NFL Play of the Week: Tebow Time

Well, Tebow did it again...

His GM was calling on him during the week to be more aggressive and pull the trigger and on the first play of overtime he threw a perfect spiral that tore a hole in the Pittsburgh secondary. Was this divine intervention, or was this home field advantage really kicking in?

The Broncos came out in a double tight formation and motioned a receiver into the formation. During the game the Steelers had been keying this motion and rolling the safety down to counter the run play it often predicated. Ryan Mundy came charging down into the box to give the Steelers the numbers advantage.

The play action drags in all the linebackers leaving a huge area ehind them for Tebow to get the ball to Thomas. Originally the look given by the secondary was Cover 0 with no safeties high in the middle of the field (after Mundy rolled down into the box). However on the snap both corners take outside leverage on their recivers and start bailing to the hash. This is clearly not supposed to happen with no deep help in the middle of the field.

BUAFL Breakdown: The MAC

With so many teams in the MAC we decided to split it in half and release our breakdown over two days. Keep a look out on our Facebook page tomorrow for part deux.

Loughborough Aces

A by-product of the best sporting university in the UK it’s not hard to imagine that Loughborough University will be strong at American Football. Lead by powerhouse running back Adam Hope Loughborough run a triple option pistol offense that is effective against inexperienced defences. They are effective on the dive down the middle with a tall and wide offensive line making large running lanes for Adam Hope to run through. 

The offence sometimes struggles when the ball is put into QB Nick Jacquets hands. He has an unusual arm with a nice spiral, but tends to throw the ball very high in hope that his receivers will out jump DBs. 

The Aces defence are reknowned as one of the best defences in the country. Linebackers Anssi Saari from the Helsinki Wolverines in Finland and Jonathan Varney from Tamworth Phoenix are the core of it and thanks to their two big linebackers they have proved so far they are nearly impossible to run against, conceding no rushing touchdowns. 

During the game with Derby, Loughborough’s pass coverage was a little shaky and this may be the difference between them and the Birmingham Lions in the big battle which is yet to come.

Birmingham Lions

Tristan who?  If anyone thought that the Lions would be tamed by the loss of one of BUAFL's few truly stellar players, they have been firmly put in their place by Brum’s relentless scoring.

The bright lights and big occasion may have slightly slowed Varney's replacements Jonny Glover and Sope Dirisu in the XpLosION clash with NTU, but since then the Blue Crush (yes, I just made that nickname up) have swept aside their opponents like flotsam and jetsam, putting up a gaudy 207 points in their four games so far.

Only the two Nottingham sides have scored on the Lions, with poor old Coventry Jets not even mustering a first down against a simply dominant defence.  There are big names wherever you look on this Lions team – Conroy, Burrows, Brown (I really could go on all day) – and trust me, they haven’t got to that stage just on hype.

Having not had their supremacy challenged thus far, the 18th February clash with Loughborough will have the eyes of the BUAFL nation upon it, with the winner likely to take over as favourites to at least make the bowl game.

GB Lions: Doncaster Trial details released

Sat 14 January at Balby Carr College, Doncaster.

Timings
On the field 11am-5pm, 10am registration. Please turn up early even if you've pre-registered 

Cost
£20 on the day

Plan for the day
First session will be physical measurables, second session positional/contact drills so bring your full football kit

Registration
To register for any of these events email your full name/DOB/BAFANL number/club/position/contact number/emergency contact number (if under 18) to nick_wasmuth@hotmail.com. Pre-registration is highly recommended to avoid being late on the day. 

Please bring...
- Full football kit
- Footwear for suitable 3G Astroturf - so no metal bladed footware
- Offensive players should bring a white jersey, defensive players should bring a dark blue jersey and QB trialists should bring red jerseys.

BUAFL As it Stands: Championship Playoff Bracket

Our as it stands playoff bracket is back! This week we are in the divisional round of the playoffs with some huge games! Check out lastweeks results to see how the teams got here. And make sure you follow us onFacebook to get the latest updates first! 

North

Hallam Warriors #3 @ Newcastle Raiders #2

This first divisional matchup of the weekend saw the Hallam Warriors head north to Newcastle to take on the Raiders.

The Warriors were the first team to register a score in the game as star running back Danny Pyle continued his good form for the season by receiving the first handoff of the game and taking it the house for a touchdown. This would turn out to be the only score of the first quarter as both teams defences dominated in miserable weather up north.

In the second quarter the game finally game to life as  Aden Flannagan, forced and recovered a fumble giving the ball back to the Hallam offence. A few plays later James Musonda converted the turnover into points with his first rushing touchdown of the game. 

The Raiders offence now finding themselves down by sixteen started to show up and drove the distance of the field and punched the ball in to bring them within nine points. Despite the Newcastle score, Hallam still found time for one late drive which ended with a Chris Webber scrambling for a TD of his own to once again give the Warriors a double digit score. Score at the half – 22-7.

Once again it was the Hallam defence that created the first big play of the second half as Anthony Marsden caused the Raiders QB to fumble, which was the recovered by Matthew Marsden who scooped and scored for another Warriors TD. Unimpressed by their lack of offence, the Raiders defence started to bring their team into the game with a score of their own as they intercepted a tipped Webber pass and returned it for a touchdown. 

Despite being down by two scores the Raiders continued to give 100% in the final quarter and managed to shut down the high powered Hallam offence, but unfortunately all hopes of a comeback were extinguished as a Flannagan pick 6 wrapped up the game for the Warriors. Final score 36-15.

The Warriors advanced to the Championship semi finals for the second consecutive year.

Newcastle "Texas Tech of the North" Raiders

Weekly Top 5: Top 5 Football Purchases

When I was a student, January meant a few things. Module results and retakes, raiding the parent’s cupboards and fridges for food before moving back to uni and most importantly... the next instalment of my student loan to spend on new gear for the year.

This week’s top 5 focuses on the things to spend your student loan on instead of module books (disclaimer – If you do actually waste your money and are unable to get the books required, Dbl Coverage will not be held responsible if you fail).

As usual we start with a few things that didn’t make the cut.

Cleats – With most players preferring to use football/rugby boots, cleats are a luxury instead of a necessity. With the choice over a variety of cleats and some specific to certain positions, there’s a variety of cleats to waste your money on for 2012 including Nikes latest Vapor Talon Elite.

Pointless Accessories – Bicep bands, neck collars, eye black, hand warmers, etc are all items that aren’t required, but everyone still loves to buy them. Therefore with money in the bank it’s now time to buy more accessories to the collection.

Nothing says awesome like three bicep bands on each arm, eye black and a cowboy collar!