ZeekLTK's Louisville Ocelots Franchise

[ZeekLTK]

Basic Info: 7 minute quarters with accelerated clock, All-Pro default sliders (I'll need to adjust them eventually, but I just got '06 for Christmas so I'm still testing it out). This will be run in "tournament" because "franchise" can only handle up to 32 teams and I'm going to use more.

Ocelots?: They are a created team I first used in Madden '02 and have used them in pretty much every Madden game since, however for the sake of the story plot they are "brand new" in 2006. Obviously the rosters always change (because a new one gets generated in each Madden game) but I make the uniforms close enough, they are always a Smashmouth team, and this is no different. Primary color is Lime Green and the logo is the "Wildcat" icon.

Other Teams: The other created teams, at least the initial ones, are all from previous Madden games, most are teams my friends created, so I have no sympathy for them and will do my best to destroy them on the field. :D

Each created team will use the default roster that is created for it to start out with. Here is each team type:

Louisville Ocelots (Smashmouth)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/MVC-047S.jpg



Albany Freeze (Air It Out)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/Albany.jpg



Albuquerque Indians (Balanced)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/Albuquerque.jpg



Detroit Michiganders (Balanced)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/Detroit.jpg



Lansing Spartans (Strong Defense)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/Lansing.jpg




Los Angeles Demons (Strong Offense)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/LA.jpg



Portland Pirates (Smashmouth)

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/Portland.jpg




I think that is enough for the introduction. First 'real' post coming up to explain the "new NFL". I may create a thread asking if any users here want to "enter their teams" into the league to get more for next season, but I already have it set up for the first season, so it'll just be the ones I have at the moment.

[ZeekLTK]

Louisville Set for First NFL Season
Louisville, KY - The city of Louisville is green all over. And not because it’s sick either! The city and the fans are getting ready to support their new NFL franchise that will compete in its first season in the newly formed NFL this fall. Nicknamed the Ocelots, the team has made lime green its official color, and fans have embraced it with open arms in anticipation of a great inaugural season ahead of them in the 5th division of the NFL.

That’s right, the 5th division. Over the summer the NFL underwent a HUGE change in which the entire league structure was torn down and a new one built in its place. League officials stated that while the NFL remained one of the most popular leagues in the nation, it was too long with too few competitive teams in compared to teams who were simply there to make up the numbers. To counter-act this, the league have set up a series of divisions in which teams must go through and prove that they are competitive before reaching the highest division where they will be able to win the national championship that was previously awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl.

That’s right, the Super Bowl has been abolished. Officials and fans alike came to the conclusion that after Super Bowl XL had spent more time airing commercials than airing the game, something was wrong, and needed to be drastically changed. The new NFL was the solution. Now, instead of 32 teams playing 16 games and 12 moving into the play-offs with the hopes of winning a championship, only nine teams will be taking part in the upper division. Each team will play each other twice during the season, once at home and once on the road, and after 16 games, the team with the best record in the upper division will be named the National Champion.

All is not lost for the teams, or especially the fans, in the lower divisions though. Each division will also be made up of 9 teams who will each play a similar schedule as the top division, which is 16 games over the span of 18 weeks. With each division having the same schedule, the entire league will be able to start and end at the same time, allowing fans to continue to enjoy all-football Sundays with a game from the top division on Monday Night Football each week. In fact, there will be even more football to watch as, instead of at most 16 games per week, with five divisions each playing four games a week, there will be 20 games a week throughout the entire league.

But how were the divisions determined? Well, the NFL used a simple formula to rank each NFL team based on their performances in the past 4 seasons (starting with the Texans’ first season and going until the present). The top 9 teams, based on this formula, were put into the first division. The next 9 were put into the 2nd division, and so on down to the 4th division. At the 4th division the league ran out of NFL teams with still 4 spots left in the division. It was here that they tapped their international resources and brought in teams from NFL Europe. The top 4 European teams have been placed in Division IV alongside the lowest 5 NFL teams. The two extra European teams were placed into Division V and then, with 7 spots available, the division was opened up to “any city who wanted to compete in the NFL”. Seven cities, or rather businessmen, from across the nation took to the call and set up franchises in their local cities. The new teams are the Albany Freeze from upstate New York, the Lansing Spartans from Michigan’s capital, run by Michigan State Alumni, their new rivals the Detroit Michiganders who were bought by a wealthy comedian from Michigan who decided to mimic Houston’s approach at naming teams, the Portland Pirates who will give Oregon their first professional football team, the Los Angeles Demons who hope to survive the demons in LA that drove off the Rams and Raiders, the Albuquerque Indians who give New Mexico there only current professional team, and finally, the Louisville Ocelots who are based right here in downtown Louisville.

The entire division structure (based on the formula described above) looks like this:

Division 1
-------------
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
Denver Broncos
Seattle Seahawks
Kansas City Chiefs
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers


Division 2
-------------
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Atlanta Falcons
San Diego Chargers
Baltimore Ravens
Tennessee Titans
St. Louis Rams
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
Minnesota Vikings


Division 3
-------------
New York Giants
Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals
New York Jets
Buffalo Bills
New Orleans Saints
Washington Redskins
Chicago Bears
Oakland Raiders


Division 4
-------------
Cleveland Browns
San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Berlin Thunder
Frankfurt Galaxy
Amsterdam Admirals
Cologne Centurions


Division 5
-------------
Rhein Fire
Hamburg Sea Devils
Lansing Spartans
Louisville Ocelots
Albuquerque Indians
Detroit Michiganders
Albany Freeze
Los Angeles Demons
Portland Pirates

Teams will have a chance to move up (or down) in divisions at the end of each season based on record. The top team in every division (except the first) will automatically move up to replace the worst team in the division above it. Then, a second team will be given a chance to move up as well, but the team above them will have a chance to defend their spot in a special play-off game which will be hosted by the upper division team. The play-off games will, for now, always take place between the second place team in the lower division and the eight place team in the upper division. If the lower division team wins, they will move up to the upper division and the team they beat will drop down. If the upper division team wins, both will stay in their current divisions for at least another season.

By implementing promotion and relegation to the NFL, the league now gives fans a reason to watch for the entire year. If your team is struggling in the old NFL system, there was no reason to watch, or even support them, which is what a lot of fans from teams like Arizona, Houston, San Francisco, etc did… just stopped supporting their team (by going to games, watching on TV, etc) that season and waited until the next season. However, now with a chance to be relegated if they play poorly, fans will have something to cheer for all season long. If the team is knocked out of the championship race, the fans will still be able to follow the team’s “race to avoid relegation” for the remainder of the season. As mentioned by one official, sometimes seeing your team win their last game to stay in the division [and not get relegated] can be a better experience than seeing them win a championship.

To Be Continued...

[ZeekLTK]

With automatic changes, and play-offs, the middle divisions will have a chance to see a lot of new teams each season with up to 4 new teams possibly coming in each year. And then, in the upper division, the best of the best will battle each other for the entire season, with the last team standing hoisting the National Championship. However, some fans might be concerned that old rivalries, like Packers and Lions, might be destroyed with the new divisional set up. Also some fans don’t like the “regular season only” format without a play-off. So, in addition to the new divisions, the NFL will also run a “National League Tournament” in which every team from the NFL – from the best team in Division I down to the worst team in Division V – will compete in. The tournament will take part in 6 stages, with the teams from divisions one and two getting BYES into the 2nd round. In the first stage, which will take part inbetween Week 3 and Week 4, the teams from Divisions three, four, and five will be paired up to play each other in the single elimination tournament with the winner advancing to face one of the top two division sides in the second round and continuing on until there are just two teams left who will play in a “Super Bowl-like matchup” at the end of the season. The tournament is seeded based on ranks devised by the NFL formula in which all NFL teams are the highest ranked, then NFL Europe, then new expansion teams. Because of this, the first two rounds of the tournament look like this:

Stage 1
Game 1: Portland Pirates at Dallas Cowboys
Game 2: Los Angeles Demons at Cincinnati Bengals
Game 3: Albany Freeze at New York Jets
Game 4: Detroit Michiganders at Buffalo Bills
Game 5: Albuquerque Indians at New Orleans Saints
Game 6: Louisville Ocelots at Washington Redskins
Game 7: Lansing Spartans at Chicago Bears
Game 8: Hamburg Sea Devils at Oakland Raiders
Game 9: Rhein Fire at Cleveland Browns
Game 10: Cologne Centurions at San Francisco 49ers
Game 11: Amsterdam Admirals at Arizona Cardinals
Game 12: Frankfurt Galaxy at Detroit Lions
Game 13: Berlin Thunder at Houston Texans

Stage 2
Game 14: Winner Game 13 at Indianapolis Colts
Game 15: Winner Game 12 at New England Patriots
Game 16: Winner Game 11 at Philadelphia Eagles
Game 17: Winner Game 10 at Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 18: Winner Game 9 at Denver Broncos
Game 19: Winner Game 8 at Seattle Seahawks
Game 20: Winner Game 7 at Kansas City Chiefs
Game 21: Winner Game 6 at Carolina Panthers
Game 22: Winner Game 5 at Green Bay Packers
Game 23: Winner Game 4 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Game 24: Winner Game 3 at Atlanta Falcons
Game 25: Winner Game 2 at San Diego Chargers
Game 26: Winner Game 1 at Baltimore Ravens
Game 27: New York Giants at Tennessee Titans
Game 28: Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams
Game 29: Miami Dolphins at Jacksonville Jaguars

Our Ocelots will meet the Washington Redskins, currently in Division III, in the first round. If they manage to win, they will travel to Carolina to face the Panthers, from Division I, in the next round. Tournament matches will take place starting after Week 3 and then continuing after Weeks 6 (second round), 9 (third round), 12 (quarterfinals), 15 (semifinals) and 18 (championship).

The NFL has also released the full NFL schedule for each division. As mentioned above, each team will play each other twice during the season, once at home and once away. The Ocelots open against the Albany Freeze, who will come to Louisville in Week 1 for both team’s first ever league match. The team’s first road match will come in Week 2, as they travel to Portland to face the Pirates. In Week 3 the team will host an NFL Europe team, the Sea Devils and also face the Washington Redskins for the first round of the tournament. Wrapping up the first month of NFL action, the team will have a BYE in week 4. The final game of the season will be at home against the Albuquerque Indians. The first half of the season schedule is, as follows (with the second half being the exact same except home/away matches are switched):

Week 1
Spartans at Demons
Freeze at Ocelots
Indians at Michiganders
Pirates at Sea Devils
BYE: Fire

Week 2
Ocelots at Pirates
Michiganders at Freeze
Demons at Indians
Fire at Spartans
BYE: Sea Devils

Week 3
Indians at Fire
Sea Devils at Ocelots
Pirates at Michiganders
Freeze at Demons
BYE: Spartans

Week 4
Michiganders at Sea Devils
Fire at Freeze
Spartans at Indians
Demons at Pirates
BYE: Ocelots

Week 5
Ocelots at Michiganders
Sea Devils at Demons
Freeze at Spartans
Pirates at Fire
BYE: Indians

Week 6
Fire at Sea Devils
Indians at Freeze
Demons at Ocelots
Spartans at Pirates
BYE: Michiganders

Week 7
Sea Devils at Spartans
Ocelots at Fire
Pirates at Indians
Michiganders at Demons
BYE: Freeze

Week 8
Spartans at Ocelots
Indians at Sea Devils
Fire at Michiganders
Freeze at Pirates
BYE: Demons

Week 9
Sea Devils at Freeze
Ocelots at Indians
Michiganders at Spartans
Demons at Fire
BYE: Pirates

The Ocelots are not at a disadvantage being an expansion team as most normally are. With seven other expansion teams and two relatively weak NFL Europe teams, the fans and team alike will be expecting to compete for the Division V Championship and a chance to face ‘real’ NFL teams next season in Division IV.

[dshban]

It amuses me that Green Bay is in Division I. They'll be relegated in the first year. I'd bet a lot on it.

[ZeekLTK]

It amuses me that Green Bay is in Division I. They'll be relegated in the first year. I'd bet a lot on it.

Well, this is how they were ranked (record over the last 4 years):

Indianapolis: 47-16
New England: 46-16
Philadelphia: 43-20
Pittsburgh: 41-21
Denver: 41-22
Seattle: 39-24
Kansas City: 37-26
Carolina: 35-28
Green Bay: 35-28
Tampa Bay: 34-29
Atlanta: 33-29
San Diego: 33-30
Baltimore: 32-31
Tennessee: 32-31
St. Louis: 32-31
Jacksonville: 31-32
Miami: 31-32
Minnesota: 31-32
New York Giants: 30-33
Dallas: 30-33
Cincinnati: 29-34
New York Jets: 28-34
Buffalo: 28-35
New Orleans: 28-35
Washington: 27-36
Chicago: 27-36
Oakland: 24-39
Cleveland: 23-40
San Francisco: 22-41
Arizona: 20-43
Detroit: 19-44
Houston: 18-45

So we'll see.

[ZeekLTK]

A Look at the Ocelots
Louisville, KY - The season is approaching quickly, and the team’s training camps have finally come to an end and the rosters have been finalized. Fans should be excited about the upcoming edition of Ocelot football as the team have managed to acquire some very good players despite being only in the 5th division of the NFL. To start off, the defense is going to be expected to perform very well as six of the top ten players on the team are defensive, including two cornerbacks and strong safety Bryce Stubbs who has been called the best overall player on the team by the coaching staff.

As for the ‘popular’ positions, the coaches have warned us that we are relatively weak at quarterback, starting Charlie Spikes who is ranked as the sixth best starting quarterback in the league of nine teams, ahead of only one other expansion team (the Spartans) and both NFL Europe teams. The halfback position is better, with Antonio Norton earning the starting spot and earning a high division rank, tied for 2nd with players from the Pirates and Indians, and behind only the Demon’s star halfback Vinnie Rodgers. Edgar Fischer earned mention among the top 10 receivers in the division. The real stars come from the offensive line though, with LT Tim Thomas, LG Joey Engram, RG Randall Lankford, and RT Jerry Millard being ranked among the top 5 in each of their positions. LG Matt Moss was even ranked as the best left guard in the entire division. The defense also boasts nine players ranked in the top 5 of their position, including Stubbs. The kicking and punting units are about par for the league. They aren’t great, but certainly aren’t the worst either.

The team will kick off their first ever league match against the Albany Freeze in Week 1. Neighbors, Tennessee Titans, will open their season with a trip to St. Louis to face the Rams, and future Tournament opponent Washington Redskins travel to face the Jets. Next week’s opponent, the Portland Pirates, are on the road as well, facing the Hamburg Sea Devils.

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Win Season Opener
Louisville, KY – Finally, after months of anticipation and waiting, the NFL Season is upon us. And what a fine way to open the season as the home team earns their first ever win in the NFL, defeating the Albany Freeze 24-21 in an exciting game to open the new stadium. As expected, both teams were very nervous about their league debuts, and it showed right away. During the coin toss the Ocelots had elected to kick, so they’d start the 2nd half with the ball. However, due to nerves running high, the Freeze fumbled the opening kick off and the Ocelots recovered, giving the team the ball to start the first half as well! The team ran a couple of safe plays up the middle before putting the ball in Spikes hands and looking for the score. He connected with tight end Tim Fernandez for a first down, setting up a 3 yard touchdown run by Norton. The Ocelots had a 7-0 lead less than 2 minutes into their first game ever!

The Freeze seemed anxious to come out and respond, but the Ocelot defense had their number and stopped them on 3 straight plays to force a punt on 4th and 11. Just as everyone thought the blow out was about to commence, Fernandez went from hero to zero as he caught another pass from Spikes but then fumbled, turning it over to the Freeze. It looked like the score was about to be level when another Freeze fumble saved the Ocelots. The three turnovers in the first quarter had the local announcers observing, “this is division five football folks. I guess we better get used to it.”

In the second quarter again it looked like one thing and turned out to be another. This time everyone thought the Ocelots were finally getting a grip on the game. They were winning the field position battle and forced the Freeze to punt again from inside their own 20. But, just when things started going their way, the ball popped out again and landed in Freeze hands. This time on the punt return as the ball was muffed and went right into the arms of the Freeze. They recovered and, with the shortened field, easily scored to tie the game at 7. The game was starting to slip away when the Ocelots were forced to punt on their next possession, but just like that, the game swung back in their favor. This time it wasn’t a fumble, but a poor pass from Spoto. Stubbs had read him the entire way and swooped in for the interception to give the Ocelots great field position again. Spikes didn’t waste any time going back to Fernandez who scored on a 14 yard pass to put the Ocelots back in front. With less than a minute before half time, it looked like the team would have the advantage after the break, a 7 point lead and the ball, but with just 2 seconds left in the half Spoto threw up a prayer that was answered by Sweeney in the form of a 44 yard touchdown pass to tie the game right on half time.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/franchise1.jpg
Tim Fernandez was the main target in the passing attack for Louisville

How would the Ocelots respond to such a devastating end to the first half? Well, with the longest kick return of the season, 66 yards to put the team into striking range. Spikes got the team into the redzone and then the backfield pushed Louisville back in front, 21-14. It was a tough pill to swallow for Albany, they thought they had finally gotten the momentum and just like that, it was back on the other side of the field. Their kickoff return wasn’t as spectacular and the teams finally calmed down in the 3rd quarter, refusing to turn the ball over or give up any big plays to keep it close heading into the final quarter.

Both teams had settled down now and it was a slight struggle for field position for a while. The Ocelots finally got moving and managed to get a field goal from 32 yards out to increase their lead to 10. With four minutes left and a two possession deficit, it was now or never for the Freeze. In a psuedo-prevent defense, the Ocelots slowly allowed the Freeze to move down the field, but causing them to eat up a lot of clock with their short plays. A minute and a half went by and the Freeze had barely reached midfield. Then, on second down, a big hit on Spoto caused him to leave the game with a slight injury and backup Langer had to come in. This would have been lights out for any other team, but the Freeze have great depth at quarterback. Spoto is the #1 QB in the division, but Langer is #3, better than all but 1 starter, he’s certainly no slouch. He missed on his first pass, but then showed the Ocelots why he is rated so high on his next two, putting the team into the redzone and threatening to score. The Ocelot defense clamped down though, and with the smaller area to defend, gave Langer a hard time finding receivers. The first pass was knocked down, the second nearly intercepted. A play-action pass nearly caught the Ocelots off guard, and in fact a handoff probably would have scored in the situation, but the pass didn’t find its mark. Fourth down… a little over 2 minutes left in the game and down by 10. Instead of settling for the easy field goal to give his team a chance, the coach went for everything. Langer found his man on the edge of the endzone, but it wasn’t a good enough catch, as the receiver came down with a foot out of bounds. Turn over on downs and surely an Ocelot victory. Having to waste all their timeouts to get the ball back, the Ocelots happily punted it back with a minute and a half left and still holding a 10 point lead. This time Langer did find the endzone and Whitfield made the reception to pull his team within 3.

But that was it for the Freeze. The onside kick wasn’t even close to being recovered and two kneel downs at midfield by Spikes clinched the win for the Ocelots. The team is not in first place, having scored fewer points than some teams, and winning by a lesser margin than others, but they did get the win, which is all that matters in the end. Up next is the team who did have the largest margin of victory, and scored enough points to put them in first place for now, the Portland Pirates. The Pirates bombed the Sea Devils to win their opener 34-3. In other Division V action, the Indians narrowly won 17-14 over the Michiganders and the Spartans topped the Demons 38-31. The Ocelots were the only home team to win in Week 1.

Louisville Ocelots 24 – 21 Albany Freeze
Current Record: 1-0 (#3 in Division V)
Next Match: at Portland Pirates (1-0, #1 Division V)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 1 Recap

Division I
1. Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)
2. New England Patriots (1-0)
3. Seattle Seahawks (1-0)
4. Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)
5. Indianapolis Colts (0-0)
6. Carolina Panthers (0-1)
7. Denver Broncos (0-1)
8. Green Bay Packers (0-1)
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1)

Eagles 23 - 21 Panthers
Chiefs 17 - 6 Steelers
Broncos 17 - 23 Seahawks
Packers 20 - 30 Patriots

Summary: The highest division produced some great games to kick off the new season. Philadelphia managed a narrow victory in Carolina while Kansas City also went on the road to shock the Steelers. Seattle and New England were able to defend their home field, which will be important to continue if they want a chance to win the championship this season.



Division II
1. San Diego Chargers (1-0)
2. St. Louis Rams (1-0)
3. Atlanta Falcons (1-0)
4. Baltimore Ravens (1-0)
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0)
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
7. Minnesota Vikings (0-1)
8. Tennessee Titans (0-1)
9. Miami Dolphins (0-1)

Chargers 33 - 0 Dolphins
Jaguars 13 - 14 Ravens
Titans 9 - 34 Rams
Vikings 14 - 31 Falcons

Summary: The Chargers were among pre-season favorites to contend for the Division II title and they showed why, stomping Miami on the road. The Rams and Falcons each won comfortably at home while the Ravens held off the Jaguars for a one point victory in Baltimore.



Division III
1. Buffalo Bills (1-0)
2. New York Jets (1-0)
3. Oakland Raiders (1-0)
4. Cinncinati Bengals (1-0)
5. New York Giants (0-0)
6. Chicago Bears (0-1)
7. Dallas Cowboys (0-1)
8. Washington Redskins (0-1)
9. New Orleans Saints (0-1)

Bengals 15 - 13 Bears
Redskins 7 - 33 Jets
Bills 42 - 19 Saints
Raiders 34 - 20 Cowboys

Summary: Division III kicked off with several blowouts, the biggest coming in New Orleans as the Saints were destroyed by Buffalo. The Raiders also went on the road and smashed the Cowboys, while the Jets greeted the Raiders with a 26 point thumping. The only close game was in Chicago where Carson Palmer stole the show, and the win for the Bengals.



Division IV
1. Arizona Cardinals (1-0)
2. Houston Texans (1-0)
3. San Francisco 49ers (1-0)
4. Detroit Lions (1-0)
5. Cleveland Browns (0-0)
6. Frankfurt Galaxy (0-1)
7. Cologne Centurions (0-1)
8. Berlin Thunder (0-1)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-1)

Cardinals 45 - 3 Admirals
Galaxy 0 - 27 Lions
Texans 37 - 6 Thunder
Centurions 10 - 38 49ers

Summary: It was an absolute destruction of NFL Europe teams in Division IV as the NFL sides proved to be superior. The closest game was a 27 point blow out by the Lions in Detroit. The 49ers did one better in the Bay, smashing the Centurions by 28. Even worse were the road victories, Houston went into Berlin and crushed the Thunder, while Arizona traveled all the way to Amsterdam to sink the Admirals. Experts are already predicting that the gap in this division will be so wide that only the NFL Europe teams will be fighting to avoid relegation, leaving promotion wide open between the 5 NFL teams.



Division V
1. Portland Pirates (1-0)
2. Los Angeles Demons (1-0)
3. Louisville Ocelots (1-0)
4. Albuquerque Indians (1-0)
5. Rhein Fire (0-0)
6. Lansing Spartans (0-1)
7. Albany Freeze (0-1)
8. Detroit Michiganders (0-1)
9. Hamburg Sea Devils (0-1)

Spartans 31 - 38 Demons
Freeze 21 - 24 Ocelots
Indians 17 - 14 Michiganders
Pirates 34 - 3 Sea Devils

Summary: Just as in Division IV, the NFL Europe teams in Division V were stomped in the opening week. Well, the one who played. Portland recorded the largest margin of victory in the division with a 31 point win over Hamburg. The Rhein Fire were lucky to earn a BYE and avoid the beating. All the other games were close as each expansion team wanted to start off on the right foot. Each game was decided by a touchdown or less, with the Ocelots holding off the Freeze and the Indians winning in Detroit on their last possession. Los Angeles also managed a 7 point victory over Lansing.

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Plunder Pirates
Portland, OR – Week 2 was suppose to pit two of the top teams in Division V against each other to treat the fans to an early feast of football. What the fans got though, was an absolutely ugly display by both teams in an absolute blowout. As usual, rain was pouring down in the great northwest and it didn’t let up for the kickoff in Portland. The Pirates elected to receive and attempted to establish the run early on. Things were going well enough for Portland, a few decent gains, a first down, some time off the clock… and then all of a sudden the entire game changed with one hit. Linebacker David Lee absolutely destroyed halfback Frank Thompson with a monster hit that jarred the ball loose. Thompson hit the ground, Lee didn’t, and just scooped up the ball to go 35 yards for the opening score. Portland was demoralized, and never recovered. Their next possession the team failed to move the ball at all, and punted it away. The Ocelots had a shortened field and drove a little ways, but the Pirate defense stepped up and stopped a 3rd and short run. Rather than taking the field goal, the Ocelots went for it and again were stopped. They may had thrown the game away at this point, but the Pirate offense had still not recovered from the opening drive and again punted it back.

By now the first quarter had run out, due to all the rushing plays eating up time, and the Ocelots were wishing they hadn’t passed up that field goal as they again struggled to move the ball and had to punt it back. The punt actually worked out for them though, as the special teams unit came up huge, downing the ball inside the 2 yard line. With their backs to the wall, the Pirates had no option other than to try running up the middle and avoiding a safety. They still nearly gave up 2 points, but avoided it on 3 straight occasions and were content to punt. The punt itself was nearly blocked and went out of bounds less than 30 yards down field, giving the Ocelots great field position. But again, the Ocelots threw it away when they, again, decided to go for it on 4th and short instead of taking a field goal. This time they were closer though, inside the 5 yard line, and probably figured they were close enough to getting a safety last time, they might as well try again. Afterall, two points and the ball back is, to some, better than three points and kicking the ball away.

But the ensuing 4 plays went just like last time. A couple of scares for Portland but no safety, and then a less than stellar punt due to lack of space in the endzone. The half was running out, and despite having spent the entire game in Pirate territory, the Ocelots only had 7 points to show for it. With their third attempt in the shortened field, the Ocelots finally capitalized as Spikes hooked up with O’Neal for a 32 yard touchdown pass to break the game open. The Pirates still had almost 2 minutes to work with, but opted to run the clock out and get into half time still down only two scores. The Ocelots didn’t realize the Pirates’ plan until too late, and were unable to use any timeouts to try to get the ball back. So it stood at 14-0 at half time.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/franchise2.jpg
Louisville's defense destroyed the Pirates in Week 2

In the second half the Ocelots got the ball for the first time in their own territory, thanks to the kick off. Apparently realizing they didn’t need to expend energy to drive down the field when they could rely on the defense, the offense went 3-and-out and punted the ball back into Pirate territory. If this was the plan, it paid off. Thompson got smashed again during Portland’s next drive and coughed up the ball. Louisville recovered and scored on the next possession, Spikes throwing for a second touchdown pass, this time 14 yards to Fischer.

Portland got the ball back, and then gave it right back after going 3 and out. The punt put the Ocelots too far away, and rather than work for the score, they simply punted it back to let the defense get closer. Again, it worked. Thompson just could not hold onto the ball in the downpour and fumbled again. This time the Ocelots recovered but were unable to score a touchdown. Rather than go for it again, they decided to take the field goal. Easy chip shot for the kicker and it was 24-0 at the end of the third quarter. Things only got worse for Portland, if that’s possible, in the 4th quarter. Thompson fumbled again to set up another Ocelot field goal. On the next possession the Pirates had apparently been instructed to be on the look out for footballs on the ground when Thompson was running, because his 5th fumble of the game was picked up by an offensive lineman to retain possession. It didn’t matter though, because two plays later the Ocelots came up with an interception. Portland couldn’t believe it.

Louisville kicked another field goal after earning their 5th turnover, and increased the lead to 30-0 with about 2 minutes left in the game. Instead of calling it a day and running out the clock to avoid further humiliation, the Pirates opted to press their luck further and this time Stubbs intercepted a pass and ran it all the way back to the 5 yard line. A very late flag came in to save the Pirates, and a phantom defensive pass interference call canceled the 6th turnover of the game. The Ocelots did not take kindly to this and went all out to get the quarterback in the final 10 seconds of the game. A sack with 2 seconds left saw Portland call a timeout, which angered the visitors further and the last play ended with the Pirate quarterback on the ground again, as the Ocelots had completely destroyed their opposition.

The teams left the field to a chorus of boos, as the Oregon fans were clearly not happy with their home team’s performance in their home opener. Besides the ugly play of the Pirates offense, the Ocelot offense contributed to this record setting day where neither team achieved 100 yards of offense. In fact, combined, the two barely got over 100, ending with a total of 114 yards between them. The Pirates had less yards on offense than the Ocelots had points (30-27), while the Ocelots were just 13 yards away from 100, racking up a total of 87 on the day. Pirate QB Chris Henderson was given a 0.0 QB Rating after completing only 2 of 10 passes for 23 yards and 1 INT. He was sacked 4 times as well.

Up next the Ocelots will be licking their lips in anticipation of the Sea Devils coming to town. Hamburg lost by 31 points to the Pirates, who the Ocelots just beat by 30. If this is any indication of next week, fans might be anticipating a 61 point victory for the Ocelots! We’ll see if they’ll be able to live up to the expectations. However, a win will do just fine to keep pace with the only other undefeated team in the league, the Indians, who will play the other NFL Europe team next week, the Fire.

Louisville Ocelots 30 - 0 Portland Pirates
Current Record: 2-0 (#1 Division V)
Next Match: vs Sea Devils (0-2, #8 Division V)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 2 Recap

Division I
1. Kansas City Chiefs (2-0)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)
3. New England Patriots (1-0)
4. Seattle Seahawks (1-1)
5. Carolina Panthers (1-1)
6. Green Bay Packers (1-1)
7. Indianapolis Colts (0-1)
8. Denver Broncos (0-2)
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-2)

Steelers 24 - 31 Packers
Seahawks 24 - 27 Chiefs
Panthers 31 - 22 Broncos
Colts 16 - 33 Eagles

Summary: The Packers and Panthers each redeemed themselves from last week's loss by each scoring 31 points and holding their opponents to less than 25. In the only battle of unbeatens, Seattle fell to Kansas City in Arrowhead to put the Cheifs on top early. Philadelphia also remained on top of the division with a nice win over the Colts, who looked a bit rusty in their first game of the season.



Division II
1. San Diego Chargers (2-0)
2. Baltimore Ravens (2-0)
3. Atlanta Falcons (1-0)
4. St. Louis Rams (1-1)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1)
6. Tennessee Titans (1-1)
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1)
8. Minnesota Vikings (0-2)
9. Miami Dolphins (0-2)

Ravens 33 - 6 Vikings
Rams 21 - 35 Jaguars
Dolphins 27 - 33 Titans
Buccaneers 10 - 27 Chargers

Summary: The Ravens didn't need a late score this week to remain unbeaten as they went into Minnesota and handled the Vikings easily. This was the only road victory in the division, as each other home team defended their stadium well. The Chargers blasted the Buccs while the Titans edged Miami. Jacksonville nearly blew a 21-0 halftime lead, but cleaned up their act in the 4th quarter to preserve the win.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (2-0)
2. Cinncinati Bengals (2-0)
3. Buffalo Bills (1-1)
4. New York Jets (1-1)
5. Chicago Bears (1-1)
6. Washington Redskins (1-1)
7. New York Giants (0-1)
8. Dallas Cowboys (0-1)
9. New Orleans Saints (0-2)

Jets 16 - 38 Raiders
Saints 35 - 42 Redskins
Bears 31 - 28 Bills
Giants 24 - 27 Bengals

Summary: The surprising Raiders jumped into first place with a convincing victory over the Jets this week. Cincinnati were able to keep pace by beating the other New York team as well. The Bills couldn't stay on top though, surrendering a late touchdown that proved to be the winner for Chicago. In the other game, Washington earned their first win against the lowly Saints, who are the early pick to be relegated this season.



Division IV
1. Arizona Cardinals (2-0)
2. Houston Texans (2-0)
3. Detroit Lions (2-0)
4. San Francisco 49ers (1-0)
5. Berlin Thunder (1-1)
6. Cleveland Browns (0-1)
7. Frankfurt Galaxy (0-2)
8. Cologne Centurions (0-2)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-2)

Lions 20 - 13 Centurions
Thunder 53 - 26 Galaxy
Admirals 0 - 36 Texans
Browns 10 - 29 Cardinals

Summary: NFL Europe earned it's first win in Division IV this week, however it had to come at the expense of another NFL Europe side when Berlin crushed Frankfurt. In the first NFL encounter of the division, Arizona handed Cleveland its first loss, temporarily placing the Browns below Berlin in the standings. Detroit and Houston benefitted from NFL Europe opponents and each improved to 2-0 on the season, although the Lions game was closer than Detroit fans would have liked.



Division V
1. Louisville Ocelots (2-0)
2. Albuquerque Indians (2-0)
3. Portland Pirates (1-1)
4. Los Angeles Demons (1-1)
5. Lansing Spartans (1-1)
6. Detroit Michiganders (1-1)
7. Rhein Fire (0-1)
8. Hamburg Sea Devils (0-1)
9. Albany Freeze (0-2)

Ocelots 30 - 0 Pirates
Michiganders 24 - 13 Freeze
Demons 6 - 34 Indians
Fire 3 - 44 Spartans

Summary: Each team that won during Week 1 ended up playing each other in Week 2. The Ocelots and Indians proved to be superior to the previously unbeaten Pirates and Demons, each winning by at least 4 touchdowns. Meanwhile the Michiganders were able to go on the road and beat the Freeze, while there was little double about the outcome in Lansing, as the Spartans clobbered the Fire.

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Sink Sea Devils
Louisville, KY – Coming home after such a big win over Portland and with the Redskins looming on the horizon in the tournament, you can’t really fault the Ocelots for overlooking the lowly Sea Devils, rated by most as the “worst team in the entire NFL”. However, if Louisville thought all they had to do was show up to claim their third victory of the season, they were wrong. Hamburg put up resistance, and quite a bit, at least in the first half.

In fact, the Ocelots were stunned when the entire first quarter had been played and they still hadn’t managed to score. Stiff Sea Devil defense combined with an absolutely off target quarterback spelt trouble for the home side. However, as usual, the defense came up big. In the 2nd quarter a fumble recovery set up a field goal and then pressure on the punter forced him to kick it short on the next possession to set up another. So it was 6-0 at half time, and while the Ocelots had essentially dominated the game by not giving the Sea Devils any real chances of scoring, they had missed quite a few chances themselves.

In the third quarter the German line began to tire and the Ocelot rushing attack started to come on strong. Norton got some big gains, and finally Spikes started finding his receivers, hitting Sanders in the back of the endzone for a 10 yard touchdown pass to make it a more comfortable 13-0 scoreline in the final minute of the 3rd quarter. This was the dagger to finish off the Sea Devils as Hamburg absolutely collapsed in the 4th quarter.

First, Stephens returned an interception 55 yards for a score, increasing the lead to 20. Then Spikes hit one of his backs, Johnson, from 15 yards out for another touchdown. Finally, Norton finished them off with a 65 yard touchdown run to make it 34-0. The run put Norton over 100 yards, as he finished the day with 162 total. The entire Ocelot backfield combined to earn over 200 yards on the day, a vast improvement from last week where the entire offense couldn’t even muster 100 yards total.

With the win, the Ocelots improve to 3-0 on the season heading into their first tournament match, against the Washington Redskins who narrowly lost in Chicago, 28-35. Following that the team will get a week off to prepare for the Detroit Michiganders, who are currently 2-1 after defeating the Pirates at home this week. They will most likely be 3-1 for their encounter with the Ocelots as they face the Sea Devils next week.

Louisville Ocelots 34 - 0 Hamburg Sea Devils
Current Record: 3-0 (#1 Division V)
Next Match: at Washington Redskins (1-2, #8 Division III)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 3 Recap

Division I
1. Kansas City Chiefs (3-0)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)
3. New England Patriots (2-0)
4. Green Bay Packers (2-1)
5. Indianapolis Colts (1-1)
6. Seattle Seahawks (1-2)
7. Carolina Panthers (1-2)
8. Denver Broncos (0-3)
9. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3)

Broncos 20 - 35 Colts
Patriots 28 - 14 Steelers
Packers 27 - 24 Seahawks
Chiefs 33 - 15 Panthers

Summary: The Chiefs earned a hard fought victory on the road to move into outright first place as the idle Eagles took the week off. The Colts shook off last week's loss and hammered the Broncos, sending them to the bottom of the division at 0-3. The Steelers joined them in the cellar after losing to New England by 2 touchdowns. The Packers narrowly escaped Seattle with a win to slip into 4th place after Week 3.


Division II
1. San Diego Chargers (2-0)
3. Atlanta Falcons (2-0)
3. Baltimore Ravens (2-1)
4. St. Louis Rams (2-1)
5. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1)
6. Tennessee Titans (2-1)
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-2)
8. Minnesota Vikings (0-3)
9. Miami Dolphins (0-3)

Titans 23 - 10 Buccaneers
Falcons 27 - 13 Ravens
Vikings 24 - 27 Rams
Jaguars 26 - 23 Dolphins

Summary: Atlanta caught up with San Diego with an impressive win in Baltimore, while the Titans went down to Tampa and stole the victory from the Buccs. The Vikings and Dolphins fought so hard to get their first win of the season, but each came up short as both teams lost by a field goal or less to fall to the bottom of the standings.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (3-0)
2. Cinncinati Bengals (2-0)
3. Chicago Bears (2-1)
4. New York Giants (1-1)
5. Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
6. Buffalo Bills (1-2)
7. New York Jets (1-2)
8. Washington Redskins (1-2)
9. New Orleans Saints (0-3)

Bills 16 - 21 Giants
Cowboys 35 - 17 Jets
Raiders 20 - 14 Saints
Redskins 28 - 35 Bears

Summary: The Giants and Cowboys took Week 3 to regroup themselves and get back in the race for the Division III title by posting nice wins over the two Northeast teams. The Raiders moved into first place by sending the Saints into last with a late touchdown to beat New Orleans. The Redskins and Bears had a slugfest in Chicago, with the home side coming out on top.



Division IV
1. Detroit Lions (3-0)
2. Arizona Cardinals (2-0)
3. Houston Texans (2-1)
4. San Francisco 49ers (1-1)
5. Cleveland Browns (1-1)
6. Berlin Thunder (1-2)
7. Frankfurt Galaxy (1-2)
8. Cologne Centurions (1-2)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-3)

Texans 10 - 23 Browns
49ers 11 - 26 Lions
Centurions 13 - 7 Thunder
Galaxy 31 - 13 Admirals

Summary: No NFL vs NFL Europe matches this week meant that all the games should be close, and they were. The NFL teams held home field as the Browns handled the Texans and the Lions surprisingly defeated the 49ers. In Europe it was the opposite, with both away teams winning their games. Cologne won in Berlin and Frankfurt destroyed Amsterdam, giving them the worst record in the division.



Division V
1. Louisville Ocelots (3-0)
2. Albuquerque Indians (3-0)
3. Detroit Michiganders (2-1)
4. Lansing Spartans (1-1)
5. Portland Pirates (1-2)
6. Los Angeles Demons (1-2)
7. Albany Freeze (1-2)
8. Rhein Fire (0-2)
9. Hamburg Sea Devils (0-2)

Indians 35 - 3 Fire
Sea Devils 0 - 34 Ocelots
Pirates 20 - 24 Michiganders
Freeze 40 - 17 Demons

Summary: The undefeated teams smacked around the NFL Europe teams this week, with Albuquerque and Louisville winning big. Meanwhile Detroit got back on track with a narrow win over hapless Portland while the Freeze finally picked up their first win in Los Angeles with a convincing victory over the Demons.

[dshban]

I love this franchise. :)

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Brought Back to Earth in Tournament
Washington, DC - Three weeks into their first ever NFL season and the Ocelots were soaring above the clouds with confidence. After a narrow win over a tough Albany side, the team went into Portland and obliterated the Pirates 30-0. They followed that up with an ever bigger margin of victory at home, over the Sea Devils (34-0). But just when the team was starting to think a little too much of themselves, they got slammed back to earth by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the Tournament.

It wasn’t a blow out, as the preceding paragraph makes it sound like, but it was pretty bad. In fact, the Ocelots held the Redskins to only 12 yards on their opening drive and eventually forced a punt. However, the Redskins got it right back when the Ocelots offense put up negative yards on their first drive and ended up giving it right back. It was on the next drive that the game changed course as Washington drove the ball down the field with ease, chewing up clock and moving the ball at will against the seemingly helpless Ocelot defense. Across midfield, then inside the 30, then 20, and then inside the 10… Washington fans were just waiting for the icing on the cake, the touchdown that was coming. But finally, as the 1st quarter wound down, the Ocelots decided to play some defense and managed a brilliant goal line stand to force the Redskins to kick a field goal from a shorter distance than a PAT.

It was 3-0 though, which meant the Ocelots couldn’t sit back and hope to drain the clock by running even more themselves. But that didn’t matter, because it’s exactly what the Ocelots did. The passing game was non-existent and the running game wasn’t doing much better either, but it at least got a few yards. Not many though. In total, Louisville managed just 16 yards of offense in the first half and didn’t get a first down until they were inside the two minute warning. The defense stepped up though. After Washington got on the board, they began to drive back down the field again. Like the previous drive, it looked like a touchdown was coming at any moment, but Louisville’s best player had something to say about that. Stubbs intercepted a pass inside the 20 yard line to save the Ocelots. His heroics got the defense fired up and they came to play for the rest of the half, not letting Washington get a sniff of the endzone and going into the break only down a field goal.

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Stubbs and the defense came up huge in the first half to keep their team in the game

The Ocelots needed a shot in the arm, something to get the offense going. That’s exactly what they got at the beginning of the 2nd half when O’Neal took the kickoff back 54 yards to put the Ocelots on Washington’s side of the field for the first time in the game. The field position was not wasted as Norton gained more yards on the ensuing possession than the entire team did in the first half and put Louisville in field goal range. Coleman remained perfect on the season with his attempt from 34 yards out to level the game at 3-3. The Redskins stalled out again, and the locals were getting worried.

They had reason to, too. The kickoff return was most definitely a shot in the arm for the offense, and they came out with some confidence on their next drive. Enough so that they were able to pound the ball down the field, with Norton leading the way, to set up a 48 yard field goal attempt for Coleman. This would be his longest attempt of the season, but it didn’t matter, he nailed it. Washington was shocked. They had absolutely dominated the first half and now found themselves behind, in the fourth quarter! It was up to the Ocelot defense now to win the game. The Redskins weren’t going to let it be easy though. During the “comeback” the skins had abandoned the run. With the clock running down and the Ocelots deep in pass coverage, the team went back to Portis who reeled off enough good runs that the Ocelots had to bring more men forward to stop him. This opened up the passing game, and with just over 2 minutes left Ramsey found Santana Moss on a 9 yard route to put Washington back in front, 10-6. The score was devastating for the Ocelots. They didn’t have enough time to run the ball down the field, and they hadn’t been able to pass all day. The final drive was no different. Spikes took 4 shots down field, just trying to move the sticks, but couldn’t connect with anyone. Washington got the ball back and ran the clock out to avoid the upset and advance to the 2nd round where they will meet the Carolina Panthers (Division I).

It was a great effort by the Ocelots, one of the best from an underdog team in a tournament that just wasn’t for the underdogs. In fact, of the 13 games played this week, not a single underdog managed to win. All nine Division V teams were beaten and the four Division IV teams who had to play also were knocked out. Some had argued before the season that some of the expansion teams deserved to be higher than division 5, but none of the performances today showed that, as the teams combined for an 0-7 record. The Indians were another close call away from advancing, losing in New Orleans by 6. Discounting NFL Europe teams, the biggest blowout of the day was 25 points as the Bengals knocked out the Demons. The full results from Round 1 as well as the next round matchups are posted below:

Stage 1
Game 1: Portland Pirates 10 - 28 Dallas Cowboys
Game 2: Los Angeles Demons 13 - 38 Cincinnati Bengals
Game 3: Albany Freeze 6 - 19 New York Jets
Game 4: Detroit Michiganders 23 - 31 Buffalo Bills
Game 5: Albuquerque Indians 17 - 23 New Orleans Saints
Game 6: Louisville Ocelots 6 - 10 Washington Redskins
Game 7: Lansing Spartans 7 - 20 Chicago Bears
Game 8: Hamburg Sea Devils 16 - 30 Oakland Raiders
Game 9: Rhein Fire 13 - 48 Cleveland Browns
Game 10: Cologne Centurions 10 - 41 San Francisco 49ers
Game 11: Amsterdam Admirals 0 - 51 Arizona Cardinals
Game 12: Frankfurt Galaxy 0 - 45 Detroit Lions
Game 13: Berlin Thunder 3 - 35 Houston Texans

Stage 2
Game 14: Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts
Game 15: Detroit Lions at New England Patriots
Game 16: Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles
Game 17: San Francisco 49ers at Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 18: Cleveland Browns at Denver Broncos
Game 19: Oakland Raiders at Seattle Seahawks
Game 20: Chicago Bears at Kansas City Chiefs
Game 21: Washington Redskins at Carolina Panthers
Game 22: New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers
Game 23: Buffalo Bills at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Game 24: New York Jets at Atlanta Falcons
Game 25: Cincinnati Bengals at San Diego Chargers
Game 26: Dallas Cowboys at Baltimore Ravens
Game 27: New York Giants at Tennessee Titans
Game 28: Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams
Game 29: Miami Dolphins at Jacksonville Jaguars

[ZeekLTK]

Week 4 Recap

Division I
1. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)
2. Philadelphia Eagles (3-0)
3. New England Patriots (3-0)
4. Carolina Panthers (2-2)
5. Green Bay Packers (2-2)
6. Indianapolis Colts (1-2)
7. Seattle Seahawks (1-3)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3)
9. Denver Broncos (0-4)

Seahawks 9 - 24 Patriots
Colts 13 - 30 Chiefs
Eagles 31 - 17 Broncos
Panthers 28 - 11 Packers

Summary: The top division was suppose to be the most competative, but instead, after 4 weeks, it has turned into a three team race for the championship. All three undefeated teams won, in convincing fashion no less, to remain perfect and seperate themselves further from the rest of the division. The Eagles went on the road to flush the Broncos into last place, below the Steelers who had the week off. Meanwhile New England and Kansas City remained in the chase for the title by winning in the comfort of their own stadiums, dispatching Seattle and Indianapolis rather easily. In the "competative match" of the week, the Panthers drew level with the Packers in the standings by winning in Green Bay. Both sides are now in 4th and 5th, but quite a ways behind the top trio. Next week will help decide the title race when Kansas City travels to Philadelphia.



Division II
1. San Diego Chargers (3-0)
2. Atlanta Falcons (3-0)
3. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-1)
4. Baltimore Ravens (2-1)
5. St. Louis Rams (2-2)
6. Tennessee Titans (2-2)
7. Miami Dolphins (1-3)
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-3)
9. Minnesota Vikings (0-4)

Rams 23 - 31 Falcons
Buccaneers 14 - 35 Jaguars
Chargers 30 - 21 Titans
Dolphins 17 - 14 Vikings

Summary: In possibly the most important match of the week, for this division at least, Miami won a thriller up north, narrowly edging the Vikings to escape from last place and drop the Vikings into the cellar. Tampa Bay didn't do anything to help their chances of avoiding relegation as they got blown out by instate rivals Jacksonville, who jump into 3rd place with the victory. Meanwhile San Diego and Atlanta remained on pace for the title, picking up wins against Tennessee and St. Louis.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (4-0)
2. Cinncinati Bengals (2-1)
3. Dallas Cowboys (2-1)
4. Chicago Bears (2-2)
5. Buffalo Bills (2-2)
6. Washington Redskins (2-2)
7. New York Giants (1-2)
8. New York Jets (1-2)
9. New Orleans Saints (0-4)

Saints 3 - 17 Cowboys
Giants 17 - 30 Redskins
Bengals 24 - 28 Bills
Bears 17 - 20 Raiders

Summary: Starting at the bottom, New Orleans looks destine for Division IV next season, at this rate anyways. Mustering only 3 points in Dallas, the Saints fall to 0-4 and are slowly beginning to fall further away from 8th place. Buffalo put themselves squarely in the middle of the division by upsetting previously unbeaten Cincinnati. This leaves Oakland alone on top, as the Raiders survived a Chicago invasion this weekend. An old NFC East rivalry was renewed when the Giants visited Washington where the Redskins earned a much needed victory.



Division IV
1. Detroit Lions (3-0)
2. Arizona Cardinals (3-0)
3. San Francisco 49ers (2-1)
4. Cleveland Browns (2-1)
5. Houston Texans (2-2)
6. Cologne Centurions (2-2)
7. Berlin Thunder (1-3)
8. Frankfurt Galaxy (1-3)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-4)

Thunder 10 - 31 49ers
Browns 38 - 14 Galaxy
Cardinals 25 - 22 Texans
Admirals 14 - 24 Centurions

Summary: San Francisco and Cleveland enjoying stomping their European foes this weekend to secure their spots in the top 5. Meanwhile Detroit sat idle in hopes of the Texans handing Arizona its first loss of the season. Which could have happened, but late heroics from the Cardinals allowed them to escape Texas with their undefeated record intact. Both teams play NFL Europe opponents for two weeks straight before meeting the 49ers (Arizona) and the Browns (Detroit). If they can each remain unbeaten in that stretch the two will meet in Detroit for a monumental showdown in Week 8.



Division V
1. Albuquerque Indians (4-0)
2. Louisville Ocelots (3-0)
3. Detroit Michiganders (3-1)
4. Portland Pirates (2-2)
5. Albany Freeze (2-2)
6. Lansing Spartans (1-2)
7. Los Angeles Demons (1-3)
8. Rhein Fire (0-3)
9. Hamburg Sea Devils (0-3)

Michiganders 17 - 0 Sea Devils
Fire 3 - 49 Freeze
Spartans 17 - 31 Indians
Demons 20 - 44 Pirates

Summary: With Louisville having the week off, Albuquerque momentarily took outright first place with an impressive win over the Spartans. The Indians will get next week off to watch and see if the Ocelots can keep up with them as Louisville travels to Michigan to face the other instate team, the Michiganders. Both NFL Europe teams were destroyed again, adding to Detroit and Albany's win columns. Meanwhile the Pirates finally got their ship on the right path, winning impressively over west-coast rivals, Los Angeles.

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Keep Pace with Indians
Detroit, MI - Last week, during Louisville’s BYE, the Indians moved into 1st place by picking up their 4th win of the season. With Albuquerque sitting home enjoying the week off, all eyes were on Detroit to see if the 3-1 Michganders could defeat the 3-0 Ocelots. Detroit started well, taking a long drive out from deep inside their own territory to reach midfield. Here they were finally forced to punt, and the Ocelot returner muffed the catch. Detroit scooped it up and easily waltzed into the endzone for an early 7-0 lead. It would be the last “easy points” of the game for the Michiganders.

The Ocelots tried desperately to respond right away, but were unable to. In fact, it looked like the end of the unbeaten season as Spikes was picked off twice in the first half and failed to complete any passes. But with the offense out of business, the defense and special teams stepped up. The punting unit redeemed itself on the other end as Schwartz pinned the Michiganders inside their own 3 yard line. The following play RE Shaun Williams busted through the line and sacked Ryan Sears in the endzone to earn 2 points for Louisville and get his offense the ball back. This time they took advantage of the best field position in the game and drove down the field behind Norton to set up a 40 yard field goal by Coleman. He nailed it to stay perfect on the season, and Louisville were right back in the ballgame as the score stood at 7-5. The defense were growing in confidence and David Lee got the ball back for Louisville as he absolutely smashed the Michigander half back, forcing a fumble. The hit surely had Ocelot fans flashing back to the Pirates game in which Lee, among others, destroyed the Portland backfield, causing 5 fumbles on the night. This would turn out to be the only fumble for Detroit, but it was costly. On third and long the Ocelots brought out some trickery and ran a reverse to Fischer. The receiver hadn’t caught a ball yet, but he did catch the defense completely off guard and blew past them for a 41 yard touchdown to put Louisville in front. The two point conversion was stuffed, so the score was 11-7 at half time.

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This safety from Shaun Williams was the turning point in the first half

In the third quarter the Ocelots asserted themselves on defense further by intercepting one of Sears’ passes. However, Detroit’s defense was not going to be shown up, and they continued to keep the Ocelots in check. Spikes had absolutely no passing game going, so the Michiganders began to load the box and shut down Norton. They began to win the field position battle and eventually cut the lead to 1 with a field goal early in the 4th quarter. Louisville’s offense was no where to be found and Detroit were shutting down everything. Everything until the game reached 5 minutes to play and Antonio Norton was called upon to be the savior of the Ocelots. With one run he single handedly defeated the Michiganders, busting out for 74 yards on one drive, including a 69 yard touchdown run that capped it off. 18-10, Detroit were stunned. But they still had a chance. Driving back down the field, Sears was picking out receivers all over the field and earning first downs. Could anything stop them? Yes! David Lee again made a huge play. On second and short, he tore right through the left side of the line and sacked Sears for a loss. Detroit got up to the line quickly in the no huddle and this time focused on blocking Lee. Big mistake because DE Eric Orlando bust through on the other end to get the second consecutive sack. There was still plenty of time for Detroit to calm down and get the first, but another no huddle hurried pass saw Detroit’s hopes come crashing down as it landed on the ground, incomplete.

The Ocelots were just going to try to run out the clock, but instead Norton had ideas of his own. He took the ball and blazed past the hapless Detroit defense, going 59 yards to put the final dagger in the Michiganders’ defense. The PAT was good and just like that, the Ocelots had overturned an early 0-7 deficit to win 25-10! Norton ended the day with 174 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, while the Ocelots became the first team in the modern era to win a game without completing a pass. Not that they didn’t try, Spikes went 0 for 11 with 2 INTs and 3 Sacks, but it wasn’t enough to stop Louisville as they continue to chase the division title. The Ocelots won’t meet Albuquerque until Weeks 9 and 18 (the last week of the season). If the two can continue their rampage through the division, those should turn out to be some memorable encounters. Next up, Louisville will head home to meet the Demons, who destroyed the Sea Devils this week. It should also be noted that Portland became the first team to lose to an NFL Europe side, falling 16-13 to the Rhein Fire.

Detroit Michiganders 10 – 25 Louisville Ocelots
Current Record: 4-0 (#1 Division V)
Next Match: vs Los Angeles Demons (2-3, #7 Division V)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 5 Recap

Division I
1. Philadelphia Eagles (4-0)
2. New England Patriots (4-0)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)
4. Green Bay Packers (3-2)
5. Carolina Panthers (2-3)
6. Seattle Seahawks (2-3)
7. Indianapolis Colts (1-3)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-4)
9. Denver Broncos (0-4)

Steelers 17 - 20 Seahawks
Patriots 10 - 7 Panthers
Chiefs 19 - 21 Eagles
Packers 38 - 28 Colts

Summary: The game of the week, and dubbed by some as the game of the year, lived up to all the hype as Philadelphia and Kansas City battled to the bitter end, with the Eagles just slightly coming out ahead, 21-19. The amazing game knocked Kansas City into third place and puts Philadelphia on the inside track to the championship. However, it's not that easy yet. New England managed to beat the Panthers in Carolina by a field goal, and extended their record to 4-0 as well. If each team (the Patriots and Eagles) can win next week, their Week 7 clash might prove to be even bigger than this week's Cheifs-Eagles match. As for the rest of the division, pre-season favorites to relegate, Green Bay continues to prove the critics wrong as they just keep winning. This week they went into "the Dome" in Indianapolis and beat the Colts by 10 to move into 4th place. But as for teams who are realistically looking at relegation, the Steelers made things a lot worse for themselves, and Denver, by losing to Seattle.



Division II
1. Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1)
2. San Diego Chargers (3-1)
3. Atlanta Falcons (3-1)
4. Baltimore Ravens (3-1)
5. Tennessee Titans (2-2)
6. St. Louis Rams (2-3)
7. Miami Dolphins (2-3)
8. Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-4)

Ravens 16 - 10 Rams
Falcons 3 - 26 Dolphins
Jaguars 23 - 10 Chargers
Vikings 25 - 20 Buccaneers

Summary: With Atlanta and San Diego set to run away with the title, Division II took a serious plot twist as the lowly Miami Dolphins not only upset the Falcons, but pounded them in southern Florida. Meanwhile, on the west coast, another Florida team stole the show as Jacksonville thrashed the Chargers. The entire day's results left both previously unbeaten teams out of the top spot, which has now been taken over by the Jaguars! At the bottom of the division, Minnesota got their first win in dramatic fashion by edging the other winless side, Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers now sit at the very bottom of the division, and no one will like their chances heading into Atlanta next week to face a Falcon side looking for revenge. To cap off the day, Baltimore remains low on the radar, but high in the standings as they move to 3-1 with a win over St. Louis. No one is talking about the Ravens, but they are back in the title hunt thanks to Miami and Jacksonville's wins today.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (4-1)
2. Chicago Bears (3-2)
3. Washington Redskins (3-2)
4. Cinncinati Bengals (2-2)
5. Dallas Cowboys (2-2)
6. Buffalo Bills (2-2)
7. New York Giants (2-2)
8. New York Jets (1-3)
9. New Orleans Saints (1-4)

Jets 31 - 34 Saints
Cowboys 6 - 17 Bears
Redskins 24 - 23 Bengals
Raiders 19 - 47 Giants

Summary: Division III just got really messy in the middle thanks to a ton of weird results this week. The Saints finally earned their first win of the season, but they were so far behind that they are still in last place, despite their victory. The Jets have to be careful though, if they don't get back on track, they could find themselves in a fight at the bottom of the table. Especially since their inner-city rivals, the Giants, managed to pick up an unlikely win over the unbeaten Raiders! Due to the other results though, Oakland doesn't suffer from the loss, and remain in first place. But they have slowed down, giving teams a chance to catch them now. Chicago and Washington put themselves in position to do just that as each team won in amazing games this afternoon. Washington ousted the Bengals by a single point in Cincinnati while Chicago held off Dallas in a defensive struggle at Soldier Field.



Division IV
1. Detroit Lions (4-0)
2. Arizona Cardinals (4-0)
3. San Francisco 49ers (3-1)
4. Cleveland Browns (3-1)
5. Houston Texans (2-2)
6. Cologne Centurions (2-3)
7. Berlin Thunder (1-4)
8. Frankfurt Galaxy (1-4)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-5)

Lions 20 - 10 Thunder
49ers 44 - 10 Admirals
Galaxy 10 - 31 Cardinals
Centurions 9 - 30 Browns

Summary: Not much to report this week in Division IV. It was another all NFL vs NFL Europe week, and not surprisingly all the NFL teams won to further seperate themselves from the NFL Europe sides. The unlucky team of the week were the Texans, who had to sit home and watch all four of their main rivals for the title improve their records. Houston is now a full game behind both San Francisco and Cleveland, and 2 games behind Detroit and Arizona. The Admirals have emerged as, by far, the worst team in the division and are a safe bet to be relegated to Division V next season.



Division V
1. Louisville Ocelots (4-0)
2. Albuquerque Indians (4-0)
3. Detroit Michiganders (3-2)
4. Lansing Spartans (2-2)
5. Albany Freeze (2-3)
6. Los Angeles Demons (2-3)
7. Portland Pirates (2-3)
8. Rhein Fire (1-3)
9. Hamburg Sea Devils (0-4)

Ocelots 25 - 10 Michiganders
Sea Devils 0 - 42 Demons
Freeze 10 - 30 Spartans
Pirates 13 - 16 Fire

Summary: The Ocelots were challenged in Detroit, but the defense came through and the team remain on pace with Albuquerque. Despite their loss, other results allow the Michiganders to remain in 3rd place heading into next week. In another highly anticipated match, Lansing remained unbeaten at home as they sent the Freeze back to Albany with a 20 point loss to think about. Los Angeles got back on track after their humiliating loss to the Pirates last week by slamming Hamburg. Portland, on the other hand, were humiliated as they become the first team in the entire NFL to lose to a NFL Europe side, falling by 3 points in Rhein.

[ZeekLTK]

Alone in Front
Louisville, KY – One of the few teams to lose to the lowly Pirates this season, the Demons came to Louisville hoping for an upset, but not expecting one. The 42-0 win last week against the Sea Devils was encouraging, but beating up on the last place team doesn’t do much to strike fear into your opponents. It’s no wonder then why the Ocelots just lined up and went after the Demons right from the start of the game, with Norton playing brilliant as usual, getting the team inside the red zone where Johnson eventually capped off the opening drive with a touchdown. 7-0, the route was on.

Not quite. The Ocelot defense did force a punt on the next possession, but it was de ja vu from Detroit as the return was muffed and the opposing team recovered. Unlike Detroit however, it took the Demons a few offensive plays to punch it into the endzone. Either way, it was 7-7 and Los Angeles was gaining confidence. Things got worse for Louisville when Spikes again struggled to complete a pass and they had to give it right back. LA drove down to kick a 23 yard field goal, and then a lapse in pass coverage allowed the Demons to get down the field in the dieing seconds of the half to kick a 38 yard field goal as time expired. Louisville were stunned as they looked at the scoreboard and found themselves trailing 13-7 at halftime.

In the second half the Demon defense stepped up and continued to frustrate the Ocelots. They couldn’t quite get a turnover, but they did enough to keep Louisville off the scoreboard, preserving the 13-7 lead heading into the 4th quarter. But again, it was late heroics from Norton, this time breaking away on a 33 yard run to put the Ocelots in front for the first time since the first drive of the game, 14-13. Los Angeles collapsed. Norton scored again on an 11 yard run a little later and sealed the deal by increasing the lead to 21-13. Just to rub it in, with 18 seconds left Spikes threw a quick pass to Sanders who caught the defense expecting a run and he scored to finish off the game 28-13. This gave Spikes his first touchdown pass since Week 3. Norton again rushed for over 100 yards, carrying the Ocelots on his back yet again. He is now 2nd overall in rushing for the entire division, trailing only Portland’s Frank Thompson, the man who fumbled 5 times against Louisville back in Week 2. Thompson is surprisingly tearing up the league with 660 yards, over 100 more than the next closest, which is Norton with 527.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a299/ZeekPics/franchise5.jpg
Antonio Norton saved the day for Louisville in the 4th quarter

So while the Ocelots continue to cruise through division V, the Indians have finally hit a speed bump with their trip to Albany this past week. The Freeze flat out dominated the previously undefeated team, winning by no less than 30. The Freeze have moved into 4th with the win, and if they had overcome the Ocelots in Week 1 (where they narrowly lost 21-24) they could be in first right now. As it stands, Louisville are the last undefeated team standing. Few doubt they will remain unbeaten after next week when they face minnows Rhein Fire.

Louisville Ocelots 28 - 13 Los Angeles Demons
Current Record: 5-0 (#1 Division V)
Next Match: at Rhein Fire (1-4, #9 Division V)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 6 Recap

Division I
1. Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)
2. New England Patriots (5-0)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (5-1)
4. Green Bay Packers (3-3)
5. Seattle Seahawks (2-3)
6. Carolina Panthers (2-4)
7. Indianapolis Colts (1-4)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-4)
9. Denver Broncos (0-5)

Colts 10 - 52 Patriots
Broncos 7 - 21 Chiefs
Panthers 15 - 18 Steelers
Eagles 31 - 28 Packers

Summary: Both the Patriots and Eagles stayed on track for the huge clash that will take place next week when the two undefeated teams meet in Philadelphia. New England absolutely steam rolled Indianapolis at home, winning by 6 touchdowns over the pre-season favorites. The Eagles had to work a little harder, but managed to avoid the upset in Green Bay with a 3 point victory. Pittsburgh finally earned their first win of the season by holding off the Panthers. Meanwhile the Chiefs got right back on track by beating the Broncos comfortably in Arrowhead. Denver is now alone in last place, as they remain winless.



Division II
1. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-1)
2. San Diego Chargers (4-1)
3. Atlanta Falcons (4-1)
4. Baltimore Ravens (4-1)
5. Tennessee Titans (2-3)
6. St. Louis Rams (2-3)
7. Miami Dolphins (2-4)
8. Minnesota Vikings (1-5)
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-5)

Buccaneers 6 - 36 Falcons
Titans 10 - 21 Jaguars
Dolphins 7 - 41 Ravens
Chargers 17 - 10 Vikings

Summary: The seperation between top and bottom in Division II grew further apart this weekend as all top 4 teams managed to defeat the lower table teams. Atlanta and Baltimore each dominated at home while Jacksonville managed to remain in first place with a decent showing against Tennessee. San Diego got a tough win in Minneapolis against the Vikings to remain in the top 4 as well.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (5-1)
2. Buffalo Bills (3-2)
3. New York Giants (3-2)
4. Chicago Bears (3-3)
5. Washington Redskins (3-3)
6. New York Jets (2-3)
7. Dallas Cowboys (2-3)
8. Cinncinati Bengals (2-3)
9. New Orleans Saints (1-4)

Giants 13 - 9 Cowboys
Bills 17 - 14 Redskins
Bears 24 - 52 Jets
Bengals 16 - 38 Raiders

Summary: Oakland and New York both had a lot to celebrate this weekend in the NFL. First, the Raiders maintained first place by handing Cincinnati their 3rd straight loss. Meanwhile, the Giants went on the road an picked up an impressive win over Dallas. Back in New York, the Jets finally put everything together and moved out of the relegation zone with an absolute beating of the Bears. Finally, Buffalo completed the sweep for New York as they upset the Redskins to move, surprisingly, into 2nd place.



Division IV
1. Detroit Lions (5-0)
2. Arizona Cardinals (5-0)
3. San Francisco 49ers (4-1)
4. Cleveland Browns (3-2)
5. Houston Texans (3-2)
6. Cologne Centurions (2-4)
7. Berlin Thunder (1-4)
8. Frankfurt Galaxy (1-5)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-6)

Browns 31 - 34 49ers
Texans 35 - 9 Galaxy
Admirals 13 - 35 Lions
Cardinals 45 - 6 Centurions

Summary: The big game of the week in Division IV was Cleveland at San Francisco, which the 49ers managed to defend their home field and narrowly send off the Browns. But the big story of the week was whether or not Detroit and Arizona would keep their unbeaten seasons going as they head towards their Week 8 clash. The answer was, of course, yes as each side took on NFL Europe teams and won easily. Houston also got back into the hunt, going level with the Browns in the standings thanks to a simple win over the Galaxy.



Division V
1. Louisville Ocelots (5-0)
2. Albuquerque Indians (4-1)
3. Detroit Michiganders (3-2)
4. Albany Freeze (3-3)
5. Portland Pirates (3-3)
6. Lansing Spartans (2-3)
7. Los Angeles Demons (2-4)
8. Hamburg Sea Devils (1-4)
9. Rhein Fire (1-4)

Fire 24 - 35 Sea Devils
Indians 7 - 37 Freeze
Demons 13 - 28 Ocelots
Spartans 9 - 10 Pirates

Summary: It was a shocking week in Division V with upsets galore. Even the NFL Europe game, where the Fire were suppose to win easily, saw a massive upset as the Sea Devils knocked off Rhein. Then, the Spartans fell by single point to Portland in the great northwest. To cap it off, the biggest upset of all was in Albany where the Freeze not only beat, but hammered the previously undefeated Indians, by 30. The week was nearly a sweep for underdogs as Los Angeles lead by 6 at heading into the 4th quarter in Louisville before the Ocelots managed to take over and somehow win comfortably late in the game.

[SW Iowa Guy]

I love the concept of teams being moved outta their division due to weak play. Talk about having one GREAT division in a few years. How do you edit what teams are in what division?

[ZeekLTK]

I love the concept of teams being moved outta their division due to weak play. Talk about having one GREAT division in a few years. How do you edit what teams are in what division?

I'm using "Tournament" Mode... 5 tournaments of 9 teams on double round robin.

Plus the other tournament in bracket form for the single elimination tournament I lost to Washington in.

[ZeekLTK]

Tournament - Round 2
Louisville, KY - With the Ocelots, as well as the rest of Division V out of the tournament, most local fans have stopped following it after the first round. However, the games are still going on, and thus we must continue following it as the second round concluded today with some very large upsets.

The game everyone will be talking about, until the third round at least, is Houston's massive upset over the Colts. In a close, gritty game in Indianapolis, the Texans never allowed the Colts to take control of the game and kept it close enough to still be alive at the end. Then, in the 4th quarter, trailing 10-17, David Carr connected for a long touchdown pass to tie the game. Then the defense held Manning to force the punt and somehow the team scored again in the final minute to shock Indianapolis. Houston will now get to host Jacksonville, who are surprisingly sitting in first place in Division II and managed to win the instate derby against Miami 17-3 to move onto Round 3.

Ironically both undefeated Division IV teams ended up playing the undefeated Division I teams, and to no one's surprise, the Division I teams came out on top. The Patriots took care of the Lions rather easily while the Cardinals made the Eagles really work for their win. Not all Division I teams were up to the task like the Eagles. Carolina dropped out after a 20-13 loss to Washington, who had defeated Louisville 10-6 in the first round. The Redskins will host Green Bay in the next round. Favre's Packers survived a closer than expected game against the Saints, who are currently in the cellar of Division III. Also, Pittsburgh was smothered by the 49ers, who have earned the right to host Baltimore next week thanks to their impressive victory over the Steelers.

Stage 2
Game 14: Houston Texans 24 - 17 Indianapolis Colts
Game 15: Detroit Lions 18 - 36 New England Patriots
Game 16: Arizona Cardinals 31 - 38 Philadelphia Eagles
Game 17: San Francisco 49ers 27 - 9 Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 18: Cleveland Browns 15 - 31 Denver Broncos
Game 19: Oakland Raiders 24 - 27 Seattle Seahawks
Game 20: Chicago Bears 23 - 27 Kansas City Chiefs
Game 21: Washington Redskins 20 - 13 Carolina Panthers
Game 22: New Orleans Saints 34 - 37 Green Bay Packers
Game 23: Buffalo Bills 0 - 23 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Game 24: New York Jets 17 - 21 Atlanta Falcons
Game 25: Cincinnati Bengals 28 - 41 San Diego Chargers
Game 26: Dallas Cowboys 15 - 20 Baltimore Ravens
Game 27: New York Giants 22 - 16 Tennessee Titans
Game 28: Minnesota Vikings 35 - 13 St. Louis Rams
Game 29: Miami Dolphins 3 - 17 Jacksonville Jaguars

Stage 3
Game 30: Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans
Game 31: Minnesota Vikings at New England Patriots
Game 32: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
Game 33: Baltimore Ravens at San Francisco 49ers
Game 34: San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos
Game 35: Atlanta Falcons at Seattle Seahawks
Game 36: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City Chiefs
Game 37: Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins

[ZeekLTK]

Ocelots Extinguish Fire
Rhein, GER - The top team in Division V against one of the bottom teams, the question wasn’t whether the Ocelots would win in Germany, it was by how much. After defeating the other NFL Europe team 34-0, Louisville sought to keep their other foes scoreless as well, and had little trouble doing so. Rhein didn’t cross midfield until late in the 4th quarter and by then any hopes of victory were surely gone. The Ocelots started off with a long first possession, giving Norton a lot of touches to move the team down the field. A couple of fourth down conversions showed that the Ocelots had no respect for the Fire and they eventually punched the ball in for a touchdown. The Fire attempted to respond with their own rushing attack, picking up a first down and surprising the Ocelots slightly, but they eventually had to punt and that was pretty much the ball game.

In the 2nd quarter alone Louisville ran up the score to 28-0, putting the result out of reach for the side who had upset Portland a few weeks ago. Norton scored twice, once catching a pass from 10 yards out and next running the ball in from the 6. Thompson added the fourth touchdown of the half with a 32 yard interception return. In the second half the Ocelots went a little easier on the Fire, not scoring at all in the third quarter and actually punting a few times. Rhein were unable to threaten the defense though, and Louisville finally took advantage of the continually good field position as Norton scored again, on an 8 yard run. The next drive saw Spikes score a rushing touchdown as he kept the ball on a broken handoff and scampered in on the goal line. Coleman remained perfect on the season as he added a 43 yard field goal to cap off the blow out, 45-0. Next week the Ocelots will host the Lansing Spartans in their last attempt to fine-tune themselves to prepare for the Albuquerque Indian encounter in Week 9. The Indians remained within a game of the Ocelots, defeating Portland 27-17 at home this week. They will face the Sea Devils next week, so most likely they will enter the game with a 6-1 record.

Rhein Fire 0 - 45 Louisville Ocelots
Current Record: 6-0 (#1 Division V)
Next Match: vs Lansing Spartans (3-3, #5 Division V)

[ZeekLTK]

Week 7 Recap

Division I
1. Philadelphia Eagles (6-0)
2. New England Patriots (5-1)
3. Kansas City Chiefs (5-1)
4. Green Bay Packers (4-3)
5. Carolina Panthers (3-4)
6. Indianapolis Colts (2-4)
7. Seattle Seahawks (2-4)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-5)
9. Denver Broncos (0-6)

Patriots 0 - 23 Eagles
Steelers 21 - 27 Colts
Packers 23 - 20 Broncos
Seahawks 20 - 23 Panthers

Summary: Unlike the Eagles-Chiefs clash a few weeks ago, this battle of unbeatens did not live up to the hype. Instead, Philadelphia simply dominated New England in every aspect of the game and ran out easy winners, posting a shut out in the process. This means all the Eagles have standing in their way to reach midseason with a perfect record is a trip to lowly Pittsburgh, and then a visit from Seattle. Elsewhere in the division, Indianapolis held off the Steelers at home in a tight match. Then, the other two games mirrored each other as they each ended 23-20 with the Packers and Panthers earning wins over the Seahawks and helpless Broncos. Denver travels to New England next and then hosts Pittsburgh. If they can't find a win somewhere in the next two weeks, they will reach midseason winless.



Division II
1. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-1)
2. San Diego Chargers (5-1)
3. Baltimore Ravens (5-1)
4. Atlanta Falcons (4-2)
5. Tennessee Titans (3-3)
6. St. Louis Rams (3-3)
7. Miami Dolphins (2-5)
8. Minnesota Vikings (1-6)
9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-6)

Falcons 21 - 28 Chargers
Ravens 28 - 7 Buccaneers
Vikings 13 - 27 Titans
Rams 37 - 16 Dolphins

Summary: The main news from Division II was that Atlanta lost pace on their chase of first place by falling in San Diego. The win puts the Chargers level with the Jaguars, who had the week off, at the top of the table. The Ravens made sure they kept up with a convincing victory over the last placed Buccs. Meanwhile the Titans and Rams each improved to .500 with victories over the lowly Vikings and Dolphins who seem to be in a fight with each other to avoid relegation. Oddly enough, each still have a BYE coming up in the next two weeks, maybe the teams will be able to regroup and have a better second half of the season.



Division III
1. Oakland Raiders (6-1)
2. Chicago Bears (4-3)
3. Buffalo Bills (3-3)
4. New York Giants (3-3)
5. Washington Redskins (3-3)
6. New York Jets (3-3)
7. Cinncinati Bengals (3-3)
8. Dallas Cowboys (2-4)
9. New Orleans Saints (1-5)

Cowboys 24 - 30 Bengals
Jets 13 - 7 Giants
Raiders 27 - 10 Bills
Saints 9 - 23 Bears

Summary: Second place Buffalo had a chance to narrow the gap on top when Oakland came to town this weekend. Instead, the Raiders smashed them and left Buffalo in an even better position than they had come in with. To make matters worse for the rest of the divsion, the Giants failed to beat the Jets, dropping them out of the race as well. Cincinnati beat Dallas to create further confusion in the middle of the group, and out of all the mess, Chicago emerged as the new second place team after thumping last place New Orleans.



Division IV
1. Detroit Lions (6-0)
2. Arizona Cardinals (6-0)
3. San Francisco 49ers (4-2)
4. Houston Texans (4-2)
5. Cleveland Browns (3-3)
6. Berlin Thunder (2-4)
7. Cologne Centurions (2-5)
8. Frankfurt Galaxy (1-5)
9. Amsterdam Admirals (0-7)

49ers 12 - 27 Cardinals
Lions 20 - 17 Browns
Centurions 7 - 36 Texans
Thunder 20 - 3 Admirals

Summary: Both undefeated teams survived their tough tests this week. Detroit narrowly eeked out a win in Cleveland while Arizona handled the 49ers a little easier. This will set up a huge match next week when the Cardinals travel to Detroit. The winner will have the inside track to the title for the entire second half of the season, at least until the two meet again in Arizona during Week 17. As for the NFL Europe games, the Texans easily won over Cologne and Berlin became the first NFL Europe team to win 2 games in the group, by beating winless Amsterdam.



Division V
1. Louisville Ocelots (6-0)
2. Albuquerque Indians (5-1)
3. Detroit Michiganders (4-2)
4. Albany Freeze (3-3)
5. Lansing Spartans (3-3)
6. Portland Pirates (3-4)
7. Los Angeles Demons (2-5)
8. Hamburg Sea Devils (1-5)
9. Rhein Fire (1-5)

Sea Devils 0 - 24 Spartans
Ocelots 45 - 0 Fire
Pirates 17 - 27 Indians
Michiganders 23 - 20 Demons

Summary: As expected, the two NFL Europe sides got hammered by the Spartans and Ocelots, who will meet in Louisville next week. The Indians were able to recover after the tough loss last week by beating Portland in the desert. Meanwhile the Michiganders continue to put pressure on Albuquerque by staying right behind them, in third place, thanks to a narrow win in Los Angeles over the Demons. The Indians will get the Sea Devils next week, so that means they will have a chance to reclaim first place if they can beat the Ocelots at home in Week 9.