Founded 1992   

2023 Rd 2 Report & Scoresheet 

Blades Baker Up A Burger

Blades RB Kyren Williams make it 50pts with this 2pt attempt plunge.

Prior to this Round 2 match-up, the one and only time the Westburn Blades have met the Scunthorpe Steelers in prior post season competition was the latter's record setting 60-20 victory in ALFF Bowl 28 but coach Youngblood totally changed the narrative here while extracting a serous level of revenge, as his rampant charges bulldozed their way to the final four with an epic 50-34 demolition of the number 6 seeds, to record the first ever 50 burger at this round of the knock-out stages. This tie had  all the hallmarks of a post season classic and even if it did not quite live up to it's potential to be a thriller, it certainly hit the high spots in almost every other area in a record breaking encounter. Having had a week to prepare the back in Berryden coaching committee had thought long and hard about their starting eight, with the inclusion of  late regular season trade acquisition QB Baker Mayfield possibly the most calculated of all. WR Stefon Diggs resumed at WR after missing the RS finale for bye week reasons. Adamksi opted to break up his recently productive double headed Pokes WR duo by recalling WR Gabe Davis in place of Brandin Cooks but was otherwise unchanged from the side that ended the Wellington Rising's reign as League champions in Week 14. The tie had two intriguing hot spots at either end of the set-up with a Lions flavored Saturday night flash point, with absolute fireworks expected at Orchard Park in the late Sunday window, where Josh Allen , Gabe Davis and Ceedee Lamb faced off against Stefon Diggs and the League best Dallas DST. The two sides had met in regular season action, way back in Week 4 when Stuie's boys dropped their opponents 53-33, where RB Kyren Williams, WR Stefon Diggs and that Dallas DST had been the difference makers. The opening Saturday action was drawn out over a NFL triple header and initially at least, it looked as if cagey kicking games would limit both camps. Crucial Nick Mullens INT's denied Steelers kicker Greg Joseph at least two chip shot FG opportunities as the Vikings battled at Paycor Stadium although a 39 FG and 3 PATs made the opening 6pt statement from Adamski a little better than it looked at one stage. Saturday Act 2 was at Lucas Oil Field, with Blades first man out Matt Gay facing down RB Jaylen Warren on the other side of the LOS. The RB had two early chances to shine with stymied goal-line rushing attempts then largely disappeared en-route to a goose egg but Gay's ability to exploit that , initially at least, seemed headed along the same path as his in game kicking opponent. With two quarters done and just a pair of XP's and a missed 56 yard FG to show for it, something around a 06-06 tie looked more than likely. However a late burst of FG action from the veteran ( and play-off savvy) specialist saw him add  FGs from 29, 31 and finally 42 yards to spot the No 3 seeds a handy 12-06 advantage. The final Saturday drama came at Ford Field with an unprecedented rookie shoot out between Adamski weapon RB Jahmyr Gibbs and coach Bothwell Jnr's TE Sam LaPorta. The ball carrier was favorite to win a scoring battle but in the end the two had to call it honors even as Gibbs 9 yard TD reception and 12 yard rushing TD were cancelled out by a wonderous pass catching treble from LaPorta , his scoring efforts coming from 19 , 3 and 10 yards respectively, taking the scoreboard to its pre Sunday 21-15 look in favor of the ex-coach Kiwi. Poised beautifully after that electric Saturday scrap in Detroit, the pundits felt the tie was favoring the Blades..... with the prospect of a promised thriller to come and something special from that aforementioned Orchard Park hot spot. However before we got to that point the opening Sabbath stanza had a little wrinkle up it's sleeve. Youngblood worked frantically behind the scenes in the days ahead of this season's trade deadline to secure a QB alternative and with Bandit like guile had prized Baker Mayfield  from the Coyotes bench. On this his Blades debut, the passer went gangbusters. A steady outing for the signal-caller based on 19 , 28 and 2 yard TD tosses  were certainly pointing him in the direction of a "safe pair of hands" category but a stunning late 52 yard strike to non ALFF WR David Moore ( did he really cross the plane before losing the ball ??) , moved him in to "standout class" as the Blades total unexpectedly shot up to 36pts. A score from the only other Blade in action Kareem Hunt would all but have ended the contest , but happily from the Lincoln Lad's point of view at any rate, the Browns runner came up empty. Coach Meek's only recourse at this stage was his Saints DST and although a TD would not have been refused at the Furnace a useful 4 bonus points from that direction at least kept the tie alive down 19-35. Once the late Sunday stanza opened it became clear that the "secondary" hot spot at Sofi Stadium where Westburn duo RB Kyren Williams and WR Cooper Kupp were strutting their stuff against another excellent rookie WR Puka Nacua , had the ability to swiftly sideline the main event in Buffalo and that's exactly what happened. A late Q2 one yard TD blast by Williams (set-up by a preceding 9 yard Kupp reception)  swelled the Pittodrie Div combo's lead to 42-19 and almost took them out of reach of Allen and Co on the Steelers side of the equation. Any doubt about that was expunged when two plays into Q3 at Sofi , Cooper Kupp scooted 62 yards to paydirt untouched on a bust play. For the record the action at Orchard Park was not without its merits as newly crowned QB champion Josh Allen battled to a creditable 9pts on the back of an 18 yard TD toss and a typical 1 yard TD run and WR CeeDee Lamb enhanced his growing reputation as a December player with a 3 yard rushing TD but it was polo mints for the opposing Bills wide-outs and the Dallas DST. The final cherry on "a cake called revenge" for coach Youngblood was a successful 2pt attempt run by Kyren Williams back at Sofi that padded his final tally to 50pts.... thus nailing down his place in ALFF history as the first coach to put two 50 burgers on the same opponent in the same season. Remarkably this success was the Blades first play-off win since beating the Arnhall Dolphins in the 3^rd Rd of 2020 competition  and paradoxically Adamski's first ever PO2 loss. The Blades 50pts erased the old 49pt 2^nd Round highest winning total record (held jointly by the Garthdee Gryphons , Stonehaven Raiders and the Wrecking Rebels), while Sam LaPorta's 9pts equaled the Rd 2 scoring record for a WR (Mushin Muhamed, Kincorth City Chiefs 1999). This was the 5^th game between the two side to feature a 50pt scoreline with Bothwell the Younger holding a 3-2 edge in those. Stuie moves on to 3^rd clash against a injury ravaged 2 Minute Drillers and confidence must be high in the Knife Drawer that a date with an all Pittodrie Division ALFF Bowl is in his destiny. Key players have relatively favorable match-ups over the closing two weeks, but you can be sure there will be no over-confidence at the Knife Drawer as they seek to end that long Steven Wood success famine. Coach Meek might have sensed this was coming his way having watched his Raiders post a franchise record score against the hapless Chargers on Thursday ( being a Raider means knowing a slap in the chops is just round the corner, even more so after a good day !) and truly he can have no complaints  having just lost out to a side who were  better on the day. Coming off his first ever play-off miss other than his rookie season,  the Lincoln Lad's 2023 mantra appeared to be "reset and rebuild" and I have to say he came close to actually going a great deal further than that , with his late season form reminiscent of his regular Bowl runs. Division pennants have never been a big part of the Sowf London outfits DNA but runs to the business end of the campaign have, and they seemed to settle in their new Granite Div home after a slow start. The lack of a running game until rookie Jahmyr Gibbs started to blossom from the mid-season plateau onward was definitely holding the side back, as was their more customary weak spot, that 11^th ranked kicking game. In truth the kicking unit, although 11^th was only just below the 100pt mark with mid range spots less than 10pts away in a very generic term for the position. Josh Allen was without doubt the franchise MVP ( and likely League one too)  with his final RS tally of 135pts a new franchise record , with late season Jahmyr Gibbs and CeeDee Lamb the other big contributors. Drafting in an unaccustomed No 2 slot coach Meek made the best selection of Sep 3^rd by taking Josh Allen as the second player taken, with the aforementioned Lamb and Gibbs as almost back to back choices at the bottom of the 2^nd and top of the 3^rd Rounds better than solid. A poll on draft day may suggested that was too high a value for the rookie running back..... the next three season will likely prove otherwise. A final flirt with old favorite ( but injury cursed) J K Dobbins fed into the early season running problems narrative but a typically measured addition of the likes of Amari Cooper, Gabe Davis helped give Adamski's top eight a very "solid with lots of upside" mark. Outside his early choices the pick up of Jaxon Smith-Njigba , Michael Mayar and Puka Nacua marks the 2023 draft as a likely new Steelers genesis. Granite Division opponents be aware. The last named in particular as a 21^st round selection  is arguably the best value choice of the year. The Lincoln Lad will draft in spot 7 in 2024. The two coaches are now tied at 1-1 in post season matches.... but Stuie now leads the ATS 7-4.

Double Mostert Is Too Hot For Posse

Raheem Mostert scores untouched on this 2 yard run for the Killers.

Despite a liberal application of lipstick , this all Granite Division affair was still recognizable as a play-off pig at the end of the day, but that will not matter down Kincorth way as the No 4 seeds somehow held off the underwhelming Caledonia Express 21-18 to advance to the last four. The tie appeared to be there for the taking for coach McConnachie Jnr from the very off, right through to Monday night,  but needing just 9pts from fading kicker Jake Elliott to get over the line in the closing MNF action, the specialist fell a full FG short of forcing OT or better, allowing the Killers to ride off into the Pacific North West sunset. The last time these two had met was back in a defining Week 13 thriller when the Divisionally dominant Double K sensationally left it late to outscore their GDiv Title scenting opponents 52-46 to snatch away the pennant and the single bye week berth (it would actually have been a double week for the Posse) but while there was a lot of expectation this might be another close one , the odds of a second straight turkey-shoot were not high after a stalling Thursday night prologue. Indeed the opening period could not have gone much worse for Geacher the Younger. Kicker Riley Paterson was surprisingly and belatedly demoted at Detroit after missing an XP  in Week 14 leaving the Special K selection Krewe little option but to roll with back-up Cameron Dicker. With Austin Ekeler and the Chargers DST already on the team-sheet that looked like an awful lot of eggs in a Bolts shaped basket on Thursday night.... especially given the perennial NFL underachievers were facing down bitter rivals the Raiders with a back up QB under center. As it turned out, it was not a full on omlette-fest.... but it was not far short as the Chargers were obliterated at Allegiant. Dicker did manage 3 XP's (all in second half garbage time), but Ekeler as the only real offensive threat was simply schemed out of things and the DST were lucky to escape with zero given they shipped an eye watering 63pts before LV relented. Saturday should have been the day the aforementioned Paterson built a potential match winning base for the newly crowned GDiv champions but instead they seemed stunned. WR Ja'Marr Chase (who played a significant part in the high scoring Wk 13 comeback)  was unable to shift the needle as he went first at Paycor Stadium leading us neatly to Ford Field in the early hours of Sunday morning with Courtland Sutton facing down the Posse's first two starters RB David Montgomery and his Lions DST team-mates. Sutton, with only one miss in his last six starts , also carded a doughnut and even though that was largely in keeping with the other ALFF combatants in this game ( Montgomery 0, Lions DST 1 bonus point) a 03-01 score-line with only three names left on his team-lines hardly looked like a tenable position for the four times champions......and Vegas agreed, listing the Posse as big 4pt favorites ahead of the 2 main Sunday phases. As Sunday opened their was a nasty twist for the Express as Tyreek Hill at first suited up and ran some pre-match drills before being listed as a very late inactive,  but his no-show might only have served to drop the predicted spread from 4pts to 3pts. With Hill gone the first Sunday window was reduced to a RB battle between respective starters Raheem Mostert and Rachaad White with the latter having additional support from Posse Rd 1 stand-out WR D J Moore, and it was truly now or never for Andrew with his options running short. Mostert has been sensational this season, and once again he rose to the challenge. An early red-zone opportunity saw the rock carrier held short on two straight plays on the goal-line at Hard Rock, but a bounce out to the left saw him score with ease on a 2 yard run on third down. Up at Cleveland Stadium the Bears were struggling to move the ball versus the Browns combative defence and flashes of D J Moore were rare as he headed inexorably towards another WR goose egg for the now edgy Mini Mac. With half time approaching Mostert doubled his tally with a second goal-line conversion and suddenly the idea that Kincorth were still in this did not look so outlandish at 15-01. RB Rachaad White had only scored twice this term for the Express, so it was little wonder his mid 3^rd quarter 26 yard TD grab might be taken as a sign the ALFF Gods were still rooting for a Marty tinged final play-off story as the Express recovered to a 04-15 position as the early stanza concluded. The tie had a different complexion now, with the Killers having those all important points on the board, meaning un-opposed Matt Stafford and Brandon Aiyuk had to make in-roads into that 11pt deficit for the Express to limit Trevor Lawrence's ability to rescue the situation for the Double K in the NBC game at Jax. The CalX passer has looked a different player in recent weeks behind a maturing Rams offensive line, but on the night his overall efficiency rather played to short FG opportunities and goal lines runs rather than a rash of passing TD's. With no score from him (or Aiyuk over in Glendale) by half time the pressure was mounting again on the Posse sideline. Finally a busted coverage allowed Stafford an easy 62 yard TD  strike early in the third quarter with a later 23 yard arrow taking his final tally to 9pts. Despite Aiyuk being unable to match that second half response, the Boot Hill side were now right back in the driving seat , still trailing , but only just at 13-15, as all eyes switched to the banks of the St John River and the SNF fixture In Jacksonville.   Strangely this was actually Trevor Lawrence's first start in any ALFF play-off capacity and for long spells he was under pressure with the Jaguars rarely able to get into Ravens territory. It was principally his heroics that had got the Double K over the line (literally) in that Week 13 epic , surely he couldn't repeat the exercise ? From seemingly nowhere, without a point on the board midway thru Q3 , Lawrence found a wide open receiver for a 62 yard hook-up for the longest score of his career. The similarities to opponent Matt Stafford's earlier effort were spookily similar in almost every aspect (timing, distance and execution). The passer could not add to that big score but its effect was enormous , setting up that Monday night finale in Seattle, with Jake Elliott chasing those 9 pts while hoping last Killer standing WR DK Metcalf did not move the goal posts. As we have seen Elliott managed just two XPs and a 27 yard FG with any hopes of a last gasp game changer taken away by a sensational Seahawks INT with just 13 seconds left.  D K Metcalf did not trouble the scorers. Coach McGeachy Jnr advances to the 3^rd Rd largely on the back of his 7-0 record versus Divisional opponents this term , but now faces a healthy doze of reality in the shape of a Laurel Lions side that whipped them soundly on opening weekend. There are no Granite Div opponents left on his path to any potential Steven Wood glory. With Trevor Lawrence in concussion protocol, Ja'Marr Chase also doubtful and his kicking options possibly down to just one player, the Kincorth roster depth is being sorely tested at this point. That said, the Killers would not be the first side to survive a sub-par early round performance and go on  to win the whole enchilada, and with the Steelers demise in the other 2^nd Rd fixture, Geacher the Younger does have the distinction of having the "best" post season W/L percentage of the remaining four coaches. Sadly for Mini-Mac there was no fairytale ending to his first season as Caledonia Express head coach hit the buffers.  Tyreek Hill has undoubtedly been the 2023 Express MVP with his 4^th individual WR title (his 3^rd in a Posse shirt) ultimately the biggest take-away for the Boot Hill faithful in this emotional first season without Marty at the helm. Kicker Jake Elliott will also get some plaudits for his overall input, but a closer look in that direction sees his stunning form thru the opening 5 weeks rather masks a "no better than average" performance from that point on. The specialists impact was heavily reflected in the Granite Div newbies going from 5-0 , to limping in at 7-6 at season end. Joe Burrow's injury hit campaign ( at both beginning and end)  certainly impacted Andy's efforts to bring glory to the founder franchise in his return to the ALFF arena. Marty's fingerprints were still there on draft day in the shape of retained players Joe Burrow, RB Isiah Pacheco and WR Brandon Aiyuk the biggest names , but their relative high value limited the new HC's ability to put his own identity on his first big day in the CalX draft room and my comments here will be limited accordingly.  Tyreek Hill (in the second round) was his first hands on selection, and Andy clearly knocked it out of the park there, but Calvin Ridley in the 4^th Round was perhaps a reach given the existing depth at the position already available to him, with some reasonable RB options still available, leading to another questionable pick at Rd 5 , RB Miles Sanders, after a run on those reasonable runners. Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me from Mini-Mac's first draft in 5 seasons was the relative lack of rookies selected with just two new WR's available for 2024 retention. With Burrow and a couple of Ex Marty favorites back in the 2024 player pool, perhaps we will see a more Andy like draft outcome from the 8^th slot position he will occupy. Geacher the Elder has won all four of the post season encounters against the CalX.