Football Weekend 13 December 09

Saturday: Army-Navy
Of course, for me, this is the game of the year. In a defensive struggle, Navy took advantage of a couple of missed field goals and a turnover to beat Army 17-3; The Black Knights actually lead 3-0 at the half.

This is the March On; I did this three times (and had “the duty” once). West Point always looks better than we do in this area.

The Brigade of Midshipmen at the game:

We cheered long and hard.

For the curious: these are not the normal uniforms (blue jerseys and gold pants); the red trip is supposed to mimic the red trim on the dress pants of a Marine Corps officer’s uniform (the Naval Academy graduates both Navy and Marine Corps officers).

Army fought hard; this game was much closer than the recent ones. Though Navy currently has a lead, the overall series record never deviates much from .500 either way.

(photos from yahoo; here is the write up of the game with a link to more photos)

Personal note: I had to proctor a final exam during the game but watched on live feed on my lap-top (with the sound turned off).

Sunday

Game One: The Bears lose to the Packers 21-14.
In a nutshell, the Bear defense played well (save an early breakdown which yielded a 62 touchdown run)

But the offense stunk: they threw two interceptions and only gained 59 yards on the ground.

The defense did enough to hold the initial Packer lead to 13-0; a nice 80 yard scoring drive cut it to 13-7 at the half.
Then the defense came up with a bizarre “double fumble” from the Packer quarterback; that set up the go-ahead touchdown and the Bears actually lead 14-13!

But the Bears threw yet another interception to set up a Green Bay touchdown and 2-point conversion; the Bears offense was too inept to rally from 21-14 down.

Personal Note The Rams play in St. Louis against the Texans next weekend; lots of good seats are to be had very cheaply. Note that the Rams are currently losing 47-7 to the Titans.

Cowboys-Chargers
Right now the Chargers are up 17-10 with 2:42 left and are driving; the big change happened in the first half.

The Chargers were up 10-3 and the Cowboys drove the ball to the San Diego 2 yard line and had second and goal. The Cowboys tried three straight runs and got no further than the 1.

Still, the Cowboy defense got an interception and got the ball back at about the 22. Then…they got stuffed again and had to try a field goal…and missed.

In the second half, the Cowboys actually finished an impressive 98 yard touchdown drive to tie it at 10, but the Chargers responded with a drive of their own to take a 17-10 lead in the 4′th quarter.

Right now: the Chargers are about to attempt a field goal that would put them up 20-10 with just over 2 minutes to go:

The kick is good; in this quarter they’ve outgained the Cowboys 154-2x yards.

They now enjoy a 342-256 yard advantage adn the Cowboys are now at their own 14 with 1:48 and down 20-10. Ok, with the last drive it is 342-338 yards.

Ok, 57 seconds to go.

Ok, they are at the 18 of San Diego and there are 26 seconds left….stopped at the 4 with 7 seconds left. Even a score and an onside will not leave enough time. Now the Cowboys jump offside and it is now at the 9. Touchdown, Cowboys; total yards are now tied up but the score is 20-17 but only 2 seconds. That is how it will end, regardless of who covers the onside kick.

Dallas now goes to New Orleans (loss), Washington (3-9, but the Redskins will be up) and end with the Eagles (probably another loss).

(NFL photos from yahoo)

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