HFL: New England Patriots, 1970

[Passacaglia]

This is the start of my dynasty for my HFL team, the New England Patriots!

The address for the web site is hfl.majecc.net.

From the first newsletter:

HFL Opens Its Doors

"The past is yet to Come"
After four years of competition in the Super Bowl, the country's top two football leagues, the AFL and the NFL, have merged together. Leaders of both leagues agreed to commemmorate this historic occasion by naming their new league the HFL, or Historic Football League.

Initially, the merge seemed to go smoothly, but as time wore on, different teams from both leagues kept raising problems with it. Among them are the fact that the NFL had 16 teams, while the AFL had only 10. Also, even though the AFL won the last two Super Bowls, it was generally thought that the NFL teams were stronger, creating a disparity.

To even the playing field, some teams were moved from the old NFL to the new AFC, American Football Conference. These teams are the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Colts. Also, each conference received new teams. The AFC added the Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as a second team in Baltimore, the Ravens, and a second team in Houston, the Texans. The NFC, National Football Conference, added the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Carolina Panthers.

This caused even more problems, as the six added teams wrote up rosters showing them to be extremely uncompetitive compared to NFL and AFL teams alike. This solution was settled by a dispersal draft, which gave the new teams a fair shake, and showed a sign of goodwill between the AFL and NFL, as each team shared its players with teams from both leagues.

The draft was held in New York, and Tackles were the catch of the day in the first round. In all, 19 tackles were selected. This number completely dwarves the 7 Quarterbacks taken. 5 of the remaining 6 teams chose to shore up their defensive line, with 3 Defensive Ends and 2 Defensive Tackles selected. And the Houston Texans made an unpopluar choice by making a Running Back, 4th year Fran Lynch, the #2 overall pick in the draft. That's a lot of responsibility for Lynch, being not only the only Running Back selected in the first round, but the #2 pick to boot. Also, from the looks of the rest of the first round, he won't have the offensive line to run behind that his opponents will have. The results of the first round follow:

New York Giants -- 12th year LT Forest Gregg
Houston Texans -- 4th year RB Fran Lynch
Denver Broncos -- 8th year LT Pete Perreault
Cincinnati Bengals -- 3rd year RT Rayfield Wright
Baltimore Ravens -- 3rd year LT George Daney
Atlanta Falcons -- 5th year RDE Larry Hand
Buffalo Bills -- 15th year QB Johnny Unitas
Cleveland Browns -- 8th year LT Roger Shoals
Oakland Raiders -- 5th year LT Terry Owens
Kansas City Chiefs -- Rookie QB Ken Stabler
New York Jets -- 4th year LT Doug Crusan
Pittsburgh Steelerts -- 2nd year LT Jim Yarbrough
Minnesota Vikings -- 13th year QB Sonny Jurgensen
Dallas Cowboys -- 2nd year QB Bobby Douglas
Washington Redskins -- 5th year LT Ralph Neely
San Francisco 49ers -- 5th year LT Francis Peay
Seattle Seahawks -- 2nd year LT Vern Emerson
Houston Oilers -- 2nd year RT Malcome Snider
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- Rookie LDT Mark Lomas
New Orleans Saints -- 9th year LT John Brown
St. Louis Cardinals -- 13th year QB Bart Starr
Chicago Bears -- 5th year LT Howard Fest
Baltimore Colts -- 5th year RDT Jerry Inman
New England Patriots -- 2nd year LT Jon Kolb
San Diego Chargers -- 10 year QB Charley Johnson
Miami Dolphins -- Rookie RT Wayne Moore
Green Bay Packers -- 2nd year QB Mike Livingston
Carolina Panthers -- Rookie RDE Sweeney Williams
Los Angeles Rams -- 2nd year LT Angelo Loukas
Jacksonville Jaguars -- 3rd year LDE Willie Holman
Philadelphia Eagles -- Rookie RT Bob Asher
Detroit Lions -- Rookie RT Dennis Nelson
As for the first player selected at each position, the list follows:

QB: Buffalo Bills
15th year Johnny Unitas, 1st round, Pick 7

RB: Houston Texans
4th year Fran Lynch, 1st round, Pick 2

FB: Houston Texans
6th year Cannonball Butler, 8th round, Pick 16

TE: Buffalo Bills
Rookie Roland Moss, 9th round, Pick 19

WR: Buffalo Bills
Rookie George Seymour, 3rd round, Pick 23

C: San Francisco 49ers
3rd year Jan Stenerud5th round, Pick 5

G: Philadelphia Eagles
3rd year Norman Davis, 2nd round, Pick 22

T: New York Giants
12th year Forest Gregg, 1st round, Pick 1

DE: Atlanta Falcons
5th year Larry Hand, 1st round, Pick 6

DT: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Rookie Mark Lomas, 1st round, Pick 19

MLB: Miami Dolphins
Rookie Jim Files, 4th round, Pick 4

OLB: Miami Dolphins
8th year Bill Saul, 5th round, Pick 6

CB: San Diego Chargers
3rd year Joe Tayler, 3rd round, Pick 1

[Passacaglia]

The New England Patriots are ready to take the field, after the dispersal draft and a couple trades! We'll run down the players on the team, by position.

Quarterback
-----------
Our starter will be Wayne Clark, a rookie out of American International. We hope can be our franchise quarterback. The scouts rate him as the 5th best quarterback in the league.. His best traits are his timing, and his ability to read defenses, but his ability to throw the ball on 3rd down, and to run the two-minute offense will be a huge asset as well. Also, in the small time he's been with the team, he's picked up every one of the 18 formations in our offensive package. Our reserves are rated 42, 10th in the league. There's Rick Arrington, another rookie, out of Youngstown State. He'll be our backup quarterback, unless a trade is made. I have to admit that with Arrington in this spot, I consider it to be a weakness. I think we have a good shot at winning the Super Bowl, and even if Clark gets hurt, we could still have that chance with a better backup. But with Arrington, I'm not sure. Anyway, his best traits are his ability to convert the 3rd down attempt, as well as sensing the opposing pass rush. There's Mike Taliaferro, who was a Patriot before, so he knows the team well. The best years are behind Taliaferro, who's played with the Eagles and Jets as well as the Patriots. Taliaferro actually stands a good chance of being inactive for the season, as we have a better kick holder who might get the #3 spot.
Then there's Dean Sullivan, our kick holder. Really, the only other thing to say about him is that he's a rookie (out of Idaho State), so there is a chance he could break out.

Running Back
------------
The starter will be Nick Eddy, in his 3rd year out of Notre Dame, and played with the Lions before. Eddy can do it all -- he can find the holes, he's got breakway speed, and he can power his way inside. Scouts list him as the 3rd best back in the league. Our reserves are rated 60, 9th in the league. There's Cid Edwards, a rookie out of Clemson, who can fill in nicely if needed. He'll make a nice change-of-pace back, because of his elusiveness, and his leadership and intelligence show that he will mentor younger running backs in a few years. Don McCall is the backfield leader, and he gets along well with three of our quarterbacks, as well as Edwards and FB Woodeschick. He'll likely be able to mentor younger backs next year.

Fullback
--------
The starter will be Warren Bankston, in his 2nd year out of Tulane. This guy will be a force blocking -- his strength will make him feared by defenders throughout the league. He'll also be a reliable dump-off option on pass plays. The scouts rate him the 7th best fullback in the league. The backup is Tom Woodeschick, rated as the 3rd best backup fullback in the league. Woodeschick took the time to go over his philosophy of the game with us: "It's a tough game, and the tougher it is, the better I like it. I come from the hard-coal region around Wilkes-Barre. I've always played where it's cold and tough. I enjoy hitting. If I can't evade tacklers, I try to run over them, and there's no greater satisfaction then running over them. I don't mean I like hitting so much that I enjoy being hit -- nobody wants to be knocked into the bleachers -- but you couldn't survive if you don't like contact. There's no place to hide out there." This sounds like a guy who will be a great addition to the team.

Tight End
---------
Jimmy Hester will start, in his 4th year out of North Dakota. Listed somewhere between 8th and 10th by the scouts, he'll probably be used mostly in the passing game as another outlet to Clark. His backup is Billy Truax, in his 7th year out of LSU. He's also best used as a receiver than a blocker. The #3 man is Chris Lynch, a rookie out of Ole Miss. He might be the blocking tight end we want, but it will take a couple years for him to really develop into it. The reserves are rated 63, 10th in the league.

Wide Receiver
-------------
We're starting two rookies here, Walker Gillette at Flanker, and Billy Walik at Split End. The scouts consider them the 2nd best receiver tandem in the league, 2nd only to our division rival Buffalo's set of John Spillis and George Seymour. Gillette is best known for his hands, his ability to get downfield, and to pick up that 3rd down pass. Walik is mostly pure speed, all about getting downfield in a hurry. The #3 man is Harold Jackson, in his 2nd year out of Jackson State. He's also best at getting downfield, making him a dangerous threat in a 3WR situation. At #4, we have Eric Crabtree, in his 5th year out of Pitt. He's best at adjusting to the ball. And the 5th WR, who will probably sit on the sidelines most of the time, is Bake Turner, another guy who was a Patriot before this whole dispersal draft business started. Turner is the receivers' leader, and gets along well with Taliaferro, as well as Billy Walik and Jimmy Hester. Turner will spend most of his time mentoring the rookie starters. The reserves are also rated highly, at 92, tied for 2nd in the league with Buffalo (Cleveland is #1).

Center
------
We're pretty strong at Center, but then again, so is everyone. Our starter is Ed Flanagan, in his 5th year out of Purdue. Flanagan is the 14th best center in the league, and he's pretty balanced between run and pass, but is best known for his strength. The backup is Jim Otto, in his 10th year out of Miami. Otto is the 5th best backup center in the league, and will get serious consideration to fill in as a starting guard. When asked about getting hit in the head, he said: "It sounds funny, but I firmly believe that your head gets in shape like any other part of your body. Early in training camp I always get headaches after practice. My head isn't in shape yet. But later on in the season it's not so bad. I wonder if you can toughen and condition the material around your brain? Anyway, the headaches always go away after a few beers." Keep drinking, Jim.

Guard
-----
The guards might be our biggest weakness in the starting lineup, rated as the 16th best tandem in the league. On the left, we have Cornelius Johnson, who has decent technique, but lacks strength. On the right, we have Dave Middendorf, who is also pretty balanced between run and pass, and Len Johnson, a rookie out of St. Cloud State with a lot of strength, but a lot to learn in his technique. It's hard to tell which two (or one, if Otto moves to guard) will start -- currently, Middendorf is best, followed by Cornelius Johnson, with Len Johnson directly behind. But the future potential points to Len Johnson as being better than all of them. The 4th guard is Len St. Jean, the leader of the offensive line. He gets along with Taliaferro, Flanagan, Len Johnson, and tackles Jon Kolb and Art Laster, but has clashed a bit with John Brown, a tackle recently acquired via trade with New Orleans.

Tackle
------
Probably our biggest strength, thanks to a trade with New Orleans. We gave up LB Gus Otto and a 5th round pick, and in return we received 9th year tackle John Brown, who reported to our mini-camp better than we expected. Complementing him is Jon Kolb, in his 2nd year out of Oklahoma State. Both guys like pass blocking more than run blocking, but Kolb shows more balance than Brown. Together, these guys are considered the best set of tackles in the league, tied with Denver's Pete Perreault and Winston Hill. Our reserves are rated 66, tied for 6th in the league. We've got Art Laster, a rookie out of Western Maryland, who can be a good run blocker in this league someday. There's also Jim Snowden, mostly a pass blocker.

Punter and Kicker
-----------------
We've got the second best punter in the league, Paul Maguire. Since our kicker, Junior Atkins, doesn't look so hot, we're going to try to let Maguir handle all the kicking duties.

Defensive End
-------------
The starters here are 3rd year Claude Humphrey, and his mentor, 7th year Chuck Walker. Both of these guys are pretty old-school, watching for the run first, but Humphrey is the guy who really packs a whallop. Together, they rate as the 3rd best pair of defensive ends. Humphrey took a little time to talk to his about his favorite subject -- talking. "I'll talk to the quarterbacks. They like to watch and think after a play, making mental notes of who might be open or what play might work next time. If you can make him talk to you, he can't concentrate in his play calling. When we played San Francisco I talked to Brodie all day, and finally I got him talking back. He tried not to listen, but I got behind him and yelled his name as loud as I could. And after each play I'd introduce myself -- 'Claude Humphrey, No. 87.'" Hey, as long as he's having fun. Walker is alos the leader of the front seven, getting along with DE Rolf Kreuger, DT Dan Goich and Derrick Hughes, and LB Don Ielusic. The reserves are rated 68, also 3rd in the league. There's Rolf Krueger, in his 2nd year out of Texas A&M, and Bill Belk, in his 3rd year out of Western Maryland.

Defensive Tackle
----------------
If the roster stays as it is now, we'll run a 4-3, starting both 2nd year Dan Goich and 3rd year Bob Tatarek. Both guys are strong, but Tatarek will focus on stopping the run, while Goich will press toward the quarterback. These two are tied for the 3rd best pair of defensive tackles in the league. The reserves are 2nd year Joel Righetti, and rookie Derrick Hughes out of Arkansas State.

Middle Linebacker
-----------------
The definite starter is rookie Carter Campbell, a rookie out of Weber State. He's best at stuffing the run, but he can also bring the pass rush. In our opinion, he's the 5th best middle linebacker in the league. The backup is rookie Don Ielusic.

Outside Linebacker
------------------
We've pretty much got the starters set here, but if we trade one, we might move Campbell to the outside. Grady Allen is in his 3rd year, and is best known for his play diagnosis and pass rush technique. Ray Nitschke will start on the weak side, and will be used mainly for his ability to get to the quarterback. These guys are tied for the 7th best pair of outside linebackers in the game. The reserves are rated 75, 3rd in the league. The primary backup is Wayne Walker, who will spend most of his time on the sidelines mentoring the younger guys. He can play, though, and will be able to come in anywhere if there's an injury, thanks mainly to his ability to diagnose plays. Ray May could have been a starter, but he was traded for CB Nemiah Wilson. To fill the gap, Rufus Jaconetty swtiches from inside linebacker, but will probably get little playing time, anyway.

Cornerback
----------
The scouts rate our starters 5th in the league. We start out with 2nd year Rudy Redmond, then we include Nemiah Wilson, brought in on a trade from San Diego. The reserves are Billy Thompson and Ted Vactor, as well as Zeke Moore, the secondary leader. They're reated 74, tied for 2nd in the league.

Safety
------
We've got 4th year Bobby Williams starting, as well as 10th year vet Johnny Robinson, fresh from winning the Super Bowl for Kansas City. Williams likes the man to man defense, while Robinson likes the bump and run. They're tied for the 11th best pair of safeties in the league. The backups are 7th best in the league, and include Jim Nettles, who can also play good man defense, and rookie Will Innis out of Air Force, a punishing hitter.

And that's the team! They're ready to get to the regular season, but first, we have to wade through the preseason. A recap of the first game, against the Giants, is up next!

[Passacaglia]

Our starters for the game:

QB -- 2nd string Rick Arrington
RB -- 2nd string Cid Edwards
FB -- Starter Warren Bankston
TE -- Starter Jimmy Hester
SE -- #3 WR Harold Jackson
FL -- #6 WR Jim Beirne

LT -- Starter John Brown
LG -- Starter Dave Middendorf
C -- Starter Ed Flanagan
RG -- Possible Starter Len Johnson
RT -- #3 or #4 T Art Laster

Paul Maguire handled punts, field goals, and kickoffs.

LDE -- Starter Claude Humphrey
LDT -- #3 DT Joel Righetti
RDT -- Starter Dan Goich
RDE -- #3 DE Rolf Krueger

SLB -- #4 OLB Rufus Jaconetty
MLB -- #2 MLB Don Ielusic
WLB -- Starter Grady Allen

CB -- Starter Nemiah Wilson
CB -- #6 CB Marcus Burroughs
SS -- Starter Bobby Williams
FS -- Starter Johnny Robinson

The Giants appear to have rested 9 likely starters, while we've rested 10. Should be an interesting game.

[Passacaglia]

And here we are, our first game, and it's at home, too! 67,000 folks showed up for the event, nearly filling our 68,000 capacity stadium. It may be just preseason, but people are certainly excited to see what this team can do! The weather's beautiful today, too -- 84 degrees and fair. Now, let's get to the game!

We win the toss and receive. Bake Turner gets us a nice kick return, and we start out at our 39 yard line. And Rick Arrington takes the field. His first pass is complete to TE Jimmy Hester for 17 yards! He completes another pass for 10 yards three plays later, on 3rd and 5, to his FB, Warren Bankston, but on the next 3rd down, 3rd and 7, he scrambles, picking up only 4. Paul Maguire misses the 39 yard field goal (oops), and it's still 0-0. The Giants take over at our 29. They've put their starter, Randy Johnson, in the game, and he throws 2 for 3 for 18 yards, as well as a 19 yard pass interference call, but his drive ends and 3rd and 3, when he's sacked by Humphrey and Righetti for an 8 yard loss. They try a 41 yard field goal, but it's missed. We take over at the 31. Arrington throws his first incomplete pass on 2nd and 7, but he makes up for it with a 3rd and 7 pass to Harold Jackson. He ended the drive 4 for 7, for 24 yards, but his 7 yard pass play to backup FB Tom Woodeschick was not even to convert the 3rd and 8.

As the 2nd quarter starts, Maguire attempts the 36 yard field goal...and it's good! 3-0 New England! Maguire's kickoff is pretty bad, caught at the 17, and returned to the 29. Johnson gets off one 17 yard pass, then their drive ends three plays later. Julian Fagan punts it, downed at our 5 yard line. On 2nd and 7, Arrington hits Harold Jackson for 22 yards! At this point, his day is done, and Mike Taliaferro comes in. He drops back to pass on his first play, and it's incomplete to his former Patriot teammate Bake Turner. He goes back to the air, this time to Jackson, also incomplete. But on 3rd and 10, he hits Turner for 15 yards! A false start penalty and two short runs bring up 3rd and 12, where Taliaferro throws it to Jackson, who is tackled just shy of the marker, 11 yards downfield. On 4th and 1, we give it to Bankston up the middle, who picks up the yard. Close one. After two more run plays, Taliaferro throws incomplete on 3rd and 6. Maguire punts from the New York 41, and it's a touchback. The Giants actually lose 8 yards on their next drive, thanks to a clipping penalty that sets them back 12 yards (half the distance). They punt from the 12, and Mrcus Burroughs returns it 2 yards to our 45. But there's an illegal block, and we start at our 29. Then the offense clicked. Cid Edwards had carries of 7 and 29 yards, and Taliaferro threw a 19 yarder to Beirne and a 10 yarder to Crabtree, but once we got to 1st and goal at the 9, Taliaferro threw two incomplete passes and Edwards ran for a loss of a yard. Maguie hit the 27 yard field goal, and we lead 6-0! Randy Johnson strings together a couple completions for the Giants, but they only got to around midfield by the time the clock ran out to end the first half.

The Giants start out the second half with the ball at their own 22. And Chuck Dunlap, who threw the last two passes (incomplete) of the first half, comes in for the second half as well. On his first play of this half, he hits WR Kent Kramer for 16 yards. He ends the drive 4 for 5 for 37 yards, but he falters on 3rd and goal at the 4, throwing to WR Jonathan Manning for only 2 yards. Oh! But on 4th and 2, he goes BACK to Manning, for 2 more yards and a touchdown! The Giants lead, 7-6! Cid Edwards returns the kick 15 yards to the 28. Second play of the drive, Taliaferro launches one downfield to WR Eric Crabtree for 37 yards! Taliaferro threw 3 for 3 for 58 yards on the drive, but we get the touchdown on the 4th play, a 9 yard scamper by Edwards. 13-7 New England. The Giants return the ball to the 29, and Dunlap is a little shaken. He goes 0-2, and the Giants punt after three plays. Crabtree loses a yard on the return, and we start at the 27. Taliaferro throws incomplete on first down, and Don McCall is down with a pulled groin. He'll only miss one week. Meanwhile, back to the field, Beirne catches a 22 yard pass! We end up with 4th and 1 at the New York 42, but we punt it. Touchback. Again, Dunlap is shaken -- on his first pass attempt, 2nd and 7, Goich drops him for a 6 yard loss. 3rd and 13, one quarter left.

Dunlap gets the pass of to Kramer, but he gets just 5 yards. The Giants punt from their 22, and it's blocked by DT Joel Righetti! He picks it up at the 10, and returns it 22 yards for the touchdown! Now, um, lemme check my math here...hmm. I'll assume he just kept running past the goal line, until his teammates caught up to him to stop him and congratulate him. We bring the offense out for a 2 point conversion (I always hate having the offense try a 2 point conversion after the defense or special teams have scored -- let them try it when they're in a rhythm, not when they're just coming onto the field), and we miss it -- incomplete pass. 19-7 New England. The Giants return the kick to the 23, and that's where they'll start trying to get back in this thing. RB B.J. Imlay gets them one first down, running for 8, then 5, but then Dunlap goes to the air, hitting WR Pat Sudstill for 26 yards. Oh, but there's a flag! Illegal formation, against the Giants. 1st and 15. Dunlap goes to Sudstill again, but this time, DE Claude Walker is in his face, hurrying him. They hand it to FB Les Shy for 3 yards, then Dunlap goes back to the air, incomplete to Manning -- this time Humphrey was in his face. They punt from the 34, and it goes 25 yards. Eric Crabtree returns it 1 yard to our 42. 11:46 left. And Cid Edwards busts one for 16 yards to start. Jeff Jordan picks up a yard, then Edwards gets one more, and Taliaferro converts the 3rd and 8 on a 12 yard pass to Jackson. Edwards runs for 6 more yard, then Jordan loses a yard, then picks up 3 on 3rd and 5. Maguire hits a 37 yard field goal. He's 3 for 4 now. 22-7 New England. Imlay returns the ball to the 16 for New York. 6:44 left. Dunlap throws a nice pass to Manning for 14 yards. There's holding, then Dunlap runs for 3 yards, but then he throws for 24 to Manning! Imlay picks up a yard, then Dunlap throws two incomplete passes to Studstill -- hurried once by Humphrey, once by Krueger. The punt from the New York 48 is a touchback. 4:52 left. Edwards picks up a couple yards, and John Brown, our starting tackle, goes down. He's also got a pulled groin -- one week of missed action. We give it to Edwards around the left tackle, and he loses 3 yards. Uh, probably not the best idea to run right behind either the guy who just got injured, or the guy who just came on the field as a replacement. On 3rd and 11, Taliaferro's pass is incomplete. I know he's just 3rd string, but if anyone would like to trade me a QB with a shorter name, that'd be great, thanks. Maguire boots a 62 yard punt, and it's returned 2 yards! And there's a fumble! Backup FB Woodeschick lays the hit, and starting FB Bankston scoops up the ball, running 10 yards until he's brought down at the New York 11. 3:08 left. Jordan picks up 3, then Edwards picks up 1, then Taliaferro spots a hole in the middle of the defense and charges at it, running for 7 yards and the touchdown! 29-7 New England! Imlay gets a nice return this time, to the 36. 1:52 left. Dunlap throws incomplete, hurried by Humphrey, then he scrambles for 4 yards, and there's a fumble! FS Johnny Robinson lays the hit, and DE Bill Belk falls on the ball at the New York 40. Jordan runs twice for 3 yards, then Edwards loses a yard. And he fumbles! But Bake Turner falls on it. 4th and 5 at the 35, we punt, and Maguire buries them at the 3. 16 seconds left, and two plays later, the game is over!

[Passacaglia]

Stats!

I'm pretty pleased with both my passers. Arrington threw 7/10, for 73 yards, and Taliaferro threw 9/16 for 147. He doesn't need to be as good, anyway, since he's just the #3 guy. I'd like to have seen Arrington get more playing time, but that's not a huge deal. No touchdowns, but no interceptions, either.

Cid Edwards had a pretty good game -- 17 carries for 81 yards and a TD. My guess is he would have had 100 yards if this were a regular season game, and he didn't have to split carries. Jeff Jordan did all right -- 11 carries for 38 yards. And Don McCall was doing pretty nasty before the injury -- 4 carries for 7 yards. Almost all of our running came up the middle, too. 27 out of 37. I don't remember wanting to do that.

Looks like the QBs spread the ball around pretty well, but Harold Jackson showed he has the stuff to be a quality third WR. 5 catches for 68 yards. Not a huge game, but I'm not expecting much, either.

Paul Maguire started out poorly, missing his first field goal, but ended up hitting his next 3. He's really competing to win that kicking position.

Our defensive MVP has to be Dan Goich. 6 tackles, 2 assists, and a sack. Grady Allen added 7 tackles, in only 28 plays (Goich was in for 43).

I'm definitely pleased with our red zone play on both sides of the ball. In our 4 trips, we had 2 TDs and 2 FGs, and New York had 2 trips, coming away with 1 TD.

Dunlap threw 20 passes for New York. We only sacked him once, but we did manage 7 hurries. Johnson was little tougher to hurry, but we got near him twice out of 9 attempts. The man responsible was Claude Humphrey, who had 5 hurries, as well as half a sack.

Our O-line converted 10 out of 36 key run blocks, almost 30%. The best was Len Johnson, who made 2 out of 3. He's looking like he'll fit in the starting lineup for sure so far. Ed Flanagan was no help -- we ran his way 8 times, and he didn't get one key block. Jim Otto is sitting on the bench, waiting. It was only 26 pass attempts, but the line allowed no sacks. There were 4 hurries, though, and one pass blocked at the line. Flanagan gets props for his pass blocking, though, as he was the only one out there for every pass play.

[Passacaglia]

Here's a note from Mr. X, the HFL's celebrated muckraker-reviewer:

AFC East

This isn't even fair. Both Buffalo and Miami have what some may consider playoff quality teams, but don't be surprised if neither of them make the playoffs. Seriously, the league should put New England in their own Conference and let them play the winner of the Super Bowl at the end of the season.

There looks to be no stopping the Patriots. Left tackle Jon Kolb is one of the top ten players in the league, but that's not even a big part of the reason they're as good as they are. Even without Kolb they're probably the best football team in decades, and probably for decades to come. At every single position they have quality players. Good luck trying to find a weakness among this bunch.

Mr. X went on to predict that the Patriots would win the Super Bowl, defeating the Los Angeles Rams. VPI97, General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, who Mr. X predicted would lose the AFC Championship Game to us, is rumoured to have guaranteed a victory for the Browns, if they face the Patriots in the playoffs. I suppose Week 8 will be a good preview for that. Maybe when the league decides to follow Mr. X's advice and put us in our own conference and let us play the winner of the Super Bowl at the end of the season, Cleveland will have a better shot.

[Passacaglia]

Our next game is on the road, at Washington, who lost 13-10 to Carolina last week. Here's our projected starting lineup:

QB -- 2nd string Rick Arrington
RB -- 2nd string Cid Edwards
FB -- Starter Warren Bankston
TE -- Starter Jimmy Hester
SE -- #3 WR Harold Jackson
FL -- #3 WR Eric Crabtree

LT -- #3 or #4 T Jim Snowden
LG -- Starter Dave Middendorf
C -- Starter Ed Flanagan
RG -- Possible Starter Len Johnson
RT -- #3 or #4 T Art Laster

Paul Maguire handled punts.
Junior Atkins will do field goals and kickoffs.

LDE -- Starter Claude Humphrey
LDT -- #3 DT Joel Righetti
RDT -- Starter Dan Goich
RDE -- #3 DE Rolf Krueger

SLB -- #4 OLB Rufus Jaconetty
MLB -- #2 MLB Don Ielusic
WLB -- Starter Grady Allen

CB -- Starter Nemiah Wilson
CB -- #6 CB Marcus Burroughs
SS -- Starter Bobby Williams
FS -- Starter Johnny Robinson

[Passacaglia]

All right! Time for Preseason Week 2, in Washington! It looks like the Redskins have started 6 of their starters on offense, and 4 on defense. Which is interesting, because I did almost the opposite -- 4 or 5 on offense, and 6 on defense. Should be a good game.

The Skins win the toss and receive, and as a result of a holding call, they start at their own 3 yard line! They manage 9 yards on 3 plays, and are forced to punt. Our safety, Johnny Robinson, calls a fair catch at midfield, and the Skins are called for fair catch interference! We take over at the Washington 35. Cid Edwards gets us a nice 7 yard run to start out, but Rick Arrington does nothing with the passing game, throwing one pass incomplete to Hester, and another complete for no gain. Atkins hits the 45 yard field goal -- he must know Maguire is after his job -- and we take a 3-0 lead. This time the Skins get some field position on the return, out to the 32 yard line. And their offense looks alive, making big plays left and right, until a holding penalty nullifies a 12 yard run, and they can't convert on 2nd and 20. Ransom misses the 46 yard field goal, and we take over at the 36. Arrington throws two incomplete passes before finally throwing his first completion for positive yards, a 14 yarder to Harold Jackson. But Arrington must have led him too far, as he is injured on the play! He's only probable, though, and he'll miss only one game of preseason action. Edwards runs for 6 more yards, then Arrington is picked off! Washington takes over at their 32. And the offense goes three and out, stopped on a sack by DE Claude Humphrey and DT Derrick Hughes on 3rd and 4. They punt 34 yards from their 44, and Johnny Robinson returns the ball 48 yards! We get great field position again, at the Washington 30. Edwards loses a yard, then Arrington throws two more incomplete passes. Atkins misses the 48 yard field goal. The Washington offense manages one first down, but their drive ends at our 39, and they punt, downed at our 5. Arrington is done for the day, and Taliaferro comes in. He hands off a few times, and our regular season starter at RB Nick Eddy sees his first carry in preseason, a 4 yard run up the middle on 2nd and 6. We've got 1st and 10 at our 16, as the quarter ends.

Taliaferro throws an incomplete pass to start the quarter, but Nick Eddy busts one for 20 yards on his 2nd carry. Eddy and Edwards dominate this drive, running down the field, although a 14 yard pass to #3 TE Cris Lynch makes me realize that all three of my multi-player teams have a player named Lynch. Anyway, Taliaferro hits starting TE Jimmy Hester for 4 yards to make the score 10-0 New England. The Redskins get another nice return, to the 31. And the Skins show they can run as well, relying on their backup RB, Jess Phillips, along with #3 or #4 RB, Mercury Morris. In the end, their #3 QB, Broderick Cobb, hits WR Carlton Shepard for a 2 yard TD, to make it a 10-7 game. We get the ball back, and Cid Edwards returns it to the 38. Taliaferro feels the wrath of Bob Lilly on a first down sack, and we don't get any yards after that on this drive. We punt from the 30, for 44 yards, returned to the 27. The Skins get one first down, then punt from their 41, out ouf bounds at our 24. Harold Jackson finds himself back in action, catching a 22 yard pass. But that's the only first down we get, and we punt from midfield, returned 9 yards to the 17, and one more running play ends the half.

We start the second half with the ball, and Edwards returns it to the 33. On 2nd and 8, Nick Eddy catches a pass for 8 yards, and fumbles! That jerk. It's recovered by Washington at our 43. And they take advantage of it. From our 12, Cobb completes a pass to WR Wendell Lyon for 5 yards, and he fumbles it, but it's picked up by TE Will Weisenburg, who runs it 7 more yards for the touchdown. Washington leads 14-10. Edwards returns the ball again, this time to the 27. Taliaferro hits some big ones, but misses a lot, including three straight at the Washington 7, and Atkins hits a 24 yard field goal to make it 14-13. Washington starts out at the 31, and goes three and out, punting from the 40. No, wait! They go for it, and run for 2 yards to get the first down! But, thanks to a false start penalty, they end up punting from the 41, just one yard further than last time. It's downed at the 21. We get one nice pass play, but we're looking at 3rd and 15 from our 49, as the final quarter begins. Also, another WR went down -- this time it was Bake Turner, on a false start. He's out with a strained elbow tendon, and will miss the rest of preseason, but he'll most likely be on the inactive roster anyway -- he's really just here to teach the young starters the system (Turner is one of three former Patriots still on the team after the dispersal draft).

We end up falling one yard short of the first down, as Taliaferro hits WR Eric Crabtree for 14 yards. We punt from the Washington 37, and it's a touchback. The Skins take over at the 20, with 14:16 left. Cobb throws incomplete, there's encroachment, Watkins runs for 2 yards, then there's encroachment again to give them the first down. Cobb throws incomplete, Watkins runs for no gain, then Cobb throws to Hayes for 11 yards. Cobb throws incomplete, then passes to Shaw for 12 yards. Watkins runs for 1 yard, then Cobb is intercepted by Nemiah Wilson, our new starting CB, who arrived just in time for preseason from San Diego! He picks it off at the 29 and is tackled there, 10:08 left. Taliaferro throws incomplete, Edwards runs for 3 yards, then Crabtree catches an 11 yard pass. Bankston runs for 3 yards, then Edward for no gain -- but there's an unsportsmanlike conduct flag against Washington! Nick Eddy comes in, and picks up 24 yards! We bring in our 4th QB and kick holder, Dean Sullivan, and he runs a bootleg for 10 yards. #4 RB Jeff Jordan picks up a yard, then Eddy runs for 3 yards, then Eddy again, for 1 more yard and a touchdown! We go for 2, but Cid Edwards run fails. 19-14 New England! Washington takes over at their 22, with 4:55 left. And they hit a pass to Shepard for 50 yards! But Cobb throws three straight incomplete passes, and they've got 4th and 10 at our 28. Ransom hits a 45 yard field goal, and the game is now 19-17. Beirne gets us a good return, out to our 37, 3:41 left. Now we try to run out the clock. Jordan gains 3, Edwards gets 0, then Jordan again for 9. Jordan runs for 11. Eddy for 6, then Jordan for 5. Eddy picks up 5 more, then Sullivan takes a knee. New England wins a close one, 19-17.

[Passacaglia]

Stats!

I know it's not all the starters here, but I'm really interested to see what *type* of team we've got here. Especially the offense. We were pretty balanced, throwing 36 times, and running 30. However, it's interesting that we averaged more yards per rush then per pass. Of course, Nick Eddy got some playing time at RB, but Wayne Clark was on the inactive roster, so that might have had a lot to do with it.

Speaking of Nick Eddy, he showed his stuff a little today. He did fumble, which is something he'll have to work on, but he had a nice day rushing, 9 carries for 66 yards and 1 TD. The rest of the RB group did well, especially when it was late in the game and the defense was expecting the run.

Rick Arrington had an awful game -- 2/8, 14 yards, 1 INT. Another game like that, and I'll wonder if he's really the best choice as a 2nd string QB. I'd started to reject the idea of trading for a better backup, but I might have to rethink that. Taliaferro did well, though -- 15/28, 161 yards, 1 TD. Maybe he can be the backup.

For the receivers, the ball was pretty spread out, but Eric Crabtree had the most success, with 4 catches for 46 yards.

The O-line did a really nice job run blocking today -- 14 key blocks out of 30 opps. Again, Len Johnson was the man, blocking 5/7. Flanagan improved a little, blocking 1/3. FB Warren Bankston and G Cornelius Johnson also blocked 1/1, hitting the block the one time they were asked to. Only one sak was allowed, by RT Art Laster.

Our defense did not do the job of getting to the quarterback like they did last week. We only managed one sack and one hurry. Pathetic. Meanwhile, the Skins had 1 sack and 7 hurries, all against Taliaferro. He was hurried more often last week, too. I wonder if that means something. Their sense rush stats aren't that different, either -- Arrington is 64, Taliaferro is 55. FYI, Wayne Clark is 56.

CB Nemiah Wilson deserves the MVP award for the defense. The man he covered never caught a pass (although, he was the top CB, and in every gameplan chart, supposed to cover the top WR, but the top WR caught 2 passes -- maybe those came in the ten pass plays Wilson wasn't in). Also, he broke up two passes and intercepted another.

Ray Nitschke also had a nice game, playing a little bit as a backup. He came in for 21 plays, and made the tackle on 5 of them.

Our next game takes us on the road again, to Philadelphia. The Eagles are considered to be one of the worst teams in the league. The scouts rank their roster as tied for 30th in the league, and Mr. X predicts that they will end up last in the NFC East. No matter though, it should be a fun game!

[Passacaglia]

A few changes to the starting lineup. Since a couple receivers are out, we're going to take this opportunity to bring in our starters, and give them some experience. Oh, and since Don McCall is healthy, Nick Eddy can go back to the inactive roster.

QB -- 2nd string Rick Arrington
RB -- 2nd string Cid Edwards
FB -- Starter Warren Bankston
TE -- Starter Jimmy Hester
SE -- Starter Walker Gillette
FL -- Starter Billy Walik

LT -- #3 or #4 T Jim Snowden
LG -- Starter Dave Middendorf
C -- Starter Ed Flanagan
RG -- Starter Len Johnson
RT -- #3 or #4 T Art Laster

Paul Maguire handled punts.
Junior Atkins will do field goals and kickoffs.

LDE -- Starter Claude Humphrey
LDT -- #3 DT Joel Righetti
RDT -- Starter Dan Goich
RDE -- #3 DE Rolf Krueger

SLB -- #4 OLB Rufus Jaconetty
MLB -- #2 MLB Don Ielusic
WLB -- Starter Grady Allen

CB -- Starter Nemiah Wilson
CB -- #6 CB Marcus Burroughs
SS -- Starter Bobby Williams
FS -- Starter Johnny Robinson

We start 7 starters on offense, and 6 on defense. Philadelphia starts 1 starter on offense, and 4 on defense. We'd better blow them out.

So I'm getting ready for our game in Philadelphia, when my scout comes in to my office. He tells me that he's been dealing with some experts using this thing called a computer. It's supposed to help him scout players more effectively or something. Anyway, he told me that these computer guys ran information on our starting lineup and gameplan through the computer, as well as information on the Eagles. They predicted that we would win the game, 10-3. While I agree with that appraisal, I can't imagine that even with Rick Arrington starting again, that we only score 10 points with Walik and Gillette helping him out! And besides, using computers to simulate football games? What kind of crazy idea is that? :rolleyes:

[Passacaglia]

Here we are in Philadelphia, for preseason Game 3!

We win the toass and receive, taken by Gillette to the 31. Arrington's first pass is dropped by Walik. And here I was expecting Arrington's poor play to be helped by these new receivers. Yeesh. Walik makes up for it, though, by catching a 6 yard pass on 3rd and 5 to give us a first down. Then he catches a 22 yard pass! Now it's Gillette's turn -- he catches a 12 yard pass, then a 24 yard TD! Atkins misses the extra point, however, and we lead 6-0. The Eagles take over at the 24. And on the first play, Claude Humphrey runs around his man, for a 16 yard sack! The Eagles end up punting from their 17, out of bounds at our 43. We drive down the field, and our drive ends with a 2 yard TD run by Cid Edwards. Atkins misses the extra point AGAIN. 12-0 New England. The Eagles get a nice return to their 47 yard line. But again, a sack on the first play, this time by a blitzing Grady Allen, for 9 yards. Then on 2nd down, an interception by Rufus Jaconetty! He returns it to the Philadelphia 23. Our drive stalls at the 17, and Atkins, who can't make an extra point, somehow hits a 34 yard field goal. 15-0 New England. And again, another good return, out to the 35. The Eagles avoid the sack by running on first down, but their 3rd and 9 pass only nets 8 yards. But on 4th and 1 from their 44, they go for it! And they get it on a 4 yard run! They've got 1st and 10 at their 48 as the quarter ends.

And they start the 2nd quarter with a 36 yard run! But even with 1st and goal at the 5, we stop them as a 3rd and goal pass from the 2 falls incomplete. They kick a 19 yard field goal to cut our lead to 15-3. And Beirne is really trying to hang on to his starting job -- he returns the kick to our 44 yard line. We get a three and out, but manage to bury the Eagles at their own 7 on the punt. But the only yards the Eagles get is 5 yards from an encroachment call -- the three plays they run are incomplete passes. They punt from the 12, and Johnny Robinson returns it 12 yard to the Philadelphia 43. Our CB, Dana Giannotta, was hurt on the play, but he's only probable for 1 week. We go three and out, and our punt from the 42 is a touchback. On 3rd and 7, we rack up another sack, this one by DE Rolf Kreuger. They punt from the 18, downed at our 46. And Don McCall runs it in from 5 yards, and Atkins actually hits the extra point! 22-3 New England. The Eagles bring the ball out to the 35 yard line. They get to our 25 as time runs down, and miss a 42 yard field goal. 22-3 at the half.

The Eagles start the 2nd half at their 33. They go three and out, and punt from their 38, and we return it to our 31. And we proceed to fumble the ball, giving it to the Eagles at our 33! They get to our 9, and hit a 26 yard field goal, to make it a 22-6 game. Beirne returns the ball to our 22. We're driving down the field, when Arrington is intercepted! Eagles take over at their 18. But we get them back...on 3rd and 8, #3 S Jim Nettles grabs an interception himself, and we get the ball back at our 30. Considering we were at midfield before the interceptions started, we came out all right in that transaction. Taliaferro comes in at QB here. After throwing incomplete on 2nd and 7, he takes the ball himself to pick up 7 yards. His next pass is a 5 yard pass to Walik for a touchdown. Atkins makes the PAT, so he's batting .500 in the category, and we lead 29-6. Eagles take over at their 21. They end up with 4th and 1 at the 30, and they punt. We take over at our 30. On the last play of the quarter, Taliaferro fumbles, and Philadelphia recovers at their 46.

The Eagles take advantage of the fumble by reaching the end zone for the first time. The 2 pt. conversion fails, though. 29-12. Crabtree returns it to the 24, 11:20 left. We run the ball every down, to the 14 yard line, where we settle for a 31 yard field goal. 32-12. Philadelphia takes over at their own 14, 4:55 left. Claude Humphrey gets his 2nd sack, and the Eagles punt from their own 11. Johnny Robinson calls a fair catch at the Philadelphia 49, 4 minutes left. They catch on to our running game, but on 3rd and 12, Taliaferro hits starting TE Jimmy Hester for 18 yards. Our drive stalls at the 26, and Maguire punts it for a touchback. 1:46 left. Flatley catches a 60 yard pass, and steps out of bounds! Talk about too little, too late! Flatley catches a 6 yard pass on 4th and 6 from the 16, then a 9 yard pass on 1st and 10 from the 10, and the game is over. 32-12 New England.

[Passacaglia]

We skip on to the next game, hosting the Chicago Bears!!

Chicago wins the toss and receives, out to their 24 yard line. On the 2nd play, Nemiah Wilson, the CB from San Diego, intercepts the pass at the Chicago 42! An on 3rd and 10 from the 11, Rick Arrington hits Walker Gillette for the touchdown pass! 7-0 New England! The Bears take over at their 34 this time, and end up punting from our 45, out of bounds at the 2. We've got ourselves a hole to dig out of this time. And we don't do a good job. A 3rd and 2 run by Jeff Jordan gets no gain, and we punt from our 10. The Bears take over at our 46. They end up hitting a 39 yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game. We get a return by Beirne to our 34, and take over from there. And another three and out. The Bears take over at their 17. They've got 1st and 10 at their 33 as the 2nd quarter starts.

And they end up punting from midfield, downed at our 10. But there's a flag, and they punt again from their 45. Fair catch at the 10. Right after Arrington hits Billy Walik for 35 yard, he's intercepted. And, Center Ed Flanagan gets a serious injury. The Bears take over at our 31, and end up with a 10 yard TD catch by Ditka. 10-7 Chicago. Arrington stays in there, and hits Walker Gillette for a 37 yard pass, which leads to a 30 yard field goal by Junior Atkins. 10-10. The Bears start from the 27, and have time to get to our 30, but miss the 47 yard field goal.

We start out with a return to our 22. Arrington gets us one first down, then Taliaferro comes in. He gets us nothing, and we punt. Chicago takes over at their 11. They punt from the 17, downed at our 38. And Taliaferro hits Walker Gillette for a 9 yard TD pass! 17-10 New England! The Bears start at their 26, and end up fumbling on a sack at the 22. It's recovered by DT Dan Goich, and returned to the 15! And Don McCall punches it in for a yard. 24-10 New England! The Bears start from the 20, and have 2nd and 11 at their 44 as the final quarter begins.

Their QB Schroeder throws an incomplete pass, then Shivers runs for two yards. They punt from their 46, for a touchback. 14:15 left. Cid Edwards runs for 9 yards, then 3 yards. Edwards picks up 8 more, then McCall gets 5. But there's a flag for illegal shift! Edwards gets 4, then Taliaferro is intercepted! They return the ball to our 6, 11:27 left! Shivers runs for no gain, Schroeder hits Walton for 5 yards, then Shivers loses a yard! On 4th and 2, Schroeder goes to Ditka, but it's a bad pass, hurried by DE Claude Humphrey's rush (by the way, I noticed the other day that I have two multi-player teams with a player named Claude Humphrey -- the other guy isn't nearly as good, though). We take over at the 2, 9:48 left. And Edwards picks up 26 yards! Edwards gets 2 more, then Taliaferro hits Gillette for 18 yards. McCall runs for 7, then 3 more. We go back to McCall, for 17 yards! Jeff Jordan runs for 3, then 3 again, then Taliaferro is intercepted AGAIN! Gah! And it's Ocie Austin, the CB I kept bugging to get from Chicago!! He picks it off at their 12, and returns it to midfield. 3:48 left. Schroeder scrambles for 5, Johnson runs for no gain, then Lewis runs for 3. They punt from our 42, downed at our 2. 2:36 left. Edwards picks up 8, McCall gets 1, then Jordan gets 2. Jordan runs for 8, then FB Warren Bankston runs for 2. Jordan runs for 3 more, and we take a knee to end the game.

[Passacaglia]

Stats!

Well, the first thing interesting about this game, not really stats-related, is that Chicago is the only team we played in the preseason, that we don't also play in the regular season. We go to Philadelphia for a 2nd time, in Week 2, then make our 2nd trip to Washington in Week 4, and host the Giants again in Week 6.

We were high risk, high reward in the passing game this week. We averaged 9.4 yards per attempt, which is very nice, but we also threw 3 interceptions. I know these are our backup QBs, but we can't have that!

Cid Edwards and Don McCall tied for the leading rusher for our team, at 87 yards. It took McCall 17 carries, but it took Edwards only 12. Jeff Jordan, who was cut, had 19 yards on 6 carries. McCall fumbled twice, too.

As an addendum to the passing game comment: both QBs threw over 50 percent, but had INTs. Arrington was 8/13, 129 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Taliaferro was 5/8, 69 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs. So for the preseason, Arrington was 31/50, 267 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT, and Taliaferro was 32/56, 413 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT. Looks like Taliaferro will probably take the backup job, and Arrington gets the inactive roster.

Walker Gillette was the biggest receiver of the day, catching 6 passes for 115 yards. I'm a bit disappointed in Billy Walik's 1 catch, even if it was for 35 yards and a touchdown.

Junior Atkins made all of his extra point attempts this week! He was also 1/1 on field goals.

CB Nemiah Wilson was the man on defense this week. He had 5 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 INT.

Hmm. I just cut my backup C, Wong, but it turns out, he went 3/4 on run blocks. Hopefully the guy I signed to replace him will do as well! Flanagan was again the poorest run blocker, going 0/3 before getting hurt for the season. Sounds like we didn't want you anyway, Flanagan! Jim Otto rejoices. Wong did allow a sack, though.

[Passacaglia]

Okay, our first game is at Buffalo! I think this will be my toughest game of the season, and I really wish I didn't have to start out here right away. Buffalo was picked by Mr. X to finish 2nd place in the AFC East, and to get the last wild card spot in the playoffs. A win would be a great thing here, but a loss might help us shake the monkey of being a Super Bowl favorite.

Now that the season is about to start, I'd like to introduce our staff.

Our scout is Floyd Fox. At 60 years old, he's one of the older scouts in the league, but he brings consistency. He's very good at scouting running backs, defensive linemeng, and young talent, good at scouting receivers, and average everywhere else. He only has 1 year on his contract, and we'll have to look at that after this season.

The defensive coordinator is Harold Glover. He's only got one year on his contract, too. He's good with defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs, and average with kickers and young talent. Again, I'm not super-impressed, but I'm not disappointed, either. We'll keep an eye on him at the end of the season.

The offensive coordinator is named David Zook. Again, nothing special, but he'll be with us for 2 years. he's very good at coaching young talent, and with three rookies starting on offense, we'll need that. He's good with running backs and offensive linemen, and average with everything else. At 39 years old, he's tied for the youngest offensive coordinator in the league.

We have another young guy at head coach, 38 year old George Fisk, 2nd youngest head coach, behind only Seattle's Jerry DeWolf. Fisk has 2 years on his contract. He's very good at injury avoidance (thank you!) and defensive playcalling, good at motivation, and average at discipline and offensive playcalling. Hopefully, this leads to us having a dominant defense under his watchful eye.

[Passacaglia]

Okay, so here we are, Game 1, in Buffalo! It's kind of weird, since the last game I recapped was my eNFL Bills against the Patriots. Now I'm watching the same teams, but rooting for the other side.

We win the toss and receive. It's mostly RB Nick Eddy, but QB Wayne Clark does complete his first pass -- to Nick Eddy, for 1 yard. We punt from the Buffalo 49, fair catch at the 20. The Bills run Tripplett a couple times, but Unitas's first pass is intercepted by MLB Carter Campbell, and he returns it 38 yards for a touchdown! 7-0 New England! The Bills start again at their 25. Unitas makes us pay, throwing a 12 yard TD pass to Seymour. 7-7. But now our offense gets another chance, and WR Billy Walik gets us a nice return to our 46. It doesn't take us long, even though we rely mainly on the running game, but the TD is a 12 yard pass from Clark to FB Warren Bankston. 14-7 New England! The Bills take over at the 32, and have 1st and 10 from their 48 as the 2nd quarter begins.

We finally stop the Bills at our 36, and they punt for a touchback. Again, we mostly run, passing only when we need to, and backup RB Cid Edwards scores on a 7 yard TD run. 21-7 New England! Spillis gets the Bills a nice return, to their 45. Then he scores on a 26 yard pass from Unitas! 21-14 New England. Walik returns the ball to the 31. Our two minute drill does nothing, and we punt on the last play of the half.

The Bills start the 2nd half with the ball at their own 26. And we stop them, three and out, with 1.5 sacks by DE Claude Humphrey, and 0.5 sacks by backup DE Walker. We call a fair catch at our 43. We get two penalties right away, setting up 1st and 20, which we cant make, especially after a sack on 3rd down. We punt from our 30, returned to the Buffalo 27. The Bills drive to our 30, but on 2nd and 1, Unitas throws two incomplete passes. Then they miss the 47 yard field goal! Clark throws three incomplete passes, and we punt it right back, fair catch at the 15. The Bills drive well, but luckily we manage to stop them at our 2, and they hit a field goal. 21-17 New England. Walik returns it to our 37. And on the first play, Nick Eddy breaks one open for 63 yards! 28-17 New England! Bills take over at the 20. And Tripplett runs one for 62 yards! But that's not enough for a TD, and they lose 15 yards for unnecessary roughness. But still, they have 1st and goal at our 4, as the final quarter begins.

And Tripplett runs it in on the first play, but his run attempt on the 2 pt. conversion is stopped. 28-23 New England. We take over at the 19, 14:26 left. Edwards gets a 19 yard run. Edwards loses a yard, then gains a yard, then Walik catches a 13 yard pass. Eddy runs for no gain, then Edwards loses a yard, then gains 3 yards. And he fumbles! The Bills recover at their 47! Unitas throws incomplete, then Tripplett runs for 11 yards. Tripplett runs for 19 more, but it's called back for holding. Unitas throws incomplete twice, then hits Cole for 8 yards. They punt, downed at our 7. 8:44 left. Eddy runs for no gain, encroachment, Eddy runs for 4, then Bankston loses 2. The Bills call a fair catch at their 40, 6:25 left. Tripplett runs for 6, then 2, then Jones gains 1 yard. On 4th and 1, Unitas hits Tripplett for 4 yards. Unitas hits Moss for 8 yards, false start, then Unitas hits Seymour for 17 yards, but it's called back for holding. Unitas throws two incomplete passes, and they punt from their 46. Fair catch at our 14, 3:07 left. Eddy loses a yard, then loses another yard, then gains 3 yards. Maguire gets a nice 61 yard punt, returned for -3 yards to the Buffalo 21! 1:47 left. Unitas throws incomplete, then is intercepted by backup S Jim Nettles at our 41! He returns it to midfield, 1:27 left. Eddy loses 2 yards, Edwards gains 11, then Eddy gains 4. And that's the game, 28-23 New England!

[Passacaglia]

STATS!

This game was too close, looking at the stats. Take away an interception return by MLB Carter Campbell, and a 63 yard run by Nick Eddy, and we lose this thing pretty badly. The Bills averaged 6.7 yards per play, to our 4.6, and they have 66 plays to our 55! However, we won the turnover battle, and the Bills averaged 9.7 yards to go on 3rd down, to our 6.8.

We wanted to run a lot, to expose the Bills weak D-Line, and it was...well...decent. Nick Eddy ran 19 times for 105 yards, but take away his 63 yard TD, and he was 18 for 42. Cid Edwards played a decent backup, running 15 times for 85 yards.

QB Wayne Clark passed little, but did well, throwing 10/15 for 71 yards, 1 TD. He had a passer rating of 99.5, fifth in the league. He spread it around, too, with no one having more than 2 catches.

K Junior Atkins didn't lose his job yet -- we attempted no field goal, but he was 4/4 on PATs.

The MVP of the game was DE Claude Humphrey. He had 1.5 sacks -- although, both of them came on one three and out drive, so it's not like they had a huge effect on the game. He also led the team in tackles, with 7, and hurries, with 3.

I'm proud of our defense for making Unitas look medioce. He threw 22/38, 317 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 INTs. Tripplett lit us up for 141 yards on 22 carries, but we managed to hold WR Spillis and TE Moss to under 100 yards each.

Our O-line responded well to the rushing attack. We ran behind Jim Otto most, showing our faith in him, despite the fact that he's only starting because of an injury to Ed Flanagan. He showed his worth, hitting 5/11 blocks. Our G's, Dave Middendorf, and Len Johnson, were the only members of the 50% club, though, with Middendorf hitting 3/6 (although, he allowed our only sack), and Johnson hitting 2/4. Jon Kolb was a pansy, going 0/4. The FBs came on strong, too, going 3/4.

I'm a bit disappointed in Nitschke. He was gangbusters in his limited preseason time, but he had no tackles in 35 plays!

[Passacaglia]

INJURIES!

The big one is CB Rudy Redmond, who is out, and will be at full strength in 6 weeks. As a result, Nemiah Wilson will take the top CB spot, and Ted Vactor will take the #2 spot.

Also, DE Chuck Walker is questionable, full strength in 2 weeks. I meant to keep him on the depth chart as a backup, but I'm pretty sure I forgot. With Walker out, we're switching to a 3-4, and Wayne Walker will take his place.

Lastly, T John Brown is probable, full strength in five weeks. Art Laster will take his place as the starting RT, Jon Kolb will move to LT, and Brown will be the backup RT.

So, the starting lineup for Game 2, at Philadelphia....

QB -- Wayne Clark
RB -- Nick Eddy
FB -- Warren Bankston
TE -- Jimmy Hester
FL -- Walker Gillette
SE -- Billy Walik

LT -- Jon Kolb
LG -- Dave Middendorf
C -- Jim Otto
RG -- Len Johnson
RT -- Art Laster

LDE -- Claude Humphrey
NT -- Bob Tatarek
RDE -- Dan Goich

SLB -- Grady Allen
SILB -- Ray Nitschke
WILB -- Carter Campbell
WLB -- Wayne Walker

CB -- Nemiah Wilson
CB -- Ted Vactor
SS -- Johnny Robinson
FS -- Bobby Williams

[Passacaglia]

Okay, we're on the road again, at Philadelphia!

The Eagles start with the ball at their 32, and drive to our 42, when Dan Goich gets a sack, then S Johnny Robinson intercepts a pass! We take over at our 29, and that's two straight games where we've had an interception on the first drive! It's all about FB Warren Bankston for us on offense. He runs for no gain, then a 2 yard loss, then catches a 4 yard pass. This is why teams don't center their offense around their fullbacks. We punt, and the Eagles take over at their 19. This time the Eagles drive to our 25 before kicking a 42 yard field goal, which they miss! On the last play of the quarter, RB Nick Eddy finally gets his first carry (after Bankston has had 4), and he picks up a 3rd and 2, giving us 1st and 10 at the Philadelphia 35.

Most of the yards gained and lost once this quarter starts are from penalties, but we manage to get to the 17, and hit a 34 yard field goal. 3-0 New England! The Eagles start at their 27. Shaw throws two incomplete passes, then gets intercepted by LB Carter Campbell. That's his 2nd of the season! We've got the ball at the Philly 42. The biggest play of our drive is an 18 yard pass to TE Jimmy Hester, but it's Nick Eddy with the score, on a 1 yard TD run. Atkins misses the PAT, and we're up 9-0! Eagles take over at their own 26. On their first play, Shaw completes a pass to Jefferson for 12 yards. He's hit by DT Bob Tatarek, who pops the ball loose. It's picked up by S Bobby Williams, who runs it 38 yards for a touchdown! 16-0 New England! That's our second defensive touchdown of the season! Eagles take over at their 26. They drive to our 39, where they punt for a touchback. It looks like we're already trying to run out the clock, handing it to Eddy and backup RB Cid Edwards. They run pretty well, getting to the Philly 29, where we hit a 46 yard field goal. 19-0 New England at the half!

We take our first kick return of the game after the half (always nice), and CB Ted Vactor returns it to midfield! The offense keeps running, but a false start call on 3rd and 2 brings up 3rd and 7, and we still run. We end up kicking a 39 yard field goal, to make the score 22-0. The Eagles take over at their 23. RB Warren McVea gets a nice 19 yard run, but SLB Grady Allen comes in on a blitz and sacks Shaw, forcing a fumble which is recovered by Goich at the Philly 36. We get down to the 16, but Atkins misses a 33 yard field goal. Shaw throws a couple incomplete passes, then hits Warfield on 3rd and 10, but for only 4 yards. They punt from their 27, fair catch at our 35. We run 3 times, then punt for a touchback. Geez, Maguire punts it 62 yards, and my special teams can't chase the ball to down it? What a crock. Geez, Passacaglia's team is up 22-0 and he's bitching about a touchback? All right. Shaw gets a couple 20+ yard passes to Snyder, and a 15 yard pass to Kwalick, and they have 1st and goal at the 9, as the final quarter begins.

First they're called for false start, then Flatley catches a 13 yard pass, then McVea runs it in! 22-7 New England! The kick is a touchback, and we take over, 14:10 left. Edwards loses 2 yards, Eddy runs for no gain, then gains a yard. Maguire punts 50 yards, and Alexander loses 14 yards on the return! The Eagles take over at their 17, 12:15 left. Jefferson catches a 17 yard pass. Warfield catches a 15 yard pass. McVea runs for 3 yards, false start, Shaw throws incomplete to Warfield, then goes back to Warfield for 13 yards! Shaw throws incomplete to Warfield again, then hits Kwalick for 32 yards! McVea runs for 3 yards, then catches a 5 yard TD pass! 22-14 New England! We take over at our 29, 8:15 left. Eddy runs for no gain twice, then gains a yard. Maguire punts 48 yards, fair catch at the 22. McVea runs for a yard, McMillen runs for 8 yards, then no gain. Coleman punts from the 31, for 33 yards, returned by Robinson 39 yards to the Philly 25! The way our offense has been going, we needed that. 4:52 left. Eddy runs for no gain, Edwards picks up 2, then Eddy picks up 5. Atkins makes the 35 yard field goal (whew) and we lead 25-14! Eagles take over at their 20, 2:26 left. Kwalick drops a pass, McVea runs for 3 yards, then Shaw throws incomplete to Warfield. On 4th and 7, Shaw goes to Warfield again, and it's incomplete, hurried by Goich. Eddy runs for 2, then no gain, then Clark hits Gillette for 17 yards! Eddy loses a yard, illegal use of hands on Philly, then Eddy loses another yard. Clark takes a knee a couple times, and New England takes it, 25-14!

[Passacaglia]

STATS!

Okay, last game was a close one, and this one started out a blowout, until we let them back in. We owe this game to our defense, as our offense did nothing.

For the second straight week, the Game MVP was a defender -- this time it was SLB Grady Allen, who had 7 tackles, a sack, a hurry, and 2 deflections.

Again we were, to use a word from the Philadelphia GM, "outplayed" -- we averaged 3.7 yards per play, and the Eagles averaged 5.7 yards. They also ran more plays, 61 to our 59. It was probably the 4 TOs that did them in, compared to our none. We averaged 8.7 yards to go on 3rd down, but that was better than their 10.6!

Nick Eddy had a horrible game, against a horrible D-Line. 30 carries, 67 yards. Pathetic. Backup Cid Edwards was much better -- 8 carries for 43 yards. Bankston took our first 4 carries, for 8 yards, then saw no more.

I didn't mean to pass so little this week, but I guess the fact that we took the lead made it so. Wayne Clark passed even less this time, only 14 attempts. He went 9/14, 97 yards. Most of the passes were to Walker Gillette, who caught 3 for 38 yards.

The O-line had 2 members of the 50% club this week -- Len Johnson, who went 4/7, and Jon Kolb, who went 2/3. No zeroes, but Art Laster went 1/6, giving him the worst percentage. No sacks were allowed, but I'm assuming no passes were expected after a while.

[Passacaglia]

INJURIES!

CB Rudy Redmond is no better after another week -- he's still out, with 6 weeks to go.
DE Chuck Walker is probable, and will be fully healed in a week.
T John Brown is still probable, 4 weeks to go.
The new injury is CB Nemiah Wilson. He's just got a bad cold.

I told myself that I would try to be conservative with regard to injuries. Not to lose anyone for the season, just wait until they get healthy. But we've got the Jets coming, both teams are 2-0, and it's our home opener! All the probable guys are playing!

Also, we've made a trade. We sent CB Ted Vactor, who started last game, allowing 4 catches, and deflecting 1 pass, to the St. Louis Cardinals. We send Vactor and our 3rd round pick, and in return, we get the Cardinals 2nd round pick. We feel that this a pretty good trade, since Billy Thompson is rated equally, according to our scout, and besides, neither of them will start, once Redmond returns.

So with these changes, the starting lineup will be:

QB -- Wayne Clark
RB -- Nick Eddy
FB -- Warren Bankston
TE -- Jimmy Hester
FL -- Walker Gillette
SE -- Billy Walik

LT -- John Brown
LG -- Dave Middendorf
C -- Jim Otto
RG -- Len Johnson
RT -- Jon Kolb

LDE -- Claude Humphrey
LDT -- Bob Tatarek
RDT -- Dan Goich
RDE -- Chuck Walker

SLB -- Grady Allen
MLB -- Carter Campbell
WLB -- Ray Nitschke

CB -- Nemiah Wilson
CB -- Billy Thompson
SS -- Johnny Robinson
FS -- Bobby Williams

It's going to be a big game!

[Passacaglia]

All right, Game 3, the big one! Our home opener, the 2-0 Patriots vs. the 2-0 Jets! Unfortunately, the Jets are without their star QB Norm Snead, and really have no backup to take his place.

We start the game with the ball at our 17, and get no first downs. We punt from the 24, and the Jets get the ball at their 25. And it's Edwards at QB for the Jets -- as I suspected, even though Thul was tight-lipped about it. On his first pass play, 2nd and 10, he's sacked by Ray Nitschke for a loss of 9 yards. Welcome to the HFL, rook! Simpson runs for 10 yards to make it 4th and 9. The Jets punt, and we call a fair catch at our 40. And Nick Eddy gets his groove on, running 4 times for 38 yards, including a 1 yard TD. 7-0 New England! And, despite our defense's complete focus on the running game, the Jets get a couple first downs on the ground, and drive to our 34. A false start call, and three plays for no gain push them back to the 39. They punt for a touchback. Wayne Clark is getting a couple good throws in, and we've got 1st and 10 at the New York 45 as the quarter ends.

Thanks to a run for a loss of 5 yards by FB Warren Bankston, we punt from the Jets 41, fair catch at the 9. Bankston gets hurt on the punt -- sounds like we want the backup in there anyway! Edwards actually throws really well on this drive, but it's a dropped pass that brings up 2nd and 10, and two runs get 8 yards, setting up a 45 yard field goal, which the Jets miss. We take over at the New York 35. We drive down to the 28 yard line, but on 3rd and 1, Eddy loses 2 yards. And we miss the 47 yard field goal. The Jets run three times, and we stop them for only 7 yards. The punt is returned to the New York 26 yard line. We go three and out, and the Jets take over at their 32. As they rush to get into field goal range, we help them with an unnecessary roughness call, after a 10 yard run by O.J. Simpson. But with 9 seconds left, DT Bob Tatarek gets a sack, forcing a fumble, which is recovered by Claude Humphrey, and we go into the locker room up 7-0.

The Jets start this half with the ball at their 23, and end up punting from our 49. We take over at our 17, and get no first downs, punting from our 25. Jets take over at their 41. We stop the Jets three and out, and Walik returns the punt to our 15. But we're offsides! The Jets get a first down! Edwards is passing well, and the Jets get to our 16, until he's picked off by CB Nemiah Wilson at the 3 yard line! He returns it to the 21. Geez, and again we go three and out, punting from the 29! The Jets take over at their 32. This time, the Jets go three and out, too, and punt from their 40. Walik returns it to the 26, but he fumbles! Luckily, Wilson falls on it. We get a few good plays in, but end up punting from the New York 39, for a touchback. The Jets have 2nd and 10 from the 20, as the final quarter begins.

Edwards passes to Hilton for 3 yards, then passes to him again, and it's blocked by nickel-back Zeke Moore. The Jets punt from their 23, for 53 yards, and Waliks returns it 24 yards to our 48. 13:57 left. Eddy runs for 13 yards, but there's holding! Eddy runs for 5 yards, then 17 yards. Eddy runs for 4 yards, then 9 yards. Eddy runs for 8 yards, then 11 yards. Where was this production the first three quarters? Eddy runs for 6 yards, then the backup RB, Cid Edwards runs for a yard, and fumbles, recovered by the Jets at their own 1 yard line! It's returned to the 11. 9:23 left. Brown runs for no gain, Richardson catches a 3 yard pass, then Edwards's pass is dropped by Wong. The Jets punt from their 14, for 28 yards, downed at the New York 42. Eddy runs for 10 yards, but steps out of bounds. I forgive him, as long as he doesn't fumble like Cid Edwards. Eddy runs for 4, then 1, then we give Cid Edwards another chance, and he runs 27 yards for a touchdown! Augh! But Jon Kolb appears to be seriosuly injured. Blah. Anyway, we lead, 14-0. The Jets take over at their 22, 5:09 left. Richardson catches a 24 yard pass. Simpson runs for 3, then 4, then Edwards throws incomplete to Hayes. They punt from our 47, out ouf bounds at our 6. 3:48 left. Eddy runs for 7, then 0, then 2. Maguire punts from the 15, for 55 yards, and it's returned 1 yard to the New York 31. We get called for offsides, Richardson drops a pass, then Edwards is intercepted by Johnny Robinson at the New York 45, and returns it to the New York 7. 1:36 left. Eddy runs for 1 yard, then 3, then Clark throws a pass to Walik for a touchdown. 21-0 New England. The Jets take over at their 20, with 1:12 left, and Fields comes in at QB. He's also intercepted by Robinson on the first play, and that pretty much ends the game.

[Passacaglia]

STATS!

I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I mean, I do think we played hard and all, but I have to think that if the Jets starting QB, Norm Snead, were in, they really should have won this one. The score looks nice, 21-0, but 14 of those points came late in the 4th quarter. As a result of not jumping to a large lead early, we ended up passing a bit more than usual -- Clark threw 21 passes.

This time, we averaged more yards per play than our opponent -- 5.0 to 3.4. And we had a +3 turnover margin for the game (1 to 4), putting us at +8, tops in the league. Neither of us had great averages in yard to go on 3rd down -- 7.1 for us, 7.5 for the Jets.

The Jets started Edwards at QB, and we made him look pretty bad -- 11/28, 115 yards, 2 INTs. O.J. Simpson had a nice day, 90 yards on 18 carries. And we still have not allowed anyone 100 yards receiving -- let's never mind the fact that no Patriot has 100 yards receiving for the season!

Nick Eddy came through with a huge game, running 26 times for 155 yards. He's now in the top 3 backs in rushing yards (bye weeks kind of screw things up). He also won the player of the game award -- the first time we've had an offensive player win it!

Wayne Clark was his usual self, throwing 14/21, 112 yards, 1 TD. His first 100-yard passing game!

Carter Campbell led the team in tackles again, with 12. Johnny Robinson picked off two passes, and he now leads the league with 3 total.

The 50% club on the O-Line consisted of both tackles -- John Brown on the left (4/5), and Jon Kolb on the right (4/8). Len Johnson let us down today, batting 0/3. We allowed no sacks for the second straight game.

[Passacaglia]

Well, the big problem is our injury to T Jon Kolb. By far the best player on our team, he's out for 28 weeks.

CB Rudy Redmond is still out, ready in 5 weeks.

T John Brown is still probable, and since this game isn't as important as the Jet game, he's going to be a backup.

FB Warren Bankston is questionable, and he'll play backup to Ted Woodeschick.

Backup TE Billy Truax is questionable, and he'll be on the inactive roster, giving Cris Lynch a chance to get some playing time.

So, the lineup:

QB -- Wayne Clark
RB -- Nick Eddy
FB -- Ted Woodeschick
TE -- Jimmy Hester
FL -- Walker Gillette
SE -- Billy Walik

LT -- Jim Snowden
LG -- Dave Middendorf
C -- Jim Otto
RG -- Len Johnson
RT -- Art Laster

LDE -- Claude Humphrey
LDT -- Bob Tatarek
RDT -- Dan Goich
RDE -- Chuck Walker

SLB -- Grady Allen
MLB -- Carter Campbell
WLB -- Ray Nitschke

CB -- Nemiah Wilson
CB -- Billy Thompson
FS -- Bobby Williams
SS -- Johnny Robinson

We smell fresh meat! Bring on the 0-3 Redskins!