2021 Long Island Electric Football League Leaderboard

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

JANUARY 3, 2021

Happy 2021! The Long Island Electric Football League or "Strong Island", thanks our readers for following our exciting league as we celebrate a monumental 50th Anniversary season!

The LIEFL has a rich tradition beginning in 1972, with a few NFL teams and eventually expanding to 20 teams by 1977 with an AFC and NFC Conference I and II, until finally securing all 32 teams by 1979, when the NFL had the AFC East, Central, and West. As you can imagine, keeping statistics and records is hard enough let alone gathering committed coaches to meet each week to be on time for games, and actually drive the competition when their teams are down and losing. Playing a seven-game season format is challenging, but we proved manageable. 

The one thing we weren't smart enough to do as kids, was to create a draft with new player bases, but the reason was finances. We couldn't afford new player bases and we were not sophisticated enough to understand and figure that part of electric football out, but the one thing we seemed incredible at was documenting a history of our league and its progress. Many of us come from large families, where unfortunately electric football couldn't be a priority to our parents, but we managed to keep the league together. As we got older obviously our interests changed, and so did our friendships, but we made a pact as kids that this electric football would be the one thing that kept us together, and it certainly has.  We made very successful careers for ourselves, changed lives, and made families, but we never lost our faith in a game that more than likely, kept us out of a lot of trouble here in New York ... this electric football!  This hands-on game and its excitement to the people who play it, can and does compete with video games and we have Tudor Games to thank for keeping a historic Hall of Fame Game intact!

There are lots of power leagues out there, although we will agree to disagree on rules, last season in the LIEFL, rookie coach and two-time Nassau County Champion Levi Vick who moved over to our league through coach Joey Pizz, went (9-18), but he never quit because he has that competitive drive and desire for success, even though it is just electric football. Vick won 23 games the season before in his old league. The one thing he struggled with all season long was the fast set-up's, time, and formations. 

There are many positives about the rookie coach however, as he goes into his sophomore season in the LIEFL. His Dallas Cowboys lost to the Washington Football Team 45-37, in the NFC Wild Card Game, but the best part of the story is that it was the first time the Cowboys saw the playoffs in more than twenty years! Playing LIEFL's Washington Football Team Coach Ed Viggs is no joke. The quiet Master of Preparation who's players execute, almost as though they are real, won it all for the second straight year!  The low-key Viggs took the league by storm this year as his Cinderella Green Bay Packers, who were eliminated in last 2019 by the Carolina Panthers 42-20, won this year's LIEFL Super Bowl XVI, beating the defending AFC Champion Miami Dolphins 52-49, in a unforgettable thriller down in Coquina Key!  Green Bay's Sterling Sharpe broke out as a BIG GAME player with two 100 yard kick returns, one to win the game! Sharpe had a Super Bowl second best all-purpose performance with 530 total yards, with four touchdowns! He was stellar and his coach was tremendous!  

Like most leagues around the country coaches work very hard to build what they think will be a winning team and competitive league. We don't know if a team is going to be a winning team until they step on the board and play against some of the best teams around. We use the 67' BIG MEN! All we know is that in the LIEFL we have very strict uniform codes, player size codes, paint codes, decal codes, just like they do in the NFL. We also have very strict rules when it comes to running, passing, receiving and even kicking as well as set-up times on the clock, and we play with an 11-man rosters.

 

In 2020, the LIEFL saw some tremendous football action from day one when the Cincinnati Bengals pulled off a big upset over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers would later emerge in the playoffs as one of the top contenders only to be beaten by the defending 2019 AFC Champion Miami Dolphins 32-27, in an awesome performance by Miami's Mark Duper, who played brilliantly once again. Miami dominated the AFC Eastern Division, but right next to them was the New York Jets, who not only beat the Dolphins in the regular season, but as the Wild Card team they put up a great match against the Los Angeles Chargers with some serious signs of improvement. The Jets are one or two players away from becoming a major contender!

 

The NFC East was so competitive that nearly every team made it to the playoffs. In fact right up until the last week the New York Giants were (4-2) facing the Dallas Cowboys (4-2). One game eliminated New York who was having a terrific year, from making the playoffs as Dallas beat the Giants in the final week of play, 21-17! The Washington Football Team played some amazing football in 2020, beating Dallas in the Wild Card Game 45-37, and then Washington beat Seattle in the NFC Divisional Championship Game 24-22, before losing to the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers 32-28!  Tony Green had a sensational season and postseason, and he will be back strong in 2021!

 

In the AFC North the Baltimore Ravens, who won six games, proved that they are not ready beyond the Wild Card Game or Divisional Game to make a run for the Super Bowl as Miami surprisingly manhandled them in the AFC Divisional Championship Game 52-46. Very close to making the playoffs was the Cincinnati Bengals, who were eliminated in the final week. The Bengals are one or two players away from becoming a Super bowl contender.

 

The story of 2020, was the NFC North Green Bay Packers. The LIEFL-NFC North continues to produce Super Bowl contenders! All season long they received criticism from almost every coach in the league because it was felt that the Packers had a weak schedule, and with 74 points scored on offense they certainly were not seen as the Super Bowl favorite, yet they were seeded first in the NFC Tournament of Champions because of their (6-1) record, losing only to the Chicago Bears 14-6. But Green Bay would go on to play a brilliant game planned by Coach Ed Viggs against Detroit who was having a record setting season. Viggs managed to win the approval of the entire league, playing in the first ever LIEFL "SNOW-BOWL" in the NFC Divisional Championship Game, as the Packers beat the Detroit Lions 31-26, stopping the #2 all-purpose back Dexter Bussey of Detroit and containing Bussey to just one touchdown with 244 total yards! The unsung hero of the game was Packers running back, Terdell Middleton who rushed for a blazing 100 yards with three touchdowns in the snow launching the Packers into LIEFL Super Bowl XVI. It would be the third time Green Bay would make it to a Super Bowl, but this time in a far more competitive LIEFL. But before the Super Bowl game against Miami, there was one more huge mountain to climb and that was beating the Washington Football Team who had beaten Seattle, who beat the 2018, and 2019 Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams.  Not only did Green Bay show up on offense, but they stomped down a great running back in Tony Green beating the Redskins 32-28, in a game that highlighted Sterling Sharpe who emerged as the NFC Championship Game MVP! Sharpe brought the word "special"" back into special teams as the determined Packers made a statement, that they were going to win a Super Bowl and do the unthinkable a week later against Miami as the underdog Green Bay Packers and Sterling Sharpe took those Miami Dolphins to the final 29 seconds of the game, where they were trailing 49-46, until Sharpe ran back his second 100-yard touchdown run of the game to give the Packers a 52-49 LIEFL-Super Bowl XVI dramatic victory with Sharpe walking away as the MVP in stunning fashion!

 

The West coast of the AFC had the playoff returning Los Angeles Chargers losing in the AFC Championship Game to Miami 32-27. What a game it was as the Dolphins defense came up huge against LaDainian Tomlinson. The Chargers suffered a huge disappointment by not finding their way into the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons. But they will be back as a contender. The Chargers are still a solid football team. 

 

Fighting their way into the Wild Card Game was the Denver Broncos, who had the number one rusher or all-purpose player in the Long Island Electric Football League, Terrell Davis who had 1924 total yards with 15 touchdowns. Davis had an amazing year for the Broncos, but in the playoff game he fell short of reaching the next round after losing to a very tough Indianapolis Colts team, who beat Denver 27-10, denying Davis and the Broncos offensive a chance to advance.

 

The West coast teams in the NFC were super tough. The Rams lost in an upset to the Seahawks, who emerged as a silent but deadly team making it all the way to the NFC Divisional Championship Game losing to Washington. This team will be back as a major contender next year. Upsetting the Rams 51-45 was shocking to say the least, but these Rams will be back to perform again next season at the same level and pace. They are one of the most intense and exciting teams in the league.

 

We begin in August 2021 in our 50th Anniversary season!  

 

2020 FINAL DRAFT OFFICIAL SUPER BOWL XVI GAME DAY PROGRAM.pdf 2020 PDF OFFICIAL LIEFL STANDINGS STATS SCHEDULE.pdf