Well, the highly anticipated game between me and XXXIV, hated rivals that we are, was indeed a crazy affair with six total turnovers, two on one key play.
The Rams took the ball to start the game, drove down the field, and scored a field goal, 3-0 Rams. Then the Redskins took the ball, moved it well, scored a TD, 7-3 Redskins. The scoring play was this 18 yard TD pass from Campbell to Cooley where he seems to have just barely poked the ball over the line before going out of bounds:
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Then the defenses settled in for a little, until the Rams score to retake the lead, 10-7. As the 2nd quarter wound down the Redskins started making headway. The home team found themselves in the red area with about a minute remaining, and that's when 'the play' happened.
For no good reason, the replay of this one wouldn't take; it would just cut out about 20% into the play no matter what angle. But of course, I could watch it in replay mode all the way through. Frustrating.
Anyway, Campbell tries to loft ball into the corner of the endzone to Moss, but he tries to do it against an apparent cover-3. So of course, it's picked off (Campbell ended with three INTs, a disturbing trend), and the interceptor takes the ball up field and beyond the 20. There he is met and stripped of the ball by of all people QB Campbell, making amends for the poor throw that accompanied the poor decision, and the ball is landed on by Santana Moss. So the Campbell to Moss connection did become compete by the time the whistle blew.
With a fresh first down, Campbell steps back on the very next play, and pulls off this magic trick:
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On super-slow mo, you can see that the only reason the ball doesn't hit Portis in the face is because he tips it with his hands
just enough for it to miss his melon. And that Laurinaitis fellow has got some serious cat-like reflexes to be able to handle that thing from so close. But handle it he did, and so the half ended with the Rams ahead by three, 10-7.
Well, the Redskins took the 2nd half kick off and marched down, eating up clock, and retook the lead thanks to this "RobVarak Special" by 280lbs Mike Sellers for 21 yards:
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To be fair, the guy is 280lbs, but still, that was a clear case of the Madden10 style.
On the next possession, Bulger tested how well Brian Orakpo's transition to LB and pass coverage responsibilities was progressing. He got a direct answer:
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Though the big rookie from Texas didn't score, he did get it close enough so that Campbell could run it in from 4 yards to extend the Redskins lead to 21-10.
At this stage, late in the third quarter, one could feel the deflation of self-fulfilling prophecy begin to seep out of the Rams sidelines. But the Redskins stopped being able to move the ball from that time forward, and after Jackson pounded into the endzone on a play I didn't bother to save, and after the 2-point conversion was successful, and especially after the Rams got the ball back with just under two minutes to go, everyone in the place realized that this game was going to end like they almost always do between me and XXXIV: going down to the wire.
So there we were, Bulger heroically leading his men towards that game-tying field goal, and the Readskins defense trying to figure out why they couldn't do anything to stop them, when new Rams WR Ike Hilliard became involved, trying to Walter Payton for 'just that one more, one more yard' through FS Laron Landry:
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SS Chris Horton actually hit him first, and was bulldozed over. But Landry got that strip in (I don't think I was hitting that button), and Horton was able to scoop up the ball. With under a minute remaining, and the Rams left with one timeout, the ball game was over and the Redskins had escaped with a 21-18 victory. The play was so nice, I uploaded it twice. I know XXXIV appreciates football action like this:
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Absolutely crazy, yet fitting, way to end this game. The Skins get lucky, bailed out by their D thanks to two key take-aways. The Skins O, despite one take-away of their own in the turnover department, just lost their way after the first drive of the second half, and Campbell gave up three INTs on far too many throws (16-27, 1TD, 3INT). Portis only ran six times for 25yds, and I was going in thinking 'I have to run the ball a lot.' Jackson, meanwhile, carried only 11 times for 47yds while Bulger was very efficient with 15-22 for 235, 1 TD, 1INT.
The Redskins improve to 1-1, while the Rams are also 1-1. Washington goes to Detroit to face the CPU Lions, while St. Louis take their 'Old LA Uniform Nostalgia Tour' (hey, isn't that Warren Beatty?) back home to the dome to host the as-yet rudderless Packers.