gets the game ball, for 153 yards rushing to power the offense, including some clutch runs on that all-important deciding drive.
Now, our QB puzzle gets even more complicated. Marco Clancy has been upgraded to questionable, but Tyrone Glover’s blown0our MLC will sideline him for certain. Injured Clancy? Or healthy rookie Houston (who has been okay so far, but a big mistake nearly killed us). I decide to put Clancy back in as the starter, with Houston as our #2.
Bobby Silvers, our old friend and QB safety net, gives an obligatory phone call. I give it a little thought, but I just don’t think we can go to him here – we’ll make do with our youth contingent.
AFC Championship: Cleveland (13-5) at Baltimore (12-5)
We know Baltimore – they will come at us with veteran QB Mark Holm (who started out in Cleveland, the year before my true assumption of power) and a nice fleet of skill players to bring a multi-faceted attack. Adding steady veteran Holm to the mix this year was the key catalyst to bring them out of the doldrums of the league. Defensively, they stop the run, and have a great playmaking safety in Scott Jacobs, a first-team all pro last season who has 7 more picks this year.
We are now down to only four healthy (as in “anything less than out”) defensive linemen. We’ll be using LB Derrick Regalado in heavy rotation at DE, and will do our best to cover up our extreme lack of depth there. You already know about our precarious QB situation.
Philadelphia, behind football god Jacques Cheatham, awaits the winner in the Superbowl.
On the first possession, our defense steps up and looks great. Clancy gets his first pass complete for 12 yards to Sasser. Clancy is hit hard, but “he’s toughing it out.” Clancy does get picked off at their 15, spoiling our opening drive.
Baltimore goes to the ground game, and picks up enough yardage to get a go-ahead FG. Clancy gets picked off again – the second by CB Brian Long – and the Ravens take over. We get the ball back, and Clancy is undeterred – throwing to get us into scoring position, but we miss the long FG. The first quarter ends, and despite two turnovers, we trail only 3-0.
Midway through the second, Holm goes deep for a 49-yard TD pass, putting the Ravens ahead by a mark of 10-0. We’re not a particularly good come-from-behind team, but I don’t think we’ll get too rattled quite yet. A couple passes to Ellard set up a nice drive, and Blair catches a TD pass from Clancy to get us right back into the game, down 10-7. The Ravens drive for a F to end the half, and have a nice lead of 13-7 at the break.
Clancy gets dinged again in the third quarter – he’s woozy, but will stay in the game. We get a good possession, escaping our own goalpost’s shadow and out to midfield, to reverse the field position advantage. The third quarter ends with it still 13-7 Ravens, and a classic field position battle underway. This is our kind of game, other than the scoreboard.
We get a first down, and then another on passes to Blair and FB Woodson – and we have the ball at our own 45, with 7 minutes left. This may not be our last chance, but it may well be our best chance. However, a third down pass is blocked at the line, and we have to punt it deep – giving the Ravens a chance to eat clock. They do a bit – and probably our last chance starts at our own 30, with 2:10 remaining.
Arsenault for 10 gets us a quick first down. Blair catches a huge pass, escaping from his usual underneath routes, and grabs 26 yards, down to the Baltimore 32. Clancy goes for the gusto, trying to find Sasser in the end zone. However, Ravens CB Brian Long comes up with his third interception, and that probably seals the deal for the Ravens.
We get the ball back with all of 18 seconds left. Oddly enough, the final play of the game sees Blair make an internediate catch underneath the hail mary coverage, but he is unable to squirt in from there, being tackled at the 11 yard line, where our Superbowl dreams come to an end.
Baltimore goes on to lose 14-10 in the big one to Philly, and the Eagles become the first team to repeat as champions in this league’s history.
Season Wrap-up
Code:
2011 Awards List
Award Player Team
Player of the Year Jacques Cheatham PHI
Front Office Bowl MVP Jacques Cheatham PHI
Coach of the Year Not Yet Awarded
Legend of the Game Not Yet Awarded
Offensive Player of the Year Jacques Cheatham PHI
Defensive Player of the Year Von Markowitz SFO
Offensive Rookie of the Year Dexter Carr NYJ
Defensive Rookie of the Year Jamie Stevenson JAX
All-League First-String Quarterback Jacques Cheatham PHI
All-League First-String Running Back Douglas Cleary WAS
All-League First-String Fullback Richard Cummins DEN
All-League First-String Tight End Thomas Smith PHI
All-League First-String Wide Receiver King Brame PHI
All-League First-String Wide Receiver Dan Doyle KCY
All-League First-String Center Victor Surdyk NYJ
All-League First-String Offensive Guard August Dempsey OAK
All-League First-String Offensive Guard Joe Foster WAS
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Orlando Perreault GBY
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Artie Gerhardt WAS
All-League First-String Punter Rod Hardy GBY
All-League First-String Kicker Al Fields ARI
All-League First-String Defensive End Brian Kavanagh HOU
All-League First-String Defensive End Cole Harrison STL
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Desmond Shirk ATL
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Ervin Hope DEN
All-League First-String Inside Linebacker Von Markowitz SFO
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker Leon Coughlin GBY
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker Andrew Colston DET
All-League First-String Cornerback Nathanial Stiles TBY
All-League First-String Cornerback Dillon Arnett WAS
All-League First-String Safety Anthony Bates NED
All-League First-String Safety Elwood Hewitt MIN
All-League Second-String Quarterback Bo Watkins CAR
All-League Second-String Running Back Jeremy Coble BUF
All-League Second-String Fullback Michael Potts SFO
All-League Second-String Tight End Clark Hardy GBY
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Shannon Gadsden NED
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Harold Elizondo BUF
All-League Second-String Center Damien Kester NED
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard Nicolas Rosenfeld SFO
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard Randall Ayotte SEA
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Chester Mendoza SFO
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Royce Black MIA
All-League Second-String Punter Matt Hughes TBY
All-League Second-String Kicker Rico Boynton ATL
All-League Second-String Defensive End Vance Plott NYJ
All-League Second-String Defensive End Willie Chenoweth DEN
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Tod Greco NOS
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Cary Drake CHI
All-League Second-String Inside Linebacker Bernard Manzo KCY
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Donovan Rodas SEA
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Nelson Borders CAR
All-League Second-String Cornerback Bryan Long BAL
All-League Second-String Cornerback Glenn Delgado OAK
All-League Second-String Safety Wiley Towe NOS
All-League Second-String Safety William Logan ARI
League's Fastest Man Glenn Kim CHI
League's Strongest Man August Dempsey OAK
Philadelphia’s Jacques Cheatham gets the coveted superfecta of individual awards – four awards in the same season. Not too frequently that we see that.
Our “team focus” means that we don’t end up with really gaudy numbers for any one star – and we are shut out from the awards list this season. Nobody with 120 tackles, 1500 yards, or 20 sacks – and you don’t get the bling bling.
Good season for us, all told. Tough division, and we still managed to go 11-5. We will have yet another tough offseason with contributors looking for starring roles and corresponding salaries. We will have to resolve our QB situation – we would like to land someone who can come in and start 16 games for us, which so far has been a faraway dream.