Founded 1992   

WR D J Moore scores the first Express points on this 18 yard run.

In keeping with the surprise package element of the Arnhall Dolphins 2023 campaign, this 1^st Round play-off skirmish developed into an unexpected thriller as the Caledonia Express just did just enough to hold off coach Compost's side to bag a 27-24 success. Heading in to the final Monday action of the tie with the Granite Division outfit leading by 12pts, the pundits did not  fancy the No 8 seeds chances of turning things around through last man out Jason Sanders , without newly crowned WR champion Tyreek Hill getting in the mix  for the Posse ( not to mention late CalX addition RB A J Dillon ). However  when the wide-out limped out at Hard Rock with an ankle injury the door opened a little wider for Umpire, although ultimately a blocked 48 yard FG and Miami's inability to move the ball into FG range with their final possession left Sanders 9pt contribution just 3pts short of forcing OT or better. Given both side woes in December action ( a joint 9-32 ) not much was expected in terms of fireworks, although the steady hand of a more post season savvy coach McConnachie Jnr was expected to aid the Express cause. The Westhill based combo won the two sides only previous play-off meeting 27-25 in Rd 1, 2020. Coach Sutherland had rather surprised himself and the assorted ALFF punditry by getting this far with some recent joy in the rather barren (in 2023) area of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Umpire saw no reason to change the formula so his "same Stuemers as last week" team talk meant his Pittsburgh Trifecta were the opening act of this opening play-off fixture at Heinz Field on Thursday. Unfortunately for the HC with more nicknames than Division pennants, it was not a banner night for his "Players Three".  RB Najee Harris a foundational late season contributor came up empty while his Steelers DST did likewise. WR Diontae Johnson did have the distinction of scoring the first points of the 2023 knock-out tournament with a 25 yard TD grab, but 3pts from three starters (at the stadium formerly know as Three Rivers) looked as if  Arnhall were behind the eight ball without the Express getting on the field. Andy's more relaxed team selection came after events in PA and coming off a heartbreak high scoring loss to the Killers in Wk 13, it was no shock his single change was the late swap out of injured Isiah Pacheco with last RB available A J Dillon. The main phase Sunday action once underway, was really not that eye catching bar a couple of individual performances. WR D J Moore has only one TD to speak of since his big 12pt outing in Week 5 but he was the one who fired up  the Granite Div newbies effort. An opening possession drive at Soldier Field saw the receiver take a direct snap around left end to score from 18 yards out. Later in the game the big play pass catcher added a 38 yard receiving TD and the Posse were humming. Over at M&T Bank Stadium QB Matt Stafford was making surprising headway against a Baltimore defence many thought he would be heavily limited by. Three short TD tosses ( 6, 7 and 5 yards) produced another 9 precious points for the 3pt favorite ball-club with their only negatives a double bank for their Detroit DST and the usually play-off ready RB David Montgomery. Compost's lone early Sunday starters RB Zach Moss and WR Kyle Pitts were no more productive than their prior Steelers team-mates , the latter bagging a 36 yard score and we headed into the late Sunday with the scoreline a rather ominous 18-06 in Mini-Mac's favor. The second Sunday window featured CalX WR Brandon Aiyuk as the sole trader from either side of the LOS and although he did look lively , the closest he came to making an impact was being stripped of the ball on a huge 30 yard scamper, taking us nicely to a big SNF hot spot at Jerryworld. Arnhall's late season transformation has been largely down to the installation of QB Dak Prescott ahead of Patrick Mahomes, and the former was in tandem with double team-mate Michael Gallup going head to head with direct opponent K Jake Elliott. Dak started fast with a 13 yard TD toss (but not to Michael Gallup) but with just 20 seconds left on the first half game clock,  did pick out his ALFF buddy for a 1 yard score. Remarkably (but in keeping with his season) coach Sutherland's moribund 12^th ranked WR unit, who had score only 6 TD's all season, managed a WR full house in their first post season outing.  Dallas continued to dominate the game in Fort Worth but Prescott did not push his scoring envelope any further. Meanwhile Coach McConnachie's kicker ( and the Eagles in general) was living off scraps. Two first half FG's (52 and 44 yards) before the game got lopsided, did ensure the specialist avoided being in "2pt attempt chase the game mode" too early,  and with one XP in the 3^rd quarter his final 9(2)pt tally was enough ( it seemed ) to more or less put the issue beyond doubt at 27-15.  The finale in Miami was covered earlier in the report. Coach McConnachie the Younger will be satisfied he has guided the Express to their first play -off success since beating the Argyll Apaches in the 2^nd Rd of the 2017 competition , thus improving a grim overall record to 3-17 and ending a 1^st Round hoodoo that had mushroomed to 0-9. The potential injury ( status currently unknown) to Tyreek Hill could be a major factor in the number 5 seeds deep run threat credentials although Matt Stafford's form allied to Jake Elliott's boot, will make them a side you have to beat on any given weekend ( kinda like Marty's sides always were). A Rd 2 pairing against the play-off savvy Kincorth Killers is listed in the officially intriguing category, coming as it does, on the back of that astounding Wk 13 drama fest. Should be a stoatir. Arnhall exit stage left  and Mad Fish sees his overall December record drop to 7-16. I have to say that in many ways the Westhill combo actually overperformed. Their final 6-7 record largely hid their 12^th place ranking in points and the fact they (and the Jesmond Chiefs) were the only sides not to crack the 300pt mark in RS competition. That said, the Fins lost two crucial games (to the Posse and Drillers) by 3pts or less and came that close to actually winning the Bon Accord Title at the first time of asking in their new home. The secret to Ian's relative success this term was that he largely kept in the games that were there to be won....but bombed when it would have needed a lot of points to succeed . Economy of effort that maybe comes with age !! Given the Ex Cooncil Hoose head honcho was actually in attendance at Chez McConnachie for the 2023 draft I can actually give a quick look back at his selection effort. Patrick Mahomes was a no-brainer at No 1 (although he actually had a sub -par year) with Aaron Jones effectively the best RB left come his turn in Round 2. Again Ian used a high pick on his back-up QB ( you can argue that worked out) taking Dak Prescott as his QB 2 with only the 25^th pick of the draft. That is one you can debate forever....value v denying a top QB to the opposition being the major parts of the equation. With Najee Harris and Khalil Herbert taken in Rd's 4 & 5 respectively as Compost strived to find a backfield combination, I cant find much issue with either of those ( except maybe Raheem Mostert was still out there) but a 3^rd QB taken in Rd 6 (Tua) , for me anyway , sees the value checksum shake itself apart. Kyle Pitts as the first player take in  the 7^th round was the first WR name on coach Sutherland's  pass catcher depth chart. Its little wonder his WR crew ranked 12^th overall.....which allied to Mahomes struggles at QB had much to do with sides early season malaise. Ian's reward for sticking with it in 2023 is a ticket to the 2024 draft where he will occupy the No 5 draft slot. The post season record between the two side now stands at 1-1 with the ATS 20-12 in Arnhall's favor.

Play-Off's 2nd Rd Round

Westburn Blades v Scunthorpe Steelers

Kincorth Killers v Caledonia Express

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Coach Meek's unmatched play-off smarts were in evidence again as his Scunthorpe Steelers ended the Wellington Rising's reign as ALFF Champions with a comfortable 31-20 win in this 1^st Rd play-off clash. This much anticipated showdown between the respective No 6 and 7 seeds was expected to go down to the wire at Hard Rock  on Monday night, but prior events effectively took Welly kicker Nick Folk out of range and the Steelmen did what they normally do in the early stages of the knock-out competition and simply pocketed the win and moved on. The networks had this clash of former Bon Accord Division rivals as the prime tie of the two, with a head to head battle royale between top rated QB's Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts the centre-piece. NFL bye weeks had denied us the spectacle of the League top signal-callers going mano a mano in an ALFF setting in Week 10 , when the Sowf London combo crushed the Hurtsless defending champions 41-16 in regular season action, but with both passers in place for this first ever post season meeting between the two sides, the outcome was expected to be significantly closer. Indeed a recent revival in the NZ side's 4^th rated ground game allied to the availability of his QB , saw coach Butter's combo listed as 2pt favorites. Team selections were not hugely different from Wk 13 outside of bye week tweaks (Allen for Bryce Young the obvious one) although injury forced the Kauri King to promote Tee Higgins at WR3 with Christian Watson injured. The opening action at Heinz Field did not bode well for the Granite Div representatives with recent addition at RB2 Jaylen Warren coming up empty and it didn't take long in the early Sunday window for the Whitby based outfit  to exploit that ranking difference in the respective running attacks when the highest scoring RB in PO history Alvin Kamara,  opened the scoring with a 9 yard TD run in New Orleans. As fate would have it , that would be the only lead the defending champions would hold. As Q1 gave way to Q2 , up at Soldier Field rookie runner  Jahmyr Gibbs restored parity to the score-line with a 12 yard TD scamper before back in the Dome the Steelmen jumped ahead 12-06 when their Saints DST returned a block punt 8 yards to paydirt. Both sides had their DST units in action in the early Sunday stanza but while Adamski's NO squad increasingly looked good for bonus points, it was a different story for Darren as his Cleveland unit steadily leaked points to the Jaguars despite a handful of turnovers. Puka Nacua was the other Scunny player in early action and although the rookie looked threatening, ultimately he would not trouble the scorers. Travis Etienne, an AB 30 hero for coach Butter, made it all square again at 12-12 with a goal-line score later in proceedings at Cleveland Stadium but ironically that score and the wider combined effect of the Jax offence, signaled a final goose egg for the Welly DST on the banks of Lake Erie. Down state in Cincinnati , WR Tee Higgins looked the mostly likely source of alternative Rising points in the opening Sunday period, as he strutted his stuff at Paycor Stadium but a slightly underthrown pass (when a longer one would have resulted in a score) and an overturned TD on an OPI call were as close as the retained wide-out got to avoiding a goose egg. Meanwhile back where the first phase scoring had started, the Saints DST held off Carolina with ease to add 4 bonus points to the Scunny total and we moved on to the late games with Adamski the happier of the two coaches 16-12 to the good. Late Sunday was crucial to the Steeler game-plan with QB Josh Allen and K Greg Joseph facing down lone Welly combatant WR Davante Adams. Let's deal with the passer first. Fresh from scooping the ALFF passing title, Allen looked crisp and up for it from the opening kick-off at Arrowhead.  A 25 yard TD strike was soon followed by a bullish 6 yard TD run and suddenly it  was 25-12 to the Steelmen with the best part of 3 quarters still to play. Thoughts of another double digit outing for the champion QB did not materialize however as surprisingly the points simply dried up. Over at Allegiant Stadium , where Greg Joseph and Davante Adams were locking horns, the term points dried up would have insinuated that someone had actually scored at some stage....and that increasingly looked unlikely in an offensive wasteland. Joseph did miss a 49 yard FG opportunity in the 2^nd quarter (wide right) but as the final gun got closer and closer a 0-0 scoreline (and OT) looked a distinct possibility. Finally just inside the 2 minute warning Joseph did manage a 36 yard FG to extend the Scunthorpe lead to 28-12 but there can be no doubt it was Dazzer who must have felt the better, having weathered an opening barrage and escaped this period with only 12pts leeched to his largely expended opponent..... in my book , very much advantage to the League Champions. We now moved to a hugely pivotal SNF fixture at Jerryworld , where Darren's Eagles combo of Jalen Hurts and A J Brown took on the recently hot Scunny WR pairing of Cooks and Lamb. With last man out Nick Folk up his Monday night sleeve coach Butter had to feel the current 13pt deficit was just on the edge of reasonable expectation range , so the task for his Philly duo had to be..... outscore his last direct opponents by a minimum of just 3pts. Surely that was a given from Hurts at least ? Well.... it didn't quite work out that way. An opening possession 13 yard counter from CeeDee Lamb swiftly made it 28-12 to the 2020 champions but more importantly was a statement of intent from the Dallas Cowboys who went on to dominate the Eagles in NFL terms. There were no more points for Lamb or Cooks.... but crucially Hurts was held scoreless for the first time ever in a Wellington jersey, with a matching Brown doughnut the rather obvious downside of the double dip pairing. It was almost like Josh Allen was rubbing his opponents face in his individual prize success. And that was virtually it. Needing what would have been the second highest kicking total in post season history to grab victory from the esophagus of defeat Nick Folk managed a creditable 8pts in closing on Monday night.....and the tie rather fizzled out as a comfortable 31-20 Adamski triumph. The Steelers improve to a League best 14-6 in post season competition , with their only loss in their last 9 knock-out ties coming in an ALFF Bowl 29 loss to the Killers. Next up it's the Westburn Blades.....the side they beat in their ALFF Bowl 28 triumph. Darren's title reign ended a lot more innocuously than the pundits expected. Everything was set up ahead of the SNF action to allow Hurts and co to get nice and close for a Monday night comeback win. What  a moment for the signal-caller  to fail to deliver. With this loss the window closes on the "Hurts epoch" at Kauri Towers as the passer ends his retained spell at Welly having been a 16^th Rd selection of the NZ head honcho in only his second draft. It was a bit of an odd ball campaign for the defending champions, setting a new ALFF mark as the first Martin Garioch ALFF Points Champions to  both score and concede 400pts and while coach Butter did indeed have one of the League's tougher schedules,  if his W/L tally was adjusted to take into account  two 30pt losses , it would only be fair to dock one of his seven actual wins ( 22-10 Wk 3 over the Apaches), so I would concede they maybe played more to an 8-5 level than their final 7-6. The reality was Dazzer's side had become heavily dependent on their passer since after the mid season plateau, with  their running game in particular hitting the wall until a Wk 13  revival just came along in time to ensure post season participation. It's a tad ironic both RB's scored again this week as Hurts finally came up empty. Travis Etienne is another player who returns to the open player pool in 2024. In terms of his draft, coach Butter has the luxury of a "stud" retained list with strength baked in at QB and RB  , so his selection of A J Brown as 12^th player overall , followed one pick later by Davante Adams was effectively his best option (Brown for the fit, Adams for the quality). Alvin Kamara was  a steal as the last player taken in Rd 3 (despite his early season ban). Subsequent picks RB Jamaal Williams and Rashaad Penny were maybe more of  a stretch especially as back to back choices, although   with the former swiftly sidelined by injury, it's hard to know about that one. Given his roster depth perhaps a quicker reach for a top three kicker may have brought more reward than eventual 7^th Rd pick Wil Lutz. Back-up QB Daniel Jones ("he will only be needed for one game") also seemed like a poor value option in Rd 6. Outside a shrinking existing list, RB's Tank Bigsby and Sean Tucker are the only new eye candy in Welly's potential retained list. In short my draft marking for the top eight was "superb early... but faded ". Coach Butter will pick in the No 6 slot in 2024. Adamski's two 2023 wins over Darren gives him a 6-4 lead in  the ATS.

Not much in terms of Big Plays to work with this week.....but I will go with Caledonia Express WR D J Moore’s tone setting 18 yard run around left end (from a direct snap) for a TD. Other candidates were QB Josh Allen's bull run for a score and the Steelers Saints DST blocked punt for six.