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Week 3
Galaxy @ Admirals 14-28
By: Velcro and TonVFor an explanation of the shovel rating system, head here.
by Velcro
(TonV's report follows below! Yes, two Trench Crew reports this time, aren't you lucky?)
Overview
Our permanent nemesis the Frankfurt Galaxy were visiting this week. On Bevrijdingsdag the Army were in the stadium to contribute the worst half time show we've ever seen, but apart from that it was excitement all the way. Weird penalties, great special teams, multiple QBs. This game had everything except a good old fashion ass kicking….
Special Teams
Usually I start with the Offense, and end with the Special Teams, but this week our MVP unit the Special Teams are up top. Silvio Diliberto was his normal steady self, but the rest of the unit went nuts. Maybe last weeks torpid performance left them all wanting to do better. In the first quarter the Galaxy had a 4th and goal that was moved back due to one of the ridiculous number of penalties, so a 44 Yard FG attempt and the Special Teams came up big - a block returned for a Touchdown, Admirals 7-0. Jermaine Smith did a great job on the play.
We had nice steady returns all day long - nothing spectacular and we didn't fumble the ball!! The kickoffs were still short, but the hang time was good enough to keep everyone at the 30 for a drive to start. Punt Average was down, but that was due to landing a couple punts inside the 20 yard line. The second great play was tinged with sadness. In the 3rd Quarter we blocked a punt by Chris Coleman, that was recovered by The Galaxy and the returner was tackled a bunch of yards behind the line of scrimmage. However his facemask was grabbed and then were given an automatic first down, Thankfully they were picked off two plays later.
Nice Job Guys, without the facemask penalty it was a straight 5, but you'll have to settle for 4 this week.
Offense
Offense, what do we live for? Touchdowns, Touchdowns, Touchdowns... Well the offense scored two TDs but the great credits go to the Defense and the Special Teams. The Right side of the line is going to have to shape up, as they let Spergon Wynn get hit on almost every pass that he threw all night - as well as giving up 6 sacks to the Galaxy. I admire the way that Wynn took the heat all night and even when he took a couple of series off due to the pounding you always felt he was ready to win the game. The 3rd TD was due to him controlling the Offense well and finding his open receivers. I especially like that he doesn't zero in on one receiver but sits and waits for the guy to come open. As a difference from Bishop, who takes off at every opportunity, Wynn was prepared to sit in the pocket and wait. Keenan threw one pass for a completion and one can't forget that Clarence Williams did a good job on the called halfback option pass play, by throwing it away.
As to the running game we discovered a star in Clarence Williams, who last week was the return goat, as he racked up an impressive 112 yards after Spencer George went down around half time. As much as I disliked the way thet the Offensive Line blocked in the passing game, they did a great job of run blocking in the game. The downfield blocking by the receivers was also effective with a great block springing the Williams TD run.
The dissappointment for me was the we did not dominate an inferior team. In all phases of the offense we were the better team, but we could not generate the drives necessary to bury the opposition. Offensive MVP is shared this week between Clarence Williams and Spergonn Wynn. 3 Shovels overall.
Defense
What can I say, they are the best Defense in the league and that is no longer a discussion point. They did that single most important of jobs in containing Michael Bishop in the pocket and he was clearly not going to win the game from the pocket. We were again two weird plays from a shutout: 2nd quarter Bishop throws into Double Coverage, but the 1st DB, Marcus Hill, thought he had no help so took out the WR, a sensible option in my view. However the 2nd DB knocked the ball away and the Pass Interference call was given. Five plays later its 7-7.
In the fourth quarter Bishop dropped back to pass and dropped the pass. It unfortunately bounced back into his hands and he could find the open receiver to make the score 14-14. From thios point on the Defense was awesome. That includes a fumble return for a TD when we led by only 7 and all round pressure on the QB. Any time I set the goal for the defense as 21 points or less. 14 is less so they get a 5 for doing a great job.
Coaching
We had a real bunch of good stuff, a 4th down and short being converted, two blocked kicks and an option pass. Bascially some great variety from Bart Andrus and the boys in the booth. However, too many penalties and an inconsistent offense will hurt their score. Injuries abounded for the Admirals as 5 players ended the game injured - including Spencer George and Japanese National Linebacker Masafumi Kawaguchi both with ankle injuries.
A lot has been said about the Arena field this year with it being harder than before, but I do find it difficult to believe that its harder than Artificial Turf, so I was surprised at the number of injuries. A lot of what happens this week wiill depend on the Medical Staff and we hope that they are doing everything right.
( 3 shovels )
Fans
My final rant point is normally pointed at the fans in the stands. I have something for you all and that is - when the defense on the field and noise you make is the best thing you can do. However when the Offense is out there, be quiet - and that means drums and tooters too. The offense depends on all 11 players hearing the QB snap count and calls. A handy hint is that if you can't hear the QB then you are making too much noise. For example, I was in Dallas last season for the game against the 49ers - and I heard very clearly all the signals that Troy Aikman used all day. Dallas's problem was that I could hear Jeff Garcia's as well. Upshot, if the Defense is on the field make some noise. If the offense is on the field, be quiet.
The second rant point is aimed at a number of ill-informed Admirals fans that suggested that "any fan could see that Keenan was better than Wynn". I'm sorry to say but that is purely the view of a fan who rates 1-1 for 11 with the heroic performance Wynn put in on Saturday night as he got pounded into the turf time and time again. I know that people want the Admirals to Wynn ( sorry couldn't resist ), but we need to look at the team as a whole and Spergon makes the team a whole lot better.
Stuff
Lots of stuff was said about the state of the field in the stadium, and its not as good for football this year as before. Remember previous years where the field got cut up and guys got dirty, well this year the guys all leave the field clean as the grass holds up better, but the surface is actually more treacherous as the top seems to slip. Maybe the team needs to train there as well to get used to the footing.
A final random note, apparently some of the players at the get together on Monday said that rugby is a hard game. Well I agree as I screwed up arts of my body playing the game for 20 years - however football is a harder game, stick at it guys,. Respect.
Last Word
We are 2-1, but the season has a long way to go. The injuries are a worry, but with any luck everyone is back this week. Pass blocking needs to be worked on and we have a good team, but until then its great Defense that is keeping us in games.
The important game (Galaxy @ Admirals)
by TonV
Intro
Unfortunately, work keeps preventing Velcro from finishing his usual reports so it falls upon my shoulders once again. I am sure that if I make too many mistakes he will correct me!
Impressions
Second homegame of the season against our biggest rivals. Rather ironic that it is on the Dutch Liberation Day! Winning against the Galaxy is always a good thing, especially now as it put us right behind the Dragons in the standings and with a win next week we can seriously start thinking about a WB appearance.
Offense
It is getting to be a bit repetitive and I could almost do a cut & paste with last week's offensive report. Far too much pressure on Wynn: 6 sacks and countless knockdowns. Wynn had to leave the game for a few plays to recover and I seriously fear that he might not make it through the season if this average keeps up. Nobody can be expected to take 50 (!) sacks in a ten week season! Especially the right side of the line kept collapsing. On the other hand, Wynn continues to impress us despite the pressure. 50% completion and 0 interceptions is very decent considering the circumstances.
More bad stuff: penalties. We have given the Galaxy 121 yards in penalties ! This is unacceptable and too many of those yards came from the offense. I guess the good thing is that I learned a new penalty 'snap infraction' which baffled me so much the first time that the team was kind enough to do it again so I could get a good look at it. According to Velcro, this basically is an illegal motion of the ball by the center and can pretty much be considered a false start.
On the other hand, our running game was very acceptable. 123 yards for a 4.1 average on the night is good enough that it should have taken some of the pressure off Wynn. Unfortunately, it didn't. I suspect that the Galaxy run defense is to blame here. Williams looks a lot more certain on RB than he does on return teams (calling for a fair catch is not going to hurt you!) and Chris Coleman on wide receiver is rapidly turning into one of the players to watch this season. When Wynn gets enough time to deliver the ball to him, then he can beat any corner.
I am going to have to give the offense 2 shovels again. If we would only see Wynn eat grass less, then this can easily be higher.
Defense
And again, it was our defense that stood out. I said it before the match: taking their qb Bishop out of the game would be key to a victory, and it was. The line did a good job of pressuring and our linebackers kept him from running rampant outside. It is illustrative of the Galaxy running game that Bishop still gained two thirds of their total rushing yardage.
Blocking the fieldgoal and running the ball back for our first td was a lovely sight, as was the smackdown on Bishop in the final two minutes which resulted in Sweeney rumbling into the endzone with the ball to crush any hopes of a purple comeback.
Our front four can pile on the pressure, the linebackers can block inside as well as outside and our secondary does an adequate job of sticking with their men. The reason why I am not 5 shovels type happy with our defense? Penalties again. It was a very educational night for me, not only did I learn about snap infractions, but I also discovered that it is possible to get a delay of game on defense. And just to make sure I didn't miss it, the defense did it twice. Even Velcro couldn't figure out exactly what the heck they did to get this one. The Galaxy gained 4 of their 13 first downs on penalties and that is too many. Especially the one that turned a fourth down punt into a new first down was bad.
Guys, a few less penalties and you alone could be enough to win the next game!
Special Teams
We still cannot kick or punt an acceptable distance. As long as our coverage guys are fast enough to make up for that lack, it won't hurt us too badly. Our returns are ok, but nothing to write home about. At least we didn't lose the ball this time although Williams came close once or twice! Fair catches really are nothing to be ashamed of, you know.
An adequate performance, not great, but certainly not too bad either.
Fans and other items of note
The fans were nice and loud again. Enough so that the Galaxy head coach even complimented us on the fan noise during the press conference afterwards. Apparently, they had to shuttle in plays from the sideline again, so even with the roof open we can be a big factor in the ArenA! Lets step it up with a few decibels in two weeks and really honk off the Barcelona coaches. It still annoys me that we can't applaud injured players any better though.
It didn't look like it, but we had 14k attendance, which is excellent. I wonder how many of those are due to the landmacht and their free ticket campaign, but we should be able to get a 12k average on the season like this. To be honest, that would be more than I hoped for in advance.
Brief impression on the not so important games
Thunder @ Claymores
Someone went and replaced the Claymores offense with players that know the game. For two weeks they were disastrous and suddenly they spark into life. It was still a close game, so I am not convinced yet that it wasn't a one time thing, but the Claymores could be back in the WB race. The Thunder remain difficult to gauge.
Dragons @ Fire
An exciting game: getting behind by two touchdowns, then pulling ahead before letting it go to overtime, only to see it all go to waste. I thought the Admirals were the better team in week 1 and football guru Garbage agreed. He went a bit further in his game report this time. To summarize: "The WRs can't catch a cold, the o-line can't block a toilet and the kicker is a cruel PR joke". Even stripped from his usual harsh tone, it would still appear that the Fire are a long way from Amsterdam in week 11. The Dragons on the other hand keep right on rolling. If we can beat them at home, we have an excellent shot. But even with the momentum of the last two games, it will be an uphill battle. The Dragons seem to have every part of the game in hand.
Looking ahead to next week
Like I said above: the Dragons seem to have every part of the game in hand. They can run, pass and play defense to a lesser or greater extent. We are going to have to put the same kind of pressure on qb Jackson as we did on Bishop, while at the same time stopping rb Green from racking up too many rushing yards. If at the same time our offense doesn't lose the ball and cuts out some of the dumb penalties, this game could be ours. As soon as we start turning the ball over to them, it is going to be lights out.
This game could very well be the key to a place in the World Bowl.