by Gerald Udowiczenko

So how did everyone do in the carnage, that we call week 16? We faired none too badly, we only lost one player to retirement and had average Step Losses and above average Reductions. Only one player retire I hear you cry? But he was our veteran 12 year 4* LB. Who was my very first pick back when I started in the league, yes I have been playing in AB that long. Doesn't time fly when you're have a good season and drag, when it bad?

I have updated the All Time Coaching record that was last published, wk.5, season 2002. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to fit it in this issue, but I'll see what I can do.

Last weeks predictors did very well getting at least 8 correct. Special congratulations must go to Richard Ogg, who was the only person to guess at a Dolphins win last week. If I were the suspicious type, I'd think that he knew something the rest of us didn't, well he did write the gameplan. But I'm not suspicious, just a little upset. If we could have beaten the Bills back in wk.5, we would have won the Divisional Title, by half a game. But at least we're in the play-offs and look what the Bills did last season as a wildcard team. Here's hoping.

As always many thanks to Graham, Julian, Jon, Stuart & Brucey for their many contribution this week, which for the thrid week in a row has resulted in a four page newsletter. As always thanks guys.

Wild Card Games

NE (12-3-1, W3) @ TT (8-7-1, W5)
Gerald : No Comment
Graham : Given current form it would surely take the return of the jinx to stop the Pats progressing to meet the Browns. NE 10.
Jon : About time Gerald got a playoff win and this is possibly his best chance yet. NE x 3.

MV (9-7, W2) @ PE (14-2, L1)
Gerald : Tough one to call, as both teams are good. But homefield should be the difference. Eagles by 3.
Graham : Vikes are very dangerous despite their mediocre record (they were the best team I played all year) but at home the Eagles special teams and D should do the business. PE 10.
Jon : No Comment.

Silver Bowl

PS (7-8-1, L6) @ SF (7-8-1, L7)
Gerald : Both team have had an appalling second half of the season. Who will break their losing streak? 49ers by 3.
Graham : Could be a tight game but I'll back my division. SF 3.

MD (7-9, W4) @ SS (7-9, W1)
Gerald : After last weeks performance and come to think of it their last 4 games, I can't see the Hawks stopping them. Fish by 3
Graham : Expect an offensive explosion. Fish are on fire right now. MD 6.

KC (6-10, W1) @ DL (6-10 L1)
Gerald : Both team should be a lot better than their current records. It will be the case of good 'O' vs good 'D'. Lions by 3.
Graham : If the Lions offence turns up they could do it, but I fancy Chiefs to just edge it.. KC 1.

AF (5-11, L2) @ NS (6-10, W1)
Gerald : Last week they had nothing to play for, but after that shut-out Paul will want revenge. But I can't see it. Saints by 7.
Graham : One week after being shut out there the Falcons go back to the Big Easy. Saints should win again. NS 7.

NY (4-12, L3) @ CI (5-11, W2)
Gerald : The new Coach at Cincinnati seems to have the team on track for a good run in the Con Bowl. Bengals by 10.
Graham : Bengals have developed the winning habit recently and could do well here. CI 7.

OR (4-12, L2) @ DC (4-12, W1)
Gerald : Another tough call. But even after last weeks win for the Boyz, I still fancy the Silver n Black. Raiders by 2.
Graham : After a welcome win in week 16 the Boys should be able to record another. DC 3.

by Graham Canwell (Week 16)

Gerald to All : As I've had to reduce the font size a little to fit everything in, hope you can read it. Next week All Time Coaching Records.

Gerald to Graham : Well done on going 16-0. A first in AB

Gerald to Graham : We ARE the Baltimore Ravens. We ARE the Baltimore Ravens. We ARE the Baltimore Ravens.

Gerald to All (in the play-offs) : Graham pointed out that we (the Patriots) ended up with the AFC's lowest ranked offence. So see above and look out. We ARE the Baltimore Ravens!

Gerald to All : Looks like an interesting draft. Four 4* players to choose from. I wonder how late that last 4* player swill last?

Gerald to Paul S : Congratulation on a total reverse score-line and on the division as well. Here's hoping we meet each other in the final, after both having had six attempts to win a play-off game I think we deserve to both be there.

Gerald to Richard : T'was even a closer finish to the season, then either of us expected I'm sure.

Gerald to Julian : I reckon you're the team to beat in the play-offs, as you're going into it with a 10 game winning streak. All the best, unless we meet, in which case I want to win this time!

Graham to Paul S : Magnificent win. Wish I had a D like that. The jinx WILL end this season, so you may not have to wait until next year to give our butts a revenge kicking . . .

Graham to All : Reduction/retirement report. Mucho losing points, but mucho carnage as usual (how about this: 5 retirements, 7 step losses, 16 reductions). A busy drafting season beckons while a whole host of players are stuck back together with blue tac. . .

Graham to Gerald : Looks like you'll end your playoff jinx one week before Paul gets his chance.

Graham to All : OK, we had a few breaks and went 16-0. However, I've seen this referred to in the Drawing Board as a perfect season. I've been fortunate enough to go 16-0 once before, in AC, and went on to suffer losing my Divisional Game to a last second Hail Mary. Try telling me that was a perfect season!!!! A perfect season (for us, obviously a bit of a nightmare for everyone else!) requires us to win it all, and I reckon with the quality of teams remaining that's still a scenario I regard as fairly remote.

Julian to Gerald : Can you lose to the Titans please, so that I don't have to go to Buffalo but can host the Broncos (since they managed to lose to Seattle last week).

Julian to Richard : You're not my choice (for first playoff opponent) either...

Jon to Paul S : Congratulations. A thoroughly deserved win. That'll teach me to do something different! It must have been nice to get an exact reverse of our previous games score! That's also the second time I've ever been shut-out in gameplan. Last time was against the Rams. A good omen for you?

Jon to Gerald : So - 2 off the 5 teams with the best regular season records have wildcard then?

Jon to Graham : Well done on going 16 - 0. First time in AB history

DolphinReport

by Stuart Guard

Well after a poor season we have to be pleased with our late run and our subsequent 7-9 record. We had some great wins in the last weeks of the season, and I was certainly pleased to pull one over on my old friend Coach Ogg last week. I'm sure his Bills will bounce back though for a good run in the playoffs. The defence has really been a problem for us this year and we had hoped we may be able to do something about that in the draft. The thing is we have a very tough off-season ahead of us. For a team who finished 7-9, I was amazed to see us suffer above average Step Losses and Reductions. I was also hoping we would get more compensation after our good wins in the last few weeks (as mentioned in the rules), and if we did then I'm sure as hell gald we won those games, cos we can't begin to address the problems we have with the squad, so with less points we would of been dead in the water. We pick 11th in the draft and should be able to get a decent player or two, although there is still an option to trade down and gather some points. There is a lot of thinking to be done on this one. First time I have seen four different 4 star players at the top of the draft list, but they are not really positions where we have a need. That said picking 11th I don't expect to see them there when we pick. Should certainly make for an interesting draft though, and the depth of the top two rounds of players looks good. Guess it's back to the coaching room now to work out how to approach the non-playoff games we have ahead of us in a bid to learn something for next season, and mainly to plan just what we'll have to work with next season. I'll be keeping an eye on the strong AFC East contingent though, and good luck to Coaches Ogg and Udowiczenko in the playoffs. Time to sign off from Miami

Turnovers (by net Giveaways/Takeaways) - upto Week 16, 2003

	Giveaways				Takeaways				Net
Team	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
Kansas City	7	8	15	1	12	23	35	6	20	1
Cleveland	14	12	26	4=	10	26	36	5	10	4
Denver	7	15	22	3	8	22	30	14=	8	5
Buffalo	10	16	26	4=	15	18	33	7=	7	6
New England	12	20	32	10=	19	19	38	4	6	7
Pittsburgh	12	15	27	8	9	19	28	19	1	9=
Miami	14	26	40	22	15	18	33	7=	-7	17=
Seattle	12	22	34	14=	10	17	27	20=	-7	17=
Tennessee	12	27	39	21	8	24	32	12=	-7	17=
New York	13	21	34	14=	9	16	25	22	-9	20
Oakland	21	25	46	23	11	21	32	12=	-14	23
Cincinnati	8	40	48	24	12	17	29	18	-19	24
	Giveaways				Takeaways				Net
Team	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
Washington	9	17	26	4=	16	29	45	1	19	2=
St Louis	11	9	20	2	14	25	39	3	19	2=
Detroit	13	23	36	19	15	25	40	2	4	8
Philadelphia	16	13	29	9	10	20	30	14=	1	9=
Minnesota	7	25	32	10=	9	24	33	7=	1	9=
Tampa Bay	7	19	26	4=	11	16	27	20=	1	9=
San Francisco	20	15	35	18	14	19	33	7=	-2	13=
Dallas	8	24	32	10=	16	14	30	14=	-2	13=
Chicago	11	22	33	13	15	15	30	14=	-3	15
New Orleans	16	21	37	20	13	20	33	7=	-4	16
Atlanta	12	22	34	14=	7	17	24	23	-10	21
Arizona	13	21	34	14=	7	14	21	24	-13	22

NFL - E

No this is not a new gameplan league, but NFL Europe. Or as I prefer to remember it, the World League of American Football. As some of you may know the new season has just kicked-off, last weekend (21-22 April) and I thought you might be interested in when the Claymores games are being televised? Unfortunately, if you don't have Sky, or read First Down (I assume its still going) then you won't know any of the results. So I may publish them here? Just to use up space I hear you say? Yep, just to use up a couple of coloum inches.
But why would anyone really care about the NFL-E, now we have no more Bollocks, sorry I mean the London/England Monarchs? The Claymores are just a pale imitation.

Week 1. Scotland vs Frankfurt April 22 10:00 a.m. SS1 - 8:30 p.m. SS3 - April 23 12:30 p.m. SS3
Week 2. Scotland at Amsterdam April 28 06:00 p.m. SS2 Live
Week 3. Scotland vs Berlin May 6 09:00 p.m. SS3 - May 7 01:00 a.m. SS2 - May 7 12:00 p.m SS3
Week 4. Scotland at Frankfurt May 12 10:00 p.m. SS3 - May 13 08:30 a.m. SS2 - May 14 12:00 p.m SS3
Week 5. Scotland at Rhein May 20 03:00 p.m. SS2 Live - May 21 01:00 a.m. SS2 - May 21 12:30 p.m SS3
Week 6. Scotland vs Amsterdam May 27 09:00 p.m. SS3 - May 28 3:00 p.m. SS2
Week 7. Scotland at Berlin June 3 10:00 a.m. SS3 - 05:30 p.m. SS3 - June 4 12:00 p.m. SS3
Week 8. Scotland vs Barcelona June 10 03:00 p.m. SS2 Live
Week 9. Scotland vs Barcelona June 17 12:00 p.m. SS3
Week 10. Scotland vs Rhein June 23 07:00 p.m. SS2 June 24 10:00 a.m. SS3
World Bowl IX. Amsterdam June 30 04:30 p.m. SS3 Live

NFL 2001 Draft

Well not only was it the start of new NFL-E season last weekend, but also the NFL had their annual draft. Below is a list of the 1st round picks, which may come in useful when it comes to naming the players we pick up in our draft (which is only 2 years, going on 3 ahead of the real world)? Interesting to note that in the top 10 picks it was an even split between offence and defence. Out of interest, does anyone know if punters and kickers get drafted in the NFL? As I've had a quick look and couldn't see any.

It's also nice to see that American (I assume most of them will be?) parents give their kids a real fighting chance at school with their names, Koren, Santana & Deuce being my favourites. If I were being cruel and I am. I'd think that Seattles No. 9 pick, Koren Robinson's Parents must have named their son, where he was conceived (ala the Beckhams). But mis-spelt Korea.