2019 TFL - SUPER BOWL

2019 TFL SUPER BOWL

Arizona defeated Carolina Thursday night by the score of 28-19 in the Tradition Bowl for the 2019 season.

Arizona Air Raid wide receiver Brandon Cooks is 2019 TFL Super Bowl MVP

The game was close throughout, with Carolina drawing first blood with a field goal on their opening drive. Arizona then answered with Drew Brees throwing touchdown passes to Brandin Cooks on consecutive drives. Carolina then responded with a much-needed drive, highlighted by a 34 long pass to Deandre Hopkins to pull within 4 in the middle of the 2nd quarter.

Arizona had a chance to increase their lead, but Marshon Lattimore intercepted Brees on a deep pass. Carolina then punted the ball to the Arizona 1 yard line, and the Air Raid went three and out. With just over three minutes left in the half, Carolina could only get to the Arizona 45 before punting again. Rather than play it safe, the Air Raid tried to move the ball down field for a quick score before half, but Brees threw his second interception, this one to Marlon Humphrey, at mid-field with just 15 seconds left. Two plays later the Flight lined up for long field goal to cut the lead to one point at the midpoint.

After intermission, Arizona got its running game back on track, with Frank Gore punching in a touchdown in each of the final two frames. Carolina, meanwhile, couldn't finish the job in the red zone, settling for a pair of second half field goals. 

The Flight had a chance at their third playoff comeback in three games, getting the ball at their own 22 with just under 7 minutes remaining and down 9 points. They got as far as the Arizona 22, and when faced with 4th and 5, opted to go for the touchdown instead of the field goal, but Watson's pass fell incomplete and Arizona took over with 1:22 left. Arizona milked the clock and drained Carolina's timeouts with three straight runs before punting the ball away. 

Any chance the Flight had at another miracle evaporated on the first play when Christian McCaffrey, who could never really get his ground game going, fumbled the ball away on a Gino Atkins Great Player Impact Play. Two kneel downs later the game was over and there was much rejoicing in the desert.

Hard call on the Tradition Bowl MVP. Brees only had an OK game. Watson had a ton of yards in the loss, but no touchdowns and he rushed 5 times for 0 yards. My three running backs were good as a unit, but none really stands out. So let's say Brandin Cooks with his 5 catches for 84 yards and 2 early touchdowns. 

Mark called a really good game. His offense is so tough already. I'm not looking forward to playing him next year with an improved Watson card and an insane McCaffrey card. Penalties played a huge role in this game early. I was the beneficiary of a couple critical first downs by penalty and an interception that was wiped out by an illegal contact flag. That penalty put the ball on Mark's 49, and on my next play I threw a long bomb vs run and hit a Long Gain 49 yard completion and an early 14-3 lead.

The win is my third Tradition Bowl Championship, and second in the past three years. It's also Drew Brees's third championship, having won the 2011 title with Goose Bay. 

2018 Carolina 19, 2018 Arizona 28
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
2018 Carolina	3	10	3	3	0	19
2018 Arizona	7	7	7	7	0	28

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Team	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	9:54	2018 Carolina	K.Fairbairn 26 yd. field goal	3-0 CAR
1	3:18	2018 Arizona	B.Cooks 4 yd. pass from D.Brees (D.Carlson kick)	7-3 AIR
2	14:06	2018 Arizona	B.Cooks 49 yd. pass from D.Brees (D.Carlson kick)	14-3 AIR
2	8:42	2018 Carolina	D.Watson 1 yd. run (K.Fairbairn kick)	14-10 AIR
2	0:00	2018 Carolina	K.Fairbairn 50 yd. field goal	14-13 AIR
3	6:18	2018 Arizona	F.Gore 4 yd. run (D.Carlson kick)	21-13 AIR
3	3:18	2018 Carolina	K.Fairbairn 36 yd. field goal	21-16 AIR
4	12:18	2018 Carolina	K.Fairbairn 31 yd. field goal	21-19 AIR
4	6:54	2018 Arizona	F.Gore 7 yd. run (D.Carlson kick)	28-19 AIR

Other Highlights
Qtr	Clock	Team	Event	Player	Yards
1	14:42	2018 Carolina	Return	Darius Jennings	32
1	2:42	2018 Carolina	Return	Darius Jennings	36
1	1:12	2018 Carolina	QBSack	Aaron Donald	-4
2	9:18	2018 Carolina	Pass	DeAndre Hopkins	34
2	7:12	2018 Carolina	Intercept	Marshon Lattimore	4
2	0:15	2018 Carolina	Intercept	Marlon Humphrey	13
3	6:00	2018 Carolina	Return	Darius Jennings	35
3	4:48	2018 Carolina	Pass	DeAndre Hopkins	30
4	14:24	2018 Carolina	Pass	Mark Andrews	40
4	6:36	2018 Carolina	Return	Darius Jennings	31
4	0:45	2018 Carolina	Fumble	Christian McCaffrey

Team Statistics
	2018 Carolina	2018 Arizona
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	1-18-0-19	9-13-3-25
Third Down Efficiency	5-16-31%	7-12-58%
Fourth Down Efficiency	2-3-67%	0-0-0%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	16-28-57%	21-21-100%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	368-67-5.5	348-66-5.3
Total Net Yards Rushing	29	145
Total Rushes	21	35
Average Per Rush	1.4	4.1
Passes Completed/Attempted	31/45 (68.9%)	21/31 (67.7%)
Net Yards Passing	339	203
Avg Yards Per Pass	7.6	6.5
Sacked/Yards Lost	1/4	0/0
Punts/Average	5/42.0	5/50.4
Punts Received/Return Yardage	3/5	2/10
Kickoffs/Returns	5/165	1/22
Interceptions/Returns	2/17	0/0
Penalties/Yards	7/65	6/50
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	1/1	0/0
Time of Possession	31 mins 26 secs	28 mins 34 secs
Average Drive Start	CAR 35	AIR 19

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
2018 Carolina
Deshaun Watson	45	31	343	68.9	7.6	0	0	0	0	40	1/4	91.3
2018 Arizona
Drew Brees	31	21	203	67.7	6.5	2	6.5	2	6.5	49	0/0	80.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
2018 Carolina
Christian McCaffrey	16	29	1.8	8	0	0	1/1
Deshaun Watson	5	0	0.0	1	1	0	0/0
2018 Arizona
Matt Breida	15	66	4.4	11	0	0	0/0
Frank Gore	14	35	2.5	12	2	0	0/0
Royce Freeman	4	46	11.5	23	0	0	0/0
Drew Brees	2	-2	-1.0	-1	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
2018 Carolina
Christian McCaffrey	8	58	7.3	12	0	0
Mark Andrews	6	96	16.0	40	0	0
Davante Adams	6	58	9.7	19	0	0
DeAndre Hopkins	4	93	23.3	34	0	0
Amari Cooper	3	31	10.3	13	0	0
Rob Gronkowski	3	11	3.7	5	0	0
Tre Madden	1	-4	-4.0	-4	0	0
2018 Arizona
Chris Godwin	5	27	5.4	11	0	0
Brandin Cooks	5	84	16.8	49	2	0
Robert Tonyan	3	15	5.0	11	0	0
Frank Gore	2	11	5.5	7	0	0
Mike Williams	2	22	11.0	12	0	0
Matt Breida	2	20	10.0	16	0	0
Travis Kelce	2	24	12.0	14	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
2018 Carolina
Ka'imi Fairbairn	0/0	1/1	2/2	0/0	1/1	4/4	100
2018 Arizona

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
2018 Carolina
Matt Bosher	5	42.0	40.0	0	4	55	0
2018 Arizona
Logan Cooke	5	50.4	45.4	1	1	59	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
2018 Carolina
Darius Jennings	5	165	33.0	36	0
2018 Arizona
Alex Erickson	1	22	22.0	22	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
2018 Carolina
Tavon Austin	2	0	4	2.0	2	0
Jawill Davis	1	0	1	1.0	1	0
2018 Arizona
Alex Erickson	2	0	10	5.0	7	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
2018 Carolina
Leonard Williams	8	0	0
Jamal Adams	7	0	0
Telvin Smith	6	0	0
Ryan Kerrigan	6	0	0
Jayon Brown	5	0	0
Xavier Rhodes	5	0	0
Javon Hargrave	4	0	0
Anthony Harris	3	0	0
Marshon Lattimore	3	0	0
Blake Martinez	2	0	0
Marlon Humphrey	2	0	0
2018 Arizona
Shaq Thompson	7	0	0
Von Miller	7	0	1
Eric Weddle	6	0	0
Damontae Kazee	5	0	0
Geno Atkins	5	0	0
Patrick Peterson	5	0	0
Benardrick McKinney	4	0	0
Chris Harris	4	0	0
Akiem Hicks	3	0	0
Aaron Donald	3	1	0
Grady Jarrett	2	0	0
Prince Amukamara	1	0	0

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
2018 Carolina
Marlon Humphrey	1	13	13.0	13	0
Marshon Lattimore	1	4	4.0	4	0
2018 Arizona

Game Story

With a solid effort Arizona defeated Carolina by the score of 28 to 19. Matt Breida led all rushers, carrying the ball 15 times for 66 yards. Arizona was great on third down, converting on 7 of 12 opportunities. They controlled the ground game, out-rushing Carolina 145 to 29 yards. Arizona took the lead into the locker room at the half 14 to 13. They led after three quarters 21 to 16. Deshaun Watson passed 45 times for 343 yards for Carolina.