Week X Newsletter

Week 10 began with both the Norris and Revenge still harboring hopes of hanging in the Dewey division playoff race as the result of the M*A*S*H unit otherwise known as the Bearded Clams. The Norris, at 4-5, and the Revenge, 3-6, both needed this win badly. By the time the Sunday afternoon games were concluded, only two points separated the teams entering a game ending showdown between Rickey Watters of the Norris and newly acquired Curtis Martin of the Revenge. The Revenge were holding a slim 23-21 lead mainly on the strength of Terrance Mickens' 39 yard punt return for a Colts TD. Brett Favre once again had a subpar game for the Norris, connecting only on a long TD pass to Antonio Freeman late in the 4th quarter. Marcus Robinson had another in a string of solid games for the Revenge, scoring 8 points and Antowain Smith entered the Buffalo game after Jonathon Linton hurt his knee and ran for over 100 yards. Watters failed to score on Sunday night. Even before Curtis Martin took the field, the Revenge had sewn up the win to improve to 4-6 for the season and split the season series against the Norris. The Norris stumble to 4-6 also while falling to 1-2 lifetime when squaring off against the Revenge. Both teams find themselves 2 1/2 games behind the Bearded Clams in the Dewey division with five to play. In Week 11, the Revenge will play the Natural Mystics while the Norris hope to continue their annual late season migration south in the standings versus the Palace of Swords.

The Bearded Clams, coming off a Week 9 loss that saw injuries to Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman that would force them to miss this week's game, picked themselves up from the ground only to find the King of Dogs staring them in the face. And the Clams didn't snap, er, blink. Realizing that they were given a handout by the schedule makers at just the right time, the Clams hit the field and put up a whopping 19 points in Week 10. However, the Dogs put up only 15 and the Clams escaped with an ugly, but just as satisfying, victory over them. The Clams got a Kevin Johnson TD catch, 8 points from Marshall Faulk, 2 bonus points from WR Tim Brown and an Olindo Mare FG to fight off the Dogs who lost last week despite scoring 31 points. This week, the Dogs scored only 15, 6 from Richard Huntley and 9 from K Kris Brown. They've lost by a combined six points over the last two games. With the win, the Clams improve to 2-0 in their short lifetime when playing the King of Dogs and, at 6-3-1, they actually increased their lead in the Dewey division to 2 1/2 games with five games left in the season despite playing without five starters. The Dogs fell to 0-10, one game short of the all-time OFFL record for consecutive losses. Next week, they have a chance to redeem themselves when they take on PMS (2-7-1) while the Clams will face the 7-3 Retreads.

Grande To The Party went into its Week 10 rematch against the 2-6-1 PMS knowing that they needed to win to keep pace with the division leading Iguanas and knowing that one of those two PMS wins was against the Party. PMS had taken two of the previous three between the teams. But this one was never close. Stephen Davis scored two quick Party touchdowns, Trent Dilfer added 2 TD tosses and Cris Carter exploded for 3 TDs and 100 yards for the Party as they rolled to a 68-16 victory over PMS. With the win, the Party upped their record to 7-3 to stay within a single game of the Iguanas while improving to 3-3 lifetime against PMS. PMS never got going. Duce Staley had a nifty 20 yard touchdown run to help him get 100 for the game while Randy Moss had 204 yards receiving but didn't find the end zone on any of his 12 receptions for the day. The closest he got was the 2 yard line in the 4th quarter. The Party closed out the week's scoring with Derrick Mayes and Ed McCaffrey TD receptions on Sunday night, more than negating K Jason Elam's 4 kicking points for PMS. The 2-7-1 PMS play the King of Dogs next week in a game that one of those teams must win, as in someone has to. The Party will take on the Stanley Steamers in Week 11.

The 7-2 Greenback Iguanas entered Week 10 with a three game winning streak and the lead in the Cheatem division while the Palace of Swords have struggled, losing three of their last five games. The Iguanas had a chance to put the Swords out of their 1999 misery while the Swords could close the gap in the Cheatem division with a win. This game proved to be a microcosm of the season for each team. The Iguanas proved to be opportunistic, staying close through the Sunday afternoon games, taking a slim 28-23 lead on the strength of Germaine Crowell's 8 points against Arizona. After Dorsey Levens and Bill Schroeder once again came up empty for the disappointing Green Bay Packers, the Iguanas took control late with a 2nd wave, defeating the Swords 36-23. Eddie George had another solid scoring week for the Iguanas, totaling 14 for the day. His points neutralized the 14 put on the board by the Swords' Jeff George. The only other Sword points were from kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who scored nine. The win was the 3rd in a row for the Iguanas and the 6th in their last seven. It allowed the Iguanas to stay one game ahead of Grande To The Party, who've won five in a row, and essentially made the Cheatem a two horse race as the Swords slumped to 5-5 and three games out with five to play. Moreover, the Iguanas have now defeated the Swords in four of their last five meetings since the Swords beat them 30-23 in the Iguanas first ever league game back in 1996. The Party and Iguanas meet in a Week 14 showdown. More immediately, they begin preparations and probable bulletin board smack talk on Monday for next week's opponents, the stumbling Strange Highways. The Swords hope to rebound against the NFC Norris.

The Retreads won their sixth straight game this week, defeating the Stanley Steamers 36-25 in a Howe division game. The Retreads won with balanced scoring, as witnessed by points from seven starters. Kurt Warner led the way with 10 points for the recycled rubbers. New TE Pete Mitchell chipped in with a TD while the Retreads got 14 points from its starting wideouts and left 8 more on the bench with Michael Westbrook. The Steamers' only TD came on Amani Toomer's TD catch. Jon Kitna threw for a pair of TDs and K Steve Christie had 11 points for the Steamers. The Retreads improved to 7-3, in a tie for 1st in the Howe with the Natural Mystics, going into a Week 11 game against the Bearded Clams. Through Week 10 of their second OFFL season, the Retreads are a combined 19-6 in the regular season, the highest regular season winning percentage in league history. The Steamers fall to 3-7, 1-3 versus the Retreads lifetime, entering next week's contest versus Grande To The Party. Behind by four games in the Howe division with only five to play, the Steamers are all but mathematically eliminated in the division race.

This week's Highways-Mystics game had all the atmosphere of a playoff game between old rivals. This was the 10th regular season contest between these two teams, the most ever in OFFL history. But this game had stakes attached. The teams both entered with identical 6-3 records and a share of the division lead. A Highways win would not only give them a one game lead over the Mystics but a 2-0 season sweep of the series and the tiebreaker if needed come playoff time, making this an especially important game for the Mystics. After all the hype, this game was over almost before it even began. Two defensive TDs by the Mystics and a pair of Peyton Manning to Marvin Harrison TD passes gave the Mystics an early lead that they never relinquish, winning 52-32. Antonio Freeman contributed 8 points and Wesley Walls added 8 for the Mystics. Harrison also added the 100 for 2 points. Isaac Bruce had an early TD for the Highways, his 5th of the season against the Mystics but he was not able to duplicate his previous 26 point effort. Brad Johnson added 10 points, Brett Conway toed 4 points and Freddie Jones added a late TD reception for the 6-4 Highways, losers of their last two games after winning four straight. In the celebratory locker room, Coach Wassem gave game balls to the entire team. "The past two weeks, this team has really come together. This is for them." The Mystics improved to 7-3, split the season series and tie the all-time series at 5-5. Next week, they try not to let down when they meet Montezuma's Revenge (4-6). The Highways go from the frying pan to the fire when they have to take on the Greenback Iguanas in a must win game if the Highways don't wish to find themselves at 6-5 and looking up in the Howe with other tough games against Grande To The Party and the Retreads still on the schedule. The combined records of those three opponents is currently 22-8.

Week 10 Entries Into the League Record Book:

• The King of Dogs lost their tenth game in a row. They are now but one game shy of tying the all-time league record set last year by the now defunct Bone Club.
• Grande To The Party scored 68 points, tying the Natural Mystics for the high water total of the 1999 season. There have been only nine games where a team scored more than that. The record is 86 points by the 1996 Two Turntables And A Microphone.
• The Mystics hit the 50 point plateau again this week. It's the 4th time this season
• The two teams with over 50 points this week bring the season total to 10 for the season. That's compared to 1998 when there were 22 occurances of a team scoring 50 or more points in a game. Either scoring is down or it's become more balanced this year.
• The Party's 34 WR points this week tied a record previously set by 6 teams
• The Natural Mystics' 12 defensive points by the Rams put them on the all-time single game list shared by numerous other teams. Only one D team has ever scored more; the 22 points scored by the Broncos D for the Iguanas in '97.

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