HUT!! Newsletter of Gameplan League NFLAZ

Coming up to a quarter way the AZ season and the usual suspects are leading the way in both conferences. There are though several teams showing promise of upsetting the bandwagon and getting in on play off action this time round. You may have read in Danny's messages that you can now have your reports via the email and that you wouldn't get the newsletters. Well do not despair (if you were!!!) drop me a email and I will gladly send you a copy or you can catch up with the AZ newsletter on Dave Harris' website which I listed last week. Right on with the show with those formalities out of the way.

Chris Ward writes…
Well, this is tricky isn't it? The Bolts were a little lucky to win against the Bengals with their kicker a little off the boil - last drive of the game and a 37 yard FG would have dropped us to 1-2. But it just wasn't happening for Pelfrey and we scraped through.
My defence were magnificent - they answered my calls and chased QB Jeff Blake (surprisingly good at dump offs for a 2yr old!) round the field all day long. And, just as important was the blocked FG, showing the Chargers have got heart and a will to turn my poor coaching around.
I feel I've learnt a lot over the past three turns - more than the last season and a half for sure. But of course now come games against the Oilers, Broncos, Giants and Steelers so my season might be over pretty soon despite my new-found knowledge.
Whatever way you look at it the AZ is getting pretty tasty - the Bengals and Packers don't deserve their records and I hope their great play is going to start getting results. My predictions proved pretty spooky for last week despite the hugely competitive matches. Fingers crossed against the Oilers, I haven't done anything drastic to try and beat them, I hope I haven't done anything stupid and so hopefully it'll be down to the players rather than my inept play-calling.
I think I've given two results that may well not happen just because I want them to, plus I'm looking forward to seeing what Coach Smith can do against the SB Champs. Most exciting game will probably involve those Rams yet again whilst Coach Colquitt's return may start a turnaround for the Vikes. The AFC will probably look a little clearer after this weekend - either Coach Denyer and myself are in the hunt or we're second tier....

Week three games reviewed…

And then there were three… the Jets lose their unbeaten start to the season as the Steelers continue theirs. A solid performance from third year starter Anthony Wright earned Pittsburgh a 33-20 victory over Ronnie's Jets in NY. Wright's 344 yards and 1 TD passing stats were complemented with 138 yards on the ground against a solid Jet front seven. Jets tried in vain to fight back after leading 20-17 at the half but Foley's 293 yards passing also included five hurries and 5 sacks and an interception. Oilers keep up with their divisional foes with a hard fought road win over the Bills. As the norm, George and Green done the donkeywork while McNair made the crucial third down plays and chipped in with 190 yards. Bills fall to 1-2 but in the highly competitive eastern division a good run could put them in a good position. New England get on track with their first win of the season over the Raiders. Still a tight game at the half with NE leading 9-3 but they pulled away with 23 unanswered second half points.
A game played out in Miami as the Fins and Hawks play out a tie. A 4th quarter fight back from Miami brought overtime, but neither team could break the deadlock and on reflection a tie was a fair result.
Despite been outscored in yardage the Broncos' defence came up with the plays to come away with a comfortable 35-9 road win over the Browns. DB haven't conceded a TD this season, expect that to change this week!
As Chris wrote the Chargers sneaked past the unlucky Bengals in Cincinnati. CI still looking for that elusive first win and what a time to get it with they can beat rival Miami this week.
In the NFC the Buccs keep going great guns and beat the Giants who fall to 1-2 in overtime in NY. Dilfer bombed the NY secondary for 389 yards and 2 TD's, while his counterpart Brown threw up 2 TD's and 213 yards. 16 unanswered points (10 in 4th quarter) won it for Tampa.
Arizona won a shootout in Sun Devil sharing 82 points with GB in a 42-40 win. 650 yards passing were thrown along with 6 TD's. The cards survived a 2nd and 4th quarter scoring blitz from Green Bay to move to 3-0 as the Pack drop to 1-2 - not seen very often, Kent Graham out gunned, Farve 333 yards, Graham 317.
Dallas get their season under way with a tough, bruising encounter in Texas as they come away winners 29-23 over the improving Saints. Pokes defence played hard all game, coming up with a safety, a RET TD and 5 sacks.
Atlanta drop to 0-3 after a 14-34 reversal over the Redskins
who move into a three way tie for second place in the East. Frerotte led the way with 362 yards passing and with the WR defence hurrying Chandler all day the Falcs couldn't get on track.
Week after week we are seeing the Bears are the 'real' thing. Three tough opening games and the Bears have won all of them. St Louis the victims this week as they lose their unbeaten tag with a 28-32 reversal in Chicago. Chicago's one two punch at RB gave them the foundation with 193 yards on the ground.
The 49ers showed their class, after an average first half where the Vikes had tied them at 10-10 the niners offensive machine broke loose and scored 23 points to secure a 33-10 victory. Defense showed up and sacked Culpepper 6 times who had a good day throwing for 262 yards.

Dave Harris' website, http://uk.oocities.com/dwgharris has a full list of this seasons best and worst performances.

Well that's it for this week folks many thanks to Chris Ward and Dave Harris for getting in contact and making contributions.

See ya next week.