The Bills didn't miss Thurman Thomas for long as he was already back in the line up as they dispatched Jets in easy fashion 31-14. They are one of only three unbeatens left after only three weeks along with the Raiders and Eagles. The Vikings starting quarteback Wade Wilson was knocked out in the second half of their game against the 49ers but back up Rich Gannon led them to a 4th quarter comeback and overtime win, sending the Niners to a dissapointing 1-2 start.
Week 3 Scores
Washington 35, Phoenix 17
WAS: 2-1, PHX: 0-3
-Earnest Byner: 199 yards rushing
Miami 42, Detroit 10
MIA: 2-1, DET: 2-1
-Dan Marino: 330 yards passing
Buffalo 31, N.Y. Jets 14
BUF: 3-0, NYJ: 1-2
-Thurman Thomas: returns from injury, 113 yards rushing
L.A. Raiders 24, Indianapolis 21
RAI: 3-0, IND: 1-2
-Mervyn Fernandez: 4 rec, 119 yards
San Diego 24, Atlanta 23
SD: 2-1, ATL: 0-3
-Billy Joe Tolliver: 157 yards passing
Philadelphia 28, Dallas 6
PHI: 3-0, DAL: 1-2
-Randall Cunnigham: 152 yards passing
Denver 28, Seattle 17
DEN: 2-1, SEA: 2-1
-Mark Jackson: 4 rec, 114 yards
Houston 21, Kansas City 17
HOU: 2-1, KC: 1-2
-Lorenzo White: 149 yards rushing
Cleveland 34, Cincinnati 31 OT
CLE: 2-1, CIN: 0-3
-Bernie Kosar: 321 yards passing
N.Y. Giants 33, Chicago 27 OT
NYG: 2-1, CHI: 1-2
-Phil Simms: 211 yards passing
Minnesota 27, San Francisco 24 OT
MIN: 2-1, SF: 1-2
-Anthony Carter: 5 rec, 164 yards
Green Bay 21, Tampa Bay 17
GB: 1-2, TB: 0-3
-Don Majkowski: 239 yards passing
New Orleans 35, L.A. Rams 14
NO: 2-1, RAM: 2-1
-Steve Walsh: 250 yards passing
Pittsburgh 27, New England 24
PIT: 1-2, NE: 0-3
-Merril Hoge: 125 yards rushing
Leaders thru Week 3
Passing Leaders
Rating: Dan Marino, 230.6
Yards: Bernie Kosar, 840
TD: Marino, 11
Receiving Leaders
Rec: Jerry Rice, 14
Yards: Rice, 364
TD: Many with 4
Rushing Leaders
Yards: Earnest Byner, 398
TD: Many with 4
Defensive Leaders
INT: Joey Browner; Barney Bussey, 4
Sacks: Many with 6
Two weeks in, two injured star running backs. In 35-3 blowout win over the Steelers, the Bills last their superstar Thurman Thomas to injury. The Lions so far have survived without Barry Sanders getting off to a 2-0 start after nipping the Packers 14-13. The big game of the week was the Rams upsetting the defending Super Bowl champion Giants 23-20 in overtime, and the Rams are now 2-0.
Week 2 Results
Seattle 20, N.Y. Jets 14
SEA: 2-0, NJY: 1-1
-Tommy Kane: 4 rec, 131 yards
Detroit 14, Green Bay 13
DET: 2-0, GB: 0-2
-Rodney Peete: 167 yards passing
L.A. Raiders 28, Denver 24
RAI: 2-0, DEN: 1-1
-Bo Jackson: 117 yards rushing
Minnesota 28, Atlanta 24
MIN: 2-0, ATL: 0-2
-Steve Jordan: 4 rec, 106 yards
Houston 23, Cincinnati 21
HOU: 1-1, CIN: 0-2
-Curtis Duncan: 5 rec, 117 yards
Cleveland 31, New England 14
CLE: 1-1, NE: 0-2
-Bernie Kosar: 313 yards passing
New Orleans 27, Kansas City 24
NO: 1-1, KC: 1-1
-Steve Walsh: 220 yards passing
Miami 28, Indianapolis 21
MIA: 1-1, IND: 1-1
-Dan Marino: 193 yards passing
San Francisco 34, San Diego 14
SF: 1-1, SD: 1-1
-Jerry Rice: 7 rec, 144 yards
L.A. Rams 23, N.Y. Giants 20 OT
RAM: 2-0, NYG: 1-1
-Jim Everett: 176 yards passing
Buffalo 35, Pittsburgh 3
BUF: 2-0, PIT: 0-2
-Thurman Thomas injured
Philadelphia 23, Phoenix 17
PHI: 2-0, PHX: 0-2
-Heath Sherman: 4 rushes, 73 yards
Chicago 20, Tampa Bay 19
CHI: 1-1, TB: 0-2
-Neal Anderson: 96 yards rushing
Washington 31, Dallas 14
WAS: 1-1, DAL: 1-1
-Earnest Byner: 130 yards rushing
Leaders thru Week 2
Passing Leaders
Rating: Randall Cunnigham, 235.0
Yards: Bernie Kosar, 519
TD: Cunnigham, 7
Receiving Leaders
Rec: Jerry Rice, 10
Yards: Rice, 248
TD: Many with 3
Rushing Leaders
Yards: Earnest Byner, 199
TD: Many with 3
Defensive Leaders
INT: Many with 2
Sacks: Michael Cofer; Al Baker, 5
The season ends with plenty of drama. The best game of the week was the Oilers/Giants with the Oilers prevailing 30-24 in overtime and to go along with the Steelers getting crushed by the Browns, the Oilers win the AFC Central. Steelers though ended up beating out the Browns for the final playoffs spot by tiebreak, or at least that's what the game says as I'm not sure it properly does tiebreaks. In the AFC West, the Raiders beat the Chiefs while the Chargers lost to the Broncos thus handing the division to the Raiders. Over in the NFC, the Eagles could have taken the East with the Giants dropping their third straight but the Eagles lost to the Redskins and those two will now meet again in the Wild Card round. For the final spot in playoffs the Rams took care of business by slaughtering the Seahawks but the Bears couldn't beat the red hot 49ers so the Rams clinched the final playoff spot.
Here are the playoff match-ups:
Week 17 Scores
Phoenix 26, New Orleans 14
PHX: 5-11, NO: 7-9
-Ricky Proehl: 99 yards receiving
Tampa Bay 24, Indianapolis 21
TB: 7-9, IND: 6-10
-Gary Anderson: 197 total yards
L.A. Rams 44, Seattle 17
RAM: 9-7, SEA: 6-10
-Henry Ellard: 5 rec, 172 yards
Cincinnati 31, New England 14
CIN: 6-10, NE: 4-12
-Tim McGee: 4 rec, 100 yards
Miami 16, N.Y. Jets 7
MIA: 11-5, NYJ: 3-13
-Mark Clayton: 6 rec, 152 yards
Houston 30, N.Y. Giants 24 OT
HOU: 10-6, NYG: 11-5
-Warren Moon: 230 yards passing
Denver 27, San Diego 21
DEN: 8-8, SD: 10-6
-Bobby Humphrey: 104 yards rushing
Buffalo 33, Detroit 20
BUF: 13-3, DET: 4-12
-Thurman Thomas: 194 yards rushing
Minnesota 29, Green Bay 27
MIN: 13-3, GB: 5-11
-Wade Wilson: 219 yards passing
Cleveland 41, Pittsburgh 14
CLE: 9-7, PIT: 9-7
-Eric Metcalf: 4 rec, 148 yards
San Francisco 21, Chicago 10
SF: 13-3, CHI: 8-8
-Joe Montana: 177 yards passing
Dallas 26, Atlanta 10
DAL: 6-10, ATL: 2-14
-Jay Novacek: 5 rec, 138 yards
L.A. Raiders 35, Kansas City 24
RAI: 11-5, KC: 8-8
-Jay Schroeder: 253 yards passing
Washington 28, Philadelphia 17
WAS: 10-6, PHI: 10-6
-Earnest Byner: 136 yard rushing
NFL Team Leaders
Total Offense
1. Buffalo 5298
2. San Francisco 5163
3. Houston 4961
Passing Offense
1. Houston 3959
2. San Francisco 3810
3. L.A. Rams 3716
Rushing Offense
1. L.A. Raiders 2420
2. Kansas City 2180
3. Buffalo 2162
Team Defense
1. Pittsburgh 3669
2. Buffalo 3959
3. Chicago 4015
Passing Defense
1. Pittsburgh 2219
2. Cleveland 2537
3. Buffalo 2565
Rushing Defense
1. Green Bay 1299
2. New Orleans 1321
3. San Francisco 1322
AFC Individual Leaders
Passing Leaders
Rating: Dan Marino, 168.7
Comp %: Warren Moon, 67.6
Attempts: Bernie Kosar, 269
Comp: Moon, 153
Yards: Moon, 3959
Yards/Att: Moon, 17.5
TD: Marino, 40
Lst Int %: Marino, 5.3
Receiving Leaders
Receptions: Anthony Miller, 53
Yards: Stephone Paige, 1228
Yards/Rct: Mark Jackson, 33.4
TD: Miller, 15
Rushing Leaders
Yards: Thurman Thomas, 1733
Attempts: Marion Butts, 172
Yards/Att: Bo Jackson, 11.9
TD: Butts; Thomas, 15
Scoring Leaders
Points: Thurman Thomas, 132
TD: Thomas, 22
Extra Pts: Scott Norwood, 58
FG: Jeff Jaeger, 17
Punting Leaders
Average: Rohn Stark, 51.0
Punts: Joe Prokop, 27
Interception Leaders
INT: Kevin Ross; Erik McMillan, 10
Yards: McMillan, 127
TD: Many with 1
Sack Leader: Derrick Thomas; Simon Fletcher, 18
Punt Return Leaders
Average: Reggie Langhorne, 10.6
Yards: Langhorne, 159
Returns: Tony Martin, 22
TD: None
Kick Return Leaders
Average: Tim Brown, 21.1
Yards: Terrance Mathis, 1542
Returns: Mathis, 84
TD: None
NFC Individual Leaders
Passing Leaders
Rating: Phil Simms, 186.7
Comp %: Randall Cunnigham, 73.0
Attempts: Don Majkowski, 243
Comp: Joe Montana, 150
Yards: Montana, 3810
Yards/Att: Cunnigham; Simms, 17.5
TD: Montana, 41
Lst Int %: Wade Wilson, 3.7
Receiving Leaders
Receptions: Jerry Rice, 75
Yards: Rice, 1955
Yards/Rct: Mark Ingram, 29.0
TD: Rice, 21
Rushing Leaders
Yards: Neal Anderson, 1508
Attempts: Anderson, 177
Yards/Att: Barry Sanders, 10.2
TD: Tom Rathman, 16
Scoring Leaders
Points: Keith Byars, 138
TD: Byars, 23
Extra Pts: Mike Cofer, 58
FG: Morten Andersen; Steve Christie, 16
Punting Leaders
Average: Rich Camarillo, 48.9
Punts: Mike Saxson, 25
Interception Leaders
INT: Mark Carrier, 9
Yards: Wes Hopkins, 154
TD: Many with 1
Sack Leader: Lawrence Taylor, 21
Punt Return Leaders
Average: Henry Ellard, 12.8
Yards: Leo Lewis, 246
Returns: Lewis, 22
TD: None
Kick Return Leaders
Average: David Meggett, 20.9
Yards: Meggett, 1381
Returns: Charles Wilson, 78
TD: None
We're down to the wire and a lot of movement still going on. Big story this week was the Browns scoring 24 points in the 4th quarter to come from behind to beat the Oilers 30-21. The Steelers won their game to once again move into a tie for 1st. I was slightly less lazy this time around, figuring out some of the easier tiebreaks, and the Steelers control their own destiny for the division as if they beat the Browns in Week 17 they'll end up with a better division record than the Oilers. In the AFC West, both Chargers and Raiders won to remain dead locked on top the division but the Chargers control their own destiny by virtue of having a better conference record than the Raiders. In the NFC, the Giants lost to the Redskins and the Eagles won so after looking at the tiebreaks as it turns out the Giants really haven't won the division yet. If the Eagles win next week and the Giants lose, the Eagles win the divsion by having a better divisional record. In the race for the last wild card spot in the conference, the Bears control their own destiny as they would end up with a better conference record than the Rams if they win next week although they will have to beat the 49ers to do so. As for a potential three-way ties in both conference for the final wild card spots, you can forget me trying to figure them out.
AFC
1. Bills 12-3
2. Chargers 10-5
3. Steelers 9-6
4t. Dolphins 10-5
4t. Raiders 10-5
6. Oilers 9-6
Still Alive: Browns 8-7, Chiefs 8-7
NFC
1. Vikings 12-3
2. 49ers 12-3
3. Giants 11-4
4. Eagles 10-5
5. Redskins 9-6
6. Bears 8-7
Still Alive: Rams 8-7, Saints 7-8
Week 16 Scores
Phoenix 28, Denver 20
PHX: 4-11, DEN: 7-8
-Timm Rosenbach: 312 yards passing
L.A. Raiders 24, New Orleans 21
RAI: 10-5, NO: 7-8
-Bo Jackson: 111 yards rushing
New England 28, N.Y. Jets 24
NE: 4-11, NYJ: 3-12
-Steve Grogan: 243 yards passing
Indianapolis 21, Buffalo 17
IND: 6-9, BUF: 12-3
-Jessie Hester: 4 rec, 153 yards
Cleveland 30, Houston 21
CLE: 8-7, HOU: 9-6
-Eric Metcalf: 96 yards receiving
Browns 24 point 4th quarter
Washington 24, N.Y. Giants 23
WAS: 9-6, NYG: 11-4
-Art Monk: 5 rec, 94 yards
San Francisco 28, Kansas City 17
SF: 12-3, KC: 8-7
-Jerry Rice: 7 rec, 162 yards
Philadelphia 34, Dallas 7
PHI: 10-5, DAL: 5-10
-Randall Cunnigham: 238 yards passing
Seattle 16, Atlanta 14
SEA: 6-9, ATL: 2-13
-Dave Krieg: 165 yards passing
Chicago 27, Tampa Bay 17
CHI: 8-7, TB: 6-9
-Neal Anderson: 98 yards rushing
Detroit 42, Green Bay 14
DET: 4-11, GB: 5-10
-Richard Johnson: 5 rec, 126 yards
Pittsburgh 24, Cincinnati 13
PIT: 9-6, CIN: 5-10
-Warren Williams: 85 yards rushing
San Diego 31, Miami 21
SD: 10-5, MIA: 10-5
Minnesota 34, L.A. Rams 14
MIN: 12-3, RAM: 8-7
-Hassan Jones: 8 rec, 232 yards
Leaders thru Week 16
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 191.1
2. Randall Cunningham, 178.5
3. Dan Marino, 177.2
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3729
2. Joe Montana, 3633
3. Jim Everett, 3405
Touchdowns
1. Montana, 40
2. Marino, 38
3. Everett, 35
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 73
2. Andre Rison, 51
3. Anthony Miller, 50
Yards
1. Rice, 1891
2. Rison, 1343
3. Henry Ellard, 1308
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 20
2. Miller, 14
3t. Many tied with 13
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1539
2. Neal Anderson, 1434
3. Bo Jackson, 1348
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 15
2t. Anderson, 14
2t. Johnny Johnson, 14
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 10
2t. Mark Carrier, 9
2t. Erik McMillan, 9
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 21
2. Reggie White, 20
3t. Many tied with 18
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 17
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.0
Punt Return Avg: Ellard, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Tim Brown, 21.8
It seemed liked a forgone conclusion the Raiders would take the AFC West but not anymore. They lost to the Chargers this week for their third straight loss and the Bolts have now moved into a tie for 1st at 9-5. Oilers beat Steelers 21-9 in order to reclaim sole posession of 1st place in the AFC Central. The Bills have clinched the AFC East but again the game won't recognize it yet since the Dolphins can tie for 1st still but the Bills swept the season series. The Giants lost to the Eagles but the Redskins suffered a shocking defeat to the craptastic Cardinals, so the Giants may or may not have clinched the division but I'm too lazy to go through tiebreak scenerios beyond head-to-head which the Giants/Eagles split. The game did officialy recognize the 49ers division title win after their ninth straight victory this week. The Vikings were stunned by the Bucs, who still have a very slim chance at the playoffs, which now gives us a three-way tie atop the NFC. The 49ers would be the odd team out in a three-way tie as they lost to both the Giants and Vikings.
AFC
1. Bills 12-2
2t. Raiders/Chargers 9-5
2t. Oilers 9-5
4. Dolphins 10-4
5. Raiders/Chargers 9-5
6t. Chiefs/Steelers 8-6
Still Alive: Browns 7-7, Broncos 7-7
NFC
1t. Giants 11-3
1t. Vikings 11-3
1t. 49ers 11-3
4. Eagles 9-5
5t. Redskins 8-6
5t. Rams 8-6
Still Alive: Bears 7-7, Saints 7-7, Buccaneers 6-8
Week 15 Scores
Detroit 24, N.Y. Jets 17
DET: 3-11, NYJ: 3-11
-Robert Clark: 4 rec, 113 yards
Philadelphia 28, N.Y. Giants 24
PHI: 9-5, NYG: 11-3
-Keith Byars: 7 rec, 132 yards
Indianapolis 21, New England 14
IND: 5-9, NE: 3-11
-Albert Bentley: 92 yards rushing
San Francisco 31, Seattle 21
SF: 11-3, SEA: 5-9
-Joe Montana: 240 yards passing
Denver 21, Cleveland 17
DEN: 7-7, CLE: 7-7
-Mark Jackson: 57 yards receiving
New Orleans 20, Dallas 17 OT
NO: 7-7, DAL: 5-9
-Craig Heyward: 82 yards receiving
San Diego 20, Kansas City 14
SD: 9-5, KC: 8-6
-Bill Joe Tolliver: 154 yards passing
Buffalo 24, L.A. Raiders 21
BUF: 12-2, RAI: 9-5
-Thurman Thomas: 154 yards rushing
Phoenix 27, Washington 24
PHX: 3-11, WAS: 8-6
-Johnny Johnson: 110 yards rushing
Chicago 33, Green Bay 24
CHI: 7-7, GB: 5-9
-Ron Morris: 4 rec, 118 yards
Houston 21, Pittsburgh 9
HOU: 9-5, PIT: 8-6
-Ernest Givens: 4 rec, 108 yards
Miami 38, Cincinnati 14
MIA: 10-4, CIN: 5-9
-Mark Clayton: 6 rec, 158 yards
Tampa Bay 28, Minnesota 27
TB: 6-8, MIN: 11-3
-Vinny Testaverde: 266 yards passing
L.A. Rams 17, Atlanta 14
RAM: 8-6, ATL: 2-12
-Cleveland Gary: 82 yards rushing, leaves injured
Leaders thru Week 15
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 197.1
2. Dan Marino, 182.5
3. Randall Cunningham, 177.2
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3593
2. Joe Montana, 3389
3. Jim Everett, 3228
Touchdowns
1t. Montana, 36
1t. Marino, 36
3. Moon, 34
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 66
2. Andre Rison, 49
3. Anthony Miller, 47
Yards
1. Rice, 1729
2. Rison, 1258
3. Henry Ellard, 1254
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 19
2t. Miller, 13
2t. James Lofton, 13
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1430
2. Neal Anderson, 1336
3. Bo Jackson, 1237
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 15
2t. Many tied with 13
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 10
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 20
2t. Derrick Thomas, 18
2t. Reggie White, 18
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger; Morten Andersen, 16
Punting Avg: Mike Horan, 50.9
Punt Return Avg: Ellard, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Tim Brown, 21.2
49ers edged the Saints for the eighth straight win to wrap up the NFC West, although I don't think the game takes into account tiebreaks until the end of the season as it doesn't recognize it yet. Best the Rams can do is tie the 49ers for 1st but the Niners swept the season series. The Giants have almost wrapped up the NFC East as they now have a three game lead on the Redskins and Eagles but they still play the Redskins one more time and the Skins won their first meeting. In the AFC both the Raiders and Dolphins lost but both still hold the leads on the AFC West and the top wild card spot respectively. Oilers and Steelers both win this week to remain tied atop the AFC Central.
Week 14 Scores
Green Bay 17, Atlanta 3
GB: 5-8, ATL: 2-11
-Don Majkowski: 187 yards passing
Buffalo 31, N.Y. Jets 20
BUF: 11-2, NYJ: 3-10
-Thurman Thomas: 194 total yards
N.Y. Giants 24, Cincinnati 21
NYG: 11-2, CIN: 5-8
-Mark Bavaro: 5 rec, 106 yards
Denver 31, New England 14
DEN: 6-7, NE: 3-10
-Bobby Humphrey: 196 yards rushing
Chicago 28, Detroit 21
CHI: 6-7, DET: 2-11
-Neal Anderson: 146 yards rushing
Houston 31, Philadelphia 28 OT
HOU: 8-5, PHI: 8-5
-Warren Moon: 355 yards passing
Pittsburgh 24, Dallas 10
PIT: 8-5, DAL: 5-8
-Bubby Brister: 222 yards passing
San Diego 31, L.A. Raiders 28 OT
SD: 8-5, RAI: 9-4
-Marion Butts: 125 yards rushing
San Francisco 21, New Orleans 20
SF: 10-3, NO: 6-7
-Jerry Rice: 4 rec, 112 yards
Cleveland 31, Indianapolis 10
CLE: 7-6, IND: 4-9
-Reggie Langhorne: 6 rec, 179 yards
L.A. Rams 31, Washington 21
RAM: 7-6, WAS: 8-5
-Henry Ellard: 6 rec, 219 yards
Kansas City 24, Seattle 17
KC: 8-5, SEA: 5-8
-Christian Okoye: 94 yards rushing
Tampa Bay 20, Miami 17
TB: 5-8, MIA: 9-4
-Gary Anderson: 69 yards rushing
Bye Weeks: Minnesota (11-2), Phoenix (2-11)
Leaders thru Week 14
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 196.2
2. Dan Marino, 177.86
3. Randall Cunningham, 174.5
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3373
2. Joe Montana, 3149
3. Jim Everett, 3068
Touchdowns
1. Montana, 33
2t. Many tied with 31
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 63
2t. Andre Rison, 45
2t. Anthony Miller, 45
Yards
1. Rice, 1636
2. Henry Ellard, 1183
3. Rison, 1158
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 18
2. Miller, 13
3. James Lofton, 12
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1276
2. Neal Anderson, 1247
3. Bo Jackson, 1161
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 15
2. Anderson, 13
3t. Many tied with 12
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 10
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 20
2. Derrick Thomas, 17
3. Reggie White, 16
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 16
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 50.8
Punt Return Avg: Ellard, 12.9
Kick Return Avg: Tim Brown, 20.6
The Vikings continue their surprise run to the top of the NFL standings and wrap up the NFC Central division title by eviscerating the Lions 42-14. The NFC playoff picture is pretty clear with the Vikings, Giants, and 49ers leading the divisions and the Eagles and Redskins as wild cards with the only final playoff spot up for grabs between the Rams, Saints, Bears, and Cowboys. Over in the AFC it is a little more muddy. The Raiders still have a nice cushion in the AFC West even after being stunned by the Bengals this week who were without Boomer Esiason. Bills sort of avenged their shocking defeat at the hands of the Patriots in Week 10 by eeking out a three point win. In the AFC Central the Oilers looked to be close to running away with the division a couple of weeks ago but divisional losses later and they find themselves tied with the Steelers at 7-5. The Dolphins are a near lock for a wild card while the Chiefs, Chargers, and Browns are fighting for the final two spots along with the whoever doesn't win the AFC Central.
Week 13 Scores
New Orleans 23, Atlanta 9
NO: 6-6, ATL: 2-10
-Falcons: 12 yards rushing
Pittsburgh 28, Houston 20
PIT: 7-5, HOU: 7-5
-Louis Lipps: 6 rec, 111 yards
N.Y. Giants 30, Tampa Bay 27 OT
NYG: 10-2, TB: 4-8
-Ottis Anderson: 108 yards rushing
San Diego 31, N.Y. Jets 0
SD: 7-5, JET: 3-9
-Marion Butts: 178 yards rushing
Cincinnati 14, L.A. Raiders 9
CIN: 5-7, RAI: 9-3
-James Brooks: 106 yards rushing
Philadelphia 28, Phoenix 10
PHI: 8-4, PHX: 2-11
-Randall Cunnigham: 246 yards passing
Denver 38, Seattle 28
DEN: 5-7, SEA: 5-7
-Mark Jackson: 5 rec, 136 yards
Green Bay 28, Indianapolis 27
GB: 4-8, IND: 4-8
-Ed West: 5 rec, 120 yards
Washington 23, Cowboys 7
WAS: 8-4, DAL: 5-7
-Ernest Byner: 111 yards rushing
Buffalo 27, New England 24
BUF: 10-2, NE: 3-9
-Thurman Thomas: 199 yards rushing
Miami 20, Chicago 14
MIA: 9-3, CHI: 5-7
-Sammie Smith: 77 yards rushing
Minnesota 42, Detroit 14
MIN: 11-2, DET: 2-10
-Wade Wilson: 183 yards passing
Kansas City 30, Cleveland 10
KC: 7-5, CLE: 6-6
-Barry Word: 137 total yards
San Francisco 35, L.A. Rams 34
SF: 9-3, RAM: 6-6
-Jerry Rice: 6 rec, 169 yards
Leaders thru Week 13
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 201.8
2. Dan Marino, 177.8
3. Randall Cunningham, 174.9
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 3018
2. Joe Montana, 2910
3. Jim Everett, 2783
Touchdowns
1. Montana, 31
2t. Marino, 29
2t. Everett, 29
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 59
2. Andre Rison, 41
3. Anthony Miller, 40
Yards
1. Rice, 1524
2. Sterling Sharpe, 1044
3. Rison, 1022
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 17
2. Miller, 12
3. James Lofton, 11
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Thurman Thomas, 1143
2. Neal Anderson, 1101
3. Christian Okoye, 1029
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 14
2t. Many tied with 12
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Kevin Ross, 9
2t. Many tied with 8
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 18
2t. Bruce Smith, 15
2t. Derrick Thomas, 15
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 16
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.3
Punt Return Avg: Henry Ellard, 12.2
Kick Return Avg: David Meggett, 20.6
This seems to be turning into a weekly Bills update but something interesting happens to them every week. This week in their showdown with the Dolphins for first place in the AFC East, Jim Kelly was knocked out of the game in first half. Lucky for them they have one of the few decent back up quarterbacks on the game in Frank Reich and he led two 4th quarter touchdown drives for the 24-21 win. Bills sweep the season series giving them essentially a two game lead on the Dolphins now. In other quarterback injury news, the Bengals lost to the Eagles and lost Boomer Esiason to injury dimming their already very slim playoff hopes. The Browns season seemed to be spiraling out of control after three straight losses including two huge blow outs but this week they knocked off the divison leading Oilers to pull back within in a game of first palce. Last week the Bears appeared to be on the verge of turning their season around after their win against the Vikings but they shit the bed against the Colts this week and now the Vikings can clinch the division next week.
Week 12 Scores
San Francisco 21, Phoenix 10
SF: 8-3, PHX: 2-10
-Tom Rathman: 100 yards rushing
San Diego 24, New Orleans 20
SD: 6-5, NO: 5-6
-Billy Joe Tolliver: 179 yards passing
Indianapolis 28, Chicago 17
IND: 4-7, CHI: 5-6
-Albert Bentley: 77 yards rushing
Philadelphia 35, Cincinnati 21
PHI: 7-4, CIN: 4-7
-Boomer Esiason: leaves injured
Cleveland 24, Houston 21
CLE: 6-5, HOU: 7-4
-Bernie Kosar: 264 yards passing
Tampa Bay 24, Atlanta 9
TB: 4-7, ATL: 2-9
-Chris Miller: 31% comp pct, 3 int
Kansas City 30, Denver 6
KC: 6-5, DEN: 4-7
-Christian Okoye: 106 yards rushing
Buffalo 24, Miami 21
BUF: 9-2, MIA: 8-3
-Jim Kelly: leaves injured
L.A. Raiders 17, Seattle 14
RAI: 9-2, SEA: 5-6
-Bo Jackson: 85 yards rushing
Pittsburgh 17, Washington 7
PIT: 6-5, WAS: 7-4
-Bubby Brister: 202 yards passing
N.Y. Giants 33, Dallas 28
GIA: 9-2, DAL: 5-6
-David Meggett: 112 yards rushing
L.A. Rams 31, Detroit 21
RAM: 6-5, DET: 2-9
-Jim Everett: 259 yards passing
Minnesota 37, Green Bay 14
MIN: 10-2, GB: 3-8
-Steve Jordan: 4 rec, 105 yards
N.Y. Jets 34, New England 14
JET: 3-8, NE: 3-8
-Al Toon: 5 rec, 137 yards
Leaders thru Week 12
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 201.0
2. Dan Marino, 175.2
3. Randall Cunningham, 167.5
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 2770
2. Montana, 2684
3. Jim Everett, 2536
Touchdowns
1t. Marino, 27
1t. Montana, 27
3. Moon, 26
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 53
2t. Many tied with 36
Yards
1. Rice, 1355
2. Sterling Sharpe, 989
3. Eric Martin, 970
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 14
2t. Many tied with 10
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Neal Anderson, 1056
2. Christian Okoye, 962
3. Johnny Johnson, 945
Touchdowns
1. Tom Rathman, 13
2. Johnson, 12
3. Many tied with 11
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1. Joey Browner, 8
2t. Many tied with 7
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 17
2. Bruce Smith, 15
3t. Many tied with 14
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 13
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.3
Punt Return Avg: Jeff Query, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: David Meggett, 20.5
After the Bills shocking loss to the Patriots last week I suppose anything is possible but I certaintly didn't think the Bills would lay another egg against the 2-7 Packers but that it is indeed what happened. With the Bills' second straight loss, the Dolphins have now moved into to tie for first place in the AFC East. Once you get past the two AFC East powers, Raiders, and Oilers, the rest of the conference is a mess with five teams at 5-5 going for the last two wild card spots. The Vikings had their six game winning streak snapped in an overtime loss to the Bears who try to keep their very slim division title hopes alive.
Week 11 Scores
Chicago 20, Minnesota 17 OT
CHI: 5-5, MIN: 9-2
-Neal Anderson: 92 yards rushing
N.Y. Jets 28, Indianapolis 27
NYJ: 2-8, IND: 3-7
-Mark Boyer: 5 rec, 132 yards
Green Bay 27, Buffalo 17
GB: 3-7, BUF: 8-2
-Sterling Sharpe: 5 rec, 149 yards
Cincinnati 20, Pittsburgh 17
CIN: 4-6, PIT: 5-5
-James Brooks: 80 yards rushing
N.Y. Giants 31, Phoenix 17
NYG: 8-2, PHX: 2-9
-Phil Simms: 187 yards passing
Philadelphia 45, Cleveland 7
PHI: 6-4, CLE: 5-5
-Browns Offense: 9 yards rushing
L.A. Raiders 30, Denver 24
RAI: 8-2, DEN: 4-6
-Marcus Allen: 86 yards rushing
Kansas City 21, LA. Rams 13
KC: 5-5, RAM: 5-5
-Christian Okoye: 81 yards rushing
Miami 24, New England 10
MIA: 8-2, NE: 3-7
-Tony Paige: 164 total yards
Washington 24, Atlanta 20
WAS: 7-3, ATL: 2-8
-Mark Rypien: 197 yards passing
San Diego 31, Seattle 28 OT
SD: 5-5, SEA: 5-5
-Marion Butts: 118 yards rushing
Tampa Bay 28, Detroit 10
TB: 3-7, DET: 2-8
-Bruce Hill: 4 rec, 108 yards
San Francisco 35, New Orleans 24
SF: 7-3, NO: 5-5
-Jerry Rice: 6 rec, 136 yards
Houston 21, Dallas 10
HOU: 7-3, DAL: 5-5
-Ernest Givens: 6 rec, 133 yards
Leaders thru Week 11
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 205.6
2. Dan Marino, 185.2
3. Joe Montana, 168.6
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 2568
2. Montana, 2498
3. Marino, 2315
Touchdowns
1t. Marino, 26
1t. Montana, 26
3. Moon, 24
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 49
2. Anthony Miller, 35
3. Henry Ellard, 33
Yards
1. Rice, 1256
2. Ellard, 875
3. Sterling Sharpe, 868
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 13
2. Ernest Givens, 10
3t. Many tied with 9
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Neal Anderson, 938
2. Johnny Johnson, 894
3. Thurman Thomas, 861
Touchdowns
1. Johnson, 12
2t. Many tied with 11
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1t. Joey Browner, 7
1t. Kevin Ross, 7
1t. Erik McMillan, 7
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 17
2. Bruce Smith, 15
3. Simon Fletcher, 14
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Jeff Jaeger, 12
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.4
Punt Return Avg: Jeff Query, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Danny Peebles, 20.2
Do you believe in miracles?
After blazing to an 8-0 start without breaking a sweat the Bills were stunned by the worst team in TSB in Week 10. I don't know what's more shocking, the Patriots beating the Bills or the Patriots now already having three wins. In other surprising news, I had accidently been listing the Vikings as having two losses but after looking at the standings on the game they had only one and now with the Bills' loss, the Vikings of all teams now have the best record in the league at 9-1 and could clinch the NFC Central by Week 12. After a slow start the 49ers have moved into sole posession of first place in the NFC West after the Rams have dropped back-to-back overtime losses in the division. The Packers and Jets met in a battle of one win teams with the Pack prevailing 38-17 and sending the Jets to the bottom of the league at 1-8.
Week 10 Scores
New Orleans 24, L.A. Rams 21 OT
NO: 5-4, RAM: 5-4
-Steve Walsh: 241 yards passing
Miami 31, Indianapolis 14
MIA: 7-2, IND: 3-6
-Tony Paige: 4 rec, 103 yards
N.Y. Giants 27, Philadelphia 22
NYG: 7-2, PHI: 5-4
-Phil Simms: 200 yards passing
Green Bay 38, N.Y. Jets 17
GB: 2-7, NYJ: 1-8
-Ed West: 5 rec, 148 yards
Minnesota 28, Tampa Bay 21
MIN: 9-1, TB: 2-7
-Wade Wilson: 166 yards passing
Denver 20, Pittsburgh 10
DEN: 4-5, PIT: 5-4
-Bobby Humphrey: 103 yards rushing
New England 30, Buffalo 28
NE: 3-6, BUF: 8-1
-Steve Grogan: 222 yards passing
Cincinnati 21, Cleveland 13
CIN: 3-6, CLE: 5-4
-Rodney Holman: 71 yards receiving
Washington 27, Houston 24 OT
WAS: 6-3, HOU: 6-3
-Art Monk: 5 rec, 140 yards
Chicago 30, Detroit 6
CHI: 4-5, DET: 2-7
-Brad Muster: 86 yards rushing
Dallas 21, Phoenix 14
DAL: 5-4, PHX: 2-8
-Emmitt Smith: 93 yards rushing
San Francisco 24, Atlanta 17
SF: 6-3, ATL: 2-7
-Joe Montana: 310 yards passing
Bye Weeks: Kansas City (4-5), L.A. Raiders (7-2), San Diego (4-5), Seattle (5-4)
Leaders thru Week 10
PASSING LEADERS
Rating
1. Phil Simms, 205.2
2. Dan Marino, 189.6
3. Joe Montana, 177.5
Yards
1. Warren Moon, 2363
2. Montana, 2249
3. Marino, 2136
Touchdowns
1. Marino, 25
2. Montana, 24
3t. Many tied with 21
RECEIVING LEADERS
Receptions
1. Jerry Rice, 43
2. Anthony Miller, 32
3t. Many tied with 31
Yards
1. Rice, 1120
2. Ellard, 791
3. Mark Duper, 767
Touchdowns
1. Rice, 11
2. Ernest Givens, 9
3t. Many tied with 8
RUSHING LEADERS
Yards
1. Johnny Johnson, 849
2. Neal Anderson, 846
3. Thurman Thomas, 810
Touchdowns
1. Johnson, 12
2t. Many tied with 10
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Interceptions
1t. Joey Browner, 7
1t. Kevin Ross, 7
1t. Erik McMillan, 7
Sacks
1. Lawrence Taylor, 16
2t. Many tied with 13
SPECIAL TEAMS LEADERS
Field Goals: Gary Anderson, 10
Punting Avg: Rohn Stark, 51.7
Punt Return Avg: Jeff Query, 12.8
Kick Return Avg: Danny Peebles, 20.1
It's time for the Tecmo Super Bowl, uh Super Bowl, extravaganza! Here's recap of the playoffs.
San Francisco 49ers
Regular Season Results (13-3)
1: L – Giants 21-24 OT
2: W – Chargers 34-14
3: L – Vikings 24-27 OT
4: W – Rams 35-21
5: L – Raiders 14-21
6: Bye
7: W – Falcons 31-14
8: W – Lions 28-3
9: W – Eagles 27-9
10: W – Falcons 24-17
11: W – Saints 35-24
12: W – Cardinals 21-10
13: W – Rams 35-34
14: W – Saints 21-20
15: W – Seahawks 31-21
16: W – Chiefs 28-17
17: W – Bears 21-10
Offense Rankings
Total: 2nd
Pass: 2nd
Rush: 23rd
Defense Rankings
Total: 9th
Pass: 18th
Rush: 3rd
Offense
QB: Joe Montana - 150/222, 3810 Yards, 41 TD, 12 Int
RB: Roger Craig - 68 Att, 540 Yards, 2 TD
RB: Tom Rathman - 114 Att, 726 Yards, 16 TD
WR: John Taylor – 22 Rec, 510 Yards, 8 TD
WR: Jerry Rice - 75 Rec, 1955 Yards, 21 TD
TE: Brent Jones – 15 Rec, 365 Yards, 2 TD
C: Jess Sapolu
LG: Guy McIntyre
RG: Harris Barton
LT: Bubba Parris
RT: Steve Wallace
Reserves
QB: Steve Young
RB: Dexter Carter, Harry Sydney
WR: Mike Wilson, Mike Sherrard
TE: Jamie Williams
Special Teams
K: Mike Cofer – 58/59 XP, 6/10 FG
P: Barry Helton – 11 Punts, 43.1 Avg
Defense
RE: Kevin Fagan – 15 Sacks
NT: Michael Carter – 2 Sacks
LE: Pierce Holt – 7 Sacks
ROLB: Bill Romanowski – 1 Sack
RILB: Keith Delong
LILB: Matt Millen – 1 Sack
LOLB: Charles Haley – 13 Sacks
RCB: Don Griffin – 2 Int
LCB: Darryl Pollard
FS: Ronnie Lott – 6 Int
SS: Dave Waymer – 8 Int
Houston Oilers
Regular Season Results (10-6)
1: L – Raiders 21-30
2: W – Bengals 23-21
3: W – Chiefs 21-17
4: L – Patriots 17-35
5: Bye
6: W – Broncos 10-7
7: W – Jets 30-24 OT
8: W – Dolphins 35-14
9: W – Bengals 44-24
10: L – Redskins 24-27 OT
11: W – Cowboys 21-10
12: L – Browns 21-24
13: L – Steelers 20-28
14: W – Eagles 31-28 OT
15: W- Steelers 21-9
16: L – Browns 21-30
17: W – Giants 30-24 OT
Offense Rankings
Total: 3rd
Pass: 1st
Rush: 26th
Defense Rankings
Total: 19th
Pass: 24th
Rush: 15th
Offense
QB: Warren Moon – 153/226, 3959 Yards, 38 TD, 20 Int
RB: Lorenzo White – 86 Att, 620 Yards, 6 TD
WR: Ernest Givins – 45 Rec, 1191 Yards, 13 TD
WR: Haywood Jeffries – 32 Rec, 838 Yards, 7 TD
WR: Drew Hill – 31 Rec, 701 Yars, 9 TD
WR: Curtis Duncan – 43 Rec, 1176 Yards, 9 TD
C: Jay Pennison
LG: Mike Munchak
RG: Bruce Matthews
LT: Don Maggs
RT: Dean Steinkuhler
Reserves
QB: Cody Carlson
RB: Allen Pinkett, Victor Jones, Doug Lloyd
WR: Tony Jones, Gerald McNeil
Special Teams
K: Tony Zendejas – 48/50 XP, 10/13 FG
P: Greg Montgomery – 6 Punts, 47.3 Avg
Defense
RE: Sean Jones – 11 Sacks
NT: Doug Smith – 3 Sacks
LE: William Fuller – 11 Sacks
ROLB: Johnny Meads – 2 Sacks
RILB: Al Smith
LILB: John Grimsley – 2 Sacks
LOLB: Ray Childress – 12 Sacks
RCB: Richard Johnson – 4 Int
LCB: Chris Dishman – 3 Int
FS: Terry Kinard – 1 Int
SS: Bubba McDowell – 2 Int
Super Bowl XXVI: San Francisco 49ers vs. Houston Oilers
1st Quarter
49ers won the coin toss but would turn it over immediately as Dexter Carter fumbled the opening kickoff as the Oilers recovered on the 49ers 30 yard line. They couldn't move the ball at all though and settled for a Tony Zendejas 45 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. 49ers moved the ball into the Oilers territory on their first possession but Mike Cofer missed a 53 yard field goal. Warren Moon would hit Ernest Givins on a 46 yard catch and run on the next play which would eventually lead to another Zendejas field goal.
Houston 6, San Francisco 0
2nd Quarter
Mike Cofer missed another long field goal, this time 59 yards, and the Oilers looked to turn this into a rout early as they march down the field and Warren Moon takes it in himself from the 1 for a 13-0 lead. 49ers finally answered though with a quick drive that ended with a Tom Rathman 15 yard touchdown run. On the ensuing kick off Gerald McNeil is tackled in the endzone for a touchback...no wait it's Tecmo Rules so it's a safety! 49ers get the ball back and pull within a point on a Cofer field goal near the end of the half.
Houston 13, San Francisco 12
Halftime
Best. Halftime Show. Ever.
3rd Quarter
Oilers offense scuffles in the quarter as they fail to pick up a first down. After a long run by Rathman, Jerry Rice begins to make his presence felt as he catches 19 yard touchdown pass from Joe Montana to give the 49ers their first lead of the game.
San Francisco 19, Houston 13
4th Quarter
Oilers retake the lead on their next possession in part to a 29 yard Moon run and then Hill makes a leaping 39 yard touchdown grab. It's the 4th quarter though, and it's the Super Bowl, so you knew Montana would march the 49ers right back and it wasn't without drama. Oilers stuff Rathman on 3rd and Goal at the 1 but on the 4th and Goal Rathman scores the go ahead touchdown. Oilers still had enough time to comeback but they would lose 18 yards on three plays and then on 4th and 28 the great Tecmo computer logic shows up as they run the ball. It did catch the 49ers off guard as Lorenzo White rumbled for 13 yards but well short of the first down. As the 49ers tried to run out the clock Rathman fumbled on the Oilers 30 but it went out of bounds. The next play Rathman would take it the distance for his third touchdown of the game, wrapping up the Super Bowl MVP honors and a third Super Bowl title in four years for the 49ers. The 49ers ended the season on a 14 game winning streak.
AFC Divisional Playoff: Miami Dolphins vs. Los Angeles Raiders
Scoring Summary
LA: Allen 1 Run
Mia: Stoyanovich 20 FG
LA: Jaeger 58 FG
LA: Jackson 75 Run
Mia: Clayton 59 Pass from Marino
Mia: Stoyanovich 45 FG
Mia: Duper 28 Pass from Marino
LA: Horton 23 Pass from Beurlein
After squandering a couple of first half scoring opportunities the Dolphins appeared they would be on their way to another second half comeback playoff win but Steve Beurlein came off the bench for an injured Jay Schroeder to lead a 4th quarter touchdown drive for the win. The key sequence in the game came late in the first half when Mike Hardin intercepted a Dan Marino pass in the endzone and would be followed a few plays later by a 75 yard touchdown run by Bo Jackson to give the Raiders a 17-3 halftime lead.
NFC Divisional Playoff: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings
Scoring Summary
PHI: Sherman 14 Run
MIN: Fenney 1 Run
PHI: Ruzek 50 FG
MIN: Carter 21 Pass from Wilson
MIN: Fenney 28 Pass from Wilson
PHI: Barnett 38 Pass from Cunningham
MIN: Carter 56 Pass from Wilson
Wade Wilson threw three second half touchdowns, two to Anthony Carter, as the Vikings continue their surprisingly strong season with a trip the NFC Championship Game. After killing the Redskins with both his arm and legs in the Wild Card round, QB Eagles was unable to break any big runs in this one.
AFC Divisional Playoff: Houston Oilers vs. Buffalo Bills
Scoring Summary
Scoreless First Quarter
Hou: Givens 54 Pass from Moon
Hou: Hill 27 Pass from Moon
Buf: Mueller 1 Run
Hou: Givens 57 Pass from Moon
Buff: Reed 14 Pass from Kelly
Hou: Hill 31 Pass from Moon
Buf: Thomas 64 Pass from Kelly
The Houston Oilers go into Buffalo in a playoff game and don’t blow a big lead! Warren Moon was unstoppable with four touchdown passes as he leads the Oilers to their first AFC Championship Game appearance in 12 years. Thurman Thomas had over 200 yards in total offense in the losing effort.
NFC Divisional Playoff: Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers
Scoring Summary
LA: Ellard 47 Pass from Everett
SF: Craig 4 Run
LA: Warner 6 Run
SF: Rice 4 Pass from Montana
LA: Warner 4 Run
LA: Ellard 15 Pass from Everett
SF: Rice 55 Pass from Montana
SF: Craig 4 Run
LA: Gary 4 Run
SF: Rice 12 Pass from Montana
SF: Taylor 65 Pass from Montana
In a classic shootout, the 49ers outlast in their divisional rival Rams in overtime 41-35. This game featured some “great” Tecmo computer logic in overtime as after the Rams won the coin toss the 49ers decided to catch the Rams off guard I suppose by going for an onside kick. It backfired and the Rams returned it to the 49ers 35. Then rather than try to move the ball closer the Rams elected to attempt a 52 yard field to win it but Mike Lansford’s kick hit the left upright. Joe Montana would hit a wide open John Taylor on the next play for the winning touchdown.
AFC Championship: Houston Oilers vs. Los Angeles Raiders
Scoring Summary
HOU: White 4 Run
LA: Allen 7 Run
HOU: Dishman 12 Interception
LA: Jackson 46 Run
HOU: White 1 Run
LA: Horton 29 Pass from Schroeder
HOU: Hill 57 Pass from Moon
Chris Dishman had two huge interceptions as the Oilers advance to their first ever Super Bowl. With the game tied, on the last play of the first half and backed up on their own 9, the Raiders inexplicably chose to pass instead of running out the clock and Jay Schroeder threw a pick six to Dishman to give the Oilers the lead going into the half. Then on the Raiders final possession in the 4th quarter, Dishman picked off Schroeder again on a 3rd and Goal to go to seal the game.
NFC Championship: Minnesota Vikings vs. San Francisco 49ers
Scoring Summary
SF: Craig 17 Run (Kick blocked)
Scoreless 2nd Quarter
SF: Cofer 52 FG
Min: Reveiz 56 FG
Scoreless 4th Quarter
Pierce Holt had seven sacks in a defensive struggle as the 49ers win their third NFC Championship in four years. The Vikings had absolutely nothing going on offense amassing a pitiful 46 yards in total offense. This negated a superb effort by the Vikings defense that held the 49ers’ juggernaut of an offense to single digits.
-So Monmouth blew out Hampton 71-49 in the play in game tonight. Hampton had the worst RPI of any team with a winning record in the entire country and you can thank those conference tournaments for that. Now every year after this game ends the ESPN analyst has to talk about the school getting it's first ever NCAA tournament win, which always annoys me, and tonight was no different. Did Monmouth really win a tournamnet game? After all it is the "play in" game which by the wording of it seems to indicate that the winner of the game gets into the tournament. In my view Monmouth has now qualified for the tournament while Hampton has failed to do so. Monmouth will win its first real tournament game if it were to beat Villanova, which we know won't happen.
-The other postseason tournament started tonight, the NIT. I normally never pay attention to it but after a lackluster year Stanford finds themself in it, snapping their 11 year NCAA tournament streak. They beat Virginia 65-49 in their Opening Round game as UVA looked like a team that traveled 3000 miles for a game they didn't want to play which tends to happen in the NIT as motivation plays a big factor in how long a team lasts in it. Cardinal travel to play the biggest snub of the NCAA Tournament, Missouri State for their next game where they'll probably get slaughtered but hey for one night at least Stanford didn't look like mediocre team they are.
-Due to Stanford's lack of success they didn't have as many t.v. games as past years when they were a Top 10 team thus I paid a lot less attention to college basketball this year. This of course creates a problem filling out a bracket but sometimes less knowledge is a good thing. My typical formula is to look a trends for past tournaments. Things such as usually one 13, one 12, and one 11 seed will pull off a 1st round upset and at least one double digit seed will get into the Sweet 16. Of course this strategy is very hit and miss as it can really be a guessing game when it comes to picking true upset (#9 over #8, #10 over #7 aren't upsets). But I prefer doing this as I rarely play for money, including this year, so it makes it more interesting to try to have some low seed teams picked out that I can root for on the first couple of days. So here's my true upsets for the first round with very little actual research going into it:
Southern Illinois over West Virginia
Bradley over Kansas
Utah State over Washington
I then have Bradley beating Pittsburgh to become the 3rd #13 seed ever to get to the Sweet 16. Ya I've really lost it on that one. Northern Iowa is my #10 seed getting to the Sweet 16 after upsetting Ohio State. Other things of note is I having Syracuse beating Duke in the Sweet 16 which may just be my disgust for Duke but a #1 seed getting bumped for the Elite Eight is usually a strong bet. Everyone seems to be picking Tennessee to be an early exit so I put them into the Elite Eight before losing to UConn. I have Oklahoma reaching the Elite Eight which again I've probably lost it on that one. Then to finish it off I have Iowa getting all the way to the national championship game before losing to UConn.
-Annnnnnnnnnnd time to finish this off with some useless facts. Here's the biggest first round upset of every tournament since they expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
1985: #13 Navy 78, #4 LSU 55
1986: #14 Cleveland State 83, #3 Indiana 79
1987: #14 Austin Peay 68, #3 Illinois 67
1988: #14 Murray State 78, #3 N.C. State 75
1989: #14 Siena 80, #3 Stanford 78
1990: #14 Northern Iowa 74, #3 Missouri 71
1991: #15 Richmond 73, #2 Syracuse 69
1992: #14 East Tennessee State 87, #3 Arizona 80
1993: #15 Santa Clara 64, #2 Arizona 61
1994: #12 Wisconsin-Green Bay 61, #5 California 57
1995: #14 Weber State 79, #3 Michigan State 72
1996: #13 Princeton 43, #4 UCLA 41
1997: #15 Coppin State 78, #2 South Carolina 65
1998: #14 Richmond 62, #3 South Carolina 61
1999: #14 Weber State 76, #3 North Carolina 74
2000: #11 Pepperdine 77, #6 Indiana 57
2001: #15 Hampton 58, #2 Iowa State 57
2002: #13 UNC-Wilmington 93, #4 USC 89 OT
2003: #13 Tulsa 84, #4 Dayton 71
2004: #12 Manhattan 75, #5 Florida 60
2005: #14 Bucknell 64, # Kansas 63
Hey its entry #200! Ya I had nothing special thought out. I've tried putting together a list of the Top 50 Oakland A's of All-Time but am never satisfied with the list when I put it together. I also tried putting together a list of the Top 100 baseball players of my baseball lifetime but that became too difficult and eventually too subjective as I made adjustments to it. So as a total cop out I decided to list the Top 50 most replied to threads in the Sports forum here at TSM which is pretty much the only forum I post in for the most part. I'd pull quotes from these threads but not even I'm not Bored enough to go through threads with thousands of posts to find something remotely funny although feel free to do it for me.
1. One & Only MLB playoff discussion thread 3616 replies
Sarted September 27, 2003 by KingPK
Most Posts: Choken One - 612
2. English Football 3483
Started June 22, 2003 by welshjerichomark
Most Posts: TheFranchise - 893
3. The Official MLB Offseason Topic 2396
Started November 9, 2003 by Bored
Most Posts: alkeiper - 448
4. Fantasy NBA League? 2264
Started October 1, 2003 by MarvinisaLunatic
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 415
5. The OAO NBA Playoffs/Finals Thread 2145
Started April 10, 2004 by Dangerous A
Most Posts: Choken One - 203
6. And So it Begins 2132
Started October 28, 2004 by Bruiser Chong
Most Posts: alkeiper - 238
7. The one and only NHL playoffs thread 1989
Started October 6, 2003 by Urban Warfare
Most Posts: ???
8. The ALCS: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 1902
Started October 9, 2004 by The Dames
Most Posts: Anglesault - 246
9. NFL Discussion Forumtable 1870
Started November 14, 2006 by Agent of Oblivion
Most Posts: Porter - 144
10. Smartmarks Fake Baseball League 1714
Started October 18, 2003 by Evolution
Most Posts: Evolution - 553
11. Another reason why ESPN sucks 1681
Started April 13, 2006 by KingPK
Mosts Posts: Leena - 156
12. 2006-7 MLB Offseason Thread 1593
Started October 2, 2006 by Mik
Most Posts: cheech13 - 182
13. 2006 NFL Off-Season 1558
Started January 3, 2006 by FFMS
Most Posts: Carlito Brigante - 203
14. The OaO 2003-2004 NBA Thread! 1369
Started October 23, 2003 by Just J
Most Posts: alfdogg - 167
15. The 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs thread 1317
Started April 4, 2004 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 99
16. The Official 2003 NBA Playoffs Thread 1246
Started April 16, 2003 by Crazy Dan
Mosts Posts: ???
17. Official College Football thread 1229
Started September 2, 2003 by Vern Gagne
Most Posts: Bored - 216
18. The NFL Offseason/Pre-Draft Thread 1177
Started January 22, 2005 by MrRant
Most Posts: Vitamin X - 158
19. TSM Fantasy Baseball 2007 1150
Started January 12, 2007 by MJ Styles
Most Posts: MJ Styles - 179
20. TSM 2006 NBA Playoffs thread 1140
Started April 17, 2006 by Dangerous A
Most Posts: alfdogg - 105
21. The One & Only 2003 NFL Draft Thread 1126
Started April 25, 2003 by Flyboy
Most Posts: ???
22. The Rose Bowl Thread 1112
Started December 3, 2005 by Bored
Most Posts: Damaramu - 236
23. NBA Offseason Thread 1109
Started May 8, 2006 by Kingofthe909
Most Posts: alfdogg - 143
24. NBA Offseason News and Moves 1104
Started June 17, 2004 by NaturalBornThriller4:20
Most Posts: alfdogg - 106
25. 2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 1095
Started December 11, 2006 by alkeiper
Most Posts: cheech13 - 154
26. NHL 2006 Playoffs thread... 1087
Started April 17, 2006 by Carlito Brigante
Most Posts: CanadianChris - 165
27. NBA Roundtable Discussion 1056
Started December 7, 2006 by alfdogg
Most Posts: Ripper - 145
28. Head 2 Head Fantasy Baseball 2005 1026
Started February 21, 2005 by Lightning Flik
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 205
29. NHL 2006 Off-Season... 1012
Started June 19, 2006 by Carlito Brigante
Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 134
30. NCAA Basketball Tournament Thread 1006
Started March 17, 2005 by Slayer
Mosts Posts: Damaramu - 131
31. The OAO NHL 2003-2004 Season Thread 1003
Started December 2, 2003 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: CanadianChris - 118
32. Super Bowl XL 996
Started January 22, 2006 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: Hawk 34 - 67
33. NBA Offseason Stuff 953
Started May 31, 2005 by alfdogg
Most Posts: alfdogg - 128
34. The One and Only Divisional Playoffs thread 917
Started January 10, 2004 by CanadianChris
Most Posts: FrigidSoul - 102
35. College Hoops: NCAA Tournament Rounds 1 and 2 913
Started March 13, 2006 by SilverPhoenix
Most Posts: Leena - 100
36. 2005-2006 MLB Offseason thread 891
Started October 19, 2005 by Mik
Most Posts: FFMS - 138
37. Fantasy Football 871
Started July 7, 2003 by razazteca
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 162
38. The Official SmartMarks Fantasy Football Thread 869
Started July 28, 2002 by The Man in Blak
Most Posts: ???
39. NBA Playoffs 2006: Conference Semifinals 867
Started May 6, 2006 by alfdogg
Most Posts: naiwf - 89
40. TSM Head-to-head FantasyBaseball League~! 841
Started February 18, 2004 by Lightning Flik
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 216
41. TOAO NFL Week 2 Thread 813
Started September 13, 2003 by bps21
Most Post: tpww - 144
42t. Anyone up for Fantasy Football? 808
Started July 3, 2004 by LaParkaMarka
Most Posts: Lightning Flik - 151
42t. 2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread (Part II) 808
Started Decmeber 11, 2005 by alkeiper
Most Posts: alkeiper - 114
44. OAO 2004 MLB Games Thread 800
Started April 4, 2004 by HarleyQuinn
Most Posts: Anglesault - 165
45. Yankees/Twins ALDS Thread 799
Started October 5, 2004 by alkeiper
Most Posts: mike546 - 131
46. The ONE and ONLY World Series Thread 795
Started October 16, 2003 by alkeiper
Most Posts: Mik - 179
47. The 2006 NFL Draft Thread 766
Started April 28, 2006 by Gert T
Most Posts: teke184 - 100
48. World Cup 2006 in Germany 753
Started May 10, 2006 by CurryMan
Most Posts: Kingofthe909 - 75
49. The 2004 NFL Draft 749
Started April 15, 2004 by JackBauer
Most Posts: bps21 - 102
50. NBA Playoffs 722
Started April 17, 2005 by alfdogg
Most Posts: The Electrifyer - 59
See the first entry as to why certain players won't be on the list. And I think I should be commended for my courage in putting a certain someone on this list.
#80
Rat Piece of Shit, DH/RF
#79
Tony Phillips, 2B/LF/3B
#78
Matt Williams, 3B
#77
Mike Cameron, CF
#76
Tim Salmon, RF
#75
Lenny Dykstra, CF
#74
Johnny Damon, CF
#73
Miguel Tejada, SS
#72
Dave Stieb, SP
#71
Don Mattingly, 1B
#70
John Olerud, 1B
#69
Paul O'Neill, RF
#68
Brett Butler, CF
#67
Nomar Garciaparra, SS
#66
Moises Alou, LF
#65
Tony Fernandez, SS
#64
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
#63
Luis Gonzalez, LF
#62
David Cone, SP
#61
Carlos Delgado, 1B
Now we start to get to the meat of the list and I swear that's not a crack at the next player on the list.
#60
Andruw Jones, CF
#59
Bret Saberhagen, SP
#58
Kenny Lofton, CF
#57
Robin Ventura, 3B
#56
Albert Belle, LF
#55
Kevin Brown, SP
#54
Fred McGriff, 1B
#53
Sammy Sosa, RF
#52
Jorge Posada, C
#51
Jason Giambi, 1B
#50
Lance Berkman, OF/1B
#49
Larry Walker, RF
#48
Kirby Puckett, CF
#47
Brian Giles, OF
#46
Bobby Abreu, RF
#45
Mariano Rivera, RP
#44
Bernie Williams, CF
#43
Scott Rolen, 3B
#42
Edgar Martinez, DH
#41
Rafael Palmeiro, 1B
Yes, Pujols is too low but again I was conservative with players who still have several years left in their career.
#40
Jeff Kent, 2B
#39
Will Clark, 1B
#38
Carlos Beltran, CF
#37
Vladimir Guerrero, RF
#36
John Smoltz, SP/RP
#35
Tom Glavine, SP
#34
Alan Trammell, SS
#33
Jim Edmonds, CF
#32
Curt Schilling, SP
#31
Ozzie Smith, SS
#30
Derek Jeter, SS
#29
Lou Whitaker, 2B
#28
Mike Mussina, SP
#27
Albert Pujols, 1B/LF
#26
Jim Thome, 1B/DH/3B
#25
Paul Molitor, DH/3B/2B
#24
Tim Raines, LF
#23
Craig Biggio, 2B
#22
Ryne Sandberg, 2B
#21
Ivan Rodriguez, C
This is something I've wanted to do for a while and have tried a couple of similar lists before but ended abandoning them. I once had an almost completed list for the top 100 players since 1986, which I consider my sports lifetime, but I ran into problems when it came to evaluating players who may have had their peak occur after 1986 but had played several years before 1986. I also felt the list I had compiled was overly subjective and I just simply was not satisfied by my results.
Now of course trying to assemble a list of the top 100 players since 1979 was going to have the same problems. My intention was to only take into account what players have done since 1979 and nothing before. Tom Seaver for example is one of the greatest pitchers of all time but the majority of his career occurred before I was born so it wouldn't make sense to include him on this list. So I decided I would have to have a cut off year which would admittedly eliminate some players who if you considered on their career from 1979 on would warrant placement on this list. But I also want to be able to consider a player's whole career and not just a portion of it.
The cut off I decided on was I would only consider players who's official rookie year was no later than 1978 as I was born on the final scheduled day of the 1978 season (the day before the Bucky F'n Dent game). Now I emphasize their official rookie season as to include players who had cups of coffee in the Majors prior to '78. Now this obviously eliminates some great players who I did grow up watching as a kid but I had to put a cut off year in to real make this manageable. Because of this some of the players you will not see on this list are:
Mike Schmidt
George Brett
Dave Winfield
Eddie Murray
Robin Yount
Dennis Eckersley
Gary Carter
And that's just the Hall of Famers as there's also Andre Dawson, Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Keith Hernandez, Dwight Evans, and Willie Randolph. I didn't put in a cut off debut year for active players but it ended up being 2001 by default because of 9/11....okay not really, it just kind of worked out that way. If I was just focusing on peak certainly someone like Chase Utley could appear on the list but since career is being considered Utley just wouldn't really fit on this list. That's important to keep in mind when it comes to active players and where they end up on the list. Albert Pujols on peak alone is one of the five best players of my lifetime without a doubt but we don't know if he'll have a serious decline at some point thus he won't be in the Top 5 on this list.
For the statistics I used, I went with Win Shares and Wins Above Replacement (WARP3). I went with them because both are good for career/peak evaluations and both take defense into account, although both have huge flaws when it comes to how they measure defense. To assemble a list of players to put under consideration I used career Win Shares with cut offs of 200 Win Shares for position players, 180 for starting pitchers, and 150 for relievers. I ended up with around 160 players to consider and I ranked them by the players primary position first, grouping designated hitters with first basemen and grouping left and right fielders together, before doing the main list. I will say I wouldn't completely rule that I accidentally left a deserving player off the consideration list who would have made the top 100, in fact I'd say the odds are pretty good.
As mentioned I mentioned part of the problem of prior lists I've tried to do is I felt they were too subjective. This time around though I decided that is almost impossible to not have subjectivity in a list like this. I could have put in several months of research to make this list completely objective but I'm not Bored enough to do that. In fact this list is probably too subjective when it comes down to it as for example I'm not a fan of career closers so don't be shocked but the dearth of closers on this list. I also say that my placement of pitchers in the list is a bit haphazard. I finished the list a few days ago and already thought about making changes but I said "fuck it" I'll just go with what I came up with originally, even if the final list sucks ass. In fact don't even bother looking at it.
Top 100 MLB Players from 1979 - 2008 (#100 - #81)
Disclaimer: If you didn't read anything above, cut off was 1978 rookies.
#100
Ellis Burks, CF
#99
Steve Finley, CF
#98
Bobby Bonilla, 3B/RF
#97
Juan Gonzalez, RF
#96
Lance Parrish, C
#95
Harold Baines, DH/RF
#94
Trevor Hoffman, RP
#93
David Justice, RF
#92
Mark Grace, 1B
#91
Cuck Finley, SP
#90
Eric Davis, CF
#89
Magglio Ordonez, RF
#88
Ken Caminiti, 3B
#87
Chuck Knoblauch, 2B
#86
Andy Pettitte, SP
#85
Andy Van Slyke, CF
#84
Darryl Strawberry, RF
#83
Pedro Guerrero, 1B/OF/3B
#82
Kevin Appier, SP
#81
Todd Helton, 1B
Just got a home a little while ago from my first A's game of the year against the Rangers. There's that old cheesy saying that everytime you watch a baseball game you might see something you've never seen before and today was that day for me. Was really looking forward to seeing Rich Harden pitch since he came pretty damn close to throwing a no hitter against the Rangers last season and seeing Baseball Tonight's favortie pitcher Vincente Padilla. The weather was miserable early as we've had about six weeks straight of rain in the Bay Area and it although it never really poured today there was non-stop drizzle for about the first three innings.
It was evident early on that Harden wasn't on today as he had trouble finding the strike zone and would end up walking five on the day. In the 4th Mark Teixeira lead off with a double to right, missing a homerun by about two feet. Phil Nevin came up next and I saw something I'm not sure I've seen before or at least something you don't see very often. He grounded to ball to right to Marco Scutaro for Buster Olney's favorite thing a productive out. Atlhough it didn't turn out that way as Scutaro from 2nd threw to 3rd to get Teixeira. You'll often see that play made by a shortstop but I don't know if I've a second baseman make that play. Of course there's a fine line in baseball between a head's up play and a stupid play and I'm not sure Teixeira didn't beat the throw to 3rd, I was on the first base side so I didn't have a good view of the play, but they got the out and probably saved a run that inning. Now a fielder's choice isn't exactly something I'm gonna remember or worth a blog entry over but I did have something to remember in the 6th.
In the 5th, Nick Swisher made a nice leaping grab against the wall to rob Gerald Laird of extra bases and then with two out in the bottom of the inning crushed a towering homerun to right to give the A's a 2-1 lead. Harden seemed to be settling in by then but with two out in the 6th he competely lost the strike zone again, walking Michael Young and Teixeira. Next batter, Nevin, homerun, 4-2 Rangers, and the A's staring at a 5th straight loss. But then it happeend in the bottom of the inning.
Eric Chavez. First pitch. Homerun.
Frank Thomas. First pitch. Homerun.
Milton Bradley. First pitch. Homerun.
Three pitches, three homeruns, and that's it for Padilla. Absolutely amazing stuff. I've never seen back-to-back-to-back homeruns live in person and I don't think I've ever seen it happen on three straight pitches, let alone the first three pitches of an inning. Very cool to see a first ballot Hall of Famer in Thomas mixed in there as well. The rest of the game was fairly uneventful but that was a moment I'll never forget.
Since this blog is about nostalgia for the most part and since I'm talking about the A's and three homeruns might as well bring up the times I've seen three homeruns by one player in person. First one came on May 7, 1991 against Baltimore as Harold Banies hit three homeruns. Hit a two run homerun off of Ben McDonald in the 1st, a three run homerun off of Dave Johnson in the 4th, and a solo homerun off of Jeff Robinson it the 6th. He had a chance for a four homeruns in the 8th but they Orioles walked him. Second time I saw it happen was June 11, 1999 against Los Angeles as Miguel Tejada pulled off the feat. Two run homer against Carlos Perez in the 1st, two run homer against Onan Masaoka in the 3rd, and solo homerun against Doug Bochtler in the 7th.
New feature! Well I'm gonna burn out on redos eventually so decided to come up with a new idea. I'll take the subject from a Sports Illustrated cover from this date and look at what that person did on that date (if anything), what happened in their sport on that date, and what may have happened in other sports on that date. I definently won't be doing this everyday as it'll probably just be a once in a while thing. I think I'll focus on only covers from my lifetime and typically the main subject will be baseball as retrosheet.org makes researching a breeze. Also to get some perspective on what sports fans were thinking about the time I'll try to dig up threads from the Google message boards. Okay it will be really to find incredibly stupid opinions from sports fans. So the subject of the first one comes from May 7, 1990:
Ken Griffey Jr. at the age of 20 was already becoming a superstar and was the rare commodity of a young player with an insane amount of hype actually living up to it.
Griffey's 1990 numbers coming into May 7th, 1990: 26 games, .385/.425/.596, 5 homeruns, 18 rbi
Mariners record going into May 7th, 1990: 12-14, 5th place in A.L. West, 7 games back
Griffey on May 7th, 1990: Went 0-2 with two walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Mariners lose at home to the Red Sox 5-4. Boston scored four runs in the 3rd inning off of Mariners starter Erik Hanson on two, two run doubles by Tom Brunansky and Dwight Evans. Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre is ejected in the 4th inning for arguing balls and strikes.
Other MLB action on May 7th, 1990: Detroit's Cecil Fielder hit his 11th homerun of the season in a 5-4 loss to the Brewers. Oakland's Jose Canseco homers twice in a 5-1 win over the Yankees. Atlanta's Jeff Blauser hits his first two homeruns of the season including a two run homer in the top of the 9th off Cubs' closer Mitch Williams as the Braves win 9-8. Montreal's Andres Galarraga hits a game winning double in the bottom of the 9th as the Expos beat the Giants 7-6 after the Giants had scored three in the top of the 9th to tie the game. N.Y. Mets' Frank Viola improves to 6-0 on the year in a 7-1 win over Houston.
Other Sports action on May 7th, 1990: In the NBA the Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers 96-85 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. In the NHL the Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitols 4-1 in Game 3 of the Wales Conference Finals, taking a 3-0 series lead.
Fun with Google on May 7th, 1990: A brief thread on who was more valuble: Ryne Sandberg & Jose Oquendo? No really.
Okay little late on this but it works as the subject, Roger Clemens, did have a start on May 13, 1991 and he's very much in the news right now as he does his best Bret Favre impression on whether he'll play this year or not. Or was Favre doing a Clemens impression? We've dealing with Roger's retirement questions for three years now.
Roger Clemens was off to a blistering start to the '91 season as he had won all six of his starts and at one point in early in the season had tossed 30 consecutive scoreless innings.
Clemens' 1991 statistics coming into May 13th: 6-0, 0.73 ERA, 51 strikeouts, 8 walks
Red Sox record going into May 13th: 18-10, 1st place in A.L. East, 1 game ahead of Toronto
Clemens on May 13th, 1991: No decision, 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Red Sox lose at home to the White Sox 4-3 in 10 innings. White Sox had an early 2-0 lead on two rbi hits by Robin Ventura. Red Sox took the lead with a three run 7th highlighted on a Steve Lyons single and Sammy Sosa error that led to two runs. Clemens was lifted after eight for closer Jeff Reardon but he blew the save on a two out, pinch hit homerun to Matt Merullo. White Sox win it in the 10th on a Ron Karkovice rbi single off of Jeff Gray.
Other MLB action on May 13th, 1991: Angels' Luis Polonia has five hits in a 9-5 win over the Indians...Blue Jays' Todd Stottlemyre improves to 5-0 with 8 1/3 strong innings, beating the Royals 4-2...Brothers Tony & Chris Gwynn both homer, Tony off of David Cone in the Padres 5-2 over the Mets and Chris, pinch hitting, off of Bill Sampen in the Dodgers 8-3 win over the Expos...Phillies' closer Mitch Williams blows a 3-1 lead in San Francisco in the 9th giving up a homerun to Steve Decker and an rbi double to Matt Williams but John Kruk homers off of Rod Beck in the 11th to give Philadelphia a 3-2 win.
Other sports action May 13th, 1991: Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics 104-97 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semis, tying the series at 2-2...Nate Archibald and Dave Cowens are inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Fun With Google on May 13th, 1991: A discussion on whether or not Hal Morris could hit .400? Morris was hitting .402 thru May 12th. He'd go 0 for 5 on May 13th and never again get to .400. Google jinx!
Last night the Oakland A’s beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 and by doing so have tied a Major League record with 15 consecutive wins over a divisional opponent (Braves turned the trick against the Padres in 1974). On the season the A’s are 53-51 against everyone besides the Mariners while on the flip side the Mariners are 55-49 against everyone besides the A’s. The A’s dominance of the Mariners has now put them a position that didn’t seem possible just a few weeks earlier and that is a commanding lead in the A.L. West. Now it was just four years ago around this time of year that the A’s were in the middle of another streak, one of much more historic importance that I was able to see in person.
On August 12th, 2002 the A’s lost the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1 at home dropping themselves 4 and a half games back of the first place Mariners. They wouldn’t lose another game until 24 days later. The following night an Eric Chavez two run single in the 7th broke a 3-3 tie, Billy Koch made it interesting in the 9th as he usually did but the A’s held on for a 5-4 win. They’d take the rubber match 4-2 the next day. That Friday on the 16th I went to the game with my brother as the A’s played the White Sox, the first of three games I’d attend during the streak not that I had any idea at the time what had started. Jermaine Dye led off the 2nd with a homerun and that would be enough for Cory Lidle and three relievers as the A’s went on to win 1-0. After sweeping the White Sox that weekend they headed to Cleveland for four games. The Indians would hardly put up a fight as the A’s outscored them 29-7 during the four game sweep and left Cleveland in a tie for first now with the Mariners. Next up was a trip Detroit. The A’s crushed the hapless Tigers 9-1 and 12-3 for wins #10 and #11 in the streak and the Mariners had lost both days giving the A’s a two game lead now in the West, a six and a half game swing in a span of 11 games. But in the finale in Detroit it appeared the streak would come to an end. In the 4th starter Aaron Harang was tagged for five runs, capped by a Randall Simon three run homer off reliever Micah Bowie to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead. A’s were still down 7-3 going into the 8th but it was in that inning that you got the feeling this streak wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Greg Myers led off the inning with a homerun, Chavez would hit a two run double a few batters later to cut the lead to a run, and then John Mabry followed with another two run double to give the A’s the lead. They tacked two more runs on in the 9th on a Dye homer and the A’s would win 10-7 for win #12. Off to Kansas City next for a fairly easy sweep to cap a 10-0 road trip and head home with a 15 game winning streak.
Now while on this was going on baseball involved in another labor dispute. My Dad and I had tickets to the A’s return game from the road trip on Friday the 30th against the Twins but there was potentially not going to be a game at all as the player’s were set to go on strike the day before if a labor deal was not agreed on. Obviously the A’s had probably more to lose than any team if a strike happened both on the field and at the box office. But for the first time a very, very long time the player’s union compromised with the owners and a strike was avoided. That following night there was a bit of a buzz in the crowd as the A’s closed in the American League record of 19 straight wins held by the ’06 White Sox and ’47 Yankees but at the same time you didn’t get the sense that people thought it would happen. It didn’t help that Jacque Jones would hit the first pitch of the game from Tim Hudson into the right field seats. But Ray Durham would answer with his lead off homerun in the bottom of the inning and the A’s would eventually win 4-2 for win #16. The next day I was off to Tahoe for the weekend for my brother’s bachelor party and I would miss three remarkable games by the A’s, not that I really noticed beyond catching a few highlights at the casinos. A’s won Saturday 6-3, after Ricardo Rincon had coughed up the lead in the top of the 8th they had answered with three runs in the bottom of inning to get the win. With the A’s now two wins shy of tying the record, they would start a streak of three straight games that they would win in their last at bat. Koch would blow a 5-2 lead in the 9th giving up homeruns to Corey Koskie and Micahel Cuddyer. But with two out and one on in the bottom of the 9th, Miguel Tejada hit a walkoff homerun against Eddie Guardado for the 7-5 win. Kansas City came in for Labor Day the next day for a brief two game “series.” The A’s blew yet another late inning lead but Tejada would get the game winning hit again after the A’s loaded the bases for a 7-6 win and tie the A.L. record with 19 straight wins.
I came home from Tahoe on Tuesday morning the 3rd and the A’s had an odd off day between the two home games that day. For whatever reasons I hadn’t even thought about going to the game the next night and I was surprised about two hours before the game my Dad asks me if I want to the game but I was like “sure, why not?” Now a weeknight game against the Royals wasn’t going to have much of a presale so we weren’t too concerned about tickets even if we knew there would be a huge walk up because of the possibility witnessing baseball history. I thought that a lot of the walk up would be people getting off work and buying tickets right before the opening pitch. But apparently people were there all day long getting tickets and everything outside of Mount Davis was sold out by the time we got to the game. For those unfamiliar Mount Davis is the football monstrosity that was erected in the outfield of the Oakland Coliseum back in 1996 in place of the old school bleachers. I had never sat on top of Mount Davis and I’ll never do it again unless the A’s get to the World Series. There’s little to no sarcasm in me saying that you have a better view of San Francisco up there than you do of the field. A good portion of the outfield is obstructed so we had to pretty much rely on what the rest of the crowd did to figure what happened on long fly balls. But bad seats aside the game started out as good as anyone could hope for. By the end of the 3rd inning the A’s had torched Paul Byrd and Darrell May for an 11-0 lead. The A.L. record was in the bag. Even when the Royals scored five in the 4th there was still none of the 55,000+ at the game who was worried at all and as the 11-5 lead held most of us just wanted the game to end as soon as possible so we could see the celebration. Then came the 8th with Chad Bradford in the game for the A’s.
Brent Mayne walked.
Emil Brown walked.
Neifi Perez singled.
Luis Ordaz reaches on fielder’s choice, no out recorded, Mabry scores, 11-6.
Bradford was lifted for Rincon and at this point my Dad and I started to head down the ramps to get down the field level area and watch the rest of the game standing behind the field level seats. Still not that worried but wishing they would stop this from getting too interesting. Now it is a long ass walk down Mount Davis to field level and Michael Tucker struck out while we were walking but as we reached the bottom a large portion of the stadium groaned…Royals just scored again on a Carlos Beltran sac fly. But there were now two out and the A’s were still up 11-7. Rincon was lifted for Jeff Tam and we finally settled on a spot to watch the rest of the game. Any remaining thoughts that the A’s still had this under control soon went out the window. Mike Sweeney crushed one down the left field line and it was now 11-10. It was at that point that I let out a loud “FUCK!” and got a dirty look from some old lady. It was also at that time that Billy Beane was in the A’s clubhouse breaking several things. Thankfully Raul Ibanez grounded out to ended the inning but you suddenly now didn’t even care about the record and were more worried about the A’s being part of a different record by blowing an 11-0 lead. A’s went quietly in the 8th and it was now up to Koch. Joe Randa led off with a single and Mayne bunted him over to 2nd. Koch though would strike out Brown and got two strikes on Luis Alicea…this was it, the 20th straight win! Or not. Alicea singles. Randa scores. Tie game 11-11.
The sound you heard in the Coliseum was 55,000+ people being punched in the stomach at the same time. You just couldn’t believe what had happened. A team with a 19 game winning streak, playing one of the worst team’s in baseball, just blew an 11-0 lead. Now faced with possibly extra innings and the A’s bullpen almost completely exhausted, things couldn’t be grimmer. Against Jason Grimsely, Dye led off the night with a harmless fly out. Scott Hatteberg came up to pinch hit for Eric Byrnes. Grimsley missed with the first pitch and then….
Everyone knew it was gone the second it left his bat. I've never been one to start celebrating and high fiving complete strangers at sporting events but you couldn't help it here. In an instant this had gone from the worst game I've ever been to, to the best game I've ever been to.
Two days later in Minnesota the streak was over. Exactly one month later the Twins would end the A's season in another dissapointing, heartbreaking playoff ALDS loss by the A's and the streak was forgotten. But it is kind of cool to know that I was able to watch some true baseball history in person.
The Streak (* - Game I saw in person)
#1: A's 5, Blue Jays 4
#2: A's 4, Blue Jays 2
#3: A's 1, White Sox 0*
#4: A's 9, White Sox 2
#5: A's 7, White Sox 4
#6: A's 8, Indians 1
#7: A's 6, Indians 3
#8: A's 6, Indians 0
#9: A's 9, Indians 3
#10: A's 9, Tigers 1
#11: A's 12, Tigers 3
#12: A's 10, Tigers 7
#13: A's 6, Royals 3
#14: A's 6, Royals 4
#15: A's 7, Royals 1
#16: A's 4, Twins 2*
#17: A's 6, Twins 3
#18: A's 7, Twins 5
#19: A's 7, Royals 6
#20: A's 12, Royals 11*
Another day, another OMG BASEBALL IS DEAD story. But I'm here to help the healing begin with a distraction. It's time to decide who was the worst team of my lifetime!
In a desperate need for content for this blog I've decided to run a simulation using Strat-O-Matic to crown the worst team of last 30 years. Each MLB franchise will be represented with their worst team from the last 30 seasons. I'll be using the 2008 MLB schedule as a guideline for the league as no way I'm going to take the time to create my own schedule and Strat's computer generated schedules aren't particularly good. It will be a couple of weeks before I actually begin the simulation as the 2008 rosters won't be shipping for another week and the '08 Nationals are the Montreal/Washington rep.
Now to truly decide who is the worst team of the last 30 years, the standings will be turned upside down. Last place teams in the six divisions and the worst next to last teams in each league will qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs will be just like the current playoff format but loser of each series will be the one who advances.
Start making your predictions now!
AL East
1979 Toronto Blue Jays (53-109)
1988 Baltimore Orioles (54-107)
1990 New York Yankees (67-95)
1992 Boston Red Sox (73-89)
2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays (55-106)
AL Central
1982 Minnesota Twins (60-102)
1989 Chicago White Sox (69-92)
1991 Cleveland Indians (57-105)
2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119)
2005 Kansas City Royals (56-106)
AL West
1979 Oakland Athletics (54-108)
1980 California Angles (65-95)
1980 Seattle Mariners (59-103)
1985 Texas Rangers (62-99)
NL East
1988 Atlanta Braves (54-106)
1993 New York Mets (59-103)
1998 Florida Marlins (54-108)
2000 Philadelphia Phillies (65-97)
2008 Washington Nationals (59-102)
NL Central
1981 Chicago Cubs (38-65)
1982 Cincinnati Reds (61-101)
1985 Pittsburgh Pirates (57-104)
1991 Houston Astros (65-97)
1995 St. Louis Cardinals (62-81)
2002 Milwaukee Brewers (56-106)
NL West
1981 San Diego Padres (41-69)
1985 San Francisco Giants (62-100)
1992 Los Angeles Dodgers (63-99)
1993 Colorado Rockies (67-95)
1998 Arizona Diamondbacks (65-97)
I'd figured I'd take a break from the usual lists to tell a quick story about the only World Series game I ever had the chance to attend. It's a pretty well known game because it didn't end being played as scheduled and it was 18 years ago today. It was Tuesday, October 17th, 1989 as the Oakland A's were to play the San Francisco Giants in Game 3 of their Bay Bridge World Series at Candlestick Park.
My Dad had bought tickets from Game 3 and 4 at Candlestick and he was going to take me to Game 3 and my brother to Game 4. Now you might wonder why as A's fans we'd have tickets to games in San Francisco and not Oakland but then you'd have to realize what a dump Candlestick Park was/is. The Oakland Coliseum today is thought of as one the worst ballparks around but at the time it was still regarded as good park and might as well have been Candem Yards compared to Candlestick. The A's had a larger season ticket base than the Giants at the time and with having the much nicer stadium the four games scheduled for Oakland were gone in an instant. Of course the games for Candlestick were gone quickly as well but there was actually people willing to give up those tickets for the right price unlike the games at the Coliseum. If I remember right I believe my Dad was able to buy our tickets off someone from he knew at work at $50 a piece in the nosebleed section. I don't think my Dad let me actually know how bad the seats really were but in the end would just be happy to be going to a World Series game especially with the A's out to a 2-0 series lead.
My memories of the day are pretty sketchy. I remember my Dad had bought a World Series program for me before hand for me to read on the way to the game. With the early 5:15 start time start time to get the game in east coast primetime we only got there probably about 20 minutes before the first pitch. Since we were so close to the game starting we decided to grab food before we got to the seats since there was no way I'd leave my seat during the game. Just as we got on line for food the stadium started shaking. We were on a concession line that was below the upper deck of the stadium and I remember just looking up as I guess that was my natural instinct was to see if anything was gonna fall. My Dad grabbed and rushed me to the little overhang by the concessions. Just a hunch if the stadium actually collapsed we'd be dead but if we actually survived what a better place to be trapped than by the food? For those of us who were not in their seats there wasn't even 100% certainty that it was earthquake or if the fans shook stadium. I remember right after the stadium stoppedd shaking a loud roar went up in the stadium and I heard a Giants fan near by yell "that's how you start a fucking game!" It was definately felt like a big earhtquake but it went by so quick and everything pretty much seemed fine. I was scared shitless but at least I was still going to see a World Series game.
Our seats were out towards rightfield and when we got to them I could see the leftfield foul pole was still shaking. I looked straight down the rightfield foul pole but one problem, you couldn't see rightfield at all from the angle of our seats and god damn did the field look far away. But again at least I was going to see a World Series game, if not really see the whole game itself with our view. Everyone seemed to think the game would be played although clearly delayed at that point. I can't remember at what time they called the game but shortly before that the gravity of the situation hit us when someone with a radio near by said this:
"The Bay Bridge collapsed."
That's a shit your pants moment right there. The image that went through my head was that the bridge went into the fucking water. What about the other bridges? How do we get home? As it turned out it was just a single portion of the upper deck of the bridge that collapse but at this point there was obvoiously going to be no baseball played that night. The rest of the night is a complete blur. I think my 11 year old brain had exploded that night and I was just worried about us getting home, although part of me was also excited by the prospect I might not have to school the next day. Although the Bay Bridge was the only bridge with major damage, all bridges were closed so we had to head south towards Santa Clara and go around the Bay to get home. This would normally be about a 40 minute drive but with so many people either trying to get home or get out of the city this turned into about a four hour trip just to get to the South Bay. Another problem that night was that because of the quake a lot of gas stations closed and we ended running out of gas in Santa Clara by the Great America theme park. On fumes my Dad got us into a hotel parking lot but as you can imagine that night all hotels were booked up. It was a very large hotel with a huge lobby and they were allowing people to come in without a room and sleep in the lobby which it appeared we'd end up doing. But my Dad was able to buy some gas from a gardner at the hotel from a lawnmower and enough to fill up to find an open gas station and get home. So about seven hours after the earthquake we were finally home. And I had to go to school. Fuck.
So at the start of this I mentioned that this would be about the only chance I had to go to a World Series game. Of course everyone the series resumed 10 days later but I didn't go. Why? Becuase I was a big fucking pussy. Okay I guess in reality i was just a scared kid who was going through some post traumatic shit but on the other hand I was just a pussy, who also watched way too much of the post-earthquake news coverage. I'm one of those people who will watch non-stop disaster news coverage. I remember for weeks after 9/11 watching the footage of the planes going into the WTC over and over and over and over again no matter how tough it was to watch. Every 9/11 when that footage starts getting replayed on t.v. again I always end up watching it. Back in '89 after the earthquake I just kept watching the news coverage of the earthquake and the home video footage shot in the immediate aftermath of the quake. This
in particular of a car falling down the collapsed portion of the bridge was played non-stop and I ended up just scaring myself into not going to the next game. To this day I'm actually not scared of earthquakes at all but I was then. So I regret that I've never had another chance since to go to a World Series game but I suppose also I should be happy the earthquake didn't last longer or otherwise I might have been a Candlestick Park sandwich.
