2020 Long Island EFL Week#4 Arizona Cardinals (2-1) vs. Carolina Panthers (1-2)

[Long island EFL]

PANTHERS OUTPLAY CARDINALS IN 17-14 THRILLER!

September 10. 2020. Charlotte, NC.

THE COUNTDOWN: If we tried we don't think we'd be able to put a better match-up on paper between Coach Kevin "Mac" Maloney's Arizona Cardinals (2-1), and Matt "Zoo-York" McQueen's Carolina Panthers (1-2). This game is loaded with stars in a league of performers who continue to reach new standards! These two teams are ready for battle in REMATCH#3 in the battle of the Long Island Football League road to LIEFL-Super Bowl XVI in Tampa, Florida.

In 2018, these two teams came to a dramatic finish in the NFC Divisional Championship Game when the Carolina Panthers defeated Arizona 38-35 in overtime! The following year in 2019, the Panthers played a more convincing game in the NFC Divisional Championship Game, dominating the Cardinals 49-35! This battle is not only a battle to win, but it is a battle between two excellent coaches. McQueen said," To beat this team twice was really hard work. If we work hard and ignite the Foster-Jones combination, it is going to be a great game!"

Arizona started out on fire this year, but the Cardinals lost last week in an upset to Detroit as the Lions handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season on Arizona's home turf. The Cardinals must rise to the occasion on the road tonight in order to beat these overly competitive ferocious Panthers. But, the Panthers are in trouble too. They desperately need to win this game to stay in the playoff hunt.

We had to call our analytical expert in for this one. Long Island Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, Andrew Slawson studies these teams by the numbers. "The Cardinals are not quite at the top tier in the league this year. When they faltered at home against Detroit that is all I needed to see. They still have two very difficult road games left against a hot New England team, and the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion Rams. As for the Panthers, they are unpredictable, but they too have a few challenges on the road in Minnesota and Green Bay. Depending on the records in their division, it will be tough for either of these teams to make the playoffs. You have to understand how difficult it is to win on the road in this league. We are talking about high-impact, fast paced action with time management a critical part of the game. It's the ones who win on the road in the league that go to the playoffs and further. That is a road that very few teams can travel and we've seen a lot of changes in the league. The talent level has gotten better and the fast setups make the game go really fast and at a very intense pace. If you're a coach who's not used to fast-paced football, it would be extremely difficult to survive in the league. I think the Panthers are going to come out on fire today against the Cardinals. It's like having thirty, two-minute drills.

With a full house on hand to watch this big game between the Cardinals and Panthers, there is a lot at stake, more so for Carolina because they've lost two games. The Cardinals view of reality is also a challenge with the Rams playing the way they're playing, coming off a gigantic win over Buffalo in overtime 16-10! It gives the Rams an advantage in their division. The Cardinals have to perform. Both teams are fighting for another shot at the Super Bowl. Zoo-York McQueen isn't happy about his two losses or the schedule that the Panthers are fighting against this year. Every year somebody gets a schedule that they don't like, and unfortunately this one belongs to his Panthers. That difficulty in their schedule translates into the Panthers having to play at a playoff-level, which is not uncommon for a team who's made it to the NFC Championship Game two consecutive seasons, losing both times to the Rams.

THE PLAY-BY-PLAY: Arizona Cardinals (2-1) vs. Carolina Panthers (1-2)

On the kickoff the Cardinals seemed ready to restart the winning machine.  The big Carolina fullback Greg Jones, returned the ball 52-yards. The Arizona Cardinals defense came to war! It took the Panthers almost 13 minutes to score a touchdown. Panthers running back DeShaun Foster ran seven times until finally Foster got into the end zone to make the score 7-0, with 2:09 left to go in the half!

And on a beautiful kick-return by Mel Gray for Arizona, Gray ran back a spectacular kickoff buzzing through Carolina defenders for 84-yards as time ran out in the half. One play later running back OJ Anderson ran in a 16-yard touchdown untouched right through the Panther front-line tying the score 7-7, with 14:39 remaining in the game! The intensity in the room was incredible.

 

The Long Island Electric Football League Week#4 action is really heating up as Greg Jones exploded for 73-yard kick return! It only took one play for Carolina's DeShaun Foster to run into the end-zone from 27-yards out to give the Panthers the lead 14-7, with 11:16 left to go in the game!

 

The battle for victory is incredible. Mel Gray took the ball back 42-yards on his second kick return as the drive for yards is unleashed. The Arizona front-line moved the ball for OJ Anderson. Anderson ran the football four straight times for 21-yards to the Panther 38-yard line. The Carolina defense fought hard and forced a third down pass with 4:29 left to go in the game. Larry Fitzgerald caught a beautiful Ty Murray pass and Fitzgerald, with blazing speed, flew 46 yards into the end-zone for the touchdown to tie the score 14-14, with 2:05 left to go in the game! What a dramatic game this has turned into. A thriller! Everyone was up on their feet with lots of loud noise in a packed house!

 

On the kickoff return Jones smoked the field with an 86-yard blazing run to the 13-yard line of the Cardinals with 1:35 left to go in the game with time running out on Arizona. This incredible dramatic momentous buildup boiled down to one more run by Foster as he was stopped at the line of scrimmage with seconds to go. Carolina kicked a game-winning 12-yard field-goal in a dramatic finish to win the game 17-14! Unbelievable!

 

The Carolina Panthers (2-2) play Minnesota and Green Bay on the road. Arizona goes to New England to play a hot Patriots team (1-2). Panthers fullback Greg Jones had 211 yards as he paved the way for Foster and Carolina to beat Arizona.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WeeVikes]

Sigh...

As a kid who grew up a St Louis Cardinals fan, it pains me to see OJ, Mel Gray, Terry Metcalf, Conrad Dobler, Dan Dierdorf, etc. referred to as “Arizona Cardinals”! 😜

Seriously, though, which vintage 1970s Cardinals are on your team?   As a kid the first official NFL team I bought were the away uniform Cardinals.  I made them primarily the 1975 team, with a couple exceptions.   Just recently I cleaned them up, decaled, & detail painted them, then bought another set of white figures to build the ‘75 defense, which I’d always wanted to do.  
 

All your teams are absolutely beautiful — very clean.  My compliments!

[Long island EFL]

Thank you so much my brother. We paint and decal them ourselves those are the 67 big men and I always liked those players on the Cardinals. I love their look especially the white uniforms they just look so clean right? Terry Metcalf does not get much action but OJ Anderson's having a great season. St Louis is a tough City and I really wish the Cardinals were still there. I appreciate your kind thoughts thank you.

[Long island EFL]

On 9/10/2020 at 10:51 PM, Long island EFL said:

Thank you so much my brother. We paint and decal them ourselves those are the 67 big men and I always liked those players on the Cardinals. I love their look especially the white uniforms they just look so clean right? Terry Metcalf does not get much action but OJ Anderson's having a great season. St Louis is a tough City and I really wish the Cardinals were still there. I appreciate your kind thoughts thank you.

79-Josh Jones-L®	2	0	0 NFCDCG:0
72-Dan Dierdorf-C 2019 ALL PRO	1	0	2018,2019 ALL PRO  2XPBS NFCDCG:0
75-Leonard Davis-L	1	0	0 NFCDCG:1
78-Desmond Harrison-T	1	0	0 NFCDCG:2
66-Conrad Doebler-T	2	0	0 NFCDCG:0
56-Carlos Dansby-LB	2	0	42QBS v LAR NFCDCG:0
67-Gene Stallings-LB	3	0	3 NFCDCG:0
32-Otis Anderson-RB 2019 ALL PRO	1	6	1/10 2018,2019 ALL PRO NFCDCG:1/15-107-2/60TD
21-Terry Metcalf-TB	0	0	2 NFCDCG:0
11-Larry Fitzgerald-WR	3	1	0 NFCDCG:0
85-Mel Gray-WR  2019 ALL PRO	2	1	02018,2019 ALL PRO NFCDCG:0/7-412-1/100TD
TOTALS:	18	8	0

            

                                                   

[WeeVikes]

Ok, now you’ve got me seriously curious...

How do you go about choosing your All Pro teams, particularly the linemen?  That’s such an awesome thing!

And I totally agree — those white unis were CLEAN!  I alwYs loved them!

[Long island EFL]

26 minutes ago, WeeVikes said:

Ok, now you’ve got me seriously curious...

How do you go about choosing your All Pro teams, particularly the linemen?  That’s such an awesome thing!

And I totally agree — those white unis were CLEAN!  I alwYs loved them!

We have a "When push tomes to shove" who is better than who theory based strictly on dominance and performance? There are eight of us in the league with a 32 man Pro Bowl Roster. It is so hard, but we vet the players based on the team's performance, individual performance, and notability in huge games. Then the dominant players are the benchmark to compete against because there are players that are great performers who apply lots of pressure on the line, but they do not necessarily make the tackles. All that becomes a wash when a team wins the Super Bowl in the Long Island Electric Football League, because at that point to get to the road few travel, they had to do something right? 

Then the best players come in full uniform to the Draft and we purchase 150-250 new TTC's and rookie bases combined. We all participate and weed through three rounds of drafts until we get our top 30 drafts who competed against our All-Pro players who showed that they can be at least equal to the players already competing. It takes a few weeks but boy, does it work well.  It is an evolving improving Kaisen Philisophy that focuses on constantly improving the process and the performers. This season's draft was not as good as last season, but during the season each coach knows what they are looking for in the draft. A playoff team from the year before doesn't get a draft pick unless they traded off for one the previous season. We record it all. It's very organized. Hope this helps.  

LIEFL TACKLE LEADERS at Week#4

DOESN’T Necessarily mean they are the best players! For that we vet the players and decide by offensive points scored, Power and overall Performance as to who receives All-Pro Honors for the 32 Man Pro-Bowl Team.

NFC DET-L.Brown-T	7
AFC MIA-Taylor	7
AFC JAC-Meier	7
NFC GB-Gregg-T	6
NFC MIN-Marshall-L	6
NFC SEA-Gilliam-T	6
NFC SF-F. Dean-L	5
NFC DAL-Martin-T	5
NFC PHI-Sisemore-T	5
AFC JAC-Spencer-T	5
AFC LVR-Upshaw-L	5
NFC DET-W. Gay-LB	4