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stkelly52 · 03-30-2005, 12:22 AM

Conference Semifinal
Atlanta 14-3 @ Philadelphia 14-2
From here on it will be a rough road to the Super Bowl. There is only one team left in the playoffs with a worse record than we have. The Eagles are in good health, so we will not get any help that way. We will just have to out play them. Philly is led by a solid QB who has been having another good season. They also have a great WR, who has helped their QB look better. We will have to double team him throughout the game to try to slow down their pass attack. But we cannot forget about one of the league's top running back this year. He is averaging 5.53 yards per carry.

Our defense will have to play very well, because we cannot count on our offence scoring a lot of points. The Eagles only give up 16 points per game. That is second best in the league. The only team that has allowed fewer points is us. This could be a very close, low scoring game.

We got the ball to start the game.
We used a fairly even mix of passes and Nixon runs to move the ball form the 17 yard line to move the ball all the way down to the Philadelphia 2 yard line. On second and goal from the one Leland ran around the left end and waltzed into the end zone. But the celebration was short lived. A holding penalty on the play erased the points off of the board. Two false starts on the next snaps moved us 10 yards further back. Then a huge sack sent us all the way back to the 34 yard line. It was 3rd and goal from the 34. We managed to pick up 11 yards which allowed us to at least put 3 points on the board, but it was still disappointing after having been so close.

Philly went 3 and out and gave us the ball at our 45 yard line. We handed the ball to Leland four times and he picked up good yardage on each play. This got us to their 25 yard line as the first quarter came to a close. On the first play of the second quarter, QB Glenn threw a perfect strike into the end zone to give us a 10-0 lead.

We had great coverage on the kickoff, forcing the eagles to start from the 14 yard line. They tried to go to the air, but my safety (the same one who had 2 interceptions last week) picked off the pass at the 22. Two Nixon carries brought the ball to the 9 yard line for first and goal. On first down Leland ran inside the right guard and picked up 3 yards, but as he was hit the ball popped out. A pile of Philadelphia defenders piled on the ball. But somehow my rookie FB was able to come up with the ball. I don't know if he had the ball when he went into the pile, but he had it when the pile was cleared. On second down we again gave the ball to Nixon, and he was able to get the ball to the 2 yard line. We tried one more time from the 2 yard line, but Leland was stuffed right at the line. We had to settle for a field goal. It was a good way into the second quarter and we were leading 13-0.

Philly knew that they had to get some points on the board or they would be in trouble. They went to the air three times for gains of 35, 19 and 14 yards. The last one was into the end zone to cut our lead to just 6, 13-7.

We did nothing on our next drive, and punted away to them. Philly had a chance and they were able to move the ball very well until they got into the red zone. Once they were inside the 20 our defense was finally able to stop them, but Philly was able to add 3 more points to their score. It was now 13-10. Our lead was fading and we had lost our momentum. The half was in it's closing minutes. We worked the 2 minute drill fairly well, moving the ball to the 8 yard line in 7 plays. It was a good drive, but we were out of timeouts and time was closing quickly. We had to make sure that we at least got some points, so we kicked the field goal with under 10 seconds left in the half. The score was now 16-10.

We had a lead, but three times in the game we had had a first and goal and had to settle for a field goal. Had we been able to put the ball in the end zone one or two of those times, we would have been in a much better situation.

Philadelphia started out the second half by moving the ball very well, particularly when they were facing 3rd down. Three times they faced third and long and were able to pick up the required yards. It looked like nothing would be able to stop the Eagles' drive, but a big hit on first down at the 16 yard line jarred the ball loose. We recovered the loose ball ending the Eagles' threat. Or at lease it ended it for a moment. Three plays later the Eagles picked one of our passes off and returned it to the 11 yard line. Three plays later they were doing a TD celebration. We had lost our lead, 17-16.

Our kick return was a convoluted play. We returned the ball to the 31 yard line, fumbled it, and then recovered the ball advancing it 15 more yards. The net result was that we were starting our drive at our 46. On first down, we gave the ball to Nixon who ran around the right end for 45 yards to give us first and goal from the 9. We gave it to Leland again on the next two plays, getting the ball down to the 2 yard line again, but our 3rd down pass was dropped. Again we had to settle for three points. But we had retaken the lead. 19-17

The Eagles responded with a long slow drive that put the ball inside our 30. But a sack on 3rd and 3 pushed them back to the 36 yard line. They tried for the 53 yard field goal, but they missed short of the cross bar.

The game went into the fourth quarter with us clinging to a slight lead.

Another penalty killed our drive and forced us to punt, but at least we pinned them inside the 5 yard line. That would have been really good had we just been able to force a stop. The Eagles drove 95 yards on 15 plays to take a 24-19 lead. This left us with just under 6 minutes to try to score a TD to win the game. A field goal would not help us out, we needed a TD. We mostly put the game in the arm of Glenn at this point, we didn't have time to be running the ball much. But Leland did have a couple of big runs during the drive. The drive was 15 plays long and took 5 minutes off of the clock. On third and goal we went to the air to try to retake our lead. The pass was caught in the back of the end zone. That tied the score and the PAT gave us a 25-24 lead with just 55 seconds left in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, everything fell apart as the Eagles were able to return the ball 58 yards. But the flag gave new hope. Holding on the return wiped out the return and put the ball on the 19 yard line. The eagles now had 40 seconds to get into field goal range, but they still had all three timeouts. On first down they threw for 20 yards to get the ball to their 39 yard line. An 18 yard pass moved it to our 43 yard line. The crowd went wild and my heart sunk as a 16 yard pass was completed at the 27 yard line. Philly used their last time out before lining up for the 44 yard attempt. The snap, the hold looked good the kick was up….

03-30-2005, 12:22 AM	#100
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Conference Semifinal Atlanta 14-3 @ Philadelphia 14-2 From here on it will be a rough road to the Super Bowl. There is only one team left in the playoffs with a worse record than we have. The Eagles are in good health, so we will not get any help that way. We will just have to out play them. Philly is led by a solid QB who has been having another good season. They also have a great WR, who has helped their QB look better. We will have to double team him throughout the game to try to slow down their pass attack. But we cannot forget about one of the league's top running back this year. He is averaging 5.53 yards per carry. Our defense will have to play very well, because we cannot count on our offence scoring a lot of points. The Eagles only give up 16 points per game. That is second best in the league. The only team that has allowed fewer points is us. This could be a very close, low scoring game. We got the ball to start the game. We used a fairly even mix of passes and Nixon runs to move the ball form the 17 yard line to move the ball all the way down to the Philadelphia 2 yard line. On second and goal from the one Leland ran around the left end and waltzed into the end zone. But the celebration was short lived. A holding penalty on the play erased the points off of the board. Two false starts on the next snaps moved us 10 yards further back. Then a huge sack sent us all the way back to the 34 yard line. It was 3rd and goal from the 34. We managed to pick up 11 yards which allowed us to at least put 3 points on the board, but it was still disappointing after having been so close. Philly went 3 and out and gave us the ball at our 45 yard line. We handed the ball to Leland four times and he picked up good yardage on each play. This got us to their 25 yard line as the first quarter came to a close. On the first play of the second quarter, QB Glenn threw a perfect strike into the end zone to give us a 10-0 lead. We had great coverage on the kickoff, forcing the eagles to start from the 14 yard line. They tried to go to the air, but my safety (the same one who had 2 interceptions last week) picked off the pass at the 22. Two Nixon carries brought the ball to the 9 yard line for first and goal. On first down Leland ran inside the right guard and picked up 3 yards, but as he was hit the ball popped out. A pile of Philadelphia defenders piled on the ball. But somehow my rookie FB was able to come up with the ball. I don't know if he had the ball when he went into the pile, but he had it when the pile was cleared. On second down we again gave the ball to Nixon, and he was able to get the ball to the 2 yard line. We tried one more time from the 2 yard line, but Leland was stuffed right at the line. We had to settle for a field goal. It was a good way into the second quarter and we were leading 13-0. Philly knew that they had to get some points on the board or they would be in trouble. They went to the air three times for gains of 35, 19 and 14 yards. The last one was into the end zone to cut our lead to just 6, 13-7. We did nothing on our next drive, and punted away to them. Philly had a chance and they were able to move the ball very well until they got into the red zone. Once they were inside the 20 our defense was finally able to stop them, but Philly was able to add 3 more points to their score. It was now 13-10. Our lead was fading and we had lost our momentum. The half was in it's closing minutes. We worked the 2 minute drill fairly well, moving the ball to the 8 yard line in 7 plays. It was a good drive, but we were out of timeouts and time was closing quickly. We had to make sure that we at least got some points, so we kicked the field goal with under 10 seconds left in the half. The score was now 16-10. We had a lead, but three times in the game we had had a first and goal and had to settle for a field goal. Had we been able to put the ball in the end zone one or two of those times, we would have been in a much better situation. Philadelphia started out the second half by moving the ball very well, particularly when they were facing 3rd down. Three times they faced third and long and were able to pick up the required yards. It looked like nothing would be able to stop the Eagles' drive, but a big hit on first down at the 16 yard line jarred the ball loose. We recovered the loose ball ending the Eagles' threat. Or at lease it ended it for a moment. Three plays later the Eagles picked one of our passes off and returned it to the 11 yard line. Three plays later they were doing a TD celebration. We had lost our lead, 17-16. Our kick return was a convoluted play. We returned the ball to the 31 yard line, fumbled it, and then recovered the ball advancing it 15 more yards. The net result was that we were starting our drive at our 46. On first down, we gave the ball to Nixon who ran around the right end for 45 yards to give us first and goal from the 9. We gave it to Leland again on the next two plays, getting the ball down to the 2 yard line again, but our 3rd down pass was dropped. Again we had to settle for three points. But we had retaken the lead. 19-17 The Eagles responded with a long slow drive that put the ball inside our 30. But a sack on 3rd and 3 pushed them back to the 36 yard line. They tried for the 53 yard field goal, but they missed short of the cross bar. The game went into the fourth quarter with us clinging to a slight lead. Another penalty killed our drive and forced us to punt, but at least we pinned them inside the 5 yard line. That would have been really good had we just been able to force a stop. The Eagles drove 95 yards on 15 plays to take a 24-19 lead. This left us with just under 6 minutes to try to score a TD to win the game. A field goal would not help us out, we needed a TD. We mostly put the game in the arm of Glenn at this point, we didn't have time to be running the ball much. But Leland did have a couple of big runs during the drive. The drive was 15 plays long and took 5 minutes off of the clock. On third and goal we went to the air to try to retake our lead. The pass was caught in the back of the end zone. That tied the score and the PAT gave us a 25-24 lead with just 55 seconds left in the game. On the ensuing kickoff, everything fell apart as the Eagles were able to return the ball 58 yards. But the flag gave new hope. Holding on the return wiped out the return and put the ball on the 19 yard line. The eagles now had 40 seconds to get into field goal range, but they still had all three timeouts. On first down they threw for 20 yards to get the ball to their 39 yard line. An 18 yard pass moved it to our 43 yard line. The crowd went wild and my heart sunk as a 16 yard pass was completed at the 27 yard line. Philly used their last time out before lining up for the 44 yard attempt. The snap, the hold looked good the kick was up…. __________________ Check out an undrafted free agent's attempt to make the Hall of Fame: Running to the Hall Now nominated for a Golden Scribe!