Week 1 - Sunday Games

What an amazing opening week for the LFL!. Lots of close games, a couple comebacks and a few upsets,
showing that the LFL intends to live up to my hopes of putting the best to the test.

AFC


Despite a tough time passing, the ‘08 Titans beat the ‘69 Browns 20-13. Cleveland’s Cockroft only made 2
of an alarmingly 5 field goal attempts, as Tennessee’s defense had a great performance. Cleveland’s Nelsen threw for 278 yards, but just couldn’t close the deal.
‘99 Jaguars won a close one over the ‘69 Chiefs with a late 4th Quarter TD, 33-31. The Chiefs kept the lead
most of the game, but Brunell staged a 4th quarter comeback of 20 points, throwing for 223 yards and 3 TDs.
Jimmy Smith came up with 11 of those catches for 134 yards and 2 TDs,.
‘68 Jets didn’t let up at all against the ‘90 Bills, holding the Thurminator to under 60 yards and keeping
Jim Kelly’s no huddle at bay. The Jets came on top 27-9, as Snell snuck in 2 running TD’s and Turner
put up 3 field goals.
Csonka ran up an impressive 151 yards and two 2nd quarter TDs for the ‘72 Dolphins. But the ‘00 Ravens,
despite an absurd 7 turnovers, kept consistent with their scoring and put the game into overtime, picking up
the winning TD to lead 26-20. 
‘79 San Diego won over the ‘68 Colts, 31-20 with an overwhelming 372 passing yards by Dan Fouts.
The Chargers had double the time of possession of the Colts. Morrall had a poor performance overall
for Baltimore, who just couldn’t muster much offense at all. 
‘88 Cincinnati Bengals came up big against the ‘13 Seahawks, winning 34-6.  Esiason threw 2 TD passes
and Woods ran one in, but it was the Bengals defense that came up huge. They held Seattle’s offense to
just 167 passing yards, with Horton picking off Russel Wilson for a 56 yd TD in the 4th Quarter.
In the evening game, the ‘76 Steelers took on the ‘07 Patriots in a matchup of 2 great dynasty teams. It was
a close game, with the Patriots just coming on top 16-13. While the Steelers had a  good running game, the
NE defense held Bradshaw to just 163 yards. Tom Brady, in typical fashion, spread his offense among 6
receivers and 3 or more backs, throwing for 263 yards with ~60% accuracy.

NFC


The 2017 Eagles blew away the ‘91 Redskins 27-10. Wentz spread the Eagles offense around, throwing
for over 270 yards with 1 TD, running in 2 himself and giving Blount a chance to run 98 yards, The Eagles
D also kept the Redskins at bay, holding them to only 24 rush yards and 114 yards passing.
The ‘75 Vikings just edged out the ‘98 Falcons with a 4th quarter comeback, winning 24-23 on a last
minute field goal. The Falcons’ Jamal Anderson put up a decent 129 rush yards on 33 carries, and their
defense was impressive, but Tarkenton’s 247 passing yards proved a slight edge in the contest.
The ‘15 Panthers squeezed out a win over the ‘73 Rams, 10-7 with a late 4th quarter field goal. The Rams
defense looked great, but Hadl looked terrible as the Panthers’ D picked him off three times, keeping him
to only 59 yards.
The ‘15 Cardinals almost managed to shut out the ‘91 Detroit Lions, who didn’t score until 3:47 in the
4th Quarter with a Barry Sanders run. Sanders, who ran for 124 yards, just couldn’t carry his team.
For the Cardinals, Palmer hit 8 different receivers for 213 yards, with Fitzgerald grabbing 2 TD’s in Q4.
Arizona - 42, Detroit 7
The game between the ‘86 Giants vs. ‘92 Cowboys did not disappoint. Dallas took a big lead early on, up
27-13 at the half. Phil Simms put together a good pass attack and brought the Giants close in the 2nd half.
But the NY defense couldn’t seem to stop Emmit Smith, who had an impressive 191 yards and 2 TDs
(one for 41 yards!) Alex Wright also returned a kickoff from NY for an 88 yard TD. Dallas 34, NY 30.

The 02 Buccs upset the ‘89 49ers 30-7 at home. Gramatica went 3/3 on FG’s and Brad Johnson threw for
324 yards with an amazing 81% accuracy. He spread out his attack to 8 different receives, but it was Keyshawn
Johnson who came up big with 2 TDs. The 9’ers just couldn’t get together enough offense. Craig had just
over 30 yards, and Montana was held to 188 yards, getting picked off twice by Tampa Bay’s strong defense.

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