I wasn't going to do blog posts this year anyway, those get maybe 9-12 views and it's more time consuming to embed the plays for highlights. I had completed some of the Wildcard the other day but didn't post what I had wrote and it disappeared when the sim ran. So I'll just do a quick overview of those 6 games.

Oklahoma 40 Detroit 7

Raymond Settles threw for 402 yards and 2 TDs as the Outlaws scored on their first 6 possessions to win going away. Arthur Reina (9-167) and Ronald Dingle (8-125-1) both topped 100 yards receiving to help Oklahoma keep the ball 44 minutes.

San Jose 15 Memphis 7

San Jose wins the defensive battle of attrition as neither offense topped 200 yards. SaberCats QB Brian Carmichael was 14/17 for just 70 yards but he wasn't sacked and didn't turn the ball over, unlike his counterpart Norman Maldonado, who threw 4 INTs.

Portland 16 Honolulu 10

Honolulu played tough defense, intercepting Raymond Oswalt twice, but the Hawaiians could never get their run game going. Portland led 16-3 after 3 quarters but Honolulu got a TD midway through the 4th to make it a one score game. Their last two drives started in bad field position (own 11, own 1) and they didn't come close to scoring again. Despite the pair of INTs, Oswalt led the Storm to the win behind a pair of big play TDs, 39 yards to Keith McGhee and 61 yards to James Kendrick.

New Orleans 13 Birmingham 6

New Orleans had a chance to take an early lead after their first drive but a missed FG kept the VooDoo off the board. Early in the 2nd, the VooDoo defense intercepted Russell Gall to set up the offense in the red zone. It took 6 plays to cover 17 yards but Willie Graham got the 6 yard TD pass for a 7-0 lead. The rest of the game saw just FGs and Birmingham was driving for the tying TD late in the 4th, but the offense stalled at the New Orleans 9 and the VooDoo advance.

New Jersey 31 Orlando 22

This game had offense from both teams, 350+ yards each. New Jersey QB Eric Hansen threw for 345 yards and 4 TD passes as the Generals led 17-3 at the half. Orlando shut down the Generals running game though, holding them to 6 yards on 16 carries and the Renegades offense began to chip away at the lead. They got to within 17-16 at one point in the 3rd before Hansen's 3rd TD pass, then Damien Oleary's 2nd TD pass got Orlando within 2, but the 2 point try failed. Hansen's 4th TD pass went for 75 yards to The Big Lebowski and the Generals defense forced an INT and a turnover on downs to advance.

Pittsburgh 12 Shreveport 11

This was a tough deal for both teams as JB90 stepped into an unfamiliar team and did the best he could while Loftusranger was scouting blind, not knowing if and/or how JB was going to change things up. Shreveport had the better stats, out gaining the defending champs 274-116, although neither team scored a TD. Shreveport got 3 FGs and a safety on a sack in the end zone while Pittsburgh made 4 FGs. Two of those FGs were set up by short fields after Erik McNamee INTs. The game winning FG was the result of the Maulers offense and Gary Ridgeway nailed the 56 yard kick with 1:30 to play, allowing the champs to advance.

Time to recap the Divisional Round.

Houston 43 Oklahoma 20

Oklahoma QB Raymond Settles completed 35/45 for 252 yards and 2 TDs while Arthur Reina caught 15 passes for 122 yards but it wasn't enough to advance. Houston's Bryan Franklin completed 27/41 for 461 yards and 6 TDs. Harley Race led the receivers with 141 yards and 2 TDs. The Outlaws also shot themselves in the foot with 4 fumbles, losing 3 of them.

Portland 19 San Jose 6

San Jose had 13 injured players, including QB Brian Carmichael while Portland had 9 on their injury report. Despite Carmichael's gimpy leg, he threw 71 passes which is 1 short of the all time post season record of 72 by Honolulu's David McBroom way back in 1982. Carmichael completed 44, which is 3rd most in the post season (49-Dale Brown, OKL 1981) for 328 yards and a TD. Carmichael also threw 5 INTs though, and combined with 5 turnovers on downs, the SaberCats were behind the 8 ball all day long. San Jose outgained Portland 313-190 but all of those short field led to points for Portland as they advance to play Houston.

Philadelphia 44 New Jersey 25

New Jersey put up 387 yards of offense but unfortunately for them, they didn't start moving the ball until they were down 28-0 in the 2nd qtr. The Generals defense had no answer for Roderick Uribe as he caught 10 ***** for 197 yards and 3 TDs. New Jersey would chip away at that 28-0 lead but they aren't the Jacksonville Jaguars, and could only get within 31-19, then 34-25 before the Bell scored the final 10 points to advance.

New Orleans 15 Pittsburgh 0

This game was all defense as we saw 190 offensive yards and no TDs. That's 190 yards combined as Pittsburgh ended the day with negative 23 yards passing. Brian White was 9/26 for 52 yards and an INT while getting sacked 10 times for 75 yards in losses. One of those sacks happened in the end zone for a safety while that INT was returned for a TD. That gave the defense 8 points scored while K Mark Adams scored the other 7 with an XP and a pair of FGs. Six different VooDoo defenders recorded sacks with Frank Inman leading the way with 3, and he scored the safety.

Portland 27 Houston 19

Bryan Franklin used up all his passing stats last week as he only threw for 231 yards tonight with 1 TD. Portland handed Houston some short fields going for 4th down conversions and failing but the Storm defense held strong in the red zone to only trail 16-3 at the half.

Portland scored on all but one second half possession, taking the lead for good late in the 4th qtr. Raymond Oswalt threw for 278 yards and 3 TDs, with 2 scores going to Patrick Peavey in the final 5 minutes of the game.

Portland advances to play in the franchise's 6th World Bowl, 3rd under Warthog.

New Orleans 31 Philadelphia 10

Philadelphia got out to a quick 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage as Bryant Smith found Kirk Buterbaugh for a 75 yard TD, and the Bell had to be feeling good. The rest of the game was not so kind as Philadelphia turned the ball over 4 times and had a missed FG, scoring just 3 points over the final 59:10.

New Orleans wasn't efficient with the ball either as Willie Graham threw 3 INTs, but he offset that with 3 TD passes, 2 to Benjamin Jones. The VooDoo offense has struggled this post season but their defense is more than making up for that as they beat the Bell to advance to the World Bowl.

This will be the 5th World Bowl for New Orleans under 3 different owners. Current San Antonio owner greyghost1225 led New Orleans to World Bowls III and VII while it lists AI as who led them to World Bowl XVIII, although that was Smirt. This is the 2nd World Bowl for current owner Legendruthless.