Long Island Electric Football League (Week #6 Games)

[Long island EFL]

(Long Island Electric Football) Written By Levi Vick and Joey Pizz.

By doing these write-ups we hope we have done our part in making contributions to our hobby!

In Week #6, the LIEFL will give our readers the games as we finish the writeups. Week #6 in the LIEFL is usually one of the most dangerous weeks because the playoff hunt heats up with some division rivalries pitted against each other which means there will be a chance for spoilers! Every game in this league has meaning and every game in this league is a battle the way a league should be. We think of every team like an all-star team with the best 22 selected men on the field at any given time. Spoiling can unhinge many teams in the playoff race, including their coaches. We'll bring readers select Game Write-ups from here on out. Some games will have full writeups and the rest will have short summaries to make way for the Thanksgiving Day Specials.

The intensity is on the rise with the final regular season LIEFL game approaching. This week we will announce the current playoff contenders and separate them from the great pretenders as men turn to boys in the Long Island Electric Football League.

PREVIEWS OF GAMES WE WILL COVER:

Notable games this week include the Falcons (4-1) against the Panthers (3-2), who will battle for the NFC South Division title. Both of these teams have a chance to change their history and destiny in the LIEFL. The winner will get the edge and higher Playoff Seed on the Super Bowl XVIII Bracket!

The Chiefs (2-3) at the Jets (1-4) will be a hostile and gritty game. The Jets can spoil the defending Super Bowl Champions chances to qualify for the playoffs. If Joey Pizz Jets beat KC, the Chiefs season ends! The Chiefs were magical last season when they went all the way, winning eight games and LIEFL Super Bowl XVII for Coach Matt Zoo-York. Can New York match KC stars Tyreek Hill and Priest Holmes, the Number #1 rusher in the AFC? Holmes has 31 rushes for 524-yards, with eight touchdowns. What about Le'Veon Bell and Don Maynard for New York? Bell is still holding tough as the #3 Rusher in the AFC with 27 touches for 411-yards, with six touchdowns! Can the Chiefs contain these two? This might be a better match than we thought. For the Chiefs to stay alive they have to run away with the game and dominate the Jets they way they dominated the AFC in last year's LIEFL Super Bowl Tournament.

The Las Vegas Raiders (2-3) with Dave Casper, will hang with the Packers (4-1) on the road, but count on Green Bay Coach Ed Viggs to have a plan. Another possible spoiler game is the Jaguars (1-4) meeting and beating the Buccaneers (3-2), but after the Bucs Week #5 performance against Carolina last week, does Tampa Bay have enough in the tank to upset the Jags at home? We think the answer lies with Bucs running back Ricky Bell, who rushed for 160-yards last week against the Panthers.

The Texans (2-3) and Bengals (2-3) will treat their game like a playoff game. Both have a long shot at making the playoffs. For the Bears (3-2) and Broncos (4-1), a win can solidify a possible playoff spot for either team, but Denver will be the favorite on their home turf. This might be the surprise battle of the week as the Broncos unleash Terrell Davis and the Bears detonate Walter Payton and Willie Gault who are both having a great year! Another ginormous game is the Buffalo Bills (4-1) at the Los Angeles Chargers (4-1). Buffalo's offense and LA's defense will be a colossal matchup! OJ Simpson and LaDainian Tomlinson? There will be a full house to watch Joe Bino's Bills and Ed Viggs Chargers in this intense and highly anticipated rematch!

Dare we mention that there is still one undefeated team left in the LIEFL? There is no mystery that the best team in the league after five weeks is arguably Coach Ed Viggs Washington Redskins (5-0), but the question is, will they bring the magic or fold? This week they play a team who can play on the road in the New England Patriots (3-2). The Patriots are consistent and that is the key, keeping the game close and dragging it into overtime, which may be the only way that New England can pull off an upset. Will there be an upset in the making? It is a defining moment for Coach Levi Vick and his resilient Patriots. In other news, the Patriots desperately want to trade for Carolina's Greg Jones, but Panthers Coach Matt Zoo-York wants the Patriots next five first round draft picks for Jones. Jones has made himself a valuable start for the Panthers. He's been a beast, putting up big numbers for the past three or four seasons for Carolina, totaling 28 touchdowns with 3,442 all-purpose yards. It might be a great move for Vick because the league ends in 2025. They will discuss this at the end of the season and Vick has some urgency in him to make the trade. Jones could be a starting running back for any team in the league.

In a separate writeup, on Thanksgiving Day we have an exciting matchup and contentious game between the New York Giants (3-2) at Dallas Cowboys (3-2) in what is expected to be a game with lots of fireworks. The Giants jolted the Packers last week in their Week #5 and the Cowboys lost to the Cardinale 21-14. This NFC East rival game with playoff implications is expected to be an epic battle between two offensive powerhouses! The Vikings (1-4) and Lions (2-3) is another game with playoff ramifications because the Lions need this game in order to remain in the playoff picture, but it won't be easy for Detroit. Coach Johnny-Freeport's Lions with superstar LIEFL All-Pro Dexter Bussey, has to come with offense blazing in order to beat Minnesota. The Vikings defense, led by LIEFL All-Pro Carl Eller, is one of the best in the league and they would love to be the spoilers for Coach Joey Pizz! In the last big LIEFL match-up the Colts (4-1) will be at the Ravens (3-2), who are determined to take back the NFC North! Will alternate coach Joey Bino for the Colts be able to withstand the league loudmouth Johnny Freeport's Ravens?

Fastforwarding to the Week #6 game featuring the Atlanta Falcons (4-1) and Carolina Panthers (3-2) has huge ramifications, and as we indicated, it could give either the Falcons or the Panthers the win they need for the NFC South Division title, which may be determined next week depending on today's game, and their games next week. It does appear at the moment as though both of these teams will qualify as one of the top seven playoff slot teams for the NFC, but Tampa Bay is right there as well. 

Panthers Coach Matt Zoo-York said, “There's a lot of heartbreaks at this point in the season because the 14 finishers who will qualify for the playoffs are the best of the best in our league. My Panthers have been to two NFC championship games, and I blew both of them. Last year for some reason we were cursed by the Vikings, but this year I have a chance, and it might be the only chance I have to take this team to a different level. I have to believe in my running attack and my special teams attack but in this league, you get figured out quickly. General Riggs is an incredible player, and I just have to play better than Johnny-Freeport today at home and not allow him to get in my game. I can't let him beat me at home.”

Falcons Coach Johnny Freeport said, “Yeah, I'm not going to get into a discussion about this game before the game with you fools. Stop acting like you're writing for the school paper. This is my chance to prove myself and if I can't do it with the Falcons or the Lions or the Bengals or the Ravens, then I just have to go out and compete, but this guy has the home field advantage. We can win on the road, and we just have to do our best to get him into overtime to win this game because the Panthers front line is one of the best I've seen.”

There's so much rich history between these two teams but there are a lot of new faces too, and since Freeport revived his Falcons several seasons back, they have that vintage feel to them of players who never die!

Somehow the Carolina Panthers have been one of the best teams in the LIEFL, but they need to finish strong this season, as in, winning an NFC title. Three times to the NFC Championship Game and no Super Bowl? It’s time!

It's amazing some of the best players in the game and they can't get to a Super Bowl. Both teams are up against some lethal competition in the NFC with Washington and Green Bay, both Viggs teams as the leaders this season. The Redskins have truly impressed with their front line and speed. It will be tough but it's not impossible to beat them and all roads to the finish line appear to have Viggs in the way.

LIEFL WEEK #6 KICKOFF:

NFC SOUTH DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF CONTENTION MATCHUP

Falcons (4-1) - Panthers (3-2)

After rushing for 216 yards last week against Tampa Bay, DeShaun Foster entered into the LIEFL record book for the third best rushing performance on record. The guy who holds the seven-game high for rushing in a game, is the very opponent Foster is playing against, Gerald Riggs of the Falcons. Riggs had 239-yards rushing on September 18th, in Week #2 against the Eagles, setting the LIEFL most rushing yards in a game for the seven-game season format.

Kickoff: There was a lot of energy in the air before these two teams took the field. On the opening kickoff Panthers returner Greg Jones picked up where he left off last game against Tampa Bay, running 69-yards to open the game.

It was a tremendous battle in the trenches between LIEFL All Pro Kawaan Short and Falcons middleman LIEFL All-Pro Bob Fralich on other side of the field for the Falcons. These two went at it heavy. After a 1-yard run, DeShaun Foster busted loose for a 30-yard touchdown run on the right side of the field to give Carolina the lead 7-0! Impressive! Foster had four touchdowns last week against the Buccaneers.

No worries for the Falcons because on the ensuing kickoff Superstar Gerald Riggs ran back a blazing 100-yard touchdown run right through the right side of the field, untouched into the end zone, and just like that, it was a 7-7 football game!

On Carolina’s next return, Greg Jones was blasted at the 39-yard line by Atlanta tackle, Terrance Pennington. Carolina ran two plays, and both were stopped, but on 3rd down Panthers receiver Keary Colbert ran 54-yards to the eight-yard line on a beautifully designed cross pattern pass by Coach Zoo. On the very next play it was DeShaun Foster again who blasted 8-yards into the end zone behind that ferocious Carolina frontline, giving the Panthers the go-ahead lead, 14-7!

Falcons running back Gerald Riggs ran the next kickoff 47 yards to end the first half.

To start the second half Gerald Riggs ran two times and then Johnny-Freeport on 3rd down threw a beautiful strike to Julio Jones, his favorite receiver for a 38-yard pickup. After two more runs the Falcons tried again to put it up in the air but they were rejected, forcing a fourth down and a major decision for Freeport. Johnny-Freeport decided to kick the field goal to make the score 14-10, Carolina Panthers in the lead.

Before the next kickoff you see Johnny-Freeport was re-thinking whether or not he should have gone for the first down with 12 yards to go or kick the field goal but that is the element of time which leaves coaches making those timely decisions in tough spots in the league. This one would cost the Falcons.

But instead, on the kickoff, Greg Jones had other things in mind when he returned a stunning and electrifying 100-yard touchdown to give the Panthers the lead, 21-10, with just 3:12 remaining in the game on a sizzling run with guns blazing! That was the kind of run that turns heads! How would Atlanta answer?

Wow! what a statement from the Panthers!

There was no quitting in these Dirty Birds! Gerald Riggs turned an 82-yard kick return as the clock ran down and on first down Johnny-Freeport fired a rocket to his man Julio Jones who scored a 17-yard touchdown to make the score 21-17!  That would be the final score as Carolina ran out of time to do more damage, walking away with a 21-17 win! But man is this a ready team for Matt Zoo-York, they look good! 

The Falcons-Panthers will most likely meet again in the playoffs with Carolina (4-2) earning the edge over Atlanta (4-2) as they come closer to clinching the division. It all depends on next week’s outcome. The Falcons host the Jaguars in their final game of the season, and the Panthers host a dangerous and streaky Ron Dayne and Coach Levi Vick's Houston Texans (2-3) team who could play spoilers to Carolina, or will they?

LE'VEON BELL CRUSHES CHIEFS PLAYOFFS HOPES IN JETS 21-14 VICTORY!

Chiefs (2-3) - Jets (1-4) AFC PLAYOFF CONTENTION MATCHUP. In Week#6 action, WOW, this game was all it was billed to be, and then some! It was Coach Joey Pizz New York Jets who pulled off the huge upset win against defending LIEFL Super Bowl XVII Champion Kansas City Chiefs, crushing the Chiefs 2023 playoff hopes, in a tale rendered by Jets running back Le'Veon Bell! Bell is for real, and here to stay! He has become a force and face in the Jets lineup! We haven't seen a great back with the Jets since Bruce Harper when he was healthy. Today, Bell unleashed nine times for 82-yards on the ground, with a 38-yard touchdown run, and he had a 28-yard touchdown pass to give the hometown Jets the 21-14 upset!
 

The clish-clash battle between the line in the trenches had Coach Matt Zoo-York thinking hard, but Joey Pizz formations with running backs behind the linebackers paid off big! The key play was Le'Veon Bell's Houdini-like escape from a tight Kansas City defense, like a magician, when Bell broke free for a huge 28-yard touchdown to five the Jets the lead and win! No one could have stopped what Bell did on his own. It was a telling site on the final play of the game when Tyreek Hill ran back the kick return with 30 seconds remaining in the game only to be clobbered by Jets Linebacker Jamaal Abrams at the 34-yard line.

 

For the Chiefs running back Priest Holmes had two big touchdown runs of 30 and 42-yards, and nobody can blame Tyreek Hill. Hill performed well with three kick returns worth 162-yards with great setups, but the Jets and Coach Joey Pizz managed to control the clock, and that was the difference in the home field advantage win for New York. The Chiefs played hard but it seemed that for every play Kansas City made, New York counteracted. That 7-6 loss to the Chargers a few weeks ago, really crushed the Chiefs confidence to win on the road.

Jets tight end Don Maynard ran the ball back three times totaling 169-yards, but again, the story of the day was Le'Veon Bell who had 10 touches for 110 yards, with two touchdowns for the (2-4) New York Jets. The feeling of the loss started to set in for Matt Zoo York that his team who went all the way last year as a Wild Card Team, had their dreams crushed to make another Super Bowl. Zoo and his Chiefs will be playing for pride next week hosting Coach Ed Viggs Green Bay Packers (4-2), and the Jets will be at the Eagles (1-4), in the season finale to battle for their third win of the season!

RAIDERS STUN PACKERS IN HUGE UPSET ON ROAD 10-7!

Raiders (2-3) - Packers (4-1) In what might be the upset of the year, the visiting Las Vegas Raiders pulled off an incredible win in the Green Bay Packers house! Las Vegas turned this game into a nightmare for Green Bay in a playoff like atmosphere. One thing is certain, don't count on going to Vegas if you want to gamble your chances away against the Raiders for a playoff run because "Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Las Vegas raided Green Bay like a bunch of mad dogs in this game. What the heck did Coach Mack do to prepare for this game? After the game the players were weighed and everything checked out for the Raiders. They punched the Packers square in the jaw with a gritty knockout performance.

Raiders Coach Coach Kevin Mack said, "Today, the Las Vegas Raiders left the Green Bay Packers and Coach Ed Viggs speechless, stunned, and in disbelief!" Our LIEFL Analyst Long Island Sports Hall of Fame Inductee, and Historian Andrew M. Slawson said, "For the Packers, losing this game was a huge tilt in the competitive nature of the Long Island Electric Football League because this one on paper was a sure victory for Viggs. But, Packers return man Sterling Sharpe got off to a slow start with a 35 yard opening kickoff, and that was a play Coach Kevin Mack took full advantage of in a big way catching the Packers sleeping at the wheel behind their own 50 yard line, and the Packers never recovered. It set the tone for the game and it gave Raiders Coach Kevin Mack all the motivation he needed to believe in his team." It might have been the most important performance of the season for the 2008 LIEFL Super Bowl XI Champion Raiders. That Bowl seemed like we played it yesterday as time ticking away is a scary concept.

That one play with the usually reliable Sterling Sharpe, was the difference in the game. Coach Mack set that Raiders defense up strategically by matching his best against Viggs, and his strategy worked because he had fantastic setups targeting Sterling Sharpe! Sharpe is one of the best all-purpose players in the NFC with 1,000 yards with two touchdowns, but today he was reserved to just 102 all-purpose yards. Green Bay running back Terdell Middleton was contained to 78-yards on the ground with the only Packers touchdown of the game, a 17-yard run.

The battle began on the first set of downs for Green Bay when the Las Vegas Raiders Frontline dug deep into the trenches. Green Bay couldn't get anything going on the run or the pass. The usually reliable Coach Viggs had nobody open as coach Kevin Mack had everyone covered! Green Bay was too far away to kick a field goal on the opening drive. When Las Vegas got the ball running back Bo Jackson had no lanes to take because the Packers defense wasn't having it. That is what opened eyes, the sudden surge of the Raiders defense led by Howie Long in this game. Long made a few fantastic plays. He came out of nowhere to stop Green Bay's running game and running back Terdell Middleton on a key third down play, but the story of the day was Mark Van Eagan breaking Free at the 51-yard line on a third down pass play. Van Egan took it into the end zone to give the Raiders the go-ahead score 10-7, leaving the Pack with no time left to score!

 

Coach Viggs left this field asking questions. Viggs said, "I am a bit baffled when I shouldn't be. We played like crap. I still cannot believe that we lost at home, but you can't win them all, and as I look back, the Raiders have been on a journey. Instead of looking back, I have to move forward and prepare for the Chiefs next week."

The Raiders have been in almost every game, but they have gotten better as the season goes on. Viggs continued, "I just didn't think they could hang with my defense. We held their best player Dave Casper to 64-yards. It shows how important it is to score first when you have home field advantage. I will be ready for the Chiefs next week, and my team on the road is more focused for some crazy reason. Regardless, it is never good to lose games on your team's home field."

The most unreal part of the game is how little impact one of the best players in the league had. Dave Casper came ready to play but it was Mark Van Eeghen (Photo Right) who stole the Vegas show with his 51-yard game winning touchdown reception. Imagine if Casper had a big day?

The Raiders (3-3) host the Lions (2-3) for a shot at the playoffs!

The Packers (4-2) are on the road in their season finale against an angry Chiefs team at (2-4), who were banged out of the playoffs by the Jets.

This game is the talk of the league at the moment because if there was ever a perfect upset, this was it.

The Packers are that team who has made the most improvements in the past four seasons but so have the Raiders. This collision course might have been one of fate, but it ended in an eye-opening rebirth of the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders have lost a little of their like and identity with the change over from loyalists who love them in Oakland. The Silver & Black of Oakland had a toughness about them because it's where the Raiders fanbase is, but maybe this is the win they needed to give the Raiders their new identity playing in Vegas.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Long island EFL
INFO ADDED

[nefgm.org]

Great write-ups. Thanks for posting. 

[Terry43]

3 hours ago, Long island EFL said:

the story of the day was Mark Van Eagan breaking Free at the 51-yard line on a third down pass play. Van Egan took it into the end zone to give the Raiders the go-ahead score 10-7, leaving the Pack with no time left to score!

Finally, Van Eagan is getting some respect! 😃👍

3 hours ago, Long island EFL said:

The Raiders have lost a little of their like and identity with the change over from loyalists who love them in Oakland.

Van Eagan will always be an OAKLAND RAIDER in my mind and heart❣️

Enjoy the Journey    T43    ⚡🏈♾️