by Gerald Udowiczenko

Bahh, humbug, <fume> Unlucky number 13. I hate this stupid game.....

Due to be being away for the weekend in Eastbourne for a role-playing convention for SLA Industries and to the fact that we got our arses well and truly slapped last week, the newsletter is going to be a little briefer than I was planning.

Thanks to Graham, Brucey, Jon, Mike & Stuart for their contributions this week. Remember without you (the people who write in), there is only me. And I don't think you only want to read my rantings ...... ?

BB (10-3, W2) @ NY (7-6, L1) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (23 - 13)
Gerald : Jets by 1.
Graham : BB by 7.
SPLATT : Buffalo by 2.

MD (7-6, L4) @ NE (8-5, L2) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (42 - 29)
Gerald : No comment (but we had better get in the endzone this week!!)
Graham : NE by 3.
SPLATT : Miami by 1.

CL (12-1, W8) @ CI (1-12, L10) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (35 - 14)
Gerald : Bengals by 1.
Graham : CL by 24.
SPLATT : Cleveland by 9.

PS (9-4, W1) @ TT (8-5, W3) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (3 - 20)
Gerald : Titans by 10.
Graham : TN by 1.
SPLATT : Pittsburgh by 7.

SD (9-4, W4) @ SS (1-12, L3) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (31 - 6)
Gerald : Changers by 9.
Graham : SD by 17.
SPLATT : San Diego by 4.

KC (2-11, L5) @ OR (4-9, W1) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (18 - 7)
Gerald : Chiefs by 3.
Graham : OA by 1.
SPLATT : Oakland by 7.

PE (8-5, W1) @ DC (7-6, W2) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (23 - 20)
Gerald : Boyz by 3 (OT).
Graham : PE by 7.
SPLATT : Philadelphia by 4.

WR (8-5, L1) @ AC (0-13, L42) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (41 - 10)
Gerald : Skins by 28.
Graham : WR by 24.
SPLATT : Washington by 11.

MV (8-5, W1) @ CB (10-3, L1) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (24 - 13)
Gerald : Vikings by 3.
Graham : CH by 7.
SPLATT : Chicago by 1.

TB (1-12, L1) @ DL (7-6, L1) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (14 - 21)
Gerald : Lions by 10.
Graham : DL by 13.
SPLATT : Detroit by 9.

SR (5-8, W1) @ AF (6-7, W1) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (38 - 7)
Gerald : Rams by 2.
Graham : AF by 3.
SPLATT : Atlanta by 3.

SF (6-7, L1) @ NS (12-1, W4) Last time : wk 2, 2005 (3 - 41)
Gerald : Saints by 10.
Graham : NS by 10.
SPLATT : New Orleans by 13.

by Graham Canwell (Week 13)

	Offence	Buffalo	Way too good to ignore, in a week where AFC offences were quite quiet by their own explosive standards. The Bills were explosive, however, with excellent passing complementing 300+ rushing yards at 7.5 per carry.
	Defence	Cleveland	Got to grips with one of the league's top offences, that of new England, holding it to just 283 yards and keeping it out of the endzone.
	Coach	Horne (CL)	Most AFC games went pretty much with the form. The sheer comprehensiveness of Julian's win over a very good Patriots team was enough to put him comfortably ahead of the competition here.
	Offence	Atlanta	This was a tough one. The two offensive performances which instantly stood out (Vikes/Cowboys) turned out to be against the Cards and Buccs. The Bears were next, but only 16 points and a loss counted them out. The Eagles looked pretty good (and won!) but I'm not giving an offensive award to a team which fails to score a single touchdown. So I plumped for the Falcons - solid rather than spectacular, but against a pretty strong D (Detroit's).
	Defence	St Louis	Going against my instincts I'm going to givemy D an award to compensate for having slagged them off so much this year. Pass D was terrific and they held the Skins to just 12 yards (and forced two interceptions) in the 4th quarter when the game was on the line.
	Coach	Dilworth (NS)	The two top teams in the NFC met and the winner was always going to have an excellent chance of getting this award. And in the absence of anyone else making a sufficiently strong case to persuade me otherwise so it has proved.
	The Diddley	Oakland	Contrived to lose the turnover battle 4-0 against the Bengals (of all people). Since they had a negligible yardage advantage that was easily enough to see them cruise to this week's Diddley.

Gerald to Julian : I hope this means I now win in the play-offs? I still haven't fully read the results, just way too depressing.

Gerald to Stuart : Humm. I want revenge!!!!

Graham to Jon : I might have given you a lot of playoff grief in the (long receded!) past but I sure have made up for it by doing you plenty of favours over the past few years (beating the Skins regularly, playing like the Bengals in our recent postseason meetings). Hope (which is of course the operative word here) the pendulum starts swinging back my way in week 15.

Jon to Mark G : Though I felt you were a bit lucky to tie the game, my 62 yd FG to win the game as time expired was also somewhat fortunate!

Jon to Apple : This could decide a playoff place. Much though I'd like revenge I'm definitely going to have to hope my D has an "on" day!

Jon to Graham : Why is your team finding form just before I get to pay them? :-(!

Jon to The 'Siminator' : Welcome to AB. You've managed to take over a team that has, in the past, been quite successful (the Peter Seymour era). I hope you can do what you did in B and return them to being playoff regulars. However I'm not going to hope you give the AFC success in some future Superbowl! ;-)

Coaching Profile
Name	Mike Sim
Information	I started Gameplan in 1987 and have played ever since, beginning with Sloth, then SEP and with Danny. Pretty sure I've played all the versions since 2.8 and have tried all flavours except College with varying degrees of success. I've always considered myself more adept at offensive playcalling, though another slant would be my offences tend to suck less than my defences. I think I went through something of an American football burnout when it disappeared from Ch4 and I dropped down to one team, though getting Sky this time last year has boosted my interest in the great game again and now I'm up to 3 teams. Filled the gaming gap playing Gameplan Baseball which if I'm honest I prefer slightly. Looking at the Bengals, my goals are to win a game this season, to add some training on pass defences (the previous coach had 0 on all of these defences) and to get a feel for the league. The squad isn't weak, lacking a little here and there but seems to be capable of holding it's own with the right playcalling. The Central looks tough but there are few easy games in strong leagues and I hope to take the Bengals off the list of easy games as soon as possible.

	The Dolphins
	by Stuart Guard
Well the Dolphins have really found new ways to lose over the last few weeks, and the most recent defeat in overtime really did see us reach a new pinnacle. From contending for the divisional crown 6 weeks back we now find ourselves in a win or bust game this week against the Pats to keep any wildcard hopes alive. It's been a strange season in Miami, and 4 of our wins have been by 1 score or less, and the tide has swung recently with 4 defeats being by 4 or less. It seems we are able to keep games close on most occasions, although have been shown up by teams like the Jets. The division has been a very tough one for all four coaches, and I hope one of them can go on to do well in the playoffs, without the slog of the regular season having dented their chances. The Dolphins will have to start to look at rebuilding if they lose this week to the Pats, and that is never an easy time. The match up against the Pats looks a difficult one, made only worse by recent form. It's rare for one team to dominate a series, and with the Dolphins winning back in Week 2, the Pats with homefield should win. Miami have nothing to lose though, and will be giving it their all with a few key tweaks to the offence. Whether or not the Pats passing game can be restrained though is another question. All the best to everyone across the league as the regular season races to a close. Never a dull moment it would seem.

Turnovers (by net Giveaways/Takeaways) - upto Week 13, 2005

	Giveaways				Takeaways				Net
Team	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
Pittsburgh	6	13	19	3	11	25	36	4	17	2
Miami	14	10	24	8=	18	16	34	5	10	6=
Kansas City	0	15	15	1=	16	9	25	18=	10	6=
Buffalo	13	9	22	4=	13	18	31	6=	9	8
New England	14	16	30	14=	12	18	30	9	0	10
Cleveland	10	20	30	14=	8	20	28	11=	-2	11=
Tennessee	11	19	30	14=	11	17	28	11=	-2	11=
New York	12	17	29	12=	13	14	27	13=	-2	11=
Cincinnati	8	18	26	11	10	14	24	21	-2	11=
Oakland	12	17	29	12=	13	14	27	13=	-2	11=
San Diego	15	19	34	19	8	21	29	10	-5	17
Seattle	21	21	42	23	6	14	20	22=	-22	23
	Giveaways				Takeaways				Net
Team	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Fumbles	Ints	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
New Orleans	6	17	23	7	22	19	41	1	18	1
Chicago	7	15	22	4=	17	21	38	3	16	3
Dallas	6	18	24	8=	19	20	39	2	15	4
Philadelphia	11	4	15	1=	13	14	27	13=	12	5
Minnesota	7	18	25	10	10	21	31	6=	6	9
Washington	13	9	22	4=	5	15	20	22=	-2	11=
Tampa Bay	14	18	32	17	12	13	25	18=	-7	18=
Detroit	20	13	33	18	15	11	26	17	-7	18=
St Louis	14	25	39	22	15	16	31	6=	-8	20
Atlanta	14	23	37	21	8	17	25	18=	-12	21
San Francisco	23	20	43	24	12	15	27	13=	-16	22
Arizona	20	16	36	20	4	8	12	24	-24	24

Web Sites

Don't forget to visit the following sites :
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/gameplan

www.endzone1.co.uk
brucey.net/nflab/

Woohoo!