NFL Week 15 Review

Thursday Night Football

JAC Jaguars lost to ATL Falcons by 27

Original prediction: Atlanta to win by 10.

Despite Maurice Jones-Drew rushing for another 100+ yards, the Jags were unable to stop Matt Ryan on offence (3 passing TD’s) and John Abraham defence (3.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles). Leading 27-0 at half time, the Falcons managed to win out comfortable to complete their 4^th straight winning season.

Record = 1-0

Saturday Night Football

DAL Cowboys beat TB Buccaneers by 16

Original prediction: Dallas to win by 12.

Despite playing in December, Tony Romo and the Cowboys managed to win a game when the NFC East title was on the line. With three passing touchdowns and one rushing TD Romo ended the Cowboys two game losing streak and claim the top spot in their respective division. Tampa have now lost eight straight games.

Record = 2-0

6PM GMT Games

MIA Dolphins beat BUF Bills by 7

Original prediction: Miami to win by 9.

The closest prediction so far as Miami beat the Bills by 7 points. Behind the rushing performance of Reggie Bush (203 rushing yards, 1 TD), interim head coach Todd Bowles coaching career got off to a good start with a debut win. Matt Moore continued improving with 2 more passing touchdowns, whilst opposite number Ryan Fitzpatrick continued the poor play since his new contract deal (2 TDs, 3 Ints).

Record = 3-0

SEA Seahawks beat CHI Bears by 24

Original prediction: Seattle to win by 4.

Once again the Bears fell victim to an injury to a key offensive player, this time Johnny Knox. Despite Lynch not rushing for 100 yards, Seattle still managed to dominate Chicago behind the arm of Tavaris Jackson and two pick sixes in the second half. The Seahawks who outscored the Bears 31-0 in the second half still have a slight change of making the playoffs.

Record = 4-0

BUAFL: Breaking Down the SEC

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As we head into Christmas and the mid-point of the season for most teams we’re taking a look at how each division stacks up so far. This week the SEC falls under our magnifying glass of knowledge and analysis.

Widely touted to be the worst division in BUAFL there are some interesting teams in this division. Let’s start from the bottom:

ARU Phantoms

First season back after a year out and the Phantoms are not having a good season. Breaking away from the Cambridge campus and being solely involved at Chelmsford seemed to solve some logistical problems in terms of transport and training etc. but it seems to have reduced their player pool by a significant amount. I have heard rumours of the Cambridge campus wanting to start up its own team, and I guess at that point, if they are successful and want to train, who owns all of the equipment? Could get nasty! Perhaps a single institution/single team rule needs to be enforced considering the hysteresis of the situation. 

I must say, considering that Andy Fuller seems to have complete say in the schedule (cite. The Northampton Protocol) giving ARU the Stags was a bit mean. It is tough having a game scheduled after your term finishes too, most teams would lose 4 or 5 players. The difference is, on most teams this shouldn’t matter too much, but with ARUs low numbers, it cost them dear. I think ARU are a good shout for the worst team in BUAFL at the moment, but kudos to Coach Saint for his handling of the situation on the forums, although we would advise him just to not bother rising to Mr Anonymous in the future.

Kings College Regents

The first three games of the season have not been anything to write home about for KCL, in its second full year in BUAFL I’m sure they are still recruiting and learning. However, they will be going into the Christmas break on a high after handing out some punishment to the ‘floppy haired academics’ up at Cambridge. Luckily for the Regents they have two very winnable games in their remaining schedule, it’s not quite a .5 season, but things will progress.

Cambridge Pythons

The new boys in this division have entered the league without ever playing a competitive game. The half time scores from the Pythons games seem to show them performing well in the first half, but then being clouted in the second. Perhaps lack of numbers is causing this?

Many people wonder about whether so many new teams should be entered into the league, but growth is not necessarily a bad thing and Cambridge have won a game in their first season (ok, ok, it was against ARPU),  so the signs are there for development of the squad to allow a return to the former glory of the Beau Riffenburgh days. 

Westminster Dragons

Looking at their schedule, they seemed to hold their own against Essex (this is for a new team); got beat quite convincingly by RHUL, who have been underperforming for a programme of that age in the TVC; been beaten quite badly by Canterbury, and beat a truly terrible Surrey side who are trying to steal ARU’s crown of worst team. 

Again another new team in the league and have again won a game, this is encouraging in terms of growth, but something that ultimately no one really cares about. It will be nice to track the progress of teams entering this year in the following years though. The remaining schedule for the team is quite soft, Gloucester who are a bottom 10 team, Brighton who will be a challenge, King’s which will be a good game, and ARU who they will beat.