HUT!!! Newsletter of Gameplan League NFLAZ

Half way through the season and just two teams left unbeaten the Cardinals and Bears. In the Afc the usual suspects plus Miami head proceedings. Right straight onto coaches' mumblings….

WILLIAM SMITH - GREEN BAY PACKERS
Very pleased with how things are going so far, from a tough looking schedule, happy to get to 6-2 at half way. The only loses being against the 100%ers and winning 5 in row, the three wins outside the division all against teams leading their divisions at the time, so far so good. I will go on until the end of season thinking about the week three game against the Bears though, the general thought being '...should of won, should of won, should of won...' Want the week 14 game so bad. The Central looks very much a two horse race, with the Buccs not providing the expected challenge; with it looking like Coach Gamble is (disappointingly) no longer there. Although nice to see Coach Colquitt making a return. The Bears have tough trips to Arizona and San Francisco in the next three weeks, so hopefully their unbeaten start will come to an end, just got to make sure I keep winning to stand a chance.
Elsewhere in the NFC, the East looks like the Cardinals division all ends up. The Redskins are doing much better than expected but the playoffs may still be beyond them, but if the West teams all beat up on each other, who knows. The West itself looks great, and will go right down to the wire. The 49ers, maybe not as strong as last year, but still very strong and still favourites, the Rams finally looking like contenders (will want be leading going into week 14, having three nightmare road games), while the Saints maybe even, but their losses all came on the road against good opposition, there still very much in it.
As for the AFC...who cares...bunch of wusses...(apologies to Coach Martin though, you didn't deserve 60, felt a little guilty about it...but only a little.)

PETER SWINDELLS - NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
This week proved that there is a difference in quality, albeit a minor one between my Saints and Dave's 49'ers. I have been well and truly been put in my place and I am now looking for a wild card spot as we will finish above the Rams. In order to do that we are going to have to win some games, so Green Bay may not be the best opponents to have next, but nobody said it would be easy did they?

CHRIS WARD - SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

Anyways, as for the AZ: Wow, it's bloody hard this year, or is that just me? Oakland almost got themselves 14-0 up after 7 minutes but a fumble cost them and we slowly took control of the game, even without offence doing it's best.
I'm finding it quite tricky to get completed passes this year. It's quite interesting to see the AFC with so many top D's this year: 8 out of the top 12 and yet Houston, Pittsburgh, New York, all nearer the bottom than the top. They've all got better offence of course, so I guess it all comes down to what balance you want to strike. One reason for teams such as Oakland having a good rating on D this year? Ok, yup, I agree that they've got a good run D going, but they're giving up the ball four or five times again with fumbles, interceptions or failed fourth downs. Add to that they're averaging only 26.1 yards net on punting and you can see they're giving opposition O's a huge headstart.
I'm finding punting harder going this year - more miskicks than I've seen before. Comparing the AFC and NFC, the other side seem to be having a little more luck than us on that front. One {perhaps} telling statistic: third downs. Conrad Parke always used to say that to tell who was in with a chance of winning the Superbowl, you had to look at their third down percentage: it needed to be near 50% completed. This year, no one in the AFC reaches that mark, the Oilers closest with 44.9%. Over in the NFC the Packers and Cards have 48.6% and 47.5% respectively, with the Bears the next best at 43.7%. The Jets jump in front of the 49ers with the Pats and the Rams next up. Dunno if that's actually saying anything: the Cards-Bears game may well start to illuminate us towards the eventual Superbowl contenders.

RICHARD APPLEBY - BUFFALO BILLS
Buffalo were a little fortunate to come away with a win here after dominating most of the game. Cruising to 19-0 and looking for extra form gains, until the 4th quarter when the Patriots ran back a fumble 69yards to set up an easy TD, followed by a 87 yard screen play to set up a tight finish. Oh how they come to regret a missed 41-yard FG attempt in the 3rd with only 2 points the difference.

WEEK TEN HUT!!!

Many thanks to Chris, Apple and Will for offering to do week 10. William is stepping to cover me when I'm in the US, below is his postal and email address', please offer him your support, cheers.

If the playoffs were today……..
AFC Wildcard
Miami @Pittsburgh
AFC Divisional Playoffs
Miami/San Diego @Houston
Pittsburgh/San Diego @ NY Jets

NFC Wildcard
Washington @ Green Bay
NFC Divisional Playoffs
Green Bay/San Fran @ Arizona
Washington/San Fran @ Chicago

And on the fringes…..
Denver (5-3)
St Louis (5-3)
New Orleans (4-4)
NYG, DC & TB (3-5)

WEEK EIGHT REVIEWED

Round one of the battle for the top of the AFC east went the way of the Jets as the home fans got behind their team and saw an impressive 28-10 win over near rivals Miami. Coach North hoping for a favour from cousin Matt as the Bengals travel to NY while Miami face tough test in SDC.
Bills edge out New England for first victory with coach Appleby at the helm winning 19-17. A quick start from Buffalo saw them run out of steam as the Pats charged back but left it a little to late to snatch victory - missed FG was a killer.
Oilers move to an AFC best record of 7-1, while leaving the Bengals winless after eight weeks. The Bengals defence keyed the run and stopped the power offence of Houston but couldn't do anything about McNair as Houston win 23-0.
Steelers surprised by the Browns' rushing game which posted 250 yards at 5 yards a pop and racking up 28 first downs. But the Steelers' class showed in the end as they pipped the Browns on the scoreboard 24-17 to keep on pace with the Oilers in the race for the AFC Central.
After the Broncos' faltering in weeks 5-7 coach Denyer is happier after this win even though the team didn't play well. A fourth quarter safety gave DB the cushion they needed for the win and move to 5-3.
SDC continued their run for another AFC Western title with an easy win over the Raiders in San Diego. Another funny old game as the Raiders were better on the stats page but when it come to scoring they failed miserably as the Chargers come out 23-7 winners
Over to the NFC,
The Redskins win and big game in the Big Apple and dent the Giants hopes of getting back into the play off race with a 31-18 win surviving a Giants comeback in the second half after leading 24-0 at half time. Coach Pawley's fixing of QB Brown should pay dividends in the coming weeks and we might see a Giants' run on second place in the East.
Arizona continues their dominance in the NFC with a home win over the Cowboys 29-14. Coach Harris put together a good passing gameplan but the AC pass rush made six sacks and 13 hurries - even with those stats Kupp still racked up 302 yards and 2 TD's. Dress rehearsal for the NFC conference game many believe this week as AC match up with CH.
Green Bay look one of the favourites to take a wildcard with a 6-2 record at the mid way mark after beating the Vikings 32-3 at Lambeau. Ball control and hard defence were the keys to this victory allowing MV the ball for limited time and restricting them on first downs.
The Bears get ready for the big Arizona game with a comfortable win over the Buccs who seem to have lost momentum in their early season push for post-season play. Bears allowed just 6 first downs.
Rams keep up pressure on NS and SF with an easy win over the Falcons 33-20 in St Louis. The victory would have looked more comprehensive if the Rams' safe defence had not conceded two TD's in the 4th, but the game was won by then through another good display by Ram QB Trent Green.
San Francisco put a dent in the Saints' play off hopes and with a hard game against the Pack this week, week 10 could be a must win for coach Swindells and his Saints. The 49ers pulled away in the second half after tying the game 7-7 at the half.

PREDICTIONS (WEEK 9) from Chris, Peter and myself.

Many thanks to Apple, Peter, Chris and Will for taking timeout and contributing this week, Remember guys Will is editing HUT next week and it's back to me the week after.

See ya all in 'two weeks' guys.

Paul