Week 12 Newsletter

The streaking Nature Boys of Grande Central Station continued streaking through their OFFL schedule, winning their sixth straight game by a score of 45-15 over Montezuma's Revenge. The Revenge drew the early blood behind Jason Hanson's 3 PATs but only scoring 3 points was actually an omen of things to come for the Revenge. The recently dangerous Marcus Robinson was shut out on Thanksgiving Day. After the Cowboys defense accounted for a TD and also shut out the Dolphins on Thanksgiving, the Party had the lead 10-3. They never gave it up. On Sunday, Stephen Davis scored a TD and Cris Carter caught 2 more as well as going over 100 yards in receptions for the game while Errict Rhett caught a TD pass for the Party. Al Del Greco scored 9 points. The only other Revenge points were Steve McNair's TD run and a Sunday night score by Tim Biakabutuka. The Party improved to 9-3 and avoided a potential upset to the same team that soundly defeated them in 1998 to start their late season swoon over the last five weeks of the '98 season. At 4-8, the Revenge hope to play spoiler next week when they play the Retreads while the Party meets the Strange Highways.

Until late in the 12:00pm games, it appeared as though the Bearded Clams had a chance to pull off a mild upset of the Greenback Iguanas. Suddenly, within the span of about 30 minutes, all that changed as Drew Bledsoe found Terry Glenn free for a TD catch in the 4th quarter of the Patriots game (their only TD). After those quick 10 points, Eddie George ran for a 2nd TD and passed the 100 yard mark, Terry Kirby caught a 78 yard TD pass, James Stewart scored his weekly TD for Jacksonville, Tony Gonzalez got loose on a sideline pattern for a TD and the Chiefs defense, newly acquired by the Iguanas at midweek, scored not once but twice. By the time the dust settled, every single starter in the Iguanas lineup had contributed to a scoring explosion in their 62-24 bashing of the Clams. The Clams dug themselves a hole back on Thanksgiving Thursday when four starters accounted for only 6 points. Emmitt Smith surpassed 100 yards for the 2nd straight week but for the 2nd straight week got no love in the form of a TD. Worse yet, K Olindo Mare was shut out for the week. While the Iguanas were winning, so too was Grande To The Party. As a result, the Iguanas have won five games in a row but still find themselves only one game ahead of the Party as their Week 14 tiff approaches. The Clams dropped their second straight game and now lead the Dewey division by a mere 1/2 game entering their Week 13 rematch with the Natural Mystics. The Iguanas play the Stanley Steamers next week.

The NFC Norris have not been among the league powerhouses in 1999. Entering Week 12, they had averaged only 25.5 points a game for the season although they'd busted out for high points on two occasions so far. Yet, they found themselves in the weakest of the three divisions, had won more often than they'd lost and were beating the right teams at the right time. They are also only one of two teams who can claim victory over the Greenback Iguanas this season. Now with the start of Week 12, they found themselves facing a three game stretch where they could could catch and pass the frontrunning Bearded Clams. After picking up a game in the standings last week, they picked up their 2nd game in two weeks with a 33-13 win over the MIA Stanley Steamers. The Steamers again did not submit a weekly lineup not that it would have mattered this week. Even their potential starters fared poorly. For the game, the Steamers were held to 13 points-8 from WR Rob Moore and 5 kicking points from Steve Christie. The Norris didn't set the world on fire but their 33 points were more than sufficient. Brett Favre led the way with 8 points along with Rocket Ismail. Recent newcomer Mario Bates also scored after getting his 1st start for the Norris. With their win, the Norris climb to 6-6 and are now but a half game behind the Clams in the Dewey division. The Steamers tumble to 3-9 entering their Week 13 game against the Iguanas while the Norris meet PMS.

It took twelve weeks of frustration, bad luck, bad trades, bad transactions and bad canine breath before the King of Dogs stood up on their hind legs and finally performed a trick or two but what a trick it was. They took a team averaging 16.8 points a game (183 total points in 11 games) and slapped 40 points on the scoreboard. When the game was over, it all added up to a 40-14 victory over the Strange Highways. The Dogs drew stares of disbelief on Thanksgiving day when former starting QB Gus Frerotte, waived a day before, scored 10 points. Instead, the Dogs starter was Jeff Blake. As it turned out, Blake matched that 10 points within the 1st 10 minutes of his game against the Steelers. Jimmy Smith matched those 10 points and K Kris Brown added 8 points for the Dogs, whose 40 points for the game was almost a quarter of their season total. Once 6-2, the Highways have now tumbled to a mediocre 6-6, losing four straight. Gone are their chances for the 1999 playoffs, the 2nd time in 3 years they've failed to make the playoffs. Their only points came from Brett Conway (8 pts), Brad Johnson (4 pts) and Cory Dillon (2 pts). Sedrick Irvin left the game with a knee injury. Robert Smith, Tory Holt and Patrick Jeffers, all benched, scored around the league this week. And now the Highways must play Grande To The Party again in Week 13, the team that started the Highways on their current losing streak back in Week 9. The Highways last beat the Party in Week 3 of the 1996 season. The Dogs play the Palace of Swords who beat them 33-31 four weeks ago.

Jeff George threw 4 touchdown passes and had over 300 yards through the air, accounting for 18 points in the Palace of Swords 37-27 win over the Retreads, winners of seven straight entering Week 12. Other Sword scorers were Mike Vanderjagt (7), and Leroy Hoard and the Jaguars D with 6 points each. The Retreads only got points from 3 starters, the second week in a row that has happened. K Pete Stoyanovich led the way for the Retreads with 13 points (the 1st time all year that a Retread kicker has passed 10 points in a game) while Kurt Warner had another 8 points and Eric Moulds caught one pass but it was a 54 yard TD catch. The Swords improved to 6-6 but were mathematically eliminated from the race for the Cheatem division crown. The Retreads wasted an opportunity to take sole possession of the Howe division but remain tied for the lead with the Mystics, both at 8-4. They play the Stanley Steamers in Week 13 while the Swords will play the King of Dogs.

Continuing their success with league teams who have playoff aspirations (wins over the Party and Norris, a tie with the Clams), PMS took an early 19-0 lead and cruised to a 42-26 victory in a game in which the score was closer than the contest. PMS was never threatened after opening the scoring with a Randy Moss TD catch. Moss finished with 8 points for PMS. Marc Brunell compacted a full game's worth of scoring into the 3rd and 4th quarter of his game against the Raven, accounting for 12 points while Rickey Dudley, yes Rickey Dudley tallied 12 points of his own on a pair of TD catches. New kicker Martin Grammatica added 10 points for PMS. Peyton Manning had his lowest scoring game of the season for the Mystics while Marvin Harrison got shut out. So, too, did the starting running backs again while RB points were left on the bench. K John Kasay led the team with 10 points. Cory Bradford and Wesley Walls caught one TD apiece for the Mystics who slip to 8-4 and still in a tie for the lead in the Howe division. Next week, they play the Bearded Clams while PMS, now 4-7-1, meet the NFC Norris. PMS hopes to knock off the Norris for the 2nd time this season and continue denting the hopes of the contenders.

Week 12 Entries Into the League Record Book:

• The Greenback Iguanas scored 62 points, their highest point total ever since entering the league and the 3rd time this season they've passed the 50 point mark.
• The Retreads surpassed the 50 point mark for the 8th time in their history, tied for 4th all-time with the Retreads who had all 8 of their 50 point games last season but are still looking for their first of the 1999 season.
• Greenback Iguanas won their 5th in a row, setting a team record for consecutive victories.
• Grande To The Party tied their team record with their 6th victory in a row. They will try to break the mark in Week 13 against the Strange Highways.

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