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The first (AFC) heat Had twice
as many coaches as the AFC has teams as 32 squads met in the
first round - two versions of each team were required. |
The lure of coaching your favorite
NFL team seems to make Paydirt more popular each year as GM Harry
Flawd provides updated charts for the out-of-print game. |
Mike Destro has to stand to
make his call in the closing minutes of the Final as GM Harry
Flawd watches son Devin successfully defend his title. |
Beating the Spread ...
The Paydirt 2006
tournament saw a record crowd for Wednesday's AFC round with
32 coaches trying to make it to the big game. Using last years
team charts, Andy Lewis quickly grabbed his favorite Steelers
to match his jersey, Barry Shoults took the Titans he had ridden
to the Super Bowl the previous year, and defending champ Devin
Flawd took the NY Jets in the second round of the team draft.
In the first round, only the NY Jets, Cleveland, and Jacksonville
saw both teams win, while Baltimore, Denver, and Oakland could
not win either of their games.
Round 2 saw regulars Devin Flawd, Andy Lewis, Steve Vance,
Derek Landel, and Barry Shoults advance. Round 3 was down to
eight teams. Devin's Jets whooped on Chad Gormlys' Dolphins (who
had defeated Devin's dad in the first round), 33-3 to advance
along with tthe Steelers, Titans, and underdog Cleveland Browns
with Derek Landel at the helm. Cleveland took down Andy's Steelers,
37-28 to advance to the AFC title game, and Devin continued plowing
through the field, topping Barry's Titans, 40-5. In the title
game, Devin took his Jets out to a 19-0 lead, and then held on
for a hard fought 28-24 victory and a return trip to the Super
Bowl for the third year in a row.
The NFC heat Saturday saw 24 more coaches trying to meet the
Jets in the Super Bowl and the surprising Philadelphia Eagles,
led by Mike Destro, got all the way to the NFC Championship game,
by defeating former champs along the way, first it was Bill O'Neal's
Cardinals trying to kill the clock with 1:30 left in the game,
but fumbling and turning it over with enough time for Mike to
kick a FG and escape with a 19-17 victory. Then after a win over
Chris Palermo's Saints, he matched up with Harry Flawds' Chicago
Bears. The Bears stayed close, but could not get the lead, tying
the game with a minute left with a FG after failing to score
a TD deep in Eagle territory. In OT, the Eagles completed a few
passes, and then booted a FG for the win. Meanwhile, Paul O'Neill's
Vikings were busy topping the Packers, Cardinals, and Seahawks
to make it to the title game. John Shaheen took his Seahawks
to two wins before falling to Paul's Vikings, 20-6. So the stage
was set for an early Sunday morning NFC Championship game, where
Mike's Eagles took an early lead, kicked a FG late, and held
on to top the Vikings, 17-10.
The Super Bowl was, unfortunately for Mike's Eagles, much
like their real life performance, where the Eagles have lost
in both attempts. Devin's Jets had just too much of a running
game and stellar defense, and toyed with the Eagles, leading
only 10-7 after one quarter, before tacking 10 points on in the
second quarter to lead 20-7. The second half was all NY, as they
got turnovers and ground the clock out, and when it was over,
Devin had successfully defended his title, 33-7. Devin now has
three titles and, more importantly, continued braggin' rights
in the Flawd household for another year
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