Long Island EFL (Yesterday's Week #6 Thanksgiving Game Results)

[Long island EFL]

Gobble Gobble, Go! Hope you and your families had a Happy Thanksgiving! That was the feeling yesterday when we showed at Coach Levi Vick's house on Thanksgiving morning, dedicated to electric football and the hobby! You couldn't help but be anxious in wanting to get these committed games underway so we wasted no time! Coach Johnny-Freeport couldn't wait to play as he amped up the energy saying, "This is a big day for my Ravens and while you clowns are joking around, I am all business. We came here seeing dollars and victory against Bino's stolen valor using the Colts to cover his talent. With running back Joseph Addai, who needs a coach. Freeport and Bino are two of the funniest wiseguy types, with heavy New York accents you could ever meet. It's all showmanship, but it doesn't dismiss the magnitude of the game for Johnny-Freeport. This is his chance for Freeport to take the lead in the AFC North.

We got the Giants (3-2) at Cowboys (3-2), the Colts (4-1) at Ravens (3-2), and the Vikings (1-4) at Lions (2-3)!

COWBOYS COOK GIANTS 10-3 IN GOBBLEFEST GAME 1!

 Giants (3-2)  Cowboys (3-2) How about them Blu-Uni's Dallas is wearing? Rarely worn, they were painted and decaled by Billy O'C in 2019. The Cowboys opening kickoff wasn't so pretty though. It's not what they expected from the usually reliable Terrell Owens. Owens ran out of bounds at the 35-yard line to open the game, but on first down Emmitt Smith and the Cowboys Frontline exploded on the Giants. Smith ran for a 20-yard first down, forcing New York to make adjustments. Smith had some real pop in his step. On the next play the Cowboys took charge in the trenches with Emmitt Smith again, running for another 17-yard first down. He's on fire! 

... The Giants had to make some moves. They moved Leonard Marshall the nose tackle after those two big runs by Emmitt Smith, and New York temporarily changed the inside game in the trenches, with all the pushing by the Giants, the next play curved the force of the Dallas Cowboys line to the left which created an beautiful opening for Emmitt Smith who took full advantage of the gravitational pull, running 29-yards into the end zone for the touchdown, the first of the day, to give Dallas the lead 7-0! WOW!

The New York football Giants started out with a beautiful Ahmad Bradshaw 42-yard kick return on the ensuing kickoff. The Giants Frontline on offense took over with Leonard Marshall in the middle as Shaquon Barkley ran for 10, 20, and another 10-yard first down before Dallas caught up shut Barkley down in the backfield for a huge 24-yard loss. Coach Joey Pizz thought he would try to run again, and that was a big mistake against this Dallas defense with the first half coming to a close.

The Cowboys came up big on second down at the start of the second half forcing Barkley out of bounds at their own 48-yard line. The story quickly became the Cowboys defense! They played with a fierce playoff like attitude. Larry Allen, Cowboys nose man is on fire at the moment forcing the Giants and Coach Pizz to air it out with the hopes that he can connect with one of his four great receivers. On this pass play the Giants were stopped at the 45-yard line of Dallas for a pickup of seven yards forcing the Giants to kick the field goal, 37-yard shy of the first down, but the Giants made the field goal.

Dallas came to play, and they're beating the pants off of the Giants, 7-3!

Dallas handed the football to Michael Irvin who returned a beautiful 49-yard kick return on the ensuing kickoff. They weren't taking any chances with Owens messy play today. But Dallas struggled to get a first down running the ball and the Giants defense kicked in with tackle Dave Diehl making big plays. The Cowboys were forced to kick a field goal from 49-yards to take the lead 10-3, with 4:19 remaining in the game.

We will see if the field goal pays off for the Cowboys especially since Ahmad Bradshaw will be returning the football in the Giants last drive.

With 2:29 remaining in the game Michael Irvin made a game changing huge play tackling Shaquon Barkley in the backfield for an 8-yard loss at a time when the New York needed a big play and lots of yardage. The Giants will be lucky if they have two plays left but their hopes were beginning to crumble. If Dallas beats the Giants they would have a sure shot at making the playoffs over them.

The Giants just couldn't get it done on a huge play Ahmad Bradshaw took a sizzling pass play 15 yards but he was turned around by his own man with an open field in front of him, which could have tied the game. Instead, that did it for the Giants (3-3), the defending NFC Champions were finished for this week anyway! And New York ran out of time, turning the power in the NFC East back over to Dallas (4-2), and Coach Levi Vick, who will compete with Ed Viggs Washington Redskins (6-0) and the rest of the NFC for a shot at the 2023 playoffs! Vick is showing his skills this year after a two year learning curve.The Giants have a small chance to make it in, and who knows what a Wild Card Team will do in the Tournament.  We have had two Wild Card Super Bowl winners in the LIEFL. The Buffalo Bills, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

There were no 100-yard players in the game. It became a strong defensive game which is more of we will see when we inch closer to the playoffs. What a game for the Cowboys who dominated in a 10-3 win! 

COLTS STUN JOHNNY-FREEPORT'S RAVENS 14-6!

Colts (4-1) Ravens (3-2)

The Indianapolis Colts have had quite the season at (4-1). They're living in an electric football world of accomplishments at the moment after winning their 80th game against the Steelers in overtime 27-21, but that's not all ... their defense has been super! Colts Linebacker Robert Mathis was earned in the 2022 draft and he has anchored in the trench warfare. The Colts only lost this season was against a very gritty New England Patriots football team, and while the Patriots don't score a lot of points, opponents don't score many off of them either. Remember when they used to be the old Baltimore Colts? People loved them. As a matter of fact, in LIEFL 1983 season when we changed over to Indianapolis it was hard to get used to their new identity. That's all psychological because we are creatures of habit who don't like change, for some of us. We seem to be in this league big on identity, but the Colts were involved in one of the best games in the LIEFL history.

It was the AFC WIld Card Game in the 1983 LIEFL season when Coach Joe Pizz Colts and Coach Joe Bino's Broncos faced off in a brutal battle. Denver (8-6) was coming off a (14-1) 1982 season, when the Broncos were upset in the playoffs by Buffalo, 28-27. The Indianapolis Colts have a history of playing big in important games. The game between the Colts-Broncos ended in a Broncos victory over the Colts 33-32, and it gave the Colts a new reputation to be feared in the playoffs with Colts running back Curtis Dickey (Right) being a force in a game that could have gone either way. Curtis Dickey ended his LIEFL career with 4,644 yards with 42 touchdowns! And, as good as Dickey's popularity soared for the Colts, when we re-started our beloved league in 2008, we flipped coins to determine who the new owners of 32-teams would be, and Coach Billy O'C took over the Colts and created the new era Colts with Joseph Addai (LEFT BELOW) in the backfield. Addai has delivered more than 7,600 all-purpose yards with 57 touchdowns for his Colts since the Billy O'C takeover! When all is said and done, Addai an unpopular player in the NFL, will be one of the most decorated and electrifying players in the LIEFL.

The biggest piece of the puzzle missing for the contentious Colts is a Super Bowl title.

The Colts have only gotten better over the years, but this roster that they're playing with this year would have given that Denver Broncos team quite the game in 83'. They lost to Denver the year after also in 1991-92, 28-21. But since then these Indianapolis Colts have been to three Super Bowl tournaments and in 2018, they lost in overtime and the AFC Divisional Championship Game. Then in 2019, they lost a close AFC Wild Card game against Oakland 38-34, and in 2020 as a (6-1) team the Colts got their sweet revenge on the Broncos, beating Denver 27-10, again, in the AFC Wild Card Game. Years may go by, but sometimes those old rival feelings inside don't die. 

The Baltimore Ravens have played well this season keeping every game close. They started the season with a big win over the Steelers 21-14, for their 40th win in their history. Then they slipped a bit losing two in a row on the road to the Titans and the Rams. But in the last two games, they've been on fire beating San Francisco 17-14, and the Browns on the road at Cleveland 17-14, in overtime.

Ravens Coach Johnny-Freeport has his team on a roll and today's game, but Baltimore has not run the ball well. Running back Jamal Lewis had 39 touches for 487 yards last season with eight touchdowns, compared to this season where he has just 21 rushes for 138 yards and a single touchdown rushing. That should be a concern for Freeport, but he ignored the concern stating, "Why worry when you have a seven time LIEFL All-Pro in Derrick Mason. He's the badass putting points on the board with five 100-yard touchdowns and over 800 yards. I'm not worried about statistics. I don't play for statistics. What I play for is wins, and that's just the way it is. I'm not worried about how many yards these guys have. All this historic mumbo-jumbo that these guys and Billy O'C are talks about is good for them, but for me, I couldn't care less. Again, what I am playing for is the money. There's nothing better than having $3,200 dollars in play money at the end of the season. That rule of splitting it in half, because of me, is going to get changed."

The Ravens won the AFC North four times and they have participated in the playoffs a total six times so this is a very good team. Freeport continued, "There is no coach in this league better than me when I am on and today I am coming for blood in both of my games!" Coach Joe Bino said, "Here we go, this guy doesn't ever stop. Let's get this game on."

Nevertheless, the Ravens have had some big playmakers on this team especially on defense with Tony Siragusa "The Goose." Goose has seven tackles, and he's made a showing in every game this season running through tackles making big plays. As a team the Ravens have 23 tackles and 10 touchdowns to date.This is Baltimore's 10th season in the league they were birthed in 2000, when they went (10-4), making it all the way to the AFC Divisional Championship Game where they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-27!

THE GAME: 

The opening kickoff was returned by LIEFL All-Pro Derrick Mason 44-yards and hit hard by Colts Bronco Nagurski. It was a gritty clock killing drive for Johnny-Freeport's Baltimore Ravens on the opening drive, but Baltimore was met with force. Ravens Running back Jamal Lewis ran five times for 26 yards until teammate on a third down attempted Mark Andrews was way too close to coverage resulting in a missed pass by Johnny-Freeport.  Johnny-Freeport's  Ravens kicked the longest field goal in LIEFL history from 63-yards away, and it gave the Ravens the lead 3-0, with 4:19 to go in the half!  Freeport put his fist up in the air not even knowing that that was the longest kick ever. We questioned how far was the longest and then saw it in the record book. Prior to that we had a 62-yard field goal by coach Patty Branigan's Chicago Bears in 2008! What a kick!

On the ensuing kickoff Joseph Addai took action, blasted off for a 50-yard kick return hit by Jamal Lewis at the 50! One play later, Addai blazed around the left side of his offensive line like a master, bolting 50-yards into the endzone on an electrifying run to put Indianapolis ahead, 7-3!

 

On the next kickoff for the Ravens Derrick Mason returned a strong 61-yarder to set up Jamal Lewis and his front line at the 39-yard line in great field position and that ended the first half.

 

On first down, it was Ravens running back Jamal Lewis who exploded on a 21-yard run, bringing the ball to the 18-yard line of the Colts. On second down it was all Colts pushing Baltimore back 12-yards for the loss. On the next first down, the Ravens had no answers for the Colts defense on two running tries. On 3rd down, Johnny- Freeport nearly got sacked by Colts Joseph Addai but Derrick Mason escaped shy of the first down on a 14-yard play, 17 yards short of the first down. The Ravens were forced to kick another field goal, this time from 36-yards away to make the score 7-6, Colts still in the lead and in a battle with 9:29 remaining in the game! Expect Indianapolis coach Bino to try to kill the clock!

 

On the Colts next possession Joseph Addai blazed 71-yards on the kickoff. bringing the ball to the 29-yard line of the Ravens. What a kick return for Addai! We were looking at Robert Mathis the linebacker for the Colts, and he is a big player for a 67 Big-Man. He has been the anchor and key to the Colts success. He is wide, he's tall, and he's strong. He is certain to be a big time Pro Bowl pick. Speaking of linebackers, the Ravens have their own big time guy in Ray Lewis. On first down for the Colts, Lewis made a colossal hit that we could actually hear as he collided with Joseph Addai after Addai made the first down at the 19 yard line of the Ravens. What a hit! This Thanksgiving Day brawl game doesn't get any more epic, unless you're on the field. Johnny-Freeport went mad on that last hit using a couple of profanities to explain the hit.

 

With 6:43 remaining in the game Baltimore tackle Tony "Goose" Siragusa has been quiet all day playing up against Colts tackle Tony Parker who has played great against him. Ravens tight end Mark Andrews made a huge hit on Joseph Addai in the backfield on the next play, and the Colts lost 12-yards on the play. Just as we said "The Goose" was not involved in the game, he made a big tackle on Addai at the line of scrimmage. Addai has taken some huge hits, bringing up a third down play for Indianapolis with 3:43 now remaining in the game.

The Colts had every intention of running the clock out in this game in a brilliant game played by Coach Joe Bino as time ran down, Bino's Colts upset Johnny-Freeports Baltimore Ravens 14-6, with a 16-yard touchdown mouth-smashing pass to Marvin Harrison to collapse the Ravens as Johnny-Freeport's Ravens lose the Colts! Both defenses played fantastic today, but Indianapolis played at an elite level on the road under pressure!

Wow Indianapolis Colts (5-1) are on their way to the playoffs again with a beautiful performance on the road! The Ravens (3-3) are not finished yet. They still have a chance to compete for the AFC North title! The teams who win on the road are the elite teams in any League.

Colts running back Joseph Addai had 7 touches for 183 all-purpose yards, with one 100 yard touchdown return as well. He carried the football five times for 62-yards rushing, including a 50-yard touchdown scamper for the star back. It was Derrick Mason who carried Baltimore, but the Colts kept Mason from scoring. And the Ravens were held to just two field goals! What a finish!

BUSSEY PUTS ON A THANKSGIVING DAY SHOW IN 17-14 WIN OVER VIKINGS!

Vikings (1-4)  Lions (2-3)

Another player we have featured in our league is Dexter Bussey who will play against a ginormous Vikings defense today. Bussey's popularity in the LIEFL is far greater than his NFL popularity, although he was at the end of his NFL career when Superstar and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Simms from the University of Oklahoma became a force in his rookie NFL season, Bussey never complained, he just did his job rushing for 5,105 yards with 18 career touchdowns.  Sims didn't do what Bussey has for the LIEFL Lions though. In our league he's known as "The Man" or "Dexter" and the impact he's made has been over the life of our league. The Detroit Lions should be able to win this game at home but judging by their game to game activity this season, they lost a big game to Kansas City at home 23-17, in overtime. Then the Lions lost to Green Bay, 17-10. They haven't won a single game on the road this year, and they've made some great draft choices, but they have to get in sync in order to win. There's no better time to win than now. Detroit plays the Raiders next week at Las Vegas. The Raiders are red hot, so that should be a terrific offensive game from both teams between Dexter Bussey and Raiders superstar, Dave Casper.

 

Detroit got off to a bad 2023 start in a 31-28 brawl that they lost in overtime to the rising Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Superstar Dexter Bussey has rushed for just 212-yards on 30 touches, with three touchdowns. His big numbers are on kick returns where he has 14 touches for 914-yards with four 100-yard touchdown returns, giving him 1,160 all-purpose yards, with eight touchdowns on the season. But Bussey has slowed up the last few games. His two biggest games where game one and game two against Tampa Bay and Kansas City, where Bussey had a combined 807 all-purpose yards, with seven touchdowns in those few games. Then everything just came to a halt against three tough defensive teams in Minnesota, Green Bay, and believe it or not, the New Orleans Saints.

Worth noting is the loss Detroit had in Week #3 to these Vikings 17-14, so we don't expect this game to be any different other than that the Lions have home field advantage with an opportunity to win and stay in the playoff hunt. The Vikings are out of it because Green Bay is (4-2), and in the lead in the NFC North.

                                      
 

It would give Vikings Coach Joey Pizz no better feeling than to upset the Lions at home and spoil their playoff hopes today. Everyone in the league thought the Vikings were going to be a huge contender this season, but it's not the way it turned out. Minnesota has only won one game and that was against Detroit. The Vikings lost last week to Denver 14-7 at home to those tough determined Broncos. They lost the week before 14-7 as well to Atlanta, and next week they face New Orleans at home.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, unfortunately has not put up big numbers this season. He has 39 touches for 689 all-purpose yards, and just a single touchdown this season. That is where the Vikings have gone wrong. We're seeing Justin Jefferson become a consistent kick returner for the Vikings which is very important. Jefferson has four touches for 183-yards on kick returns and they are determined to see him grow.

THE GAME:

With all the big shot names on this field, they need no introduction, but needless to say Vikings tackle Carl Eller, who's one of the best in the game in this league, is up against NFC leading tackler Lomas Brown of the Lions. That's a colossal matchup at tackle.

On the opening kickoff, LIEFL superstar and Lions running back Dexter Bussey ran a sweet, but jolting 50-yard kick return on some heavy hitting to start the game. The intensity was real. On first down Bussey ran 8-yards, two yards shy of the next set of first downs. On second down, it was all Detroit with another nine yards for Bussey, but it was a huge matchup on the line lots of battles. Great division matchups usually have intensity and that's exactly what this game is having right now. Which coach will deliver in the ground and air game?  Who will come up big in the game against two fierce rivals in Coach Joey Pizz and his Vikings against Johnny-Freeport and his legendary Lions? Freeport was saying that he has nothing to say, Dexter Bussey will do all the talking on the field today, especially on Thanksgiving for this show.

We've seen it so many times before when it comes to Dexter Bussey and after being surged back by the Vikings Purple-People Eater defense, Bussey and the Lions  defense blasted through a hole for a 32-yard touchdown run by Bussey right through the middle and heart of the Vikings defense to make the score 7-0 Lions, with 8:43 remaining in the half! That was the play that Johnny-Freeport was looking for, and he yelled out, "All day baby!"

It seems the Lions have picked up their game and pace as they battle to try to make the Super Bowl tournament and Johnny-Freeport's lack of social graces when it comes to the mean game of football shows just how vicious he can be with lots of unnecessary taunting.

 

And with razor sharp precision, on the ensuing kick return, Vikings rookie Justin Jefferson exploded for an electrifying 100-yard touchdown run, right past Johnny-Freeport's defending Lions to tie the score at 7-7, with 7:10 remaining in the half! Wow! Joey Pizz shouted, "Eat that turkey baby!"

 

The Vikings are really building their confidence in Jefferson.

 

Coach Joey Pizz spoke too soon. On the Lions next kick return, Mr. Dexter Bussey blazed down field with his own 100-yard touchdown run to take the lead 14-7, and both coaches were laughing, but serious with Johnny-Freeport just going ballistic taunting coach Pizz! Coach Pizz just kept laughing saying, "Have you looked at the clock, the game's not over yet." What a run by Dexter Bussey. The Lions and Vikings are on fire here in this division rival, and the gloves are off with some good hard smash mouth football!

 

On the next kickoff, Lions linebacker Chris Spielman came up with a big hit on Minnesota's Justin Jefferson, who ran the ball back 43-yards. Finally, we will see Adrian Peterson handle the football. Peterson's been a bit of a disappointment for the Vikings this year, but Joey Pizz claims he's fine, and that there's nothing wrong with him. Just as we said that, Peterson bolted 47-yards for a first down to the 10-yard line of the Lions. What a explosion! Peterson ran right through the Detroit Lions front line and the Lions will switch things around and make the necessary adjustments very fast. The battle between Lomas Brown and Carl Eller is phenomenal, and Vikings tackle Jared Wright is quite a tackle himself, so either one of those guys on Lomas Brown will do with 1:12 remaining in the half. That was a heavy run by Minnesota. The next play the Vikings lost 13 yards, and that play ended the first half.

 

It was a brilliant first half played by Johnny-Freeport, and Pizz played great as well. We can't knock either coach.

 

To start the second half, Vikings running back  Adrian Peterson followed Carl Eller around the right side of the offensive line and into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown to tie the score at 7-7!

 

The Vikings Frontline is so fast that they stopped Dexter Bussey in his tracks at the 33-yard line of detroit on a big hit by Adrian Peterson on the ensuing kick return for the Lions! On first down Bussey was dragged down behind the line of scrimmage. But on second down he exploded 10-yards for the first down at the 43-yard line. Both Jared Wright and Carl Eller converged through their tackle positions to make a huge hit on Bussey, but it didn't stop Bussey from getting the first down.

 

With 8:37 remaining in the game Dexter Bussey exploded 32 yards to the Vikings 25-yard line for another first down for Detroit.

On first down, Bussey ran for another 10-yard first down, but then he was stopped on two straight runs stuffed by Vikings rookie linebacker DJ Wonnum and Carl Eller again. Eller is such a force in the league. We'll never forget how he came up so big and last year's playoffs against the Panthers.

On third down with 2:22 remaining in the game with the clock running, the Lions and Johnny-Freeport went up in the air, but the Lions were in Jeopardy of being sacked,  forcing a fourth down and there was noone open on the play. The Vikings still had a chance to win this game putting the ball in the hands of the rookie Justin Jefferson with 49 seconds remaining.  On the last play of the game, Justin Jefferson tried to get to the outside of the field, but he was hit hard by Lions rookie tackle, Tommy Kraemer to save the game for the Detroit Lions! The Vikings did a hurry up field goal attempt with 16 seconds left in the game, but the kick went far left, and Johnny Freeport went wild with excitement with his huge win over the Minnesota Vikings 17-14! What a Thanksgiving Day game!

Johnny Freeport handed coach Joey Pizz the game ball, and that was the biggest upset of all handing Pizz the game ball. That was an intense battle between two great rivalries! The Lions (3-3) continue to strive to get into the playoffs. For the Vikings it was a great battle and they have nothing to be ashamed of!

The story of the day was Dexter Bussey who torched the Vikings, touching the ball 14 times for 284 all-purpose yards with two touchdowns, including 100-yard touchdown run back. Bussey also had 10 rushes for 101 yards, including a 32 yard touchdown scamper. He played a fantastic game. So too did Justin Jefferson the rookie for the Vikings, who touched the ball three times for 183 all-purpose yards, with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown in the game!
Sensational finish to the day time to go eat turkey for this afternoon!