Our opponents this week are the Tulsa Talons, owned and operated by Doug5984. Tulsa has come on strong over the last few seasons, thanks largely to the emergence of QB Donnie Lowe. The 5th year pro came into his own last year with a QB Rating of 86.0 on 3508 yds passing and 25 TDs. He's continuing his strong play this year, and has propelled Tulsa to an 8-3 record. Tulsa has other weapons too, including stud RB Butch Fulton and an excellent defense. This will be one tough match, and being on the road doesn't make it any easier.
Code:
Box Score: Tucson at Tulsa
Tulsa, OK.
Week 13, 2009
Attendance: 66,900 (80,000).
Weather: 56 degrees, fair.
1Q: 13:05 TUC - Drew Holliday 11 run.
1Q: 13:05 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
1Q: 06:09 TUC - Daryl Bradley 11 run.
1Q: 06:09 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
1Q: 05:48 TUC - Joseph Watford 21 interception return.
1Q: 05:48 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 09:56 TUC - Mack Ramirez 3 pass from Milan "Colonel" Hogan.
2Q: 09:56 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 04:45 TUL - Craig Schanding 27 field goal.
2Q: 00:27 TUC - Rubin Castorena 56 field goal.
3Q: 07:26 TUL - Butch Fulton 5 run.
3Q: 07:26 TUL - Craig Schanding extra point.
3Q: 03:10 TUC - Sydney Armitage 17 pass from Milan "Colonel" Hogan.
3Q: 03:10 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
4Q: 08:32 TUC - Rubin Castorena 19 field goal.
Game MVP: TUC 4 Milan "Colonel" Hogan
Tucson 21 10 7 3 - 41
Tulsa 0 3 7 0 - 10
Team Statistics TUC TUL
First Downs 22 14
Total Rushes 44 25
Rushing Yards 163 117
Yards Per Carry 3.7 4.6
Pass Attempts 23 29
Completions 18 15
Passing Yards 155 141
Yards Per Attempt 6.7 4.8
Sacked 0 0
Yards Lost 0 0
Interceptions 0 2
Fumbles/Lost 1/0 1/1
Total Plays 67 54
Total Yards 318 258
Yards Per Play 4.7 4.7
3rd Down Plays 7/13 5/14
Avg. YTG on 3rd 5.3 7.9
4th Down Plays 0/1 0/0
Penalties 6 9
Penalty Yards 48 95
Avg. Drive Start OWN 34 OWN 23
Time Of Possession 36:20 23:40
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 22 102 4.6 17 1
22 Bradley 16 47 2.9 11 1
30 Robbins 3 4 1.3 3 0
80 Higginbotham 1 2 2.0 2 0
89 Armitage 1 8 8.0 8 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Hogan 21 17 150 7.1 18 2 0 0
8 Cassidy 2 1 5 2.5 5 0 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
26 Jeffries 6 45 7.5 42 11 0
82 Torres 4 31 7.7 19 13 0
88 Ramirez 3 28 9.3 0 18 1
89 Armitage 2 26 13.0 5 17 1
80 Higginbotham 1 4 4.0 3 4 0
87 Sheehy 1 16 16.0 7 16 0
30 Robbins 1 5 5.0 0 5 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
88 Ramirez 1 17 17.0 0
85 Garcia 1 17 17.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 3 129 43.0 47 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 2 2 56 5 5
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
32 Hartung 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 5 1 0.0 0 0 0
52 Wash 4 3 0.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 4 1 0.0 1 21 0
58 Watford 4 0 0.0 1 21 1
31 Enoch 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
93 King 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
37 Rosenberry 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
29 McCloskey 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
70 Neubauer 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
84 Joyner 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
46 Bloch 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
22 Bradley 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
25 Minahan 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
64 Connell 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
33 Mirer 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
73 Smith 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
96 Stansell 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 6 0
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 3 0
63 Pitman 0 0 0 0 2 0
26 Jeffries 0 0 1 0 1 0
87 Sheehy 0 0 0 0 1 0
61 Eaddy 0 0 0 0 1 0
32 Hartung 0 0 1 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 0 1 0 0 0 0
77 Thiele 0 0 0 0 1 0
42 Holliday 1 0 0 0 0 0
Tulsa Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
27 Fulton 19 85 4.4 16 1
9 Lowe 3 16 5.3 10 0
48 Bennett 3 16 5.3 7 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
9 Lowe 29 15 141 4.8 18 0 2 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
27 Fulton 5 27 5.4 17 12 0
83 Lindberg 4 49 12.2 8 18 0
80 Campbell 3 35 11.6 4 14 0
82 Cone 1 15 15.0 2 15 0
39 Welton 1 5 5.0 2 5 0
87 Booker 1 10 10.0 4 10 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
81 Booker 2 10 5.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
80 Campbell 2 25 12.5 0
87 Booker 2 42 21.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
6 Cabral 6 217 36.1 58 3
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
3 Schanding 1 1 27 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
57 Brack 9 2 0.0 0 0 0
51 Carter 7 2 0.0 0 0 0
22 Horgan 5 3 0.0 0 0 0
97 Stokes 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
43 Bruce 5 0 0.0 0 0 0
93 Sherman 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
20 Henderson 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
98 Hardy 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
91 Rodgers 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
52 Snodgrass 2 3 0.0 0 0 0
47 Bush 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
50 Griffith 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
56 Chandler 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
37 Blair 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Ward 1 4 0.0 0 0 0
94 Mills 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
36 Brandon 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
55 Kennedy 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
81 Booker 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
62 Crew 0 0 0 0 3 0
65 Wales 0 0 0 0 2 0
51 Carter 0 1 0 0 0 0
27 Fulton 1 0 0 0 0 0
63 Wolf 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 13:14 0:09 OPP 11 1 11 Touchdown
1 11:23 5:14 OWN 15 13 85 Touchdown
1 4:51 1:51 OPP 45 3 6 Punt
2 14:42 4:46 OWN 39 10 61 Touchdown
2 4:45 4:18 OWN 20 11 41 Field Goal
3 15:00 3:25 OWN 21 6 20 Downs
3 7:26 4:16 OWN 24 8 76 Touchdown
4 14:53 2:59 OWN 15 6 13 Punt
4 10:38 2:06 OPP 6 3 4 Field Goal
4 6:26 4:37 OWN 6 6 10 Punt
4 0:40 0:40 OWN 5 1 1 Game
Tulsa Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 1:46 OWN 25 3 5 Punt
1 13:05 1:42 OWN 13 5 17 Punt
1 6:09 0:21 OWN 20 1 -10 Interception
1 5:48 0:57 OWN 40 3 5 Fumble
1 3:00 3:18 OWN 4 10 19 Punt
2 9:56 5:11 OWN 5 10 85 Field Goal
2 0:27 0:27 OWN 8 1 -1 Half
3 11:35 4:09 OPP 41 8 41 Touchdown
3 3:10 3:17 OWN 12 6 33 Punt
4 11:54 1:16 OWN 22 3 -2 Interception
4 8:32 2:06 OWN 19 4 17 Punt
4 1:49 1:09 50 3 4 Punt
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
4 3 1
Tulsa Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
2 1 1
Gentle reader, please recall my comments after week 9, in which I stated that we were entering perhaps the toughest stretch of our schedule. We faced a home game vs. Honolulu, a road game at Arizona, another home game vs. Detroit, and a road game vs. Tulsa. And guess what? Much to my amazement we won all four games. And we didn't just win them, we won them
in style by a combined score of 130-36. This is perhaps the most inspired month's worth of football I've ever seen from this team. Very nicely done, boys!
In many ways today's game was the least expected win of these last four games (or the whole season, for that matter). We were on the road against a tough team, had a few injuries to contend with, and have been suffering with a slumping Drew Holliday for months. The conditions were perfect for
us to lose 41-10, but Tulsa came out flat and made numerous mistakes. We were able to capitalize on those mistakes, and that's really all we needed to do. We blocked a punt on their first drive, recovered it at their 11 and scored a TD to take a quick lead. Three more turnovers from Tulsa and a few good drives from our offense were all we needed to come away with a huge win. I don't know what happened to Tulsa , but we didn't see the "real" Talons squad today. Much like our last game against Detroit, I pin a lot of this win on luck (of the good variety for us, of the bad variety for Tulsa).
Drew Holliday finally busted out of his slump and topped 100 yards for the first time in 10 weeks, Hogan was again efficient, Castorena again had a good performance (including a 56-yarder!), and our defense was again
outstanding. We suffered another couple of injuries at LB, but we've got enough depth there to get by.
Ken Wickes' deathwatch: It is difficult to get too pissed off at a coach who has just guided your team through such an enormously successful stretch, but Wickes continues to make boneheaded decisions that would have been devastating in closer games. To wit: Tulsa's only TD came after we turned the ball over on downs while trying to convert a 4th down at our
own 41. Why, in god's name, would we be doing that when we've got a huge lead? That's just plain stupid.
I'm keeping an eye on you, Ken.
Next up: at Chicago.