Week 14 Newsletter

The Bearded Clams escaped with a narrow 28-22 victory over Montezuma's Revenge, led by RB Marshall Faulk's 14 points. With the win, the Clams improve to 8-5-1 and maintain their 1/2 game over the NFC Norris entering a Week 15 showdown against the very same Norris. K Olinde Mare scored 8 points, Troy Aikman had 4 and Kevin Johnson added 2 points on a 100 yard receiving game. The Revenge made things interesting Monday night as WR Rod Smith scored a 1st quarter touchdown and nearly broke free for a 2nd TD in the last two minutes before failing to get around the corner on the Jaguars secondary. K Jason Hanson led the Revenge with 10 points while Steve McNair and Smith had 6 each. With the loss, the Revenge tumble to 4-10, losers of four straight. They play the King of Dogs to close out the season while the Clams prepare for the Norris and a possible playoff berth in their 1st ever league season.

Despite the fact that the Denver Broncos offense integrates the TE to a much larger extent than the Dolphins, the King of Dogs again chose to go with Troy Drayton rather than Byron Chamberlain and the move cost them a Week 14 victory as Chamberlain scored with 2 minutes left in the game. The loss ended a modest two game winning streak for the Dogs. The Norris breathed a collective sigh of relief as they were momentarily experiencing visions of their season going up in smoke. However, they escaped thanks to Brett Favre's 10 points, 4 from Gary Anderson and two points each from Johnny Morton and the Buccaneers defense. Eighteen points and a win??? Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.With the win, the Norris improved to 8-6 and needs only to win in Week 15 to capture a first ever OFFL playoff berth in their 4th year of league play. The Dogs, who were led by six points each from Donnell Bennett and Kris Brown along with Jeff Blake's single TD pass, close out the season next week against Montezuma's Revenge.

PMS, trailing going into Sunday night, got two touchdowns from Randy Moss, one on a punt return that counted double since PMS also has the Vikings D and they got a kick start from Jason Elam on Monday to hurdle over the Palace of Swords for a 42-28 victory in Week 14. PMS had balanced scoring as both Rickey Dudley and Oronde Gadsden scored one TD. Elam also finished with 6 points. Jerry Rice was held scoreless one week after scoring 14 points from the bench for PMS but it didn't matter. This week's bench TD was scored by Shawn Jefferson. The Swords had entered the Sunday night game with the lead thanks largely in part to Mike Alstott's 2 touchdown performance. Jeff George added a pair of TD passes for 8 points while K Mike Vanderjagt had the other 8 points. Dorsey Levens missed the game for the Swords with a rib injury. With the loss, the Swords slump to 6-8, guaranteeing a losing season one year after winning the league title. PMS improved to 5-8-1 entering their season finale next week versus the Greenback Iguanas. The Swords close out the schedule with a game against Grande To The Party, a contest that still has meaning to both the Party and the Mystics.

The Greenback Iguanas, behind two touchdowns each from RB Eddie George, James "the Vulture" Stewart and TE Tony Gonzalez, overcame the 4th (?) straight lackadaisical effort by QB Drew Bledsoe to defeat Grande To The Party in Week 14 and lay claim to their 2nd straight division title, this time in the Cheatem division after winning the Dewey last season. Bledsoe did toss one TD pass and reach 300 yards but he continued a month long trend of spotty play that the Iguanas have managed to overcome. Additionally, the Iguanas got their 4th defensive TD in three games from the Chiefs after not getting a single defensive point the entire season up until Week 12. The Party continued to have problems in starting the correct TE. This week, it was David LaFleur who got the TD from the bench. Stephen Davis had a huge game while Coach Will pulled the right card in starting RB Charlie Garner (8 points). But Cris Carter's injury proved a crucial loss when the Party could ill afford it the most. Brian Griese tossed a pair of MNF TD passes but it wasn't nearly enough especially since the Iguanas scored 21 MNF points of their own. Nevertheless, the Party still control their own destiny entering their pivotal Week 15 match with the Palace of Swords. A Party win gives them the wildcard while a loss opens the door back up for the Mystics with a win. The Iguanas, the team to beat in the playoffs, close out the regular season with a game against PMS before facing the Party (or the Mystics) for the third time this seaon in the first round.

The Strange Highways, still clutching to a slim playoff hope, took care of their business by defeating the Stanley Steamers 40-20 in Week 14. RB Cory Dillon led the way with a hugh game of 192 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Keyshawn Johnson added an additional 14 points, leaving 4 points for K Brett Conway and 2 points for Isaac Bruce. Additional points were left on the bench with Brad Johnson and Patrick Jeffers. The Steamers were paced by 6 points each from WR Amani Toomer and K Steve Christie. Even though the Steamers had their entire starting lineup back in Week 14, it made no difference. RB Jerome Bettis did, however, throw a TD pass, for 4 points. Jon Kitna ended the Steamer scoring with a TD pass. The Highways improved to 8-6, guaranteeing a winning season, after a long up and down yo-yo season for Coach Widtfeldt's team. The Steamers dropped their 8th game in a row and will close out their season against the Natural Mystics in a game they'll probably win with the luck the Mystics are having. The Highways, technically, could still make the playoffs if the following happened: Highways win in Week 15, Party and Mystics both lose and Highways somehow make up the differential in scoring between them and the Party (which is 61 points entering the MNF game). Brad Johnson and Patrick Jeffers would have sliced the point differential to 39 points, still a stretch, but at least within the realm of possibility if the Party fell flat next week. In any event, Coach Widtfeldt will still have his team pumped up for their annual game against the rival Retreads.

The Retreads, behind another big game from both QB Kurt Warner and RB Edgerrin James, defeated the Natural Mystics for the 3rd time in 2 years and captured the Howe division crown and the playoff spot that goes with it. The division title was the 2nd in a row for Coach Detwiler and his team. After finishing the 1998 regular season 12-3, the Retreads are in position to finish the '99 season at 11-4 with a win next week. The Mystics, after losing a hard game last week despite scoring 41 points, were unable to match that total against the Retreads. Instead, the Mystics continued their trend of leaving all their points on the bench when playing the Retreads. While Coach Detwiler was pushing all the right buttons with Michael Westbrook and Darnay Scott (leaving Albert Connell and Muhsin Muhammad on the bench), Coach Wassem started Peyton Manning, Terry Allen and Tyrone Wheatley. While Manning was the only player of the group to score (8 points), the backups Steve Beuerlein, Greg Hill and Jonathon Linton scored 32 points among them. The running backs have caused nothing but trouble all season, with the bench virtually outscoring the starters on the year. The Retreads' Kurt Warner put an exclamation point on the MVP for 1999 while James is a shoo-in for rookie of the year. The Retreads will face the Strange Highways in Week 15, hoping to avenge an opening day loss and maintain momentum entering the playoffs, where they lost lost year in the first round. The Mystics meet the Stanley Steamers next week. Their last three opponents have scored 42, 42 and 43 points against them. Only a Mystics win combined with a Party loss will get the Mystics to the playoffs now.

Week 14 Entries Into the League Record Book:

• The Iguanas have guaranteed themselves at leat a tie for the best ever regular season record with their 12th victory. A win next week against PMS makes them an all-time best 13-2.
• The Stanley Steamers lost their 8th straight game. Only five teams have ever lost more, most recently the King of Dogs who lost 11 straight.
• The Greenback Iguanas scored more than 50 points for the 4th time this season, tying the Natural Mystics for the most occurences this year. The season record is a lofty 8 set in 1998 by the Retreads.
• With their 9th ever game of 50 or more points, the Iguanas tie the Highways for 3rd place all-time behind the 18 by both Grande To The Party and the Natural Mystics.
• The Iguanas have cracked the list for most points scored over 3 week, 4 week, 5 week, 6 week and even 7 week periods. They've scored no less than 36 points since their 18 point game in Week 7.
• Cory Dillon's 20 points places him on the single game list for running backs.

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