2012 Postseason
In our opener, we get to play host to the team who ended our season last year – hopefully we can exact a measure of revenge here.
AFC Divisional Playoff: Baltimore (10-7) at Cleveland (15-1)
Baltimore has a new QB since last season (they let Mark Holm go to the Saints) and they have slipped a bit – now they have 4th year man Carlos Wynn (their backup) at the helm. Still a talented offense, and a good defense led by a tough secondary. We’ll try to work underneath again, and might have some luck running against their right side defenders.
We’ve got most of the advantages, and are favored by 10 points.
Bad things happen quickly for us – we fumble their first punt, and they get the ball at our 7 yard line – a one play TD drive ensues. We respond with a nice drive, two big runs by Arsenault, two big catches by Blair, and Arsenault tops is off with a 13-yard score. Tie game.
Marco Clancy gets smacked in the late first quarter, and we see James Houston back on the field. We should be okay, though Clancy does inspire a little more confidence. The field position battle rages into the second quarter – we miss a FG, but they make theirs to lead 10-7. AT the two minute warning, Baltimore rushed Houston and forces a big fumble – they come up with the ball at our 6 yard line. They again cap off the short drive with a TD, and it’s 17-7 at the half. Not the start we were looking for.
We open the third quarter with a solid drive, running Arsenault hard, then capping it off with a 19-yard TD to Blair. Good score, and good for momentum, we hope. Baltimore, though, connects on a long pass to set up another kick, and stretches their edge to 20-14. We get to the fourth quarter after two short possessions, and it’s still a six point game.
A 38-yard pass to Causey on the first play of the fourth quarter gives us great position, at their 42 yard line. However, Houston is intercepted on third down, and we turn it over at a clutch moment. Fears are elevating. On our next possession, Houston goes deep, but the Baltimore safety playing center field grabs the lofted ball, and they take over again. We get thee ball back, but Houston throws yet another interception near midfield. Down six points, the last thing you can do is turn the ball over three times in the fourth quarter and expect to win.
We take over at our 1 yard line after a brilliant punt – and we are in trouble now. We have to punt from our 20, and are now approaching the two minute warning. The defense holds, and we get one last shot – from our 27 with 2:17 remaining, and no time outs.
We face third and 9, and Houston decides to air it out. He overthrows the pass, but Causey is manhandled downfield, and we get the flag. With 1:33 left, we take over at the Baltimore 24 yard line, trailing by six points. Houston zips a pass to Zach Blair, who gets inside the ten, to the 7 yard line. First and goal.
A pass to Causey is incomplete, but we go right back to the same play – and Causey gets separation this time, and brings it in! We nail the PAT, and it’s Cleveland 21, Baltimore 20 with a minute to play. Unbelievable.
The defense, as it has the whole second half, plays over its head and are practically impenetrable. We force fourth and ten from the 20, and then get a sack to turn it over. That cinches the one point win – what a way to advance.
Meanwhile, across the nation, San Francisco dismantled Atlanta to get to the NFC Championship. They are looking like a juggernaut.
AFC Championship: Houston (13-4) at Cleveland (16-1)
We played Houston before, and they pushed us to overtime. Since then they have been a bit wobbly – but looked good last week in the playoffs. Their offense is mostly QB Kim Roux, who led them to a title four seasons ago. They have excellent pass rushers on defense, and force a lot of mistakes.
Marco Clancy is out for this game, so it’s on James Houston to get it done again. We have to reshuffle the defensive line yet again, too – injuries take DE Hendrix out of the playoffs, after a very nice year from him.
The D looks very sharp on the opening series, forcing a quick three and out. We get a short drive mixing up the weapons, and topping off with a flip to Pritchett for the TD. After another defensive stonewall, we get to midfield and then Houston goes deep to Causey for a 49-yard TD and a 14-0 lead. At this point, we have 1010 yards in total offense, and Houston has negative 5.
Houston wakes up, puts things together, and drives for a TD to get back into the game in the early second quarter. Houston hits Sasser to finish off a drive later in the quarter, but Houston converts after getting an interception to get back within a TD by halftime.
In the third quarter, we open with a FG to extend to 24-14. We get our own turnover, and score after a short drive to get ahead by 17. Down the stretch, there is very little drama – we have the game firmly in control, and cruise to a 38-17 win – earning our first Superbowl berth with relative ease.
Superbowl: San Francisco (18-0) vs. Cleveland (17-1)
No real surprise, but here it is. About as titanic as it can be. San Francisco has been outstanding all season, and Cleveland has overcome great adversity to keep at the top of its game. Both teams come in after impressive wins in the playoff chase, and the oddsmakers make this game a push. Fantastic.
San Francisco’s QB Donald Schultz has been battling a nagging injury – he sat out last week, yielding to Tyrone Glover (a former Brown). We’ll see what happens this week, but we expect to see Schultz. We will also prepare for RB Daniel Newman, who still resides pretty highly on the Cleveland career rushing leaders. WR A.J. Ralston is annually among the league’s fastest men – and he is a serious threat outside. Defensively, they are banged up in the secondary, but good overall. They allowed fewer points than we did.
Marco Clancy is listed as probable, and he will get the call for the big game. Houston will be ready to go, but he is clearly prone to the big mistake – and I don’t think we can afford that against this team. We’ll try to go with Clancy, and will hope for fairly error-free football – the best ticket to a win here.
Bettors everywhere rejoice as Cleveland wins the toss, and opt to receive. On our first play, we pass to Blair – but he gets absolutely drilled and misses the ball. About the last people I can afford to lose are the receivers – we basically only have three healthy guys to play wideout. We are forced to punt, and SF gets their first possession.
SF, behind Tyrone Glover, moves to about midfield, and then on a third down they hit a long pass to get down inside our 10 yard line. Big series, as they get to our one yard line. A penalty pushes them back, but they decide to go for a fake field goal from the six:
Code:
Offense: Field Goal Formation.
They fake the field goal.
SFO 30 Potts ran around left end for 5 yards.
Tackled by CLE 20 Eskridge, assisted by CLE 91 DiGiacomo.
The ball goes over on downs.
Huge play by the rookie safety and the veteran linebacker, and they save the big play. We take over from the one yard line – we’ll take it, of course. We have to punt from our five, but at least it’s still scoreless. San Fran takes advantage of the good field position, and gets in place for a real field goal – and they take the 3-0 lead.
Into the second quarter, we face a third and long, and go for a quick hitter – which gets picked off by SF corner Hamilton, who hauls it all the way back with a 47 yard return for the score. San Fran takes advantage of another short field – and punt us down to our one yard line – where we start a drive for the second time in this game. They get a punt, and in three plays are in for a score – Ralston streaks by our secondary to get the 17-yard scoring pass. 17-0 San Francisco, and they can taste the perfect season already.
We are just unable to do much of anything against their defense. It doesn’t look to promising – we simply need a big play to get things going.
San Francisco has it in their territory, facing a third down. Glover hits a short pass, and Ricky DiGiacomo makes a huge hit on the crossing receiver, who coughs up the ball. CB Maxwell picks up the free ball, and find open field for a 31 yard score. The defense comes up big, and we are on the board!
San Fran drives for a kick attempt, but after a bad snap, they botch it – and we make it to the half down 10 points. We’re not playing well, but we aren’t out of this one yet.
Every SF possession puts pressure on us, and we are lucky to get away with a midfield stopper and a turnover in the first two of the second half. We eventually push them back to their own 1 yard line – and our defense pins its ears back, smelling opportunity to make something happen again. We can’t get a turnover or big sack, but do force the punt – and our offense takes over near midfield, early in the fourth quarter.
We face 4th and 1 at their 45 – tough call. We punt, and hope to keep the field position in our advantage – but we do need two scores, at least. A nice 77 yard drive, culminating in a FG, pushes them up 20-7. It’s very tough to see us getting back in this one - with under 6 minutes to play, we have yet to mount a bona fide drive thus far in the game at all.
Jump back! The Browns suddenly push right down the field, with short passes and quick outs, and set up a quick plunge from Kendrick Ramsey to get on the board with 2:58 remaining, and three time outs. I think we can even execute a regular kickoff, and still have a shot here.
The defense holds after one quick first down, and we get the punt at our 30 with 2:05 remaining. This is quite a lot like the Baltimore game – we trail 20-14, with two minutes to get a final score to go ahead. However, the San Francisco defense has bee the toughest to score on in the entire league – so this is a pretty tall order.
Clancy is undeterred, and hits Blair right away for 15 yards on the first play of the possession. However, three incomplete passes put us in a tough fourth and 10 position at our ofn 45 – this is the game right here, if we don’t convert it. Clancy’s pass falls harmlessly to the ground, but the 49er defender just lays out Causey on the play – and draws the flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. A huge penalty, and we are kept alive. Controversy is bound to ensue everywhere.
Clancy decides to try to grab for it all, and throws deep for Sasser. But at the 6 yard line, it’s the 49er defender who comes down with it, and it seems the threat is ended. Tyrong Glover assumes the victory position, and they run out the clock to secure the win, and top off their undefeated season. All hail San Francisco, the champions!
Season Wrap-up
Code:
2012 Awards List
Award Player Team
Player of the Year Kim Roux HOU
Front Office Bowl MVP Tyrone Glover SFO
Coach of the Year Not Yet Awarded
Legend of the Game Not Yet Awarded
Offensive Player of the Year Kim Roux HOU
Defensive Player of the Year Leon Coughlin GBY
Offensive Rookie of the Year Lamar Donnelly MIN
Defensive Rookie of the Year Jim Heinrich DAL
All-League First-String Quarterback Kim Roux HOU
All-League First-String Running Back Louie Robbins CAR
All-League First-String Fullback Eric Leverson PIT
**All-League First-String Tight End Jonathan Holmes CLE
All-League First-String Wide Receiver Toby Flake JAX
All-League First-String Wide Receiver King Brame PHI
All-League First-String Center Rob McCardell JAX
All-League First-String Offensive Guard August Dempsey SFO
All-League First-String Offensive Guard Joe Foster WAS
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Kenneth Rankins NYJ
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Dave Gaylor BAL
All-League First-String Punter Duane Stokes OAK
All-League First-String Kicker Shannon Morton SFO
All-League First-String Defensive End Brian Kavanagh HOU
All-League First-String Defensive End Vance Plott NYJ
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Cary Drake CHI
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Desmond Shirk MIA
All-League First-String Inside Linebacker Bernard Manzo KCY
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker Leon Coughlin GBY
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker Randall Halbert ATL
All-League First-String Cornerback Nathanial Stiles TBY
All-League First-String Cornerback Vincent Seals SEA
All-League First-String Safety Tony Dancy CHI
All-League First-String Safety Tyrell Boone DAL
All-League Second-String Quarterback Jarod Russell NOS
All-League Second-String Running Back Dexter Carr NYJ
All-League Second-String Fullback Michael Potts SFO
All-League Second-String Tight End Marco McCleon WAS
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Dan Doyle KCY
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Steven Vega GBY
All-League Second-String Center Bo Kirkpatrick NOS
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard Randall Ayotte SEA
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard Rich Fisk PIT
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Luigi Voelker ATL
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Kenneth Craft CHI
All-League Second-String Punter Doug Vandermause ATL
All-League Second-String Kicker Herb Collins CIN
All-League Second-String Defensive End Roosevelt Giles IND
All-League Second-String Defensive End Casey Reynolds BAL
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Weldon Maggard DAL
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Corwin Cunningham NYJ
**All-League Second-String Inside Linebacker Curtis Davis CLE
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Donovan Rodas SEA
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Robbie Wilkinson BAL
All-League Second-String Cornerback Bryan Long CAR
All-League Second-String Cornerback Chris Latham OAK
All-League Second-String Safety Thomas Huth DAL
All-League Second-String Safety Henry Menefee DET
League's Fastest Man Ed McDonald DAL
League's Strongest Man Stan Jones CHI
TE Jonathan Holmes is a major part of this offense – he only started 10 games, and still earned first team honors. If he could stay healthy, he’d be a holy terror. What a pleasant surprise we got from LB Curtis Davis – now we have to decide how to fit together our LB situation going forward, especially as MLB Cedric Goodwin continues to break down.