 |
Week 8
Admirals @ Galaxy 23 - 28
By: TonVFor an explanation of the shovel rating system, head here.
by TonV
Impressions
The Trench Crew travelled to Frankfurt, together with the well known Fire fans Garbage, Laura and Tequila. Obviously we were all going to do the double header and take in the Thunder @ Fire the next day!
A dump the Waldstadion might be, but they sure have great parking facilities with room for lots of barbecues and even camping out (inofficially) the night before. So we bbqed, drank beer and chatted until about 6pm when we finally had to go to the stadium. Who needs a power party anyway? We were surprised by the large number of Admirals fans we saw, a whole cluster of them around a camper (with big bbq!) in addition to the Admirality bus. Rumours had the orange contingent at 200 or so. Excellent going, guys! Not so excellent was the totally ridiculous seating, where all the ones who bought their ticket through the office were dumped in section 30, and the Admirality bus in 24. Helloooo? Office? Next time, I don't care what it takes or whose fault it is: make all of us sit in the same section!
The game in a nutshell? Terrible. Again we cannot mount an offense outside of the ArenA to save our lives. It was the Galaxy who nearly threw the game away, not the Ads who almost clawed it back in the last drive, make no mistake.
Offense
Looking at the stats, things weren't all that bad. Looking at the effectiveness? The only reason we managed to gain so many points in the end was that the Galaxy turned conservative after the first half. Oh and them giving us 2 points by snapping the ball for 30 yards outside their own endzone (very impressive, I thought, not to mention very funny). Oh and giving us the ball by dropping a punt.
The passing game is haphazard, some arrive picture perfect, others are thrown too early, thrown way too hard or too far. And a couple were dropped that should have been held on to.
Wynn apparently lost track of downs in the last drive, thinking it was third instead of fourth at his last attempt. This is of course inexcusable! But I am certain he knows this better than anyone else. Also, I cannot understand why we spiked instead of taking the timeout. It would have meant another go at the endzone... Just take the risk of the sack, if that was the reason for the decision.
The rushing game was acceptable, 99 yards and average of 4.7 is effective. Perhaps we should have moved to rushing more often, but then again: when you get behind by 21 points, you dont have much choice anymore!
Defense
Did not do too poorly, yet allowed too many points in the first half. Then the Galaxy clammed up in the second half anyway. Stopped the Galaxy rushing game admirably and picked off Bishop once. Still, 28 points is too many.
Special Teams
Sorry Diliberto, your nomination for godhood right after the week before (OT last second winner!) has been cancelled. The extra point should have been good. Then the two point conversion would not have been needed and we would have ended up within 3 points at the last drive, instead of 5, so a fieldgoal would have put the game in OT. Of course this is just speculation, who knows what would have happened?
Punting and kicking were unspectacular, as were returning.
Coaching
The coach can also take a time out, so he is more to blame for the spiking incident than the qb. And for heavens sake, why can't the team get motivated enough for an away game? This was our chance to come very close to wrapping up the second WB spot!
Oh and all the penalties (on both sides) were just atrocious. I think 24 in total? Totally ridiculous. Very unfocused playing.
Final thoughts
People applauded injured players a lot better in Frankfurt than ever in the ArenA. A lot of Galaxy fans appeared more interested in throwing paper around than the game, but we can hardly blame them...
Oh, in response to the calls for Wynn to be replaced (was there *really* a 'Wynn sucks' sign?? no wonder I don't travel with Admirality anymore, that kind of ignorant disrespect from certain fans drives me crazy) are stupid as Wynn is a good qb, maybe not great, but definitely good and had performed consistently. If our receivers cannot get open, why blame the qb? Because you don't notice that it was the receivers who couldn't get open, you only see the incompletion, that's why! Pay better attention.
Brief impression on the not so important games
by TonV
Dragons @ Claymores
As I expected, the Dragons clinch their WB spot and put the Claymores at the bottom of the chasing pack. They can still make it, but its very very hard. Especially with a team that's just not very good.
Thunder @ Fire
Not a high quality match, but highly entertaining. Bits of brilliant offense and defense were quickly countered by some horrible plays. I saw some absolutely stunning passes by the Berlin qb, and also three interceptions. In the end, it was the interceptions that won it for the Fire, as their offense was as ineffective as ours. I kept saying: oh look, its the team with no offense (Fire) against the team with no defense. Then when Berlin was on offense, it was 'the team with a good offense, against the team with a good defense'. And this turned out to be exactly how the game went. A first OT win for Fire, after they lost one to us the week before was good for Fire morale.
Now for next week: I don't like our chances. Berlin are a pass happy team and are very dangerous that way. Our secondary is unreliable against the pass at best and we could be totally blown away. Then again, if our team steps up and finally decides they are going to win an away game or die trying, we could make it as Berlins's defense is allowing by far the most yards. If we win (and the Trench Crew will be there to help of course!) then we are in great shape to finish the job in week 10 at home. Now that would be a great end to the season!