Week 15 Newsletter

After waiting for weeks to watch Montezuma's Revenge put together a dominating performance, that performance finally came in Week 15 of the 1999 season, much too late to salvage any hopes for a winning season much less a playoff berth. Nevertheless, the explode is just what the Revenge finally did, scoring early and scoring often for a 52-23 victory over the King of Dogs. The Revenge were led by upstart Marcus Robinson's 20 points as seven starters scored. Steve McNair added 10 points for Coach Unger's team. Derrick Alexander scored on an 82 yard run to start the barrage while Curtis Martin (100 yards) and Rod Smith closed the Revenge scoring with 2 bonus points and a touchdown. The Dogs never threatened after Saturday's 7 points from K Kris Brown. Jake Plummer threw but one TD pass and Jimmy Smith had 100 yards receiving for 2 points. The Dogs were led by their defense's 10 points which included a team shut out. The Revenge closed out the year 5-10 while the Dogs ended the season the way they began it, with a loss, to finish 2-13 and tied for the worst ever OFFL season in history.

For the Bearded Clams and the NFC Norris, the Dewey division still hung in the balance for each team on the last play of the last game of the last week of the 1999 OFFL regular season in which both teams had fought to a 34-32 score. Then, as time ran out, Brett Favre's pass in the endzone was intercepted by the Vikings, preserving the win for the Clams and giving them the Dewey division title in their 1st ever season in the league. Meanwhile, the Norris could only ponder what happened to Favre on this night. The former OFFL league MVP failed to throw a TD pass for the 3rd time this season. In his Week 1 game against the Clams, he scored 18. Things were different in the rematch for the Clams also. Gone from their Week 1 lineup was QB Steve Young and WR Michael Irvin. The team derided by some on Draft Day '99 proved their resiliency in the face of those injuries and others to Emmitt Smith, Wayne Chrebet and Cam Cleeland among others. K Olindo Mare kicked 4 FGs in the Dolphins butt ugly 12-9 victory over San Diego and Smith showed his leadership with 100 yards and a touchdown. In all, six starters scored for the Clams.The Norris, as was their M.O. on the season, managed to stay close while appearing to be very deficient offensively. Mario Bates scored a pair of 1 yard TDs Sunday for the Norris, who trailed 34-12 entering the Sunday night game. Coach Nerz must wait until 2000 for a possible spot in the playoffs. His Norris finished 8-7. But the Bearded ones are happy as 9-5-1 Clams with a playoff date next week against the Retreads. Moreover, they avenged their earlier loss to the Norris, a team the Clams had designated on draft day as a rival of theirs.

The Party waited until the very end before knowing their destiny. Leading 32-6 entering Monday night, they watched that lead get sliced to 20, 16, 12, and 6 before holding on for a 32-26 Week 15 victory over the Palace of Swords, sweeping the season series again their designated 1999 rival and propelling the Party into the OFFL playoffs as the wildcard representative. The win came at a cost however. Starting RB Stephen Davis suffered a toe injury and his status for Round 1 of the playoffs is unknown. Also, Cris Carter attempted to play on his bad foot but was unable to continue more than a series or two. The difference in the game, and for the Party's 1999 season, was a 40 second span at the conclusion of the 4th quarter in the Bronco-Seahawks game. Brian Griese threw a TD pass for Denver but WR Derrick Mayes came right back with a touchdown catch seconds later. The combined 10 points pushed the Party lead to 32-6 rather than their lesser16 point lead at 22-6. Ironically, had Carter not been doubtful for action in Week 15, Mayes may well have been on the Party bench for this game. Those two scores provided just the necessary cushion to withstand the Swords' four Monday night starters. Jeff George (8), Dorsey Levens (6, 8 before losing the 100 yards on his last carry), Leroy Hoard (6) and Bill Schroeder (0) each figured prominently in the last minutes of the game. In addition to Griese and Mayes, Al Del Greco had a big day kicking, outscoring the Swords' Mike Vanderjagt 12-6. Charlie Garner scored the Party's 1st touchdown on Saturday. Garner, who came within minutes of being traded to the Mystics in a trade for Antonio Freeman at the trading deadline was scored two weeks in a row since the Party lost Errict Rhett to a rib injury. The Party will try to somehow slow down the high scoring Greenback Iguanas in next week's first round of the OFFL playoffs. The teams split their regular season meetings. The Swords close out the year with a record of 6-9, last place in the Cheatem division, after winning the championship last season. Coach Pedersen has already launched the Swords' official 2000 motto: Y2K-Reforge The Sword.

The Greenback Iguanas saw more of Randy Moss's back than they cared to see Monday night as Moss caught 2 touchdowns and had 133 yards in receptions to lead PMS to a last minute 30-28 come-from-behind upset victory over the previously 12-2 Iguanas. The Iguanas also struggled with PMS in Week 1 before winning 30-29. The loss, while doing nothing to harm the Iguanas playoff goals, did have the effect of depriving Coaches Darrel and Darrel Bernadt of three cherished goals: best OFFL regular season record ever, 1999 team scoring champ and #1 position in the power rankings. Drew Bledsoe once again struggled. Despite throwing for over 300 yards, Bledsoe was intercepted four more teams in Week 15. The Iguanas backup Chris Chandler did not play for the Falcons in Week 15. While the previously potent ground attack turned into ground chuck, Tony Gonzalez stepped up for the Iguanas with two touchdowns. Gonzalez has scored the last four weeks. So, too, has the Iguanas' Chiefs defense. But on this day, the story was Randy Moss's 14 points and 10 points from QB Marc Brunell. Jerry Rice had the other PMS points. PMS survived despite getting a goose egg from K Martin Grammatica who got the surprise start over Jason Elam. PMS, despite their 6-8-1 record, secured wins in 1999 over the Iguanas, Grande To The Party, and the Natural Mystics and tied the Bearded Clams. Also, by winning their last two games, they escape the Cheatem division cellar. With their seven game winning streak stopped, the Iguanas finish 12-3 and will face Grande To The Party in the first round of the 1999 OFFL playoffs.

The Retreads, tuning up for their 2nd straight playoff appearance, did so in style with a commanding 63-20 rout over the Strange Highways. They never trailed as WR Muhsin Muhammad caught three TD passes on Saturday and added the 100 yard performance to his stats. When the dust had settled, seven of the nine Retread starters had scored. QB Kurt Warner had 10 while Edgerrin James had 12 points for the Retreads. The other starting RB Fred Taylor, healthy and starting at last, scored 8 points as the Retreads look to be peaking at the perfect time with the playoffs approaching next weekend. Eric Moulds added a TD catch for the Retreads. The Highways couldn't keep up. Patrick Jeffers scored 8 points Saturday. On Sunday, K Brett Conway had 7 points and QB Brad Johnson threw a TD and a 2 point conversion for 5 total points. The loss ended the Highways' season at 8-7 while the Retreads finished 11-4 and with a season split against Coach Widtfeldt's team.

The Natural Mystics gave backup QB Steve Beuerlein a surprise start and he rewarded the coaching staff with an 18 point performance in a Saturday game against the 49ers, jumping the Mystics out to a lead that they never relinquished, an eventual 61-29 Mystics win over the Stanley Steamers. The Mystics had also defeated the Steamers in Week 1 by a 68-26 score. Six starters scored for the Mystics, led by Beuerlein. Tyrone Wheatley had 14 points, the Rams D scored 12, and K Adam Vinatieri toed three 3 FGs for the Mystics. Jonathon Linton, starting for bye weeked Carl Pickens tacked on a Sunday night TD. The Steamers scored 19 of their overall 29 points in the Sunday night game, well after the game was out of hand. Rob Moore and Jay Riemersma each caught a TD pass in the night game while K Steve Christie scored 7 points. Amani Toomer had another 100 yard game and QB Jon Kitna had 2 touchdown passes for the Steamers, who closed the year out by dropping their final 9 games in a row to finish 1999 at 3-12. The Mystics waited and watched as the Monday night game unfolded. Hoping for a Swords upset victory, they too were one of the teams on the edge of their seats as Favre threw the game ending pass. When the Swords fell short, so too did the Mystics. The Mystics closed the season at 9-6, missing the wildcard and the playoffs by one game.

Week 15 Entries Into the League Record Book:

• Muhsin Muhammad and Marcus Robinson both scored 20 points while Steve Beuerlein scored 18, putting each on the single game scoring leaders list.
• The Iguanas loss gave them a 12-3 record, tying for best regular season record ever while the King of Dogs loss gave them a 2-13 4 record, tied for worst ever in league history.
• Never before had four OFFL teams still had playoff chances on the very last play of the regular season.
• There were three scores of 50+ points in Week 15, compared to just 13 in the previous 14 weeks combined.
• The Mystics passed 50 points for the 19th time ever, a league record.
• While all the focus regarding ineptitude has been on the King of Dogs, the Stanley Steamers have quietly slipped their way into the pantheon of losers, dropping nine in a row. Only the Bone Club and the King of Dogs dropped more games in a row, 11.

Additional team records, season and career records will be highlighted in upcoming Letter From The Commish. So too will the 1999 OFFL All League 1st and 2nd teams, MVP, rookie of the year (lemme guess), and the most improved player from 1998. Also, look for the 1999 version of the OFFL record book coming later in the week.

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