by Gerald Udowiczenko

Well, what an impressive week Five was for overtime games. The two games in the AFC & NFC East, which featured unbeaten teams, went to the wire. With the Bills and Cowboys coming up trumps. We had another shutout, 3 teams were kept to Field Goals, or TD's by the defence. It looks like NFLAB is really warming up to be a monster of a defensive league under v2.15. It look like we'll have to wait a long time for those higher scoring games, that some of us were expecting.

Thanks to Graham and Jon for this weeks contributions

BB (5-0, W5) @ TB (3-2, W1) 1996 Season (7 - 38)
Gerald : Can't really see the Bills loosing, but the Buccs will keep it close. Bills by 10.
Jon : A major surprise if the Bills slip up here. Buffalo by 14.
Graham : BB by 14.

CB (2-3, L1) @ NJ (4-1, L1) 1999 Season (10 - 42)
Gerald : The Bears have looked very Hot & Cold of late. This match looks to be Cold. Jets by 10.
Jon : This could be closer, but the Jets have too much on offence. New York by 14.
Graham : NJ by 17.

NE (3-2, W3) @ SF (2-3, W1) 1998 Season (3 - 31)
Gerald : No Comment.
Jon : The 49ers team haven't got going yet, whereas the Pats D have. New England by 3.
Graham : NE by 3.

NO (0-5, L13) @ MD (1-4, L2) 1999 Season (34 - 10)
Gerald : The Fish are a lot better than their 1-4 record, which will show against the Saints who haven't look good yet this season. Dolphins by 9.
Jon : Geoff must be somewhat depressed with his team's form, especially as they used to be quite scary. The Dolphins are a better team than 1-4 and will show it. Miami by 7.
Graham : MD by 7.

CI (4-1, W2) @ SR (5-0, W13) 1999 Season (0 - 24)
Gerald : Possibly game of the week. Unfortunately the Rams are at home, so I think luck will favour them, as it has for too long now. Peter should be able to keep it close but not close enough. Rams by 3.
Jon : I believe Peters never scored against Graham. He'll struggle again. St Louis by 3.
Graham : SR by 3.

AF (2-3, L3) @ PS (2-3, L1) 1997 Season (15 - 29)
Gerald : What has happened to the Falcons, 3 losses in a row. This visit to Pittsburgh should see them back to winning ways. Falcons by 10.
Jon : This could be what Paul needs to get back on track. Atlanta by 7.
Graham : AF by 7.

CL (0-5, L6) @ WR (3-2, W3) 1998 Season (21 - 10)
Gerald : Should be an easy win for the Skins. Washington by 10.
Jon : The Redskins stay in touch in the East. Washington by 10.
Graham : WR by 7.

AC (0-5, L14) @ TT (4-1, W4) Last Season (7 - 37)
Gerald : The Titan are looking like their old selves again. But It could be hard against the Cards D, which is playing like a team possessed, shame the rest of the team aren't. Titans by 13.
Jon : Thought the Cards have shown good defence their O has been woeful. The Titans, on the other hand, are looking good. Tennessee by 7.
Graham : TN by 10.

SS (2-3, L3) @ PE (4-1, L1) 1999 Season (14- 35)
Gerald : Derek's needs this win, but away to the Eagles is never an easy game, especially after last weeks result. I fear Jon will want revenge, and I can see the feathers flying. Eagles by 10.
Jon : Derek needs this badly, but so do i. Philadelphia by 3.
Graham : PE by 10.

DC (5-0, W7) @ DB (4-1, W1) No Known Match-up
Gerald : Another possibly for game of the week. Both teams are good, but homefield should seal it for Denver. Broncos by 3.
Jon : Big game. The Cowboys offence is damn hard to stop, and their D, though not as good as last year, is still good. But the Broncos are looking good too. I'll go for the Cowboys by 1.
Graham : DC by 6.

KC (1-4, W1) @ MV (1-4, L2) No Known Match-up
Gerald : Both teams need this to have a hope of the show. Neither team has performed as expected so far this season, so I guess it could be ugly. Chiefs by 3 (in a low scorer)
Jon : So far neither team has lived up to expectations. Chiefs by 1
Graham : KC by 3.

DL (3-2, W2) @ OR (0-5, L9) 1996 Season (12 - 10)
Gerald : Lewis hasn't had much luck so far with the teams he's played. Especially this week as the Lions look to be a team to be reckoned with. Loins by 10.
Jon : Bruce seems to have finally got the Lions going again. Lewis has yet to get off the ground. Detroit by 6.
Graham : DL by 14.

by Graham Canwell (Week 5)

Gerald to Stuart : That was a bloody close game. I think if you hadn't all those penalties, you probably would have won the game. I sure ain't looking forward to re-match. I think we should both relocate to different divisions, that way we might both have a change of getting to the play-offs. So where do you want to move? I'd quite like the NFC Central.

Gerald to The NFC : Well, I hope you've got you're prayer mats ready. As with a little luck we could keep you winless.

Gerald to Paul S. : Looks like our teams are mirroring each other. So tell me what you plan to do

Gerald to Richard and Alan : I hope, just because you weren't very good at the predictions last week (only just scraping 50%). That you've given up? Ok so I had a good week, a stonking 91%. But that was a one off.

Graham to NFC : Let's show a bit more pride than last year, eh?

Graham to Richard : Thanks for the congratulations. I'm glad I was playing last year's Bills and not this year's version (week 12 is getting closer . . . )

Graham to All : Anyone any idea how to get defensive form gains when your defence sucks, and you've got an offence that doesn't belong on the same planet, let alone the same team.)

Jon to Richard : My Dolphins have been uncoached since week 4 in AW - but I'm back as a play0ff coach. Draft has been awesome - that squad is going to be huge next season. Hopefully I'll see you in week 20, but I wouldn't bet on it. Well done on de-throning the Buccs - they'd lost 2 games in 2 season and won the Superbowl 2 out of the last 3.

Jon to Andy : Close again - but you deserved it. I still hate your pass D.

Well a small postbag this week means a shorter than usually newsletter. Also again, I've left it to the last minute to type it up, but that's me own fault. I've done a quarter by quarter breakdown in NFLB of how many points have been scored (you should get that for next week's newsletter Jon). I'm thinking of doing the same think for AB, but I think how many points conceded would be a better idea for us. As we do seem to be very defensive minded. The question is whether to do it at the end of the season, or at regular intervals throughout. So I'll open this to you. What do you think?

Well I'll leave it at that, and hope to hear from some of you soon. All the best for the interconference games, you're going to need it if you're in the NFC.