SIN CITY WINS CHAMPIONSHIP
The Godfathers completed an unimaginable run winning their 9th game in a row to take home their third TFL Championship title. This game was a thriller and those that attended the broadcast via the Ocho were left wondering who would win at the end of this instant classic.
Godfathers safety Budda Baker intercepts two passes and causes a 3rd in Sin City victory.
The Silence won the coin toss and elected to kick. The Godfathers had an impressive opening drive that spanned 10-plays before sputtering out at the Silence 19-yard line. Matt Gay stepped on to the field after a rough outing the week prior and knocked it through the uprights for a quick 3-points.
The two teams than exchanged a couple possessions without giving up much ground and consuming most of the rest of the first quarter. The next key moment occurred when Erie was forced to punt from their 10-yard line. Sam Koch felt the pressure of punting from deep in his own territory and shanked the punt 29-yards to Deonte Harris who returned it back 26-yards and set the Godfathers up from the Silence 13-yard line. Brady and company were able to make quick work of the great field position and put 7-points on the board just before the 1st quarter came to an end.
The ensuing Silence drive ended in a 3 and out and the Godfathers offense quickly got back to work. The drive started at Sin City’s 24-yard line, but the thunder and lightning tandem of Howard and Mitchell marched the team down to Erie’s 25-yard line. Godfather fans were starting to believe the rout was on and then disaster struck. Brady made 1 of his 2 critical errors on the day getting intercepted on a look in pass that Zach Cunningham took 76-yards for a quick 6-points. Just like that the game went from rout to close battle.
Brady took Ted Lasso’s advice to heart and had the memory of a goldfish. Quickly forgetting about his costly mistake Brady took to the field and lead a 10-play drive (most of it off his arm) and earned back the 7-points he just lost with a TD strike to Allen Robinson.
Erie took over with time wanning in the 2nd quarter down 7-17. Josh Allen led his team on an 81-yard drive that ran out of time at the Godfathers 5-yard line. With 8 seconds left on the clock Erie elected to close the gap and kick the field goal. Silence 10 – Godfathers 17 at the half.
The second half started with Erie receiving the ball. The Silence were putting together a nice drive, 7-plays and crossing over mid field. The Teach determined it was time to send in the highly accurate and turn-over adverse Geno Smith into the game. Smith was limited to 10 passes in the playoffs and Bryan wanted to use them wisely. On Smith’s 2nd pass of the game what wasn’t supposed to happen, happened! Jalen Ramsey intercepted a wayward flat pass from Geno compliments of a 1-in-zone D-card role 3/5.
The Godfathers with great field position at mid-field hoped to extend their lead. Sin City moved to Erie’s 40-yard line where they faced a tough 4th and 2 call. The coaching staff felt they were in no man’s land and opted to go for it. The coaching staff dialed up the perfect play, Erie was playing run and Brady dropped back looking for Deandre Hopkins and D-Hop simply dropped a perfect pass! Receiver card wrong, red die 7! The only open spot on Hopkins card.
Erie took over at their 40-yard line looking to close the gap with Sin City. This time the tandem of Josh Allen and Geno Smith drove the Silence to the Godfather 2-yard line. On 4th and Goal from Sin City’s 2 the Teach sent in the call and play to go for it. The Godfathers guessed correctly run and Boston Scott lost a yard on the end run.
Another bullet dodged by the Godfathers. The Godfather’s played it cautiously deep in their territory opting for three runs in a row and were forced to punt. Erie started their 8th possession with great field position still down 17-10. This time the collaboration of Geno Smith/ Josh Allen would not be denied! Several nice calls by Bryan drove the Silence down to the Godfather 6-yard line. Josh Allen connected with Antonio Brown early in the 4th quarter and just like that the game was all tied up 17-17.
Brady took over knowing his team needed a spark. Three quick chunk plays quickly brought Sin City to Erie’s 37-yard line and Tom made his second critical mistake on the day. Brady fumbled the snap and Vita Vae was there to scoop it up. It felt like the Godfather magic had dried up on that play and the momentum was all Silence! But one Godfather had yet to make his impact felt on the game…
Two plays after Brady’s critic snap-fumble Budda Baker stepped in front of a square-in pass intended for Antonio Brown! Baker’s Great Impact interception set Brad and company up at mid-field. The Godfather offense managed to drive to Erie’s 19-yard line where Matt Gay was sent on the field to reclaim the lead. Sin City 20-17.
Erie received the ensuing kickoff and 3-plays into the drive Budda Baker created another turn-over! Josh Allen again looking for Antonio Brown on a square-in hit the D-Card 1-in-zone with a 4 for the split die rating. The Godfathers failed to do anything off the turnover, quickly sputtered and punted back to the Silence. Tommy Townsend did a phenomenal job of angling the coffin-corner punt pinning Erie at their 6-yard line.
Down only 3-points (20-17) with three minutes remaining to play in the game Josh Allen stepped on to the field looking to drive his team to victory! Geno Smith was out of attempts, if victory was going to come it would be on the arm of Josh Allen. Josh Allen tried to take the first down play around the end where he met Demarcus Lawrence for a 1-yard gain. On second down from his own 7 Josh Allen dropped back looking for Cordarrelle Patterson, but Buddy Ryan (DC for Sin City) had put Malcolm Jenkins in double coverage on him. Jenkins deflected the ball and A’Shawn Robinson intercepted that tipped pass. The big D-Line man then rumbled 9-yards for a touchdown and to put the Godfathers up by two-scores! Sin 27 – 17.
Erie would muster a last-gasp drive and kick a field-goal with 45 seconds left. The Silence attempted an on-side kick, but the Godfathers recovered. From there Tom Brady took it to victory formation to run out the clock!
This was one heck of a game! The Godfathers defense came up large in the fourth quarter with three interceptions and they also had a key 4th down stop late in the third quarter. I feel extremely lucky to come away with the win today.
Congratulations to Bryan Lewis who, in my opinion, is one of the best coaches in the league. He gets more out of his team than any other franchise year in and year out! Making three Championship games is no small feat and this is a franchise that deserves a lot of recognition.
The Godfathers continue their every other year Championship run with titles in 2018, 2020 and now 2022! It’s been a heck of a 5-year ride for Sin City, but I’m not sure there’s much magic left in this roster. We’ll see when the card set comes out next year…
Thanks to Jim & Scott for running such a fun league!
2021 Erie 20, 2021 Sin City 27 | ||||||
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Total | |
2021 Erie | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
2021 Sin City | 10 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 27 |
Scoring Plays | ||||||
Qtr | Clock | Team | Scoring Description(Extra Point) | Score | ||
1 | 10:12 | 2021 Sin City | M.Gay 36 yd. field goal | 3-0 SIN | ||
1 | 0:18 | 2021 Sin City | D.Hopkins 2 yd. pass from T.Brady (M.Gay kick) | 10-0 SIN | ||
2 | 9:54 | 2021 Erie | Z.Cunningham 76 yd. intercept (R.Gould kick) | 10-7 SIN | ||
2 | 4:30 | 2021 Sin City | A.Robinson 7 yd. pass from T.Brady (M.Gay kick) | 17-7 SIN | ||
2 | 0:01 | 2021 Erie | R.Gould 22 yd. field goal | 17-10 SIN | ||
4 | 13:12 | 2021 Erie | A.Brown 6 yd. pass from J.Allen (R.Gould kick) | 17-17 SIN | ||
4 | 6:18 | 2021 Sin City | M.Gay 36 yd. field goal | 20-17 SIN | ||
4 | 2:24 | 2021 Sin City | A.Robinson 8 yd. intercept (M.Gay kick) | 27-17 SIN | ||
4 | 0:45 | 2021 Erie | R.Gould 41 yd. field goal | 27-20 SIN | ||
Other Highlights | ||||||
Qtr | Clock | Team | Event | Player | Yards | |
3 | 12:00 | 2021 Sin City | Intercept | Jalen Ramsey | 4 | |
4 | 12:54 | 2021 Sin City | Return | Deonte Harris | 31 | |
4 | 10:48 | 2021 Sin City | Fumble | Tom Brady | ||
4 | 9:18 | 2021 Sin City | Intercept | Budda Baker | 12 | |
4 | 4:48 | 2021 Sin City | Intercept | Budda Baker | 15 | |
Team Statistics | ||
2021 Erie | 2021 Sin City | |
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total | 2-17-1-20 | 8-12-0-20 |
Third Down Efficiency | 3-12-25% | 5-12-42% |
Fourth Down Efficiency | 3-4-75% | 0-1-0% |
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct) | 10-21-48% | 20-28-71% |
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play | 322-66-4.9 | 283-60-4.7 |
Total Net Yards Rushing | 63 | 132 |
Total Rushes | 17 | 31 |
Average Per Rush | 3.7 | 4.3 |
Passes Completed/Attempted | 27/49 (55.1%) | 17/29 (58.6%) |
Net Yards Passing | 259 | 151 |
Avg Yards Per Pass | 5.3 | 5.2 |
Sacked/Yards Lost | 0/0 | 0/0 |
Punts/Average | 3/42.7 | 3/38.3 |
Punts Received/Return Yardage | 1/1 | 1/26 |
Kickoffs/Returns | 3/47 | 3/85 |
Interceptions/Returns | 1/76 | 4/39 |
Penalties/Yards | 3/17 | 3/37 |
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost | 0/0 | 1/1 |
Time of Possession | 28 mins 3 secs | 31 mins 57 secs |
Average Drive Start | ERI 27 | SIN 40 |
Passing Stats | ||||||||||||
Att | Comp | Yds | Comp % | Yds/Att | TD | TD % | INT | INT % | Long | Sack | Rating | |
2021 Erie | ||||||||||||
Josh Allen | 40 | 20 | 191 | 50.0 | 4.8 | 1 | 2.5 | 3 | 7.5 | 23 | 0/0 | 40.7 |
Geno Smith | 9 | 7 | 68 | 77.8 | 7.6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11.1 | 19 | 0/0 | 58.6 |
2021 Sin City | ||||||||||||
Tom Brady | 29 | 17 | 151 | 58.6 | 5.2 | 2 | 6.9 | 1 | 3.4 | 20 | 0/0 | 81.3 |
Rushing Stats | |||||||||||
No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | Fumbles/Lost | |||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
James Conner | 12 | 47 | 3.9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Josh Allen | 4 | 17 | 4.3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Boston Scott | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Elijah Mitchell | 18 | 119 | 6.6 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Jordan Howard | 8 | 17 | 2.1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | ||||
Tom Brady | 5 | -4 | -0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | ||||
Receiving Stats | |||||||||||
No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | 2 Pt Conv | ||||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
James Conner | 7 | 38 | 5.4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Michael Pittman Jr. | 5 | 67 | 13.4 | 19 | 0 | 0 | |||||
C. Patterson | 4 | 69 | 17.3 | 23 | 0 | 0 | |||||
John Bates | 4 | 36 | 9.0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Antonio Brown | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 14 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Marquez Valdes-Scantlin | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Boston Scott | 1 | 3 | 3.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Ricky Seals-Jones | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Brandon Aiyuk | 4 | 61 | 15.3 | 20 | 0 | 0 | |||||
DeAndre Hopkins | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 15 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Elijah Mitchell | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Allen Robinson | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 10 | 1 | 0 | |||||
Deonte Harris | 2 | 10 | 5.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Jordan Howard | 1 | 10 | 10.0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Robert Woods | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |||||
David Montgomery | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Field Goals and Extra Points | |||||||||||
1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | Totals | % Made | XPs | ||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Robbie Gould | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 100 | 2/2 | |||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Matt Gay | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 100 | 3/3 | |||
Punting | |||||||||||
No | Avg | Net | Tb | Inside 20 | Long | Blocked | |||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Sam Koch | 3 | 42.7 | 27.3 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 0 | ||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Tommy Townsend | 3 | 38.3 | 38.0 | 0 | 2 | 42 | 0 | ||||
Kickoff Returns | |||||||||||
No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Godwin Igwebuike | 2 | 36 | 18.0 | 25 | 0 | ||||||
Michael Pittman Jr. | 1 | 11 | 11.0 | 11 | 0 | ||||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Deonte Harris | 3 | 85 | 28.3 | 31 | 0 | ||||||
Punt Returns | |||||||||||
Ret | FC | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | ||||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Freddie Swain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Deonte Harris | 1 | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 26 | 0 | |||||
Individual Defense | |||||||||||
Tackles | Sacks | Fum Rec | |||||||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Harrison Smith | 7 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Bobby Wagner | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Zach Cunningham | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Vita Vea | 5 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
Kendall Fuller | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
A.J. Klein | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Mike Hilton | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Quincy Williams | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Adetokunbo Ogundeji | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Quandre Diggs | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Trey Hendrickson | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Cameron Jordan | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Fabian Moreau | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Myles Jack | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Tyrann Mathieu | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Budda Baker | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Jalen Ramsey | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
K.J. Wright | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Jason Pierre-Paul | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
DeForest Buckner | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Malcolm Jenkins | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
DeMarcus Lawrence | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Deion Jones | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Arik Armstead | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Jordyn Brooks | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
Interceptions | |||||||||||
No | Yds | Avg | Long | TD | |||||||
2021 Erie | |||||||||||
Zach Cunningham | 1 | 76 | 76.0 | 76 | 1 | ||||||
2021 Sin City | |||||||||||
Budda Baker | 2 | 27 | 13.5 | 15 | 0 | ||||||
A'Shawn Robinson | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 1 | ||||||
Jalen Ramsey | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 | ||||||
Game Story | |||||
In a tightly fought contest Sin City defeated Erie by the score of 27 to 20. Elijah Mitchell carried the ball 18 times for 119 yards. Sin City controlled the ground game, out-rushing Erie 132 to 63 yards. Sin City had a good start outscoring Erie 10 to 0 in the first quarter. They were on top at the half 17 to 10. Erie had more success in the air, out-passing Sin City 259 to 151 yards. | |||||
