[stkelly52]

Conference Final
Tampa Bay (13-5) @ Atlanta (14-3)
Our biggest rivals come into town again to do battle for the right to go to the Super Bowl. As you may recall, up until our week 10 game against the Buccaneers, they looked to be, far and away, the best team in the NFL. But once we were able to give them their first defeat, this team fell apart. They would go on to lose 5 of 7 games and enter the playoffs looking like a very beatable team. Nevertheless, they still had the second best record in the NFC, so they were not a team that should have been taken lightly. They were fortunate to face the 7-9 Washington Redskins in the Wild Card Round. They just barely beat one of the worst playoff teams of all time 24-27. They then took on the NFC North Champs Detroit. Again it was a close game with Tampa coming out on top 25-20. It is now up to us to show the world that we are the better team. Last time that we played Tampa it was our defense that came up big. We are looking for another similar performance.

Tampa is a relatively healthy team. They have several small injuries, but only one player is expected to sit this game out. Tampa has a fairly average offence, right about in the middle in both rushing and passing. Their strength has been the defense, which is great against both the pass and the run.

We are 5 point favorites.

Tampa Bay won the toss and elected to receive.

It looked like we were going to hold them to three and out on the Bucs' first drive, but on 3rd and 15 we were called for defensive holding, keeping the drive alive. That would come back to bite us. Tampa would pick up a couple more first downs before launching a 54 yard bomb to Darkins for the first TD of the game. Tampa was up 7-0.

We got a great return on the ensuing kickoff, but Nixon could accomplish little on our first set of downs and we were forced to punt without picking up a first down.

Tampa then went on a 10 play drive consisting mostly of little dump passes and 5-7 yard runs. The drive culminated in a 29 yard strike to take a 14-0 lead. Things were quickly beginning to look bad for us.

We had to do something or things would get out of hand. Another good kick return gave us the ball at our 37 yard line. Nixon was given several carries during the drive, and he ran very well. 14 plays later Nixon capped it off with a 4 yard plunge into the end zone to bring us within 7. The drive took the game well into the second quarter.

Tampa could sense that we were gaining our confidence back, and they wanted to strike hard and quick. On the first play following a touchback, their QB threw the ball 30 yards down field. But our CB came up with the huge play the completely swung the momentum our way. He got his right hand in front of the ball and made a phenomenal one handed interception. It was out ball, 52 yards from the end zone. In the six plays that followed we picked up 22 yards on a pass, 15 yards on a personal foul, and 19 yards on 4 runs be Leland Nixon. The final of them was a 2 yard dive that gave him his second TD of the day, and tied the score at 14 each.

Our kick, along with a penalty, pinned Tampa deep in their own territory. They went three and out and punted. We got great field position, with the ball on the 50 yard line. In four plays we moved the ball to the 28 yard line and we were facing a 3rd and 8. We tried to give Nixon the ball, but he was only able to pick up 6 yards. We lined up for the field goal and took a 3 point lead when it cleared the uprights.

On Tampa's next drive they were able to get one first down, but that is all they could muster. They had to punt from their own 34 yard line. With just a minute and 35 seconds left, we worked to move the ball while taking time off of the clock. We were able to get the ball to the 9 yard line with 7 seconds left, but we chose to kick the field goal rather than attempt to get the ball in the end zone again. So as the game went to the half we were up 20-14.

The second quarter had been all us, and the momentum was completely in our favor. Tampa was doing nothing with the ball and we were scoring on each drive. But we only had a 6 point lead, and one play could change everything.

We got the ball to start the second half. We were wanting to eat up a lot of time off of the clock, so we mostly stuck to the ground, with Nixon running excellently. He did have one run of just 2 yards, but everything else was 5 yards or more. We closed out the drive with a 17 yard TD pass to go up 27-14. The drive ate up half of the 3rd quarter.

Again Tampa picked up one first down before needing to punt again.

We followed that up with a drive that ate all but just a few seconds of the third quarter. We capped this drive with a 23 yard field goal. While we were disappointed to not score a TD, we now lead 30-14. Tampa would need two TDs and two 2 point conversions to tie the game. With the way things were going, that seamed highly unlikely.

Tampa was not about to roll over though. They quickly marched themselves down the field and scored a TD of their own. With 11:41 left, there was still time to get back in the game. However, Tampa decided to not go for two, making the score 21-30. Tampa would still need two more scores.

A 12 play drive followed, with 3 third down conversions. This really took the wind out of the Buccaneers as they just kept thinking that they were on the verge of getting the ball back, when we would get that first down. We didn't score a TD, but a 35 yard field goal made it a 33-21 game. Tampa now needed 2 TDs

They would not score on their next drive, and we were then able to run out the clock. Final score 33-21.

MVP: Leland Nixon

Nixon finished the game with 152 yards rushing and 2 TDs in 42 attempts.

We are heading back to the Super Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the AFC 13-6 Jacksonville slipped past 10-9 Miami to return to the championship game for the third time in three years.