Flag Recap Feb. 23 2008

PHOTOS: David sticks out his tongue after making a catch. Check out this and 29 others taken by Brent.

WEATHER: Our first “wet” game in about three years (and I don't mean the lube). It started dry, then rained enough to wet the field and the balls, then sort of cleared up again. High of 60.

GAME: We had so much fun, we played for more than three hours. White jumped out early and it looked like a blowout at 32-12. Then Dark rallied and forged a 32-32 tie. Dark pulled ahead before White scored once on defense and once on offense to pull it out, 50-40.

SLICKERS: The rain certainly made for some interesting plays and made throwing and catching an adventure. My nice white football shirt needed hot water and extra bleach to get all the dirt out (I had no towel, so used my shirt).

I did like the sly way some defenders made sure the ball stayed slick. I saw Uhrlacher roll the ball about 10 yards at the end of one play, ensuring it would pick up about 2 pounds of water. Brent on White nicely let the ball kind of slide into a small mud patch on another possession. Well done! Balls slipped from hands and players slid all over the place.

One weird play came when I hit Mike in the hands and it skimmed off. I assumed the defender would have equally slick hands, but Peter got both mitts on them and got the pick.

Fumble of the game occurred when Brent told me to take his camera and cover it with a plastic bag. Of course, I dropped it into the mud when he handed it to me. Oops!

GAME CHANGER: The key play in the game was Gilbert’s interception and great runback where he weaved and reversed field to score to put White up for good.

GOAL-LINE STANDS: Each side had two terrific one. First, White stopped Dark on the four tries from the 3. Key play was Jeff’s catch where we could not determine if he kept possession or was down before he crossed the goal line; we had players from each team on the sideline watching and we could not determine what happened so we ruled ball down short. Dark returned the favor when they stopped White from the 3. Key play was Jermaine and Eugene literally seeing eye to eye, when they collided breaking up a pass.

HISTORIC: With his great sliding deep catch, Duffy became the first player to wear a turban to catch a pass. After the play, he went turban-less the rest of the game (see photos). And it was his birthday to boot!

BALL HAWKS: I counted six picks, three on each side – Gilbert and Peter, Jermaine (which he returned all the way on a great return), Mat (on a gimme, but the hardest often to catch), Duffy and Bobby.

BIZARRE PLAY OF THE DAY: Rich, in his first game, certainly made it interesting on a key fourth down. He dropped the snap, then picked it up and started running. He lost his flag, but White basically stood there (Rich was down if he was touched), so Rich kept running untouched for a long TD.

BIGGEST WASTE OF ENERGY: Dark picked off a conversion attempt (the ball is dead), but the interceptor kept running, as did two teammates to block and two White players chasing him. They ran more than 80 yards each for nothing, so at least got their cardio in.

QUITE A RUSH: The pass rush all day on a slick field helped their defenses. The two Mikes (one on White, one on Dark) were terrific and frequently caused passes to be thrown a split second early. Mike (White team) also had a nice yell when he got a sack.

HIGHLIGHTS: Brent made a great catch and run on a center screen that he took down the sideline for a long TD that iced the game. Kudos to Jay for a nice block. … Miguel showed great speed and skills on several catches, the best being a fourth-down TD grab where he caught the ball on a rebound. … Gilbert had a superb run for a score when he played QB; he had a burst that blew by everyone. … Best long pass was me to Gilbert on White’s first play (before it got wet) for a long score. …

Jay had several nice grabs, the best being a long deep slant where he didn’t score and I yelled at him since he is on my Fantasy team and cost me points (insert joke here about “Jay” and “Fantasy” being an oxymoron). … Christophe had a beautiful catch where he went up high in the rain and snagged it. …

Best flag grab was David on Miguel, getting a loss on what could be been a long gainer. … Josh had two nice grabs in the end zone from Gilbert, the second where he just managed to get his feet in. … Angel was key to White as a swingback, with several nice catches and runs. Just hope his neck is OK after he was accidentally drilled by Bobby. … I had a nice catch and spin move that set White up for a score (and also ran for three first downs). …