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[ Watch The Birdie, Episode IV - A New Hope (Page 10) ] Week 10 - Bye It's that time again! Righty. So I'm sure you're dying to know the state of the nation. Well, it looks a little like this: NFC West Man. It's just a celebration of mediocrity in the division this year. Hilariously, our good friends the Rams have scored more points (206) than they've conceded (203), yet have still managed to stumble to just a 3-6 record. The wider picture in the NFC sees us with a 2-game lead over the resurgent Green Bay Packers in the race for home field advantage. The Trite Loins sit at 6-3 behind them and, naturally, Minnesota and Chicago are nowhere. There's the now-traditional log-jam at the head of the NFC East, with three teams at 5-4 and only Dallas out of the running. In the South, the Bucs are in front, also at 5-4, with the Saints and Falcons sitting a game further back. Yep, us aside there are only two teams in the conference above 5-4 this year. It's a vintage season for the NFC, no question. In the AFC, the Bengals were the early pace-setters, leaping out to a 7-0 start before suddenly remembering they were the Bengals and losing the last two games on the bounce. Even more astonishingly, the Chargers have a share of the lead in the AFC West, although admittedly only at 5-4.
Yeah, well. So much for those other losers. What sort of shape are your ever-lovin' Arizona Cardinals in the year? I'm so glad you asked.
OFFENCE PASSING (League rank - 3rd) CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK TD INT LONG RATING Jeff Blake* 144 222 1994 64 8.9 11 19 7 80 108.9 Brian Griese 14 22 138 63 6.2 1 0 1 31 62.3 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG LNG TD DROP YAC
Bryant Johnson* 38 706 18.5 80 9 4 303
Anquan Boldin* 48 658 13.7 68 6 3 252
Shaun McDonald 22 365 16.5 57 2 0 129
Brian Westbrook 21 172 8.1 35 1 1 184
Freddie Jones 11 115 10.4 18 0 3 36
Marcel Shipp 14 87 6.2 25 1 3 82
Well, everything seems to be ticking along nicely. All the big guns are cruising happily toward the ballpark of the sort of (excellent) numbers they put up last season. The single big jump is in Jeff Blake's quarterback efficiency rating, which has leaped up 10 points from about 95 last season to 108.9. Oh, and Brian Westbrook has already racked up more receiving yardage through nine games than any of my backs managed in the whole of last season. Which is just as well, given his below-feeble impact on the run-game, as we shall shortly see... RUSHING (League rank - 6th) ATT YDS AVG LNG TD FUM Marcel Shipp* 269 1058 3.9 37 13 4 Brian Westbrook 20 49 2.4 11 0 3 James Hodgins* 9 18 2.0 6 1 0 Well, on the upside, Marcel is over a thousand yards already and is on-course for one of the ten best rushing seasons of all time. On the downside, to achieve that he's had to register nearly thirty carries a game. Given that he started to wear down toward the end of last year's regular season, this is a matter of some concern. Brian Westbrook was brought in during this off-season specifically to give us a change-of-pace back, and one who could be used to spell Shipp and keep the big back fresh. That plan rapidly went the way of Stephen Seagal's career, however, as he proved completely and utterly unable to hang on to the ball at critical junctures. So, much depends on Marcel's fitness. If his legs get heavy as the season wears off or, God forbid, he suffers an injury, our currently-impressive running game could end up in the tank real quick. BLOCKING PNCK S.ALD Leonard Davis* 38 4 L.J. Shelton* 37 0 Pete Kendall* 30 0 James Hodgins* 24 1 Roberto Garza 13 2 Koren Freeman 12 0 Freddie Jones 8 0 What can I say? Once again, the big boys up front are keeping up their end of the deal. DEFENCE (League rank - 29th yards, 10th points) TACKLES TOT TACKLES FOR LOSS TOT Adrian Wilson* 53 Levar Fisher* 12 Levar Fisher* 41 Ronald McKinnon 4 Dexter Jackson* 33 Raynoch Thompson 4 Ronald McKinnon 28 Wendell Bryant 4 Jed Bowden* 27 Larry Dickerson 3 SACKS TOT FUMBLES FRCD REC Calvin Pace* 9 Adrian Wilson* 2 0 Shaun Rogers 4 Levar Fisher* 1 1 Wendell Bryant 3 Calvin Pace* 1 0 Larry Dickerson 2 Dexter Jackson* 1 0 Raynoch Thompson 2 David Barrett 1 0 INTERCEPTIONS INT RYD TD DEF Jed Bowden* 8 231 3 12 Shawn Springs* 5 53 2 11 Levar Fisher* 5 32 0 2 Dexter Jackson* 4 57 1 5 Adrian Wilson* 2 2 0 10 David Barrett 2 9 0 5 And this is where we see the rewards of the team growing into Monte Kiffin's cover-2. Alright, so 29th in the league in defensive yardage doesn't sound that great on the face of it. But when you consider that we've been dead last in that category for the last two years, and that we've cracked the top 10 in the, let's face it, slightly more important category of points conceded, well - it's time to break out the champagne! Our improvement is almost entirely born out of our increased interception total - Shawn Springs has come in and made an immediate impact, not least in that his presence has relieved 2nd-year player Jed Bowden of the need to cover the opposition's top receiver. It's a slight concern that Bowden hasn't had a pick since Week 5, but with other players picking up the slack it doesn't seem to have hurt us overmuch so far. The other big surprise on defence this year is that 2004's breakout player, will linebacker Levar Fisher has yet to get to the quarterback after being the NFL's sack leader last year. That isn't to say that he's having a bad year, though, far from it - because he's being used less on blitzes and being allowed instead to use his speed and quickness playing in space, he's already topped his team-leading 11 tackles-for-loss total from last season and registered an impressive five picks. Which isn't too shabby. At this point, just past halfway, we have an amazing six defensive players being tabbed for the Pro-Bowl. Given that even half that total would be the most I've ever sent to Hawaii in my Madden career, you know - damn. KICKING FGM FGA PCT BLK XPA XPM PCT BLK Bill Gramatica 8 9 88 0 41 41 100 0 PUNTING ATT YDS AVG LNG BLK IN20 TB Scott Player 25 1343 53.7 79 0 8 10 KICK RETURNS ATT YDS AVG TD LNG Brian Westbrook 14 268 19.1 0 29 Terry Fair 20 361 18.0 0 28 PUNT RETURNS ATT YDS AVG LNG TD Brian Westbrook 22 278 12.6 31 0 Pretty bleh, as ever. Still, Scotty Player is in the middle of a career year, and it'll be an absolute travesty if he doesn't force his way into the reckoning for a Pro Bowl spot. [
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