World’s Greatest Sport Show: LA Diablos 2004

[SplitPersonality1]

In FOF we make a lot of house rules that help to make the game more challenging/interesting. What if a real NFL team did some of these things? How would the fans and others respond?
Basically I’m using a modified version of Quiksand’s House Arrest rules. I think most readers know the basics. No renegotiating, no picking FA’s until the 11th round, no franchise player etc. I’ll give more “game” details if people want it, but you should catch most of the House Rules within the storyline.

In between game summaries, there will be a snippet of the “World’s Greatest Sport Show”. There might be an interview with a player or a coach, some calls from LA Diablos fans, or maybe just a rant from the show host Johnny “the Homer” Free.
Feel free to “e-mail” the Homer by posting to this thread.

History

2002 0-16 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5442)
2003 2-14 (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5448)

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill Page on Football Universe Website

The contract of Head Scout Nathan Mojica will not be renewed. It is believed that Mojica and team owner SplitPersonality do not see eye to eye on drafting strategies. Nate Mojica is best known for picking LB Fred Huntley in the 2002 draft when few other scouts had him rated very highly.

SplitPersonality could not be reached for comment.

[SplitPersonality1]

Spring 2004

I am Johnnie “The Homer” Free and this is the World Greatest Sport Show. Today we have a very crowded studio as quarterbacks Justin Tsoi and Sammie Stokes and Head Coach Jack Keister all of the LA Diablos are here today.

Guests: Hi Homer.

Homer: Let’s start with a question to you Justin, Do you think you had a successful rookie season?

Tsoi: No, of course not. We only won two games and I pretty much played like crap.

Homer: What do you think went wrong?

Tsoi: Geez Homer, what went right. We didn’t establish a running game, our blocking was terrible, and frankly both Sammie and I threw way too many interceptions.

Homer: Sammie, do you agree.

Stokes: Unfortunately, he’s right. Although, he did threw more pics than I did.

Tsoi: Yeah, but I had more playing time.

Stokes: We’ll see about that next year.

Tsoi & Stokes: (laughing)

Homer: What about this QB controversy? There was some animosity between the two of you last year. Has that all been resolved.

Stokes: We are competitors Homer, and we both want to turn this team around.

Tsoi: Yeah. We gave each other a lot of, um, stuff, but I think it made us play harder.

Homer: Coach Keister, have you made any sort of decision on who will start next season.

Coach: No. But after training camp breaks, just one of these guys will be my starter.

Tsoi: That’s what we like about Coach; he doesn’t put any pressure on his players.

Coach: Smart-ass.

Homer: You two guys are okay with this?

Stokes: Sure. I don’t want to be a backup anymore than Justin here, but if that is my role on the team, so be it.

Tsoi: I agree completely.

Homer: Coach Keister; which players do you like in this years draft?

Coach: I’d rather not say Homer.

Homer: Any hints at all?

Coach: We obviously need help at offensive line.

Homer: Fair enough. Thank guys for coming on the show. Good luck in 2004.

[SplitPersonality1]

LA Diablos Page on Football Universe Website

The Diablos just inked a three-year deal with Brendon DeMarco for the position of Director of Scouting Operations. DeMarco is an expert in spotting high-quality young running backs and offensive linemen. The $500,000 per year contract makes him the 10th highest paid scout in the league. He has no previous NFL experience.

Former Head Scout Nathan Mojica was not picked up by another team.

[SplitPersonality1]

Free Agent page on the Football Universe Website

LA Diablos

WR Neal Koester – 2.81m for 1 year – Koester was Baltimore’s third round pick last year and saw limited action in his rookie season. He had 11 catches for 162 yards and got most of them after the catch. He will probably be 4th of 5th on the depth chart.

S Jared Craig – 840k for 1 year – Craig was a third round pick by Chicago last year and is strictly a return specialist. He averaged 30.4 yards on kick returns and ran back 1 for a td last year.

[SplitPersonality1]

Excerpt from Football Universe Website

Joe Schmoe’s thoughts on the top 10 draftees
1 Alvin Adams – S – 5-10 – 189# - UCLA – This kid has great potential, but is still a few years away from being an All-Pro. He will draft high, but should only go to a team that can afford to wait.

2 R.J. Brock – TE – 6-1 – 277# - Washington – I am still scratching my head trying to figure out why all the scouts love this guy. I don’t think he is very good now, and I don’t think he will develop into a superstar in the future. He is slightly above average at best.

3 Myron Blair – DE – 6-2 – 285# - Georgia Tech – He is the best defensive lineman in this years draft. However, in most years he would be a late first or an early second rounder. He is a very good pass rusher.

4 Ben Pulliam – CB – 6-0 – 192# - Hillsdale – Pulliam will get his share of interceptions and will start doing it immediately. I think he is the best player in the draft at any position.

5 Terrell Alves – G – 6-3 – 282# - Vanderbilt – Alves was good in college, but I think he is a bit slow for the pro game. There is something about him that just screams bust to me.

6 Walt Rydzak – G – 6-4 – 309# - Pittsburgh – Rydzak may never be a hall of famer, but he is ready to play and should be a solid player on someone’s o-line for years to come.

7 Wesley Dodge – S – 5-10 – 188# - East Carolina – Dodge is perhaps the second best player in the draft. He will start on whichever team that drafts him.

8 Kirk Olson – RB – 6-1 – 222# - Humboldt State – “The Flash” as he was known in college has world class speed. In the open field he will be unstoppable. Whether he can force a missed tackle or break a tackle at the NFL level remains somewhat a mystery.

9 Cedric Brothers – TE – 6-7 – 269# - St. Francis, PA – Brothers is a good all around athlete. One of the tallest members of this years draft class, he will also enter the NBA draft later this year. I think he is a bit overrated as a football player and should stick to hoops.

10 B.J. Hambrick – TE– 6-0 – 261# - Penn State – Hambrick is another one of those guys that played great college ball; but it will probably not translate into a good NFL career.

[SplitPersonality1]

Draft Day

And the #1 pick of the 2004 Draft is …… Guard Walt Rydzak from Pittsburgh

LA Diablo Picks
Rnd 1 - Walt Rydzak, G, Pittsburgh
Rnd 2 - Clyde Swift, T, Michigan State
Rnd 3 - D.J. Van Pelt, S, Texas Tech
Rnd 4 - Vernon Gaines, RB, Texas A&M
Rnd 5 - Bryce Cox, T, Maryland
Rnd 6 - Jimmy Hanson, CB, Central Florida
Rnd 7 - Skip Linquist, WR, Georgia Southern

Scouting Consensus Top 10
1 Alvin Adams – S – #7 to NYJ
2 R.J. Brock – TE – #39 (2) to NYJ
3 Myron Blair – DE – #2 to CHI
4 Ben Pulliam – CB – #3 to AZ
5 Terrell Alves – G – #6 to IND
6 Walt Rydzak – G – #1 to LA
7 Wesley Dodge – S – #10 to GB
8 Kirk Olson – RB – #9 to NYG
9 Cedric Brothers – TE – #26 to NO
10 B.J. Hambrick – TE – #28 to MIN

One Week Later

This is Johnnie Free, “The Homer” and with me today is our good friend Joe Schmoe of Football Universe. Good evening Joe.

Schmoe: Evening Homer.

Homer: Let’s discuss the Diablos draft. How do you think they did?

Schmoe: Not to bad actually. There was quite a bit of talent in the first few rounds of this draft and they did ok in my opinion. I also think some of their late round picks may turn out to be very good as well.

Homer: Let’s go through it round by round. What’s the scoop on the guard Walt Rydzak.

Schmoe: I really like this kid. He is a high quality player that should be ready for the NFL right away. He may never become Hall of Fame material, but he should help anchor that O-line along with that guy they have at center now; Dwight Farr. The other premiere guard in the draft, Terrell Alves will probably be a better player in years to come, but needs a few years to develop. LA needs a guy that can start immediately so I think you made the right pick.

Homer: Great. How about the second pick, tackle Clyde Swift?

Schmoe: The good news is that he is better than anything else you have at that position. The bad news is that I think he needs at least a year or two to mature. He was the best tackle left at the beginning of the round, so I think they did OK. I like to see a higher caliber of player picked at that point in the draft, but again, the Diablos really needed a quality tackle.

Homer: Third rounder, safety D.J. Van Pelt?

Schmoe: He should be a good player in a year or so. I think he will be a solid backup behind this season.

Homer: Let’s see…RB Vernon Gaines.

Schmoe: He was a decent runner in college, but I’m not sure he has what it takes for the NFL. With Truitt and Luck on the roster, I think that the coaching staff was willing to gamble on Gaines. If he explodes into a great back in camp, they win, If he is a bust, they still have the other guys.

Homer: 5th rounder Bryce Cox, the tackle out of Maryland?

Schmoe: Like Gaines, he is somewhat of a gamble. Unless he breaks out at camp, he will be a marginal player and hace little impact on the team.

Homer: Corner Jimmy Hanson?

Schmoe: Another gamble, but I like his chances. I am somewhat surprised that he fell this far down the draft. I thought he would go in the third or fourth round.

Homer: And lastly, WR Skip Linquist.

Schmoe: With the current group of receivers that are on the team, I doubt that he will contribute much this upcoming season. Maybe down the road, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Homer: Thanks for your insights Joe.

Schmoe: My pleasure Homer.

[SplitPersonality1]

LA Diablos page on Football Universe Website

Early this morning, LA traded backup FB Tom Walters to the Detroit Lions for a 7th round pick in next year’s draft. It was a good trade since Walters would have spent the season on the bench.

In other trade news, the St. Louis Rams were interested in All-Pro linebacker Fred Huntley. However, when they offered a 2nd round pick, Coach Keister told the Rams quote “Take that offer and stick it up your ***” The deal was not made.


LA resigned the following free agents:

P Gustafson - 1.5m for 2 years
DE Vince Harrison - 7.83m for 2 years
LB Kyle Hunter - 5.25m for 3 years
S Terry Livesay - 5.08m for 2 years
QB Sammie Stokes - 6.01m for 2 years
WR Mitch Bush -19.81m for 4 years


LA picked up the following players

FB John Rodgers 360k for 1 year (Cal)
TE Nate Gunn 360k for 1 year (Cal)
LB Patrick Stewart 360k for 1 year (Stanford)
QB Deon Summers 360k for 1 year
QB Lamar Starks 360k for 1 year (UCLA)
LB Donnie Gossett 360k for 1 year
TE Ernie Kehoe 360k for 1 year
FB J.B. Zulkowski 360k for 1 year
FB Tracy Pease 360k for 1 year

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill on the Football Universe Website

Despite playing rather poorly in the preseason, Justin Tsoi will be the starting QB for the 2004 campaign. Below are the aggregate stats for the four preseason games.

<pre>Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int
4 Tsoi 72 37 431 6.0 42 1 3
7 Stokes 56 37 442 7.9 49 2 4</pre>


From 2004 Outlook on the Football Universe Website

Los Angeles Diablos – Projected Finish (6-10, fourth in the AFC West)

Coach: Jack Keister (third year with LA, record 2-30, overall NFL record 26-42)
Despite averaging just one win per season, Keister is still in team owner SplitPersonality’s good graces. Keister is an offensive-minded coach, so it is somewhat of a mystery as to why his team has struggled to score points.
Schmoe’s Grade: C

Quarterback: Justin Tsoi won the starting job despite playing rather poorly in preseason. Although the Diablos deny it, his longterm contract probably had a lot to do with it. The big surprise in training camp was rookie Deon Summers. If both Tsoi and Stokes fair poorly again this year, he may be the future leader of this team.
Schmoe’s Grade: C

Running Game: Vince Luck returned from injury just a half-step slower than last year. He will be the #1 RB, and will act as a WR only if the team is hit hard with injuries like last year. Heath Truitt will be the backup.
Schmoe’s Grade: C-

Receivers: The Diablos are blessed with four decent receivers. Mitch Bush is the best of the bunch and is capable of catching 100 passes. The other starters; Watkins, Shannon and Harding all return from last season and should catch 50 and get 500 yards
Schmoe’s Grade: B

O-Line: Center Dwight Farr is a solid player and has All-Pro potential. Rookie guard Walt Rydzak also looks very good. The Diablos still need help at tackle, but it looks as if they will be able to actually block the opposition on the line.
Schmoe’s Grade: C+

Kicking Game: Punter Preston Gustafson is back again and should continue to be an average player. Roosevelt “Money” Forbes showed some improvement over last year, and hopefully will be able to kick a few 50+ yard field goals.
Schmoe’s Grade: B-

Defensive Ends/Tackles:Leading sacker Mark Bruce and Norm Saperstein will start at defensive end this season. Second year man Karl Shaw and free agent Mark Rangel will start at defensive tackle. This group performed very well against the pass but was miserable when trying to stop the run. Another year of experience under their belts should help them.
Schmoe’s Grade: B-

Linebackers: Fred Huntley has become a force to be reckoned with. He was exceptional last season and came out of camp looking even better. Scottie Disney and Kyle Hunter will also start at the position. They should do even better than last year.
Schmoe’s Grade: B+

Secondary: The secondary has been prone to giving up the big plays during the last two seasons. The addition of rookies D.J. Van Pelt at safety and Jimmy Hanson at corner should correct many of those problems. The team is still one corner short of having a solid secondary, but they should be at least average this season.
Schmoe’s Grade: C-

Overall Impressions: Six wins should be doable in 2004. They might win one or two more, depending on how much Tsoi improves. Also, they are counting on a number of rookies to jump right in and make a difference. Should be an interesting year.


From LA Diablos page on the Football Universe Website

LA cut the following players

QB Lamar Starks
LB Donnie Gossett – signed with Chicago
TE Ernie Kehoe
FB J.B. Zulkowski – signed with Pittsburgh
FB Tracy Pease – signed with Miami

[SplitPersonality1]

Roster for the Los Angeles Diablos

<pre> Name # Pos HT WT Exp Stat College
Stokes, Scottie 7 QB 6-5 208 4 ----- Sacred Heart (Conn.)
Tsoi, Justin 4 QB 6-2 237 2 ----- Nicholls State
Summers, Deon 8 QB 6-5 220 R ----- Kent
Truitt, Heath 32 RB 5-10 216 4 ----- Duquesne
Luck, Vince 30 RB 6-1 219 3 ----- Northern Colorado
Gaines, Vernon 23 RB 5-9 219 R ----- Texas A&M
Malone, Christian 28 FB 5-11 208 3 ----- Arkansas
Rodgers, John 33 FB 5-9 235 1 Inact California
Boynton, Mercury 81 TE 6-3 230 3 ----- Virginia Tech
Gunn, Nate 85 TE 6-2 229 1 ----- California
Shannon, Roosevelt 84 WR 5-8 204 4 ----- Utah State
Harding, Maurice 80 WR 5-9 175 3 ----- Stephen F. Austin
Bush, Mitch 89 WR 6-2 212 3 ----- Wisconsin
Koester, Neal 82 WR 5-11 194 2 ----- UAB
Watkins, Edward 86 WR 5-9 193 2 Inact Southern California
Linquist, Skip 87 WR 6-0 203 R ----- Georgia Southern
O'Pope, Scott 55 C 6-2 278 3 ----- Oregon
Farr, Dwight 52 C 6-1 293 3 ----- Boston College
Burgess, Winfred 76 G 6-1 324 4 ----- Boston College
Levine, Riddick 65 G 6-5 343 4 ----- UCLA
Mills, Marty 75 G 6-6 305 3 ----- Auburn
Rydzak, Walt 60 G 6-4 309 R ----- Pittsburgh
Shields, Derrick 62 T 6-5 304 4 Inact South Carolina St.
Anthony, Ted 67 T 6-7 288 4 ----- Louisville
Moore, Chuck 79 T 6-10 355 3 Inact Virginia
Cox, Bryce 66 T 6-6 303 R ----- Maryland
Swift, Clyde 61 T 6-2 312 R ----- Michigan State
Gustafson, Preston 1 P 6-0 210 4 ----- Northern Illinois
Forbes, Roosevelt 12 K 6-1 197 2 ----- Oregon State
Bruce, Mark 91 DE 6-5 263 4 ----- Lafayette
Harrison, Vince 94 DE 6-2 273 4 ----- Georgia
Weber, Kenneth 99 DE 6-2 280 4 ----- Alabama
Saperstein, Norbert 90 DE 6-2 271 3 ----- Notre Dame
DeFelice, Trevor 93 DT 6-4 298 4 ----- Maine
Rangel, Mark 97 DT 6-8 295 4 ----- Maryland
Reese, Brent 96 DT 6-4 276 4 ----- UCLA
Uffins, Edward 73 DT 6-3 287 2 ----- Mississippi State
Shaw, Karl 72 DT 6-3 287 2 ----- West Virginia
Hunter, Kyle 56 LB 6-4 237 4 ----- Georgia Tech
Wilt, Ronnie + 50 LB 6-1 246 3 ----- Minnesota
Disney, Scottie 51 LB 6-4 219 3 ----- Arizona
Huntley, Fred 54 LB 5-11 249 3 ----- Stanford
Mason, Scott 16 LB 5-11 253 2 Inact Duke
Stuart, Patrick 53 LB 6-1 231 1 ----- Stanford
Tomlinson, Grady 35 CB 5-9 163 4 ----- West Virginia
Kanell, Lamar 46 CB 5-8 172 4 ----- Oklahoma
Coronado, Robbie 37 CB 5-11 206 4 Inact Air Force
Kennedy, Mark 27 CB 6-1 188 3 ----- Nebraska
Hanson, Jimmy 29 CB 5-6 212 R ----- Central Florida
Livesay, Terry 48 S 5-10 193 3 ----- Texas Southern
Craig, Jared 34 S 6-0 192 2 Inact Florida
Pifott, C.J. 31 S 5-10 196 2 ----- California
Van Pelt, D.J. 22 S 6-1 189 R ----- Texas Tech

Salary Cap: $99.3 million
Room Under Cap: $10,600,000 </pre>


RumorMill from Football Universe Website

We got a hold of the internal scouting report from deep within the Diablos organization.

<pre>From the desk of Brenden DeMarco of the Los Angeles Diablos

Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Justin Tsoi 9 10 2 2007
QB Scottie Stokes 7 7 4 2005
QB Deon Summers 2 13 1 2004
RB Vince Luck 7 7 3 2004
RB Heath Truitt 6 6 4 2004
RB Vernon Gaines 5 5 1 2006
FB Christian Malone 8 8 3 2004
FB John Rodgers 2 2 1 2004
TE Mercury Boynton 8 8 3 2004
TE Nate Gunn 3 3 1 2004
WR Mitch Bush 11 11 3 2007
WR Edward Watkins 8 8 2 2005
WR Roosevelt Shannon 8 8 4 2004
WR Maurice Harding 7 7 3 2006
WR Neal Koester 6 9 2 2004
WR Skip Linquist 5 11 1 2006
C Dwight Farr 11 11 3 2005
C Scott O'Pope 5 6 3 2004
G Walt Rydzak 9 13 1 2009
G Riddick Levine 8 10 4 2004
G Winfred Burgess 7 9 4 2005
G Marty Mills 4 4 3 2005
T Clyde Swift 7 13 1 2006
T Ted Anthony 4 4 4 2005
T Chuck Moore 3 3 3 2005
T Derrick Shields 3 3 4 2004
T Bryce Cox 2 9 1 2006
P Preston Gustafson 8 8 4 2005
K Roosevelt Forbes 10 10 2 2005
DE Mark Bruce 7 7 4 2004
DE Norbert Saperstein 7 7 3 2004
DE Vince Harrison 6 6 4 2005
DE Kenneth Weber 4 4 4 2004
DT Karl Shaw 8 8 2 2005
DT Mark Rangel 6 7 4 2007
DT Edward Uffins 6 8 2 2006
DT Trevor DeFelice 6 6 4 2004
DT Brent Reese 5 6 4 2006
LB Fred Huntley 14 14 3 2007
LB Kyle Hunter 7 7 4 2006
LB Scottie Disney 7 8 3 2005
LB Ronnie Wilt 5 5 3 2005
LB Patrick Stuart 5 5 1 2004
LB Scott Mason 4 7 2 2005
CB Jimmy Hanson 9 9 1 2005
CB Mark Kennedy 6 7 3 2004
CB Robbie Coronado 5 8 4 2004
CB Lamar Kanell 5 5 4 2004
CB Grady Tomlinson 3 7 4 2004
S C.J. Pifott 10 11 2 2007
S D.J. Van Pelt 8 11 1 2007
S Terry Livesay 7 7 3 2005
S Jared Craig 2 2 2 2004 </pre>

[SplitPersonality1]

before Week 1

Hey folks, this is Mark Pearce better known as “Sparky”. I am normally Homer’s producer, but he is on vacation right now. OK, it’s a week before the NFL season starts and everyone is talking about how good the Diablos are going to be, and how they will be the most improved team in the league, blah, blah, blah. What is there to get excited over? They still don’t have a running game. Vince Luck and Heath Truitt are not going to get it done folks. And that rookie they drafted is most likely a bust.

The new scouting staff re-evaluated Justin Tsoi and it looks like he will never be better than an average quarterback. If he plays the way he did during preseason, his stats will be considerably below average.

The o-line should be better than last year, but that is not saying much. They are still very weak at tackle, so the opposing line will be able to exploit that weakness.

The guys at Football Universe say that LA will win six games this year. I just don’t see it. Call me a pessimist, but I think they are going to stink again this season. What do you folks think? Phone lines are open………….HammerHead, you are on the air.

HH: Gee Sparky; chill out. Things are not that grim.

Sparky: What do you see that I don’t.

HH: For one thing, you forgot to mention that the Diablos have a pretty good defensive line. Everybody came back so they should be even better this year.

Sparky: Good defense you say…Hmmm…Let’s see. They gave up 126 yards per game on the ground last year. That doesn’t seem very good to me. Any team that has at least an average running back will march down the field fairly easily.

HH: I was referring to the defense against the pass.

Sparky: They were good last year. I will give you that. But, smart teams will opt for the running game……………Next up LeftField, you are on the air.

LF: Hey Homer.

Sparky: This is Sparky, LeftField.

LF: Oh. Um, I think the Diablos will do very well this year. Did you know that if they had scored 20 points in all of their games, they would have gone 10-6 last year?

Sparky: Actually I did know that. The problem is that this team will not consistently score 20 points. They don’t have the personnel to do it.

LF: You’re wrong Homer, I mean Sparky. I think Tsoi will prove you wrong and turn into a decent quarterback this season. I think they will win at least 10 games this year and win the division.

Sparky: You are a nut job LeftField……………BeachDude, do you have anything intelligent to add?

BD: I hope so Sparky. Although Left Field is a crackpot I do think that the team will win about 6 games this year.

Sparky: Tell me how.

BD: Well, the AFC West is an extremely weak division, and we know that the Diablos can stay competitive with these teams. I say they go 4-6. The out of division games will be harder. My guess is that they go 2-4. That would give them 6 wins on the year.

Sparky: For a beach dude that was very logical. I still say you’re wrong, but you make some sense. Well folk that’s all we have time for. Homer will back next week. Bye.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 1

Los Angeles Diablos(0-0) at Indianapolis Colts (0-0) – Vegas Line IND by 15

Injured Starters
Ted Anthony, T - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Kyle Hunter, LB - Deep Thigh Bruise, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Edward Watkins, WR - Broken Hand, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Jared Craig, S - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Week – out

The Diablos open the season with three starters unable to play. I’m not too worried about Craig, since he is just our return specialist. Rookie safety D.J. Van Pelt will take over the return duties. - Even with Watkins out, the team is still fairly deep at receiver. - Hopefully, Nate Gunn can do a decent job of subbing for Boynton since he will have the job for at least a half of season.

LA wins the toss and immediately Van Pelt makes the rookie mistake of starting to run with the ball before he fully had control. Luckily, Vince Luck is there to recover. The opening drive ends with a sack of Justin Tsoi and a punt by Gustafson. Not a good start for the Diablos.

Indianapolis starts their first drive on the 50 and quickly scores a touchdown. The Diablos bounce back and get a field goal kick from Forbes. Indy gets a great return on the ensuing kickoff and begins at midfield again. This time, they also settle for a field goal and the score is a reasonable 10-3

The LA offense continues to struggle and just cannot seem to move the ball. The Colts get good field position yet again, this time on the IND40, and get a touchdown on two quick plays. Ouch. Again. LA gets nothing and Indy gets good field position. This time, they fumble and DE Norbert Saperstein recovers the ball deep in LA territory. Unfortunately, he is injured on the play. Crap. Two plays later Tsoi throws a nice spiral right to the opposition. Indy starts on the LA15, but is held to a field goal.

After yet another dismal drive, Indianapolis starts at midfield again. This is starting to become a rather nauseating pattern. Again, the Diablos hold them to a field goal, but LA has dug themselves into a 23-3 hole at halftime.

Indy opens the second half with a long drive and yet another td to move ahead 30-3. The rest of the game is more of the same and the Colts crush the Diablos 40-18.

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 8 IND 32
Rushing Yds LA 29 IND 271
Passing Yds LA 241 IND 323
Defensive Sacks LA 0 IND 6
Interceptions LA 0 IND 1
Third Downs LA 1/11 IND 8/16
Time of Poss. LA 20:48 IND 39:12
Red Zone Stats LA 0 – 0,0 IND 7 – 2,3</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 15 for 32, 241 yards, 2td & 1int
RB Truitt – 3 for 15yards, 0td
WR Shannon – 6 for 80 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 4 for 108 yards, 2td
S Van Pelt – 14 tackles & 2 assists
LB Huntley – 8 tackles & 4 assists
C Farr – 2 sacks allowed

AFC West Standings
OAK, SEA (1-0), DEN, LA, SD, KC (0-1)

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 2

Los Angeles Diablos (0-1) vs. Cleveland Browns (0-1) – Vegas Line CLV by 12

Injured Starters
Riddick Levine, G - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Norbert Saperstein, DE - Pulled Groin, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Edward Watkins, WR - Broken Hand, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – out

Vince Harrison will take over Saperstein’s spot as starting defensive end.

Cleveland wins the toss and elects to receive. They promptly go three and out. On the Diablos first drive, they actually move the well rather easily and get into the Cleveland red zone. Ball on the CLV17 and Tsoi throws a bad pass right to the defender. Aargh. The Browns offense is nonexistent and they go three and out once again. Tsoi and company march down the field once again and this time Tsoi redeems himself and hits Bush for a td. Unfortunately, Cleveland strikes back quickly and gets a td of their own. At the end of one, the score is tied at 7.

LA’s first drive of the second ends in a bad punt and Cleveland gets good field position near midfield. The Brown’s quickly get to the LA30 and are stalled. Fortunately, Cleveland’s kicker misses the 40-yard kick and the game is still tied. LA gets a field goal just before the end of the half and the score is 10-7.

The few fans that actually showed up at Diablo Stadium see a very nice opening LA drive to get to the Cleveland red zone. Forbes hits another kick and the lead is now at 6.

Early in the fourth, Cleveland’s quarterback Tim Couch tosses an interception and LA gets the ball on the CLV17. They only move the ball 5 yards and Forbes kicks his third field goal of the day. On Cleveland’s next drive, Couch throws a bomb for 83 yards to get a td. Wow. The score is 16-14 LA with 10:41 left.

On LA’s next drive, Justin Tsoi uses both Shannon and Bush to methodically march down the field. They get to the 1-yard line, but Truitt and Luck cannot punch it in. Forbes kicked yet another field goal and LA is up by 5 with 5:31 remaining.

Cleveland goes three and out and LA gets the ball back. They quickly get into the red zone and once again Forbes hits a field goal. He is certainly living up to his nickname today. That is his fifth field goal.

Tim Couch tries to force a few plays but throws a couple of interceptions and the game ends with a Diablo victory. Final Score: LA 22 CLV 14.

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 17 CLV 15
Rushing Yds LA 62 CLV 66
Passing Yds LA 288 CLV 309
Defensive Sacks LA 0 CLV 2
Interceptions LA 3 CLV 1
Third Downs LA 2/13 CLV 8/17
Time of Poss. LA 28:02 CLV 31:58
Red Zone Stats LA 7 – 1,5 CLV 1 – 1,0</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 23 for 41, 288 yards, 1td & 1int
RB Luck – 11 for 38 yards, 0td
WR Shannon – 8 for 105 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 9 for 104 yards, 1td
K Forbes – 5 for 5 field goals
S Van Pelt – 10 tackles, 2 assists & 1 interception
LB Huntley – 3 tackles & 1 assist
T Anthony – 2 sacks allowed

AFC West Standings
SEA (2-0), SD, OAK, LA (1-1), DEN & KC (0-2)

Notes:
For the first time in franchise history, two receivers went over the century mark in the same game.

Every time the LA Diablos have scored 20 or more points, they have won the game.

[SplitPersonality1]

2004 Regular Season Schedule

66,700

Week Opponent Result Attend No-Shows
Week 1 Indianapolis Colts
Week 2 CLEVELAND BROWNS
Week 3 Kansas City Chiefs
Week 4 DENVER BRONCOS
Week 5 DALLAS COWBOYS
Week 6 OAKLAND RAIDERS
Week 7 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Week 8 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Week 9 OPEN
Week 10 Denver Broncos
Week 11 Arizona Cardinals
Week 12 San Diego Chargers
Week 13 Seattle Seahawks
Week 14 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Week 15 New York Giants
Week 16 CINCINNATI BENGALS
Week 17 Oakland Raiders

[SplitPersonality1]

After Week 2

Homer: Hey folks. The Diablos are at .500 for the first time in team history. Are you excited? They play the hated Chiefs next week and have a legitimate shot to have a winning record at 2-1. What do you think folks? ……….BillyD you’re on the air.

BD: Homer. Calm down. It’s just one win. You act as if they are going to the playoffs or something.

Homer: I can’t help it. It’s exciting. LA is actually playing decent football.

BD: Whatever Homer, they still aren’t that good.

Homer: Tsoi is second in yards and is averaging over 250. He has already thrown 3 td passes so far this year. One more and he matches the total for all of last year.

BD: But the running game is pathetic. And a safety is leading the team in tackles. Also, they have given up over 300 yards per game in passing. I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon yet.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 3

Los Angeles Diablos (1-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) – Vegas Line KC by 4

Key Injuries
Riddick Levine, G - Broken Nose, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Vince Harrison, DE - Turf Toe, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – out
Kenneth Weber, DE - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Maurice Harding, WR - Sprained Knee, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Norbert Saperstein, DE - Pulled Groin, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Edward Watkins, WR - Broken Hand, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – out

Pregame Notes: Injuries are beginning to pile up and the Diablos are quickly running out of defensive ends.

Game Summary

The Chiefs win the toss and begin the game with a nice 10-minute drive that ends in a touchdown. The Diablos are down early 7-0. LA stumbles early and goes backward 3 yards before Gustafson punts. It’s only a 25 yarder and the Chiefs begin their second drive on the LA47. This is not a good start. Luckily, the defense holds the Chiefs to 12 yards and they punt it back to LA.

Both teams trade several punts and nothing of note happens until the two-minute warning. KC begins a drive on their own 17. Rookie corner Jimmy Hanson picks a Benjamin Dunlap pass out of the air at the 30 and returns it back to the original line of scrimmage. On the very next play, Tsoi throws to Bush for 17 yards and the tying touchdown. With less than a minute to go in the half, Dunlap throws a 47 spirial to get to the LA14 with 50 seconds left. LA gets called for offsides, and KC’s Ellard runs it in for 7. With practically no time on the clock, Tsoi lofts up the ball for a hail mary and the pass is picked off. Why didn’t he just run out the clock. Grrrr. Halftime Score KC 14, LA7.

LA at the half – 16 yards rushing & 42 yards passing.

LA opens with a short drive and a punt and KC follows it up by going three and out. A poor kick gives the Diablos a short field to work with; Tsoi and crew capitalize and get a nice drive that leads to a Tsoi to Koester 23-yard touchdown. The score is tied. Toward the end of the third period, Kansas City drives down to the LA35, but fumbles the ball…..recovered by LA’s Brent Reese. End of the third.

LA does not convert the turnover into points and is forced to punt. Gustufson muffs the punt again, kicking a measly 24 yarder. Hmmmmm. But KC goes 3 and out. The next Chief drive is a beauty a nd they take it all the way down to the LA2 before settling for the go-ahead field goal. 17-14 KC with just 7:35 left on the clock

Tsoi and company begin a nice drive of their own. LA gets called for offensive pass interference. That stops them short and KC gets the ball back with just 2:37 to go. KC goes backward and LA gets another chance with the ball on the LA45 an 1:57 left. They have two timeouts

Shannon dropped the pass from Tsoi
Tsoi underthrows a pass to Bush
Mitch Bush drops a pass from Tsoi
On fourth down, Tsoi underthrows the ball again to Bush and it goes over on downs. Damn.

KC gets a first down and the game ends. Final: KC 17 LA 14

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 16 KC 20
Rushing Yds LA 24 KC 135
Passing Yds LA 161 KC 182
Defensive Sacks LA 1 KC 2
Interceptions LA 1 KC 1
Third Downs LA 4/15 KC 5/13
Time of Poss. LA 29:47 KC 30:13
Red Zone Stats LA 0 – 0,0 KC 3 – 2,1</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 21 for 40, 161 yards, 2td & 1int
RB Luck – 13 for 16 yards, 0td
WR Shannon – 7 for 65 yards, 0td
S Van Pelt – 6 tackles
LB Huntley – 15 tackles & 3 assists
O-Line 1 for 19 KRB

AFC West Standings
SEA (2-1), SD, OAK, LA, KC (1-2), DEN (0-3)

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 4

Los Angeles Diablos (1-2) vs. Denver Broncos (0-3) – Vegas Line LA by 1.5

Key Injuries
Riddick Levine, G - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Vince Harrison, DE - Turf Toe, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – will play
Kenneth Weber, DE - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Christian Malone, FB - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Maurice Harding, WR - Sprained Knee, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Norbert Saperstein, DE - Pulled Groin, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Edward Watkins, WR - Broken Hand, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out

Pregame Notes:
Another defensive end goes down and unfortunately it is sack master Mark Bruce. He really hasn’t played to his potential all season but he will definitely be missed for his pass rushing abilities.

For the first time in franchise history, LA is the favorite.

Game Summary
LA opens the game by going three and out. On Denver’s first play from scrimmage, quarterback Gus Frerotte throws a bomb to the endzone and the ball is intercepted. LA marches 70 yards to the 10 and Roosevelt Forbes kicks the ball through the uprights. Denver wastes no time and five plays later Frerotte hits for a 46 yarder and the Broncos move ahead 7-3. LA goes three and out. As the first quarter comes to a end, Denver has the ball and is moving down the field.

Denver eventually punts and LA has a good drive end just outside of Forbes’ range (it would be a 51 yard attempt). Instead Coach Keister does the smart thing and punts. On the Broncos next drive, the LA defense gets two sacks and Denver is forced to punt. The Diablos have a great drive that ends in a touchdown pass from Tsoi to Koester. Denver fumbles on the ensuing kickoff, but they recover. They go three and out. With just over a minute to play in the half, LA manages to get within field hoal range, and Forbes does it again. Halftime score is LA 13 DEN 7. Justin Tsoi has already thrown for 195 yards.

Denver opens the second half with a punt. LA’s next drive goes three and out and includes an unnecessary roughness call. Denver gets the ball back on the LA49. They travel all the way to the 1, but the Diablo defense stopped them from getting to the endzone. Denver’s field goal is good and they are back within 3. The two teams trade punts until the end of the third.

LA begins the first drive of the quarter in good field position on the DEN48. An offsides penalty followed by a Tsoi interception ended the drive. The Broncos begin on the DEN49 and quickly march to a touchdown. Denver moves ahead 17-13 with 10:15 on the clock. LA is sacked twice on the next drive and is forced to punt away again. Denver ball on the LA45. This sets up a Frerotte 45 yard pass to Copeland to the LA5. Denver gets a 5 yard run to get another td and the lead increases to 10. 5:37 left

The Diablos are not finished and manage to get a Tsoi to Harding td with just 12 seconds left. LA needs a miracle.

The onside kick was unsuccessful and Denver is able to take a kneel down to enf the game. Final Score: DEN 24 LA 21.

Mitch Bush is Game MVP in the losing effort.
<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 19 DEN 14
Rushing Yds LA 93 DEN 140
Passing Yds LA 282 DEN 190
Defensive Sacks LA 4 DEN 2
Interceptions LA 1 DEN 1
Third Downs LA 8/17 DEN 3/11
Time of Poss. LA 30:21 DEN 29:39
Red Zone Stats LA 3 – 1,2 DEN 3 – 2,1 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 24 for 43, 282 yards, 2td & 1int
RB Luck – 9 for 41 yards, 0td
RB Truitt – 8 fot 30 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 11 for 148 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 2 for 2 field goals
DT DeFelice 2.5 sacks
LB Huntley – 7 tackles & 2 assists
O-Line 8 for 18 KRB

AFC West Standings
SEA (3-1), SD & KC (2-2), OAK (1-2), LA & DEN (1-3)

Notes: For the first time, LA scored 20 and did not win.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 5

Los Angeles Diablos (1-3) vs. Dallas Cowboys (1-3) – Vegas Line DAL by 9.5

Key Injuries
Riddick Levine, G - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Vince Harrison, DE - Turf Toe, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Norbert Saperstein, DE - Pulled Groin, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Edward Watkins, WR - Broken Hand, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Nate Gunn, TE - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play

Pregame Notes
The only reason the folks in Vegas have Dallas as a 9 plus point favorite is that they have the highest rated roster in the league along with the Jets. They certainly don’t warrant it on the field as they haven’t looked very good so far in 2004. Their lone win was against San Diego who isn’t very good. This could be due to the fact that Troy Aikman is out with a knee injury. Second year player Albert Broadnax will be calling the plays for the Cowgirls.

Game Summary:
Dallas wins the toss and is quickly forced to punt. LA goes three and out, and the two teams trade punts again. So far this has been a very thrilling game. Yawn. Me and my big mouth; Dallas marches down the field rather easily and gets to the LA17. Broadnax throws a very bad pass right to rookie safety Van Pelt and LA gets the ball on the LA2. The Diablos go nowhere and Gustafson’s horrible punt leaves the Cowboys in great field position on the LA36. They can’t move the ball either and Hernandez attempts a 48 yard kick……it sails wide left. “He's clearly angry. Must be those new hard leather balls.”

LA’s next drive has good running by both Luck and Truitt. That leads to a 5 yard toss from Tsoi to Shannon for a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Braodnax throws another pic on the next series, this time to Mark Kennedy. He returns the ball to midfield and LA starts with a short field. The Diablos move into Forbes field goal range and he attempts a 42 yarder. The kick is up…….and missed wide right. Forbes is still standing in the middle of the field with a look of complete shock on his face. Tsoi comes out and pats him on the back to console him. That was his first miss of the season. Dallas capitalizes on LA’s shock and quickly gets to LA territory. Henandez attempts another field goal. It’s up……and this time it’s good. LA decides to run out the clock and have a 7-3 advantage at the half.

LA opens the new half looking rather confused and two consecutive plays send them backward 8 yards. Tsoi suckers the defense and lofts a 75 yard bomb to little used receiver Neal Koester for a touchdown. Nice play and LA leads 14-3. Dallas punts. LA punts. Dallas punts poorly and LA starts on the DAL41. Great opportunity here. On the first play of the series, Tsoi throws a very poor pass and it is returned back for 56 yards. Ouch. Ball on the LA12. Dallas gets an easy td and the lead is cut down to 4. Both teams punt again and as the quarter comes to a close, LA is first and ten on on the LA39.

LA punts away again and the Cowboys get the ball back. The LA defense is getting better as the game progresses and they stop the cowboys cold. Another bad punt lets the Diablos have the ball on the DAL35. A 14 yard run by Luck is followed by a 21 yard pass to Bush for a td. LA breathes a little easier now with 10:57 left in the game.

Both teams punt twice and Dallas gets the ball back at midfield with 4:20 to go. Broadnax finally throws a good pass and it finds Galloway for 32 yards. An offensive holding call moves the ‘Boys closer to the endzone, and Broadnax hits Ismail for 13 and the score. They get the conversion and move to within a field goal with 3:37 left. LA has dominated this game but can’t seem to shake these pesky Cowboys.

After a holding penalty on the kickoff, LA gets a couple of first downs. Dallas blows all of their timeouts, and LA is forced to punt with 37 seconds left. The last play of the game is another Broadnax pic and LA wins their second game of the year.

Rookie safety D.J.Van Pelt is Game MVP

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 14 DAL 15
Rushing Yds LA 114 DAL 70
Passing Yds LA 217 DAL 190
Defensive Sacks LA 1 DAL 5
Interceptions LA 3 DAL 1
Third Downs LA 6/16 DAL 6/17
Time of Poss. LA 30:14 DAL 29:46
Red Zone Stats LA 2 – 1,0 DAL 4 – 2,1</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 17 for 29, 217 yards, 3td & 1int
RB Luck – 10 for 46 yards, 0td
RB Truitt – 13 for 51 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 0 for 1 field goals – missed for the first time all season
DT DeFelice – 1 sack
LB Huntley – 6 tackles & 3 assists
S Van Pelt – 6 tackles & 2 interceptions
G Rydzak – 3 for 7 KRB, 1 SA
O-Line – 8 for 29 KRB

AFC West Standings
KC & SEA (3-2), SD (2-2), LA (2-3), DEN & OAK (1-3)

Note:
LA gets no respect in the national media. Van Pelt played a lot better than Oakland’s Perry Fitzgerald, but the Raider won the DPOW title anyway. Boooo.

D.J. Van Pelt, L A, S - 6 tackles, 0 assists, 0.0 sacks, 2 interceptions.
Perry Fitzgerald, OAK, CB - 1 tackles, 0 assists, 0.0 sacks, 2 interceptions.

Defensive Player of the Week: Perry Fitzgerald, CB, Oakland Raiders – how do they figure?

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 6

Los Angeles Diablos (2-3) vs. Oakland Raiders (1-3) – Vegas Line LA by 1

Key Injuries
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Vince Harrison, DE - Turf Toe, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Christian Malone, FB - Broken Nose, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Norbert Saperstein, DE - Pulled Groin, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out

Pregame Notes
Injuries are starting to dissipate, Oakland seems to be reeling and LA is the favorite for the second time this season. Could we actually get a *gasp* winning streak going? Or will we get crushed 55-3. For some reason, this game is making me nervous.

Game Summary
Oakland wins the toss and doesn’t do much. They punt and the Diablos promptly go three and out. Oakland gets backed up and LA gets the ball again. They march methodically down the field but are stopped in the red zone. Forbes’ kick……is……. right down the middle. The first ends a 3-0 LA lead and the Raiders have the ball.

Oakland gets to the LA red zone and the dangerous Diablo defense digs in and denies a touchdown. (sorry, I couldn’t resist the alliteration, it will never happen again) Oakland kicks a field goal to tie up the game.

LA punts. Oakland kicks another field goal. LA punts. Oakland does not kick a field goal; they go three and out. LA has the ball with 1:23 left in the half. They get to midfield as time runs out. Score OAK 6 LA 3.

On LA’s first drive of the second half, Tsoi throws an interception, and the Raiders march down the field rather easily. The defense gets stingy in the red zone again, and
Janikowski misses the chip shot wide right! Lucky break. LA grabs the opportunity and gets a field goal to tie it up with 1:51 remaining in the third. The quarter end with Oakland driving near midfield.

Oakland eats up five minutes of clock and gets the fifth field goal of the day to take a 9-6 lead with 10+ minutes to go. Tsoi is sacked on third down and LA punts away. Oakland punts. 7:03 left. LA gets to midfield and instead of going for it, punts it away. Keister is very confident in his defense today. They have played well, but was this a good move?

The gamble paid off as Oakland goes three and out. LA gets the ball back on the LA22 with 2:07 left. LA has two timeouts and the two minute warning.

Tsoi cannot connect on his first three attempts and tries to force a pass on fourth down. It goes right to the opposition and Oakland has the ball on the LA21 with just 1:21 left
To fourth down – tsoi int on la21 – 1:21 left

The Raiders try an end around and fool no one. They are set back 14 yards and LA calls a timeout.
LA gets called for offsides
OAK gets called for a false start to even things out
Newman runs for 8 and LA called their final timeout.
It’s third and 16 on the LA27 and Wheatley runs for 9 yards. LB Kyle Hunetr is injured. I hope it’s not serious. 39 seconds left
Janikowksi attempts a 35 yard field goal and …………..missed wide to the left. 31 seconds left. LA needs a miracle here.

LA ball on their own 25.
Tsoi throws incomplete to Bush.
Tsoi throws incomplete to Bush.
Tsoi to Watkins for 14, but the receiver did not make it out of bounds. Damn’
Game over. Oakland wins it 9-6.

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 13 OAK 15
Rushing Yds LA 31 OAK 124
Passing Yds LA 169 OAK 132
Defensive Sacks LA 3 OAK 6
Interceptions LA 0 OAK 2
Third Downs LA 6/16 OAK 3/13
Time of Poss. LA 30:56 OAK 29:04
Red Zone Stats LA 1 – 0,1 OAK 4 – 0,2</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 21 for 35, 169 yards, 0td & 2int
RB Luck – 6 for 9 yards, 0td
RB Truitt – 10 fot 12 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 10 for 63 yards, 0td
WR Watkins – 6 for 62 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 2 for 2 field goals
DT DeFelice – 1 sack
LB Huntley – 4 tackles, 3 assists & 1 sack
G Rydzak– 3 for 5 KRB, 0 SA
T Swift – 2 for 4 KRB, 1 SA

AFC West Standings
KC (4-2), SEA (3-3), DEN, OAK & SD (2-3), LA (2-4)

Notes
The Diablo defense has held opponents to under 200 yards in each of the last four games.
Each of the last four games have been decided by a field goal. Unfortunately, LA is 1-3 in that stretch.

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill on Football Universe Website

Both QB Scottie Stokes and WR Roosevelt Shannon are rumored to be very unhappy with their lack of playing time. Stokes has been heard to say “I am the veteran player. I had the better preseason. It should be me out there on the field.” Both Stokes and Shannon declined our request for interviews.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 7

Los Angeles Diablos (2-4) vs. Seattle Seahawks (3-3) – Vegas Line SEA by 1.5

Key Injuries
Riddick Levine, G - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – out

Game Summary
LA wins the toss and elects to receive. LA opens with a nice long drive and Tsoi is on fire hitting 5 of 6. They stall in Forbes’ kicking range, and he gets the ball to sail right down the middle. LA leads 3-0. Seattle quickly punts, and LA has another good drive. This one also leads to a Forbes field goal and the lead extends to six. Tsoi has passed for 117 yards already. Too bad he only has 6 point to show for it.

On the second play of the next drive, a Seahawk fumble is picked up by DE Vince Harrison and he rumbles his 273 yard frame down to the SEA7. Tsoi throws to incomplete passes, then runs a draw and gets into the endzone. Nice play! A failed conversion makes the score 12-0 LA. Seattle cannot get anything going. The Diablos are really dominating this game so far. LA crosses midfield before they stall at the SEA42. Coach Keister is a little cocky today and goes for it on fourth down. Incomplete pass. A questionable decision, but it does no harm as the Seahawk’s offense continues to struggle. The teams trade punts until the end of the half and LA maintains the 12 point shutout. Seattle has just 19 yards rushing and 36 yards passing.

Seattle’s first drive ends in a punt yet again, as does LA’s. Kitna and the Seahawks finally get something going and enter the LA red zone. Kitna throws an interception and they lose the only scoring opportunity they have had all day. Late in the third, Tsoi throws an interception and Seattle gets the ball on the LA39. They do not squander this opportunity and get a Kitna to Brock touchdown. At the end of three quarters, it is 12-7 and the Diablos have the ball second and 4 on the SEA46.

LA gets a first down, but on the next play, Tsoi throws another pic. Fortunately, the Seattle offense is once again ineffective and they are forced to punt. Despite his accuracy probems, Tsoi continues to pass on nearly every play and crosses midfield. He then throws away from double coverage and completes a 38 yard pass to Bush for his first passing touchdown of the day. Excellent play! LA leads 19-7 with 7:46 left.

Seattles woes continue as they fumble the kickoff. They recover, but Kitna gets sacked on second down. They have to punt and LA gets the ball back. Two plays later Tsoi hits Malone for a 72 yard hail mary touchdown. That should seal it.

Seattle gets a late td and the conversion, but it is much too late. The Diablos win again, this time in a very convincing fashion. Final 26-15.

Game MVP – Justin Tsoi

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 16 SEA 12
Rushing Yds LA 52 SEA 61
Passing Yds LA 388* SEA 222
Defensive Sacks LA 2 SEA 3
Interceptions LA 1 SEA 2
Third Downs LA 5/16 SEA 5/14
Time of Poss. LA 29:20 SEA 30:40
Red Zone Stats LA 3 – 1,1 SEA 2 – 1,0</pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 24 for 36, 388 yards, 2td & 2int and 7 for 26 yards, 1td rushing
RB Luck – 11 for 21 yards, 1td
WR Bush – 8 for 140 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 2 for 2 field goals
LB Huntley – 3 tackles, 2 assists & 1 sack
C Farr 2 for 5 KRB, 3 SA

AFC West Standings
KC (4-3), DEN & SD (3-3), LA & SEA (3-4), OAK (2-4)

Notes
Again the media snubs the Diablos. Justin Tsoi does not win the OPOW award despite throwing for a franchise record 388 yards. It is the firs time in team history that anyone has thrown over 300 yards.

Justin Tsoi, L A, QB - 24 for 36, 388 yards, 2 TDs.
Drew Bledsoe, NED, QB - 25 for 46, 379 yards, 3 TDs.
Kordell Stewart, PIT, QB - 36 for 51, 339 yards, 2 TDs.

Offensive Player of the Week: Kordell Stewart, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers - booooo – I guess I’m a little biased.

[SplitPersonality1]

From Injury Report on the Football Universe Website

Kansas City Chiefs:

Tim Grunhard, C - Out
Kevin Lockett, WR - Questionable
Marvcus Patton, LB - Questionable
John Tait, T - Doubtful
Dan Williams, DE - Questionable
Duane Bassett, WR - Out
Les Tuggle, C - Doubtful
Chris Pettway, G - Doubtful
Leo Dixon, T - Doubtful
Corwin Samuels, T - Probable
Bennie Bradford, WR - Probable
James Donaldson, T - Out
Vinny Pritchett, S – Questionable


After Week 7

Good evening LA, This is the Homer and you are listening to the World’s Greatest Sport Show. The Diablos are looking pretty good folks. Granted they only have a 3-4 record, but they are only one game in back of division leading Kansas City.

The good news; in seven games, Tsoi has thrown 12 td passes – more than the team had all of last year. He has also passed for 1746 yards, which is the best in the AFC. Mitch Bush has caught for 642 yards, more than he had all of last year. In the last five games, the pass defense has been phenomenal giving up an average of 183 yards.

The bad news: They desperately need a running back. Also, they give up way too many sacks.

What do you think of the season so far? Next weeks showdown with the Chiefs could potentially be for the division lead. Are you excited yet? I am………Hollywood Frank, you are up.

HF: I guess I’m excited Homer.

Homer: You don’t sound convinced.

HF: Well no. I still don’t like the coach or the owner, and I don’t see how they can win without any kind of a running game.

Homer: I don’t think they will win the Superbowl or anything, but you have to admit, the team is finally making progress.

HF: I suppose. If the owner wasn’t such a dink when it comes to getting veteran players, they would probably be a lock to win the division this year.

Homer: Maybe. Just hang in there Frank, The Diablos will continue to improve. I figure they will be playoff contenders next year, and who knows after that……..Here we go….Big Chief, you are on the air.

BC: Homer, Homer, Homer. You poor misguided fool. This team is not any good and I would not be surprised if they only win one or two more games this year.

Homer: And I suppose the Kansas City Chiefs are going to win it all.

BC: No, but look who’s in first place as we speak. The Chiefs.

Homer: Yeah and that great team of yours is only one game ahead of the miserable Diablos. How do you explain that, Chief.

BC: Injuries Homer. Just wait until we get healthy. You guys make take this upcoming game from us, but we will see who is left standing when the dust settles at the end of the season.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 8

Los Angeles Diablos (3-4) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (4-3) – Vegas Line KC by 1

Key Injuries
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 2-3 Months - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out

Pregame Notes
Looking at the injury situation, it’s pretty clear that LA has a distinct advantage. Also KC actually scores fewer points than LA.This game will be a good test for the Diablos. Win and they will be a team to watch down the stretch. Lose and no one will fear them in weeks to come.

Game Summary
KC wins the toss and elects to receive. Quarterback Benjamin Dunlap lights it up early and very quickly gets to the LA20. The Diablo D finally wakes up and forces a field goal attempt. The kick is good and the Chiefs take an early 3 to 0 lead. LA’s offense comes out slowly as Tsoi does not complete a pass. They go three and out and Gustufson kicks a wobbly 26 yard punt. (I’m really going to have to do something about the punting in the off-season.) KC has a poor drive and has to punt. Their guy knows how to do it and pins the Diablos back to the 4. LA gets -2 yards on three plays. Come on guys, wake up. Gustafson gets off a decemt punt this time and an illegal block by the Chiefs have them start on their own side of the field. Lucky break. They go three and out. Tsoi finally completes a couple of passes and LA gets a first down. End of one.

LA doesn’t get far and they have to punt again. KC punt. LA punt. KC punt. LA punt. KC punt. This one is a real yawner so far. Very late in the second, LA slowly moves down the field, and gets to field goal range with 6 on the clock. The kick is good and it is tied 3-3 and the half ends.

Odd game. Both teams start moving the ball down the field, but the opposing defense aquickly adjusts and stops any forward progress. This is a good defensive battle, but a rather boring game to watch.

LA’s first series starts out good, but 2 consecutive penalties make it 1st and 30 from their own 25. Aargh. They must punt away yet again. KC completely abandons the pass and goes nowhere. The puntfest continues to the end of the third. LA is second and 9 on the LA33.

LA punt. KC punt – details from game below:

4-17-KCY23 (10:11) KCY 2 Yazzie punted 42 yards from the KCY23.
L A 22 Van Pelt returned the ball -6 yards to the L A29. Tackled by KCY 88 Gonzalez.
Ball was fumbled and recovered by KCY 88 Gonzalez for 0 yards to the L A29.

Son of a gun. Lucky break for the Chiefs. They capitalize with the go ahead field goal and lead the game 6-3 with 6:06 to go. LA punt. KC punt. LA ball on the 20 with just 2:16 remaining.

Heath Truitt runs right and is stuffed behind the line for a loss of 2.
Offensive holding is called and it is now second and 21 on the LA9
Tsoi throws an incomplete pass toward Bush.
Tsoi pass is overthrown, intended for Bush. Fourth and very long. 1:39 left.

Wait a minute. Has Coach Keister lost his mind? He is going for it. ??? Tsoi overthrows the pass....Let’s just give the blasted game away….KC gets a quick touchdown and takes a 13-3 lead. Son of a … :mad:

Unbelievably, Tsoi and company sprint down the field and score a touchdown to make it 13-10. If only they had punted…..28 sec left on the clock

The onside kick is unsuccessful. Game over. Final: KC 13 LA 10. I am ticked.

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 10 KC 14
Rushing Yds LA 84 KC 85
Passing Yds g LA 154 KC 194
Defensive Sacks LA 3 KC 0
Interceptions LA 0 KC 0
Third Downs LA 4/15 KC 6/18
Time of Poss. LA 25:29 KC 34:31
Red Zone Stats LA 1 – 1,0 KC 3 – 1,2 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 15 for 32, 154 yards, 1td & 0int
RB Luck – 11 for 65 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 3 for 29 yards, 1td
WR Harding – 4 for 64 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 1 for 1 field goals
LB Huntley – 10 tackles, 2 assists
O-Line 3 for 17 KRB, 0 SA

AFC West Standings
KC (5-3), SD (4-3), DEN (3-4), LA & SEA (3-5), OAK (2-5)

[SplitPersonality1]

Out of character

After stomping away from the computer for a few minutes after that game, I managed to compose myself and write the game summary. I then did a check of the timeout situation and have concluded that my coach is not an idiot, but probably a genius.

Although it was 4th and 21 on the 9-yard line, LA only had one timeout left. If he had punted, KC would have taken a couple of knees and the game would have been over.

However, by going for it, had they succeeded, I wouldn’t have gotten apoplectic and wouldn’t be typing this post. By failing, they suckered the KC coaching staff to get a td, giving the ball back to LA and a chance, albeit a very, very slim chance of pulling out a miracle finish.

LA needed a quick td, which they got, and then they needed to get the onside kick and get a quick field goal to tie up the game. Alas, they did not succeed.

I am probably giving WAY to much credit to the game AI, but at least I can rationalize this stinking loss and go to bed. Good night.

end rant

I am way too emotionally attached to this fictional team. I think I need more of a social life. :D

[SplitPersonality1]

<pre>
2004 Mid-Season Standings

AFC East W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Buffalo 5 2 0 .714 159 135 5-0-0 5-2-0
New York J 5 2 0 .714 184 139 0-2-0 3-2-0
Indianapolis 4 3 0 .571 169 123 2-3-0 4-3-0
New England 4 3 0 .571 136 149 1-3-0 3-3-0
Miami 3 4 0 .429 161 159 2-2-0 3-2-0

AFC Central W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Jacksonville 5 3 0 .625 190 114 4-0-0 4-0-0
Cincinnati 5 3 0 .625 161 138 4-3-0 4-3-0
Pittsburgh 4 4 0 .500 122 152 2-3-0 3-3-0
Baltimore 3 4 0 .429 103 140 3-1-0 3-3-0
Tennessee 2 6 0 .250 162 198 2-5-0 2-6-0
Cleveland 1 6 0 .143 121 171 1-4-0 1-5-0

AFC West W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Kansas City 5 3 0 .625 122 132 3-3-0 5-3-0
San Diego 4 3 0 .571 149 130 3-1-0 3-2-0
Denver 3 4 0 .429 139 153 3-1-0 3-2-0
**Los Angeles 3 5 0 .375 138 150 1-4-0 2-5-0
Seattle 3 5 0 .375 109 159 2-3-0 2-5-0
Oakland 2 5 0 .286 114 154 2-2-0 2-3-0

NFC East W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Arizona 5 2 0 .714 164 131 2-2-0 4-2-0
Washington 4 3 0 .571 141 133 3-0-0 3-2-0
New York G 4 3 0 .571 146 125 2-2-0 3-2-0
Philadelphia 4 3 0 .571 139 155 3-3-0 4-3-0
Dallas 2 5 0 .286 155 142 0-3-0 0-4-0

NFC Central W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Detroit 6 1 0 .857 169 97 3-0-0 4-0-0
Green Bay 4 3 0 .571 142 124 2-2-0 3-3-0
Tampa Bay 4 3 0 .571 130 126 2-2-0 3-3-0
Minnesota 3 4 0 .429 103 184 2-2-0 2-3-0
Chicago 3 4 0 .429 125 144 0-3-0 2-3-0

NFC West W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
New Orleans 6 1 0 .857 175 102 2-1-0 5-1-0
San Francisco 4 3 0 .571 127 178 4-0-0 4-2-0
Atlanta 3 4 0 .429 178 137 3-2-0 3-3-0
Carolina 2 6 0 .250 126 147 1-3-0 1-6-0
St. Louis 1 6 0 .143 162 200 0-4-0 1-5-0
</pre>

[SplitPersonality1]

Midseason Report

The Good News
The passing offense led by Justin Tsoi is 10th in the league with a 237.5 yard average, and the passing defense is ranked 11th, holding opponents to 217 ypg. Young QB Tsoi is fourth in the league in yards (1900), and WR Mitch Bush is fifth in receiving yards with 671. He is on pace to become to team’s first 1000 yard rusher. - Roosevelt “Money” Forbes has been extremely impressive in the 2004 campaign. He is 13 of 14 so far and only Brett Conway (WSH) 14/15 and John Carney (SD) 17/18 have been better. - Fred Huntley is not having the monster season he had last year, but is still among the leagues best middle linebackers. He has 56 tackles so far, still on pace to break 100 for the third consecutive season.

The Bad News
The running game is just awful and at 61 ypg, LA is 31st in the NFL. They have only one rushing td and it comes from the QB Tsoi. - Punter Preston Gustafson signed a two year contract last year and has been playing like cr*p. There have been way too many punts under 30 yards.

Overall Impressions
The LA Diablos are 3-5 at the midpoint of the season. The first loss was a blowout by a fairly decent Indianapolis team. The remaining losses were all by just one field goal. Most of their remaining games are played away from Diablo Stadium, but they should be good enough to get 3 or 4 more wins. If they manage to get to 8-8, it will be a very successful season.

[SplitPersonality1]

After Week 8

Homer: I need to poll the listeners to this show. Just one question for you folks – Is Coach Jack Keister a genius or an idiot? Tell me which you think he is and a short reason why. I’ll take the next five callers in my unscientific pool……Hammerhead, you’re on the World’s Greatest Sports Show

HH: Genius Homer. He very nearly pulled off the miracle win. I think he was counting on KC to go for the td and give the ball back to the Diablos. Too bad it didn’t work.

Homer: Got it….Bill on a cell phone

Bill: Coach Keister is an idiot Homer. He doesn’t know how to handle quarterbacks. It’s obvious that he should have stuck with Tsoi all of last year.

Homer: How do you feel about the fourth down play against the Chiefs?

Bill: I don’t know; I didn’t see the game.

Homer: Good grief…….Hollywood Frank, what do you think?

HF: I’ve been complaining about this guy for two years now. I think he is an overpaid muttonhead that can’t coach his way out of a paper bag. The only reason he was successful in Atlanta is the fact that he was surrounded by great players. Notice how successful they have been since he left the team.

Homer: Muttonhead, I like that Frank…..next up Big Momma.

BM: I think he is neither Homer. In my opinion, he hasn’t shown signs of greatness, but he is not a complete disaster either. I have a feeling that the team owner will suddenly realize that they have a perfectly average coach in charge of the team. Now, is he worth 7 million a year, probably not.

Homer: I’m not sure how to score that one Momma, you are too diplomatic……last vote is; I should have seen this coming….Big Chief ready to gloat over his teams victory of course.

BC: Not at all, Homer. My team played very poorly in last weeks game, and barely beat your guys.

Homer: What’s this? Is Big Chief being a gracious winner?

BC: No. I still think your guys stink, considering most of them would be backups at best on any other team. I called to vote on the Keister poll.

Homer: Go ahead.

BC: Keister is an idiot. He should have punted. The defense has been getting the job done for the entire season and looked sharp all game. Tsoi and the offense looked pretty bad against the Chiefs. He should have played to his strength, the defense, and punted away. Why count on a quarterback that has had trouble all season late in the fourth? Did you see how poorly that ball was thrown? It never had a chance to get to the receiver. Tsoi has thrown more bad passes in the waning minutes of a game than anyone I have ever seen.

Maybe your special teams would force a fumble. Maybe the Chiefs would try some stupid play instead on falling to a knee. Who knows? Later Homer.

Homer: See ya Chief……..That’s it for the poll. Final results: 1 vote for genius, 3 votes for idiot and an abstention. So I guess my audience thinks he’s not a very bright guy. I’ll have to bring this poll up the next time he is on my show.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 9
open week for the LA Diablos

Denver and Oakland won; Seattle and San Diego lost

AFC West Standings
KC (5-3), SD & DEN (4-4), OAK & LA (3-5), SEA (3-6)

[SplitPersonality1]

excerpt from Justin Tsoi Interview with Sporting Illustrated News Magazine

SINM: What do you contribute your success this season to?

Tsoi: I worked quite a bit during the off-season on strength and conditioning. That and the fact the coaching staff really gave me an opportunity to take over the team as an offensive leader.

SINM: Some argue, teammate Sammie Stokes among them, that you haven’t earned the right to lead the team and that money played a bigger role than talent did.

Tsoi: That’s just bulls**t. Before the season started, Sammie and I agreed that whatever decision Coach Keister made would be fine by us. If Sammie had won the job, I would have been happy for him and been satisfied in a backup role. He lost the job and he needs to bring this cr*p up to me instead of shooting his mouth off to the f***ing media. Note to you Sammie: Be a man and talk to me!

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 10

Los Angeles Diablos (3-5) at Denver Broncos (4-4) – Vegas Line DEN by 5.5

Key Injuries
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – out

Pregame Notes
The Diablos begin a four game road trip with the knowledge that they have never won on the road.

Game Summary
LA wins the toss and gets the ball first. First play from scrimmage is a beautiful pass Tsoi to Bush for 22. Good Start for the Diablos. LA continues down the field eating up yards fairly easily, but hits a wall near the 25 yard line. “Money” lines up for the kick…and it’s good. LA leads early 3-0. The Broncos don’t do anything in the first three plays and punt the ball…..Roughing the kicker?! No way. Owner SplitPersonality throws his beer across his luxury suite in disgust at that call….Doesn’t matter as Denver goes 3 and out again. LA rebounds from the poor officiating with a sprint down to the Denver red zone. I think they want this one. Tsoi throws an interception. Doh! Both teams go three and out and the quarter comes to an end.

On Denver’s next drive, they march down to the LA side of the field and set up a kick for Jason Elam. The kick is up and………………….misses wide right. Elam angrily mutters into the camera; “Must be those new hard leather balls.” Sure Jason. It’s probably not those balls, it just might be you.

Tsoi and crew get another decent drive stalled in Forbes’ range and he kicks his 15th fisld goal of the season. Denver goes three and out again, and LA gets the ball on the DEN35. LA blows a great opportunity for a touchdown, but manage to move the ball in a little closer for Forbes. His 47-yard kick is up…………and misses? Damn. That’s what I get for being cocky. The Broncos respond by getting an Elam kick to go through the uprights just before the half. This is another low scoring affair, and LA has a slim 6-2 lead.

KC opens the third with a poor drive and a terrible punt. The Diablos begin on the DEN31. They get stopped again , and Forbes lines up for a chance at redemption. The ball sails wide again. Yikes. Neither offense can move the ball for the rest of the quarter, and the score remains 6-3

Denver drives to midfield; punt. LA travels backward; punt. Denver punt. LA punt. Denver has a nice long drive get to the Diablo red zone with under two minutes to go. The Diablo defense lets them down and Denver scores a td with just 22 seconds left on the clock. Coach Keister looks absolutely dumbfounded and the clock clicks to 0:00 and LA has lost the game. Final DEN 10 LA 6.

What happened to the offense?

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 10 DEN 14
Rushing Yds LA 84 DEN 85
Passing Yds LA 154 DEN 194
Defensive Sacks LA 3 DEN 0
Interceptions LA 0 DEN 0
Third Downs LA 4/15 DEN 6/18
Time of Poss. LA 25:29 DEN 34:31
Red Zone Stats LA 1 – 1,0 DEN 3 – 1,2 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 15 for 32, 154 yards, 1td & 0int
RB Luck – 11 for 65 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 3 for 29 yards, 1td
WR Harding – 4 for 64 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 1 for 1 field goals
LB Huntley – 10 tackles, 2 assists
DE Saperstein – 3 sacks
O-Line – 3 for 17 KRB, 0 SA

AFC West Standings
DEN, KC & SD (5-4), OAK (4-5), LA & SEA (3-6)

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 11

Los Angeles Diablos (3-6) at Arizona Cardinals (6-3, 1st in NFC East) – Vegas Line AZ by 8

Key Injuries
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

Pregame: The team needs to rebound quickly. Even if they don’t win, they need to have a respectable showing or they may start losing confidence.

Game Summary
LA elects to receive and gets the ball to midfield. On fourth down, the Cardinals go offsides and gave the Diablos a fresh set of downs. LA cannot take advantage of the situation and are forced to punt it away. On the second play of Arizona’s drive, Jake Plummer throws an interception to C.J. Pifott. Great opportunity for LA. Ball on the AZ33. Three plays later Tsoi returned the favor and the Cardinals dodge a bullet. Darn. Arizona punts and LA looks sharp on the next drive. Tsoi gets them to the AZ6 and Vince Luck runs around the left end for the score. A rushing td. LA is up by 7. ‘Zona punts away at the end of one.

LA has good field position again starting on the AZ44. They look good again and Forbes tacks on three points. The teams trade punts and then the Cardinal finally show why they are in first place. Plummer and crew eat up the Diablo defense and score an easy touchdown to cut the lead to three. Not to be outdone, Tsoi leads his guys down the field, but dumb penalties send them out of field goal range and they are forced to punt with seconds on the clock. ‘Arizona is content to run out the clock and the score at the half is LA10 AZ 7.

The Cardinals come out cold and punt on their first series. Both offenses stall until late in third. A promising LA drive is cut short as Tsoi throws his second pic of the day. Plummer cannot capitalize and the score remains 10-7 through three.

AZ punts. LA punts. Arizona starts a drive deep in their own territory, seemed to get penned in and then Thomas Jones runs around the right end for 55 yards. Somebody was sleeping on that play. Ball at the LA7. Next play goes to Jones again and he takes it in for a touchdown. The Cardinals have their first lead of the day with 6:59 on the clock.

Neither team goes anywhere and LA gets the ball back on their own 4 with 2:06 left. They have all of their timeouts.

Vince Luck gets stuffed trying to run up the middle and gets caught in the backfield…..wait….fumble…….they pull bodies off the pile and it looks like…….crap. Arizona ball on the LA1. :mad:

The Diablo defense does its job by holding the Cards to a field goal

The Diablos still have a chance. Down 17-10 with just 1:04 left and no timeouts. LA begins on their 20.

False Start LA – 1st and 15.
Tsoi incomplete to Bush – 2nd and 15.
Tsoi sacked – 3rd and 20; ball at the LA10 – just 37 seconds left.
Watkins dropped Tsoi’s pass – 4th and 20 – 31 seconds.
Tsoi underthrows it to Shannon.
Plummer kneels and LA loses another winnable game..

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 14 AZ 14
Rushing Yds LA 76 AZ 127
Passing Yds LA 138 AZ 177
Defensive Sacks LA 7 AZ 4
Interceptions LA 1 AZ 2
Third Downs LA 0/14 AZ 3/13
Time of Poss. LA 30:59 AZ 29:01
Red Zone Stats LA 2 – 1,1 AZ 3 – 2,1 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 18 for 33, 138 yards, 0td & 2int
RB Luck – 12 for 30 yards, 1td
WR Bush – 6 for 49 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 1 for 1 field goals
LB Huntley – 1 tackles, 5 assists, 1.5 sacks
DE Saperstein – 2 sacks
Defense – 7 sacks
O-Line – 4 for 21 KRB, 4 SA

AFC West Standings
DEN, KC OAK & SD (5-5), SEA (4-6), LA (3-7)

Notes: The AFC West is looking mighty weak.

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill from Football Universe Website

The feud between Justin Tsoi and Sammie Stokes of the LA Diablos just intensified. Rumor has it that the two players and not speaking to each other. Stokes has gone so far as to refuse to be in the locker room with Tsoi unless it is a required team meeting. Neither Stokes nor Tsoi could not be reached for comment.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 12

Los Angeles Diablos (3-7) at San Diego Chargers (5-5) – Vegas Line LA by 1

Key Injuries
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in time for the playoffs

Pregame Notes
LA has never won an away game. San Diego is in a four-way tie for first in the division. LA is favored by 1. Hmmmm.

Game Summary
San Diego gets the ball first and begins to move it up the field. The LA defense kicks in and stifles them before they cross the midfield stripe. On the punt, Fred Huntley was injured. I hope it’s not serious. :( LA goes three and out on their first possession. The teams chew up the grass in the middle of the field until the end of the first. Both teams combine for 70 yards of total offense and the game remains scoreless.

Early in the second, LA finally breaks through and scores a field goal. Late in the second, LA gets another scoring opportunity, but Forbes missed wide left. San Diego quickly get downfield and scores tying kick with just over a minute left in the half. LA swiftly moves down the field, but time runs out as they line up for the go-ahead kick Halftime score: 3-3.

Forbes gets another chance to add points to the board, but he misses the 50 yarder. Hey Coach, 50 yards is out of Forbes’ range. Aargh. With 3:01 left in the third, Justin Tsoi leaves the game with an injury. Stokes will finally get a chance to play this season. His first pass is incomplete, and LA punts away. On the next drive, the Chargers march down to get a touchdown and take a 10-3 lead.

LA’s first drive of the fourth quarter is promising and Stokes takes the team into Charger territory. The offense stalls again and Forbes lines up for yet another kick. This time it’s good and LA is now down 4. The teams trade punts. San Diego gets another field goal and LA is running out of time.

LA begins what is probably their last push on the LA22 with 1:48 and 1 timeout left.
Sammie Stokes lofts the ball and it is……picked off and run back to the LA20. On no!. San Diego takes a couple of kneel downs and the game is over. Final: SD 13 LA 6

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 11 SD 19
Rushing Yds LA 52 SD 89
Passing Yds LA 187 SD 202
Defensive Sacks LA 4 SD 6
Interceptions LA 0 SD 1
Third Downs LA 1/12 SD 6/18
Time of Poss. LA 23:14 SD 36:46
Red Zone Stats LA 1 – 0,1 SD 3 – 1,1 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 10 for 22, 134 yards, 0td & 0int
QB Stokes – 4 for 9, 53 yards, 0td & 1int
RB Luck – 7 for 39 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 5 for 79 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 2 for 4 field goals
LB Huntley – 2 tackles – went out early in the game
LB Hunter – 2 sacks
O-Line – 4 for 13 KRB, 6 SA

AFC West Standings
SD & OAK (6-5), DEN & KC (5-6), SEA (4-7), LA (3-8)

[SplitPersonality1]

excerpt of audio from CBN broadcast during Diablos - Chargers football game

“Nice throw jackass. I guess we know why I’m the starter” – Justin Tsoi after Sammie Stokes’ interception at the end of the game.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 13

Los Angeles Diablos (3-8) at Seattle Seahawks (4-7) – Vegas Line SEA by 2.5

Injured Starters
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Justin Tsoi, QB - Bruised Shoulder, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will start
Patrick Stuart, LB - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in time for the playoffs - out
D.J. Van Pelt, S - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play

Pregame Notes:
The Diablo defense is quite formidable. They have held there last seven opponents under 20 points. Unfortunately they are only 2-5 in that stretch. If they had a running game, they could easily be a .500 club. Both of the Seahawks starting DE’s are out this week. Maybe LA can make something happen.

Game Summary
LA wins the toss and elects to receive. Tsoi, bruised shoulder and all, throws three consecutive incomplete passes and the Diablos quickly go three and out. Seattle gets 9 yards and follows suit. Switching tactics, Coach Keister decides to take advantage of the Seattle injuries and runs the ball…successfully. LA gets to midfield, before the coach inexplicably goes back to the pass. :confused: I’m not sure I understand this strategy. The punt pins Seattle deep in their own territory, but they come out swinging. They march downfield and Kitna throws a pass into double coverage…caught by Rivers who scampers in 36 yards for the touchdown. Nice pass. LA punts again and it is Seahawk ball as the second quarter begins.

They go three and out and LA gets the ball in decent field position. A mix of rushing and passing gets the ball in Forbes’ field goal range. The kick is up…and good. 7-3 Seattle. The offense for both teams quiets down until late in the quarter. Seattle gets a field goal to end the half and take a 10-3 lead into the locker-room.

Joe Kitna and the Seahawks completely rip apart the fabled, (maybe not fabled), Diablo pass defense and get to the endzone taking 9 minutes of clock to do so. Kitna already has 207 yards on the day and it is the middle of the third quarter. Tsoi and crew attempt to come back, but Tsoi throws the ball right to a defender in the LA red zone. Ugh. One play later, it’s Kitna to Brock for a touchdown and Seattle has a three td lead. This one is getting ugly folks. The score stays 24-3 and Seattle has the ball to open the fourth.

Tsoi throws another interception in LA territory and Seattle scores again. Coack Keister has seen enough and sends out Sammie Stokes to finish the game. Sammie finds some success and LA marches down the field and score a touchdown. Too little, way too late. Final SEA 31 LA 10.

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 13 SEA 26
Rushing Yds LA 104 SEA 162
Passing Yds LA 93 SEA 248
Defensive Sacks LA 2 SEA 1
Interceptions LA 0 SEA 2
Third Downs LA 5/13 SEA 10/15
Time of Poss. LA 24:19 SEA 35:41
Red Zone Stats LA 2 – 1,1 SEA 3 – 2,1 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 10 for 23, 44 yards, 0td & 2int
QB Stokes – 5 for 7, 49 yards, 0td & 0int
RB Truitt – 9 for 46 yards, 1td
RB Luck – 6 for 26 yards, 0td
K Forbes – 1 for 1 field goals
LB Huntley – 9 tackles, 3 assists
LB Hunter – 10 tackles, 3 assists
LB Scottie Disney – 1.5 sacks
O-Line – 8 for 18 KRB, 1 SA

AFC West Standings
OAK (7-5), SD & DEN (6-6), SEA & KC (5-7), LA (3-9)

[SplitPersonality1]

Webpage on diablossuck.com

Click on the link below to order your very own “Who’s the jackass now” t-shirts from our website. The shirts are available in all sizes ranging from skinny-wimp to super jumbo lard-ass. Cost is just $19.99. Order now!

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 14

Los Angeles Diablos (3-9) vs. San Diego Chargers (5-7) – Vegas Line LA by 3

Injured Starters
Mark Bruce, DE - Broken Arm, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Justin Tsoi, QB - Bruised Shoulder, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - backup
Walt Rydzak, G - Bruised Sternum, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Patrick Stuart, LB - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in time for the playoffs – out

Pregame Notes
The Power Ratings for the AFC West is as follows: OAK 51, SEA 39, DEN 35, LA & SD 29 & KC 26. Wow.

Game Summary
LA wins the toss, and elected to receive. Stokes opens the game with two incomplete passes. A 3-yard run by Luck follows and LA punts away. San Diego runs for 4, runs for 42 :mad:, 2, -3 and then 9 before kicking a chip shot field goal to take a 3-0 lead. LA punts again and the Chargers go down the field like a hot knife through butter. They get a touchdown this time and the crowd is already booing. These guys have lost and the fans are not too pleased. It’s the end of one and San Diego leads 10-0.

A blocked San Diego punt three minutes into the second quarter gets the crowd exited as the ball is spotted on the SD6 (unintentional Alias reference, cool). Vince Luck runs it in off right tackle and gets his second rushing td of the year. LA is back in this thing. Things look good and SD goes three and out…wait…ineligible man downfield on the punt…the Chargers get backed up 10 more yards. They punt, and it’s blocked again! Ball on the SD30. Stokes leads the team down the shortened field and gets a pass to Bush for a touchdown. LA leads by 4 midway through the second quarter. Both teams stall until the half and the score is 14-10 LA.

San Diego goes three and out to open the quarter, and ……Fred Huntley blocked the punt! Mason recovers on the LA12. Wow. Two plays later, Truitt finds the endzone and LA has taken an improbable 21-10 lead. On the second play from scrimmage, Jeff Blake tries to force it and the ball goes right to Jimmy Hansen. Interception! It’s a short field again as LA starts on the 22. Stokes gets them closer to the goal line and Truitt punches it in for another td. 28 points, I’m not sure, but I think that is a new team record!. Jeff Blake plays the next series like he is totally pissed off and gets the Chargers down inside the red zone. The Diablo defense finally holds, and they kick a field goal to close the gap to 28-13. LA actually sustains a long drive from their own side of the field and are calming moving into the Charger red zone as the final quarter begins.

Three plays and two Charger penalties later, Stokes runs a draw for 5 yards and a touchdown. 35 and counting with 13:21 left to play. Blake and company go down the field and get stopped on the LA42. With nothing to lose, they go for it….and succeed. :mad: The defense then wakes up and the Chargers are forced to kick a field goal. Carney lines up…and misses. This is just not their day. 9:12 left and the game is basically over. Forbes gets a field goal, and Blake leads his team down for a garbage td with 22 seconds left. LA wins it 38-20.

Game MVP: S Jimmy Hanson

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 16 SD 21
Rushing Yds LA 114 SD 200
Passing Yds LA 99 SD 223
Defensive Sacks LA 2 SD 0
Interceptions LA 1 SD 0
Third Downs LA 3/10 SD 6/15
Time of Poss. LA 23:33 SD 36:27
Red Zone Stats LA 5 – 4,1 SD 4 – 2,2 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Stokes – 13 for 20, 99 yards, 1td & 0int & 1 rushing td
RB Truitt – 6 for 18 yards, 2td
RB Luck – 14 for 83 yards, 1td
WR Bush – 7 for 50 yards, 1td
K Forbes – 1 for 1 field goals
LB Huntley – 9 tackles, 3 assists
O-Line – 9 for 24 KRB, 0 SA

AFC West Standings
DEN & OAK (7-6), SD & KC (6-7), SEA (5-8), LA (4-9)

Notes:
LA finally won a game they were favored in. They were cmpletely outplayed, but three blocked punts will trump just about anything everytime.

Every team from the AFC West has a power rating below 50.

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill from Football Universe Webpage

Justin Tsoi says that his shoulder feels remarkably well and attributes his quick recovery to great conditioning and “healing genes” from his mother’s side of the family. It is just a coincidence that his fast improvement coincided with a decent outing and a win by rival Sammie Stokes.

When asked about a possible quarterback controversy, Coach Keister replies that Tsoi’s job is in no danger, and that as long as his shoulder is fine, he will remain the starter for the Diablos.

* editorial note * Yeah right.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 15

Los Angeles Diablos (4-9) vs. New York Giants (5-8) – Vegas Line NY by 3

Injured Starters
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Dwight Farr, C - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Walt Rydzak, G - Bruised Sternum, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out

Pregame Notes
DE Mark Bruce is finally healthy, but center Dwight Farr is likely gone for the season. His very competent backup Scott O’Pope will take his place to snap the ball.

Game Summary
New York begins the game by going three and out. LA does the same. Punt. Punt. The punting contest takes us to the end of one. LA has no first downs and New York has just one.

The punts continue, but LA gets its first first down with six minutes to go in the half. Three more first downs and Vince Luck runs it in for a touchdown. Late in the quarter, the Diablos get to the NY27. As time expires, they do not have enough time to get off a Forbes field goal attempt. LA 7 NYG 0.

LA opens thehalf with a punt. The Giants start shaky and Kerry Collins throws an interception to C.J. Pifott. He runs it back all the way 59 yards for a td! Nice! NY goes three and out. Their punter Hampton shanks one, and Jared Craig runs it back 23 yards. LA has the ball on the NY38. The team seems to be in a groove now. They quickly get down to the 1 using a mixture of runs and passes. Then Heath Truitt runs off right tackle for another score. 21-0 LA!. The Jets finally string a few plays together and Collins hits Toomer for a td. The Diablos will not get the shutout. LA comes storming back, but Truitt falls one yard short of a first down near midfield. Gustafson’s punt pins NY back to the 2. Collins makes a huge mental mistake and intentionally grounds the ball in the endzone. Safety LA. The Diablos take the free kick and quarter three ends with a 23-7 lead for the boys in red and black.

NY charges back in the game refusing to give up. Collins gets inside the red zone, but 3 successive penalties send them back. On a third and 32 play, Collins hits Toomer for 33 and the drive continues. Two plays later, it’s Collins to Zorich for 6. The Giants conversion attempt fails and it is 23-13 with 11:28 on the clock. LA punts after a poor series. Collins throws his second pic of the day, and LA gets it back in Giant-land. A touchdown here should seal it. Unfortunately, on the third play of the dive, Justin Tsoi is sacked, the ball is fumbled……and the Giants’ Michael Strahan recovers it. 5:15 remaining. Ball at midfield.

New York goes nowhere and punts the ball. LA goes three and out. 2:22 left. Collins to Schultz for 47 yards! What happened there? Three straight incomplete passes and it’s 4th and 10 on the LA25. Collins to Zorich for 16. Damn. Incomplete. Collins to Zorich again, this time for the touchdown. They did not use a timeout on that drive. 23-20 LA with 1:23 left.

LA recovered the onside kick. Ball on the NY42. Gaines ran up the middle for no gain. NY timeout. 1:11. Luck off left tackle for 1 yard. Timeout. 1 minute left. Heath Truitt up the middle for 2….fumble!...........recovered by LA. That was close. Timeout New York. They are going to get one more shot at this thing. Gustafson punts through the endzone and the Giants start on the 20 with just 45 seconds on the clock.

Collins runs a draw for 3 yards; 26 seconds. Collins incomplete; 20 seconds. Collins incomplete; 11 seconds and fourth down. This should be the last play of the game.

Incomplete! LA ball. Tsoi kneels and the Diablos have a winning streak. Final LA 23 NY 20.

Game MVP: L A 31 C.J. Pifott

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 14 NYG 14
Rushing Yds LA 80 NYG 58
Passing Yds LA 143 NYG 289
Defensive Sacks LA 2 NYG 2
Interceptions LA 2 NYG 0
Third Downs LA 6/18 NYG 3/16
Time of Poss. LA 30:29 NYG 29:31
Red Zone Stats LA 2 – 2,0 NYG 3 – 3,0 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 18 for 33, 143 yards, 0td & 0int
RB Truitt – 9 for 34 yards, 1td
RB Luck – 13 for 24 yards, 1td
LB Huntley – 6 tackles, 3 assists
G Burgess – 4 for 7 KRB, 0SA

AFC West Standings
SD, OAK, DEN & KC (7-7), SEA & LA (5-9)

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 16

Los Angeles Diablos (5-9) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (9-5, first in AFC Central) – Vegas Line CIN by 5.5

Key Injuries
Winfred Burgess, G - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Dwight Farr, C - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Walt Rydzak, G - Bruised Sternum, full strength in 3-5 Weeks – out

PreGame Notes
Although Akili Smith has not played real well (14td, 17int) the Bengals lead the AFC in points scoring 343 so far this year. In comparison, LA has only scored 231.

Game Summary
CIN wins toss, gets a first down and punts. LA gets called for a false start, then illegal formation. Tsoi throws a 20 yard strike to Shannon to get a first down. Good play wasted, they have to punt Good play wasted, they have to punt. Cincy get 9 yards on first three plays and goes for it on the LA49. Their running back Michael Basnight runs off left guard and hits a wall named Scottie Disney. LA ball. The Diablos can’t make the most of it and punt away. They pin the Bengals back to the six and force another punt. LA has good field position and start the series on the CIN 47. Tsoi marhes down the field looking for points. He sets up on the 30 and throws toa streaking Shannon near the endzone….picked off by Hoffman…where did he come from…..he is going to go ……all………..the………..way. 98 yards and a touchdown. Crap. LA cannot counter and punts again. Akili Smith and Bengals start a drive and…Smith throws right into the hands of Fred Huntley. He drops to the ground hugging the ball, nit even attempting to run downfield with it. Ball on the CIn35. An exciting first period ends with LA on the move in Bengal territory.

They do not get to far and Forbes comes out to make the kick, His field goal production has been down of late. The kick is up….and good. 7-3 Cincy. The next Bengal drive stalls at the CIN42. The punting unit does not come on, they are going for it again. The running back tries to run up the middle but Huntley and Disney are there to stop him. LA ball again. The Diablo running game is worse than usual, but Tsoi hits several receivers on the way to the endzone. He hits FB Malone for a 21 yard play to pull ahead by 3. The Bengals show why they are in first. They rip the Diablo defense apart and get down to the LA6 rather easily. On a routine running play, Akili Smith is injured and backup QB Wilbur comes in. On his first play, he hits a receiver in the endzone, and Cincinnati goes back in front. LA tries to run again and goes back three yards. The passes are incomplete and they punt. Wilbur throws an interception with 19 seconds left, but LA cannot capitalize. Score CIN 14 LA 10.

LA opens the third bu punting. Cincinnati has a nice long drive that ends in another touchdown. LA punts again, and Cincy gets another long drive. This time it ends in a missd fie;ld goal kick. LA punts yet again and three quarters are in the books 21-10 Cincy.

The Bengals look very sharp today and have another long drive, this one lasts eleven minutes, it end with a punt. Tsoi throws an interception for LA, and this game is most likely over. Not quite. Cincinatti holds the ball for only a minute an punts. La ball. Tsoi throw yet another interception and that will do it. Cincy gets to the LA6, cannot knockit in for a touchdown and settle for 3. Under one minute to go. Yep, this one is over. CIN 24 LA 10. The Diablos gave it a run, but the Bengals were just too strong.

Fred Huntley, L A, LB - 17 tackles, 3 assists, 0.0 sacks, 1 interceptions.
Defensive Player of the Week: Fred Huntley, LB, Los Angeles Diablos

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 8 CIN 20
Rushing Yds LA 10 CIN 81
Passing Yds LA 267 CIN 158
Defensive Sacks LA 2 CIN 0
Interceptions LA 2 CIN 3
Third Downs LA 3/13 CIN 13/23
Time of Poss. LA 21:50 CIN 38:10
Red Zone Stats LA 1 – 0,0 CIN 4 – 2,1 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 18 for 38, 158 yards, 1td & 3int
RB Luck – 6 for -4 yards, 0td
WR Bush – 6 for 61 yards, 0td
LB Huntley – 17 tackles, 3 assists & 1 int
DE Bruce – 2 sacks
O-Line – 2 for 8 KRB, 0SA

AFC West Standings
SD, OAK (8-7), , DEN & KC (7-8), SEA (6-9), LA (5-10)

[SplitPersonality1]

RumorMill on Football Iniverse Website
Dwight Farr, the starting center for the Los Angeles Diablos is reported to be disgruntled with his playing. He is nursing a sprained ankle, but disagrees with team doctors that say he is not ready to play. He is quoted as saying: “Dammit. I can play hurt, I’ve done it all my life. I want this team to win and no offense to Scottie [Scott O’Pope, the backup center], but they ain’t gonna win without me and some of the other beat up starters.”

No one on the Diablo coaching staff was available for comment.

[SplitPersonality1]

Week 17

Los Angeles Diablos (5-10) at Oakland Raiders (8-7, tied-first) – Vegas Line OAK by 5

Key Injuries
Winfred Burgess, G - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play
Mark Bruce, DE - Shoulder Tendonitis, full strength in 2005 - out
Mercury Boynton, TE - Dislocated Elbow, full strength in 0-2 Weeks - out
Dwight Farr, C - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play limited
Marty Mills, G - Sprained Knee, full strength in 3-5 Weeks - out
Walt Rydzak, G - Bruised Sternum, full strength in 0-2 Weeks – will play

Pregame Summary
This, the last game of the regular is important to both teams. Oakland needs the win to take the division crown. A loss and they tumble out of the playoffs. A win for LA and they have respectable season with three wins in the last four games. A loss to a mediocre Oakland team missing two starting wide receivers and the season ends on a down note.

Game Summary
Oakland gets the ball first and opens with an offensive holding call. The only get 18 of the 20 yards and punt the ball. The Diablos open with two sacks and a Tsoi interception returned for a touchdown. Bad start for LA; down 7-0 early. Another sack in the next drive and LA punts again. Linebacker Fred Huntley reaches up and snags an errant throw from Rich Gannon. LA doesn’t have to worry about a td return as the big guy flops down on the OAK41. On the very next play Vince luck fumbles the ball right back to Oakland. Grrr. The next play is another interception by Gannon; this time to Van Pelt. Very sloppy game so far. The Diablos manage to move the ball without a turnover, but stall on the OAK 37. They go for it on fourth down (?) and Luck keeps the ball in his hands, but doesn’t gain a yard. The Raiders storm down the field and look quite good doing it. Just as they cross the 30, Gannon throws his third interception of the day. C.J.Pifott runs it back 40 yards to the OAK35. Tsoi to Bush for 5 and the quarter ends. That was one quarter?

Weird stats: LA has 23 yards rushing and just 7 yards passing. Oakland has 50 yards passing and 0 yards rushing. What the? Five turnovers in the first fifteen minutes including three on consecutive plays.

The Diablos end up with a field goal and the score is 7-3 Oakland. The Raiders tack on a touchdown just before the end of the half. LA ball and Tsoi throws another interception. Last play of the half and Gannon throws his fourth pic of the day. Halftime OAK 14 LA 3.

LA goes nowhere and Oakland counters with another touchdown. On the kickoff, Jared Craig runs it back 76 yards and LA gets great field position. They cannot punch it in and settle for a field goal. 21-6 OAK. Not to be out one, Oakland’s Williams runs their kickoff 61 yards. The LA defense backs them up out of field goal range and they punt the ball. LA’s next drive end in a Tsoi interception. Gannon and company capitalize with another touchdown. End of three, and it is 28-6 Raiders.

Oakland gets another field goal and its looks like they are going to take this one. An ugly fourth quarter includes one more turnover for each team and Oakland wins this horribly played game; 31-6

<pre>Game Stats
First Downs LA 12 OAK 19
Rushing Yds LA 80 OAK 58
Passing Yds LA 69 OAK 124
Defensive Sacks LA 2 OAK 6
Interceptions LA 4 OAK 4
Third Downs LA 4/15 OAK 6/15
Time of Poss. LA 29:03 OAK 30:57
Red Zone Stats LA 3 – 0,2 OAK 2 – 2,0 </pre>

Individual Stats
QB Tsoi – 20 for 37, 112 yards, 0td & 4int
RB Luck – 7 for 19 yards, 0td
Forbes 2 for 2 field goals
LB Huntley – 7 tackles, 6 assists & 1 int
T Anthony – 2SA
T Swift – 2SA

AFC West Standings
OAK & SD (9-7), DEN & KC (7-9), SEA (6-10), LA (5-11)

Note: Both Oakland and San Diego made it into the playoffs and will meet on Wild Card Weekend

[SplitPersonality1]

<pre>
2004 Regular Season Standings

AFC East W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
New York J 11 5 0 .688 343 245 4-4-0 7-5-0
Buffalo 9 7 0 .563 343 313 6-2-0 7-5-0
New England 9 7 0 .563 325 294 4-4-0 7-5-0
Indianapolis 8 8 0 .500 319 331 4-4-0 6-6-0
Miami 6 10 0 .375 357 353 2-6-0 5-7-0

AFC Central W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Cincinnati 11 5 0 .688 383 258 6-4-0 9-4-0
Jacksonville 10 6 0 .625 335 244 8-2-0 9-3-0
Pittsburgh 10 6 0 .625 263 274 5-5-0 7-5-0
Baltimore 7 9 0 .438 279 343 5-5-0 5-8-0
Cleveland 5 11 0 .313 319 319 3-6-0 5-8-0
Tennessee 4 12 0 .250 274 369 3-7-0 4-9-0

AFC West W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Oakland 9 7 0 .563 322 304 7-3-0 8-5-0
San Diego 9 7 0 .563 280 301 7-3-0 7-5-0
Denver 7 9 0 .438 337 350 5-5-0 6-7-0
Kansas City 7 9 0 .438 238 282 4-6-0 6-7-0
Seattle 6 10 0 .375 253 307 5-5-0 5-7-0
**Los Angeles 5 11 0 .313 247 316 2-8-0 3-10-0

NFC East W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Arizona 11 5 0 .688 348 294 4-4-0 7-5-0
Dallas 10 6 0 .625 389 245 4-4-0 7-5-0
Washington 9 7 0 .563 339 341 5-3-0 7-5-0
Philadelphia 9 7 0 .563 312 352 4-4-0 7-5-0
New York G 6 10 0 .375 264 335 3-5-0 5-7-0

NFC Central W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
Chicago 11 5 0 .688 350 285 4-4-0 8-4-0
Detroit 9 7 0 .563 360 337 4-4-0 6-6-0
Tampa Bay 9 7 0 .563 308 307 4-4-0 6-6-0
Minnesota 7 9 0 .438 316 403 4-4-0 5-7-0
Green Bay 6 10 0 .375 297 356 4-4-0 5-7-0

NFC West W L T Pct PF PA Div Conf
New Orleans 12 4 0 .750 393 285 5-3-0 9-3-0
San Francisco 7 9 0 .438 256 356 6-2-0 7-5-0
Atlanta 7 9 0 .438 366 306 5-3-0 5-7-0
Carolina 5 11 0 .313 272 315 2-6-0 3-9-0
St. Louis 5 11 0 .313 333 400 2-6-0 3-9-0 </pre>

Postseason
Wildcard Weekend
WSH over AZ 31-20; Dallas nips DET 27-26; JAX over PIT 27-17; Oak crushes SD 36-14

Divisional Playoffs
DAL upset CHI 31-21; CIN over JAX 30-10; WSH upset NO 21-14; NYJ over OAK 24-9

Conference Championships
CIN over NYJ 26-24; DAL over WSH 24-17

Superbowl XXXVIII
CIN over DAL 28-13

[SplitPersonality1]

From LA Diablos page on the Football Universe Website

2004 Stats

<pre>
Passing Stats

Name Tm GP GS Att Comp Pct Yards Avg Lg
**Stokes, Scottie L A 3 1 36 22 61.1 201 5.58 28
**Tsoi, Justin L A 15 15 512 275 53.7 2765 5.40 75

Name TD Int Sack Yards Rate
**Stokes, Scottie 1 1 2 12 73.9
**Tsoi, Justin 14 21 44 258 61.3


Rushing Stats

Name Tm GP GS Att Yards Avg Lg TD
**Luck, Vince L A 16 16 148 524 3.5 39 3
**Truitt, Heath L A 16 0 92 291 3.1 23 4
**Tsoi, Justin L A 15 15 53 157 2.9 8 1
**Gaines, Vernon L A 16 0 13 48 3.6 19 0
**Malone, Christian L A 16 16 24 44 1.8 17 0
**Shannon, Roosevelt L A 16 10 4 3 0.7 3 0
**Stokes, Scottie L A 3 1 5 2 0.4 5 1
**Harding, Maurice L A 16 0 1 1 1.0 1 0
**Watkins, Edward L A 11 6 1 0 0.0 0 0
**Koester, Neal L A 16 0 3 -1 -0.3 1 0
**Bush, Mitch L A 16 16 3 -2 -0.6 0 0


Receiving Stats

Name Tm GP GS Ctch Yards Avg Targ CtPct
**Bush, Mitch L A 16 16 95 1041 10.9 173 54.9
**Shannon, Roosevelt L A 16 10 65 664 10.2 123 52.8
**Watkins, Edward L A 11 6 44 345 7.8 80 55.0
**Harding, Maurice L A 16 0 27 273 10.1 52 51.9
**Koester, Neal L A 16 0 19 259 13.6 36 52.7
**Malone, Christian L A 16 16 15 162 10.8 26 57.6
**Gaines, Vernon L A 16 0 9 85 9.4 15 60.0
**Gunn, Nate L A 16 16 9 68 7.5 18 50.0
**Linquist, Skip L A 5 0 3 29 9.6 7 42.8
**Luck, Vince L A 16 16 7 26 3.7 12 58.3
**Truitt, Heath L A 16 0 3 7 2.3 4 75.0
**Boynton, Mercury L A 4 0 1 7 7.0 2 50.0

Name Lg TD YAC Drop PsPly TgPct
**Bush, Mitch 51 8 506 7 490 35.3
**Shannon, Roosevelt 41 1 312 9 383 32.1
**Watkins, Edward 29 0 210 3 307 26.0
**Harding, Maurice 48 1 127 5 293 17.7
**Koester, Neal 75 3 101 4 271 13.2
**Malone, Christian 72 2 110 0 247 10.5
**Gaines, Vernon 17 0 43 0 133 11.2
**Gunn, Nate 13 0 44 0 218 8.2
**Linquist, Skip 15 0 15 1 57 12.2
**Luck, Vince 17 0 24 0 231 5.1
**Truitt, Heath 5 0 13 0 102 3.9
**Boynton, Mercury 7 0 0 0 8 25.0


Blocking Stats
Name Tm GP GS Fm Rv TD KRB KRO BPct
**Swift, Clyde L A 16 16 0 2 0 14 51 27.4
**Rydzak, Walt L A 12 12 0 0 0 13 36 36.1
**Farr, Dwight L A 14 14 0 0 0 11 46 23.9
**Anthony, Ted L A 16 16 0 1 0 10 26 38.4
**Burgess, Winfred L A 16 8 0 2 0 8 34 23.5
**Levine, Riddick L A 13 12 0 1 0 8 36 22.2
**Malone, Christian L A 16 16 2 0 0 6 22 27.2
**O'Pope, Scott L A 9 2 0 0 0 3 9 33.3
**Gunn, Nate L A 16 16 0 0 0 3 9 33.3
**Gaines, Vernon L A 16 0 1 1 0 2 3 66.6
**Mills, Marty L A 7 0 0 0 0 2 4 50.0
**Koester, Neal L A 16 0 0 0 0 1 1 100.0
**Cox, Bryce L A 8 0 0 0 0 1 5 20.0
**Moore, Chuck L A 13 0 0 0 0 1 7 14.2

Name SkA PsPly SkPct RnPly OpPct
**Swift, Clyde 9 525 1.7 274 18.6
**Rydzak, Walt 2 375 0.5 195 18.4
**Farr, Dwight 8 424 1.8 224 20.5
**Anthony, Ted 14 494 2.8 268 9.7
**Burgess, Winfred 5 290 1.7 174 19.5
**Levine, Riddick 2 336 0.5 185 19.4
**Malone, Christian 4 247 1.6 240 9.1
**O'Pope, Scott 2 125 1.6 73 12.3
**Gunn, Nate 0 218 0.0 232 3.8
**Gaines, Vernon 0 133 0.0 78 3.8
**Mills, Marty 0 63 0.0 19 21.0
**Koester, Neal 0 271 0.0 52 1.9
**Cox, Bryce 0 44 0.0 24 20.8
**Moore, Chuck 0 64 0.0 44 15.9


Tackling Stats
Name Tm GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blk Hurr
**Huntley, Fred L A 16 16 114 48 3.5 1 0
**Hunter, Kyle L A 16 16 90 34 4.0 0 3
**Van Pelt, D.J. L A 16 16 88 27 0.0 0 0
**Disney, Scottie L A 16 16 73 22 1.5 0 0
**Pifott, C.J. L A 16 16 69 32 0.0 0 0
**Hanson, Jimmy L A 16 16 52 16 0.0 0 0
**Harrison, Vince L A 15 11 39 10 5.5 0 0
**Kennedy, Mark L A 16 16 34 13 0.0 0 0
**Kanell, Lamar L A 16 0 33 2 0.0 0 0
**Rangel, Mark L A 16 16 31 19 2.5 0 0
**Weber, Kenneth L A 14 4 29 11 1.5 2 2
**Shaw, Karl L A 16 16 28 13 3.0 1 2
**Stuart, Patrick L A 11 0 23 6 0.0 0 0
**DeFelice, Trevor L A 16 0 20 8 5.5 1 3
**Livesay, Terry L A 16 0 20 3 0.0 0 0
**Saperstein, Norbert L A 12 12 14 7 7.0 2 2
**Coronado, Robbie L A 9 0 12 2 0.0 0 0
**Mason, Scott L A 6 0 11 2 0.0 0 0
**Uffins, Edward L A 16 0 10 5 3.0 1 0
**Reese, Brent L A 10 0 9 1 0.0 0 2
**Bruce, Mark L A 5 5 8 1 2.0 0 1
**Tomlinson, Grady L A 7 0 5 1 0.0 0 1
**Wilt, Ronnie L A 16 0 2 1 0.0 0 0
**Craig, Jared L A 13 0 2 1 0.0 0 0

Name RnPly PsPly PRPct TkPct
**Huntley, Fred 411 492 0.9 18.3
**Hunter, Kyle 379 406 1.7 16.3
**Van Pelt, D.J. 392 470 0.0 13.3
**Disney, Scottie 361 358 0.4 13.4
**Pifott, C.J. 396 483 0.0 11.4
**Hanson, Jimmy 403 488 0.0 7.6
**Harrison, Vince 239 287 1.9 10.3
**Kennedy, Mark 369 442 0.0 5.7
**Kanell, Lamar 113 147 0.0 13.4
**Rangel, Mark 327 367 0.6 7.5
**Weber, Kenneth 195 199 2.7 10.5
**Shaw, Karl 334 382 1.5 6.1
**Stuart, Patrick 62 64 0.0 23.0
**DeFelice, Trevor 221 249 3.8 7.1
**Livesay, Terry 112 120 0.0 9.9
**Saperstein, Norbert 218 272 4.0 5.7
**Coronado, Robbie 91 144 0.0 5.9
**Mason, Scott 41 44 0.0 15.2
**Uffins, Edward 175 217 1.8 4.5
**Reese, Brent 67 77 2.5 6.9
**Bruce, Mark 89 111 2.7 5.5
**Tomlinson, Grady 23 42 2.3 9.2
**Wilt, Ronnie 15 2 0.0 17.6
**Craig, Jared 16 22 0.0 7.8


Sack Stats
Name Tm GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blk Hurr
**Saperstein, Norbert L A 12 12 14 7 7.0 2 2
**Harrison, Vince L A 15 11 39 10 5.5 0 0
**DeFelice, Trevor L A 16 0 20 8 5.5 1 3
**Hunter, Kyle L A 16 16 90 34 4.0 0 3
**Huntley, Fred L A 16 16 114 48 3.5 1 0
**Shaw, Karl L A 16 16 28 13 3.0 1 2
**Uffins, Edward L A 16 0 10 5 3.0 1 0
**Rangel, Mark L A 16 16 31 19 2.5 0 0
**Bruce, Mark L A 5 5 8 1 2.0 0 1
**Disney, Scottie L A 16 16 73 22 1.5 0 0
**Weber, Kenneth L A 14 4 29 11 1.5 2 2


Pass Coverage
Name Tm GP GS Ints IRYd TD Cght Dfns
**Hanson, Jimmy L A 16 16 6 72 0 37 6
**Pifott, C.J. L A 16 16 5 128 1 34 5
**Van Pelt, D.J. L A 16 16 5 33 0 37 7
**Huntley, Fred L A 16 16 2 0 0 44 10
**Kennedy, Mark L A 16 16 1 0 0 19 3
**Kanell, Lamar L A 16 0 0 0 0 19 2
**Coronado, Robbie L A 9 0 0 0 0 3 1
**Livesay, Terry L A 16 0 0 0 0 13 0
**Tomlinson, Grady L A 7 0 0 0 0 1 0
**Craig, Jared L A 13 0 0 0 0 0 0

Name PsPly PDQ
**Hanson, Jimmy 488 38.2
**Pifott, C.J. 483 34.6
**Van Pelt, D.J. 470 37.0
**Huntley, Fred 492 29.3
**Kennedy, Mark 442 23.1
**Kanell, Lamar 147 15.3
**Coronado, Robbie 144 22.0
**Livesay, Terry 120 9.2
**Tomlinson, Grady 42 17.7
**Craig, Jared 22 20.0 </pre>

2004 Scorecard

Quarterbacks: It was the tale of two halves for Tsoi. He had 1900 yards, 12td and 9int in the first half versus 875 yards, 2td and 12int for the second half. I’m not sure what happened to the kid this season. Nagging injury perhaps. If the Diablos want to take their game to the next level, he is going to have to improve.
Schmoe’s Grade: C-

Running Game: Vince Luck had only 524 yards this season. He is not the answer at running back for this team.
Schmoe’s Grade: D

Receivers: Mitch Bush has become the team’s first 1000 yard receiver. He caught 95 passes, 8 of them for touchdown. Roosevelt Shannon was the clear #2 guy getting over 600 yards himself.
Schmoe’s Grade: B

O-Line: Rookies Clyde Swift and Walt Rydzak improved the line over last year. The one weakness was Ted Anthony at tackle who allowed 14 sacks. The Diablos are one player away from having a solid line.
Schmoe’s Grade: B-

Kicking Game: Preston Gustafson had a bad year. He averaged over 3908 yards on his punts and many were under 30. “Money” Forbes did fairly well only missing 5 on the season. He still has not made a kick over 50, but his accuracy up close is improving every year.
Schmoe’s Grade: C

Defensive Ends/Tackles: DE Norbert Saperstein had to fill in for an injured Mark Bruce this season and did a fairly good job. He had 7 sacks in 12 games.DE Trevor DeFelice got 5.5 sacks as a backup.
Schmoe’s Grade: C+

Linebackers: Huntley, Hunter & Disney are one of the best trios of linebackers in the league. They combined for 277 tackles, 104 assists, 9 sacks and 2 interceptions This is one of the few positions that the Diablos do not have to worry about.
Schmoe’s Grade: B+

Secondary: The “J-Boys”; Jimmy Hanson, C.J. Pifott & D.J. Van Pelt had 6, 5 and 5 interceptions on the season. This is perhaps the most improved group of players on this team
Schmoe’s Grade: B-

Team Rushing Offense
Average yards per game: 66.6 (32)
Last Year: 68.3 (31)
League Average: 102.9

Team Passing Offense
Average yards per game: 185.3 (32)
Last Year: 161.3 (32)
League Average: 221.3

Team Rushing Defense
Average yards per game: 119.5 (31)
Last Year: 126.9 (29)

Team Passing Defense
Average yards per game: 220.1 (17)
Last Year: 218.9 (9)

Overall Impressions: 5-11
Shmoe’s Final Grade: D

Postseason Awards
All-Pro First Team: LB Fred Huntley
Defensive Rookie of the Year: S D.J. Van Pelt