"Between the Lies" by Marv Levy

My husband grew up in the Buffalo area, and is a life-long Buffalo Bills fan. He has told me stories about putting baked potatoes wrapped in foil in his shoes to warm them up so they would keep his feet warm during a frigid winter Bills game. We were intrigued to read in Sports Illustrated that former Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy had a novel coming out. I ordered it from my local independent book store (the Vero Beach Book Center) and we couldn’t wait to read it.

Between the Lies is Marv Levy’s first work of fiction. It is an entertaining, fast read that tells the tale of two coaches and the philosophy of two teams, set against the backdrop of an expansion team’s football experience. It culminates in a Super Bowl experience and the resulting revelations.

Marv Levy coached the Buffalo Bills during their record-setting four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, and knows his football from both coaching and front office perspectives. Football players’ names reference former greats (Kelly James/Jim Kelly, Elroy Johnathan/John Elway, Lonnie Mott/Ronnie Lott, Dan Beady/Don Beebe), and his description of football plays puts you in the game. It is easy to think his coaching philosophy mirrors that of Coach Bobby Russell.

Football fans (and fanatics) will enjoy the story both for the football and the behind-the-scenes peek of a football expansion team gearing up from scratch.

Non-football fans will enjoy the story for the moral struggle of one coach to hold true to his personal and coaching beliefs, not folding under the pressure to keep his job at the expense of the integrity of the game itself.

Winning with Field Goals

Games played Sunday, September 25:

Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) 10 at Carolina Panthers (1-2) 16

Houston Texans (2-1) 33 at New Orleans Saints (2-1) 40

San Francisco 49ers (2-1) 13 at Cincinnati Bengals (1-2) 8

Miami Dolphins (0-3) 16 at Cleveland Browns (2-1) 17

New England Patriots (2-1) 31 at Buffalo Bills (3-0) 34

New York Giants (2-1) 29 at Philadelphia Eagles (1-2) 16

Denver Broncos (1-2) 14 at Tennessee Titans (2-1) 17

Detroit Lions (3-0) 26 at Minnesota Vikings (0-3) 23 in OT

New York Jets (2-1) 24 at Oakland Raiders (2-1) 34

Kansas City Chiefs (0-3) 17 at San Diego Chargers (2-1) 20

Baltimore Ravens (2-1) 37 at St. Louis Rams (0-3) 7

Atlanta Falcons (1-2) 13 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1) 16

Green Bay Packers (3-0) 27 at Chicago Bears (1-2) 17

Arizona Cardinals (1-2) 10 at Seattle Seahawks (1-2) 13

Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) 23 at Indianapolis Colts (0-3) 20

Game played Monday, September 26:

Washington Redskins (2-1) 16 at Dallas Cowboys (2-1) 18

There were some exciting games played in Week 3, and the two biggest surprises with undefeated records so far: the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills. Neither had a season last year that led fans to expect their excellent play this year. My husband is a Buffalo Bill’s fan, and there have been many happy texts after the games thus far among family members.

The Colts are struggling without Peyton Manning. When coaches and announcers refer to a “franchise player,” Peyton Manning is the type of player they are referring to. He is the heart of the team, a quarterback leading his team in the best sense of the word, and his team is struggling without him.

The Monday night game was between two NFC East teams, the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. Touchdowns are exciting and get the fans on their feet, but field goals can win games and Dallas proved it. The lone touchdown came in the third quarter. The score at halftime was tied 9-9, and Washington went up 16-9 after their touchdown. Dallas scored two field goals in the fourth quarter to win the game. I heard something on the radio today that reminded me of winning a game scoring only field goals: “It ain’t flashy, but it gets the job done.”

What will Week 4 bring? Will the Detroit Lions beat the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, fresh off a win, to go to 4-0? Will the Buffalo Bills beat the Cincinnati Bengals and remain undefeated? Can the Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and hand them their first defeat?

Stay tuned, football fans.

Scoring with a Safety

There are five (5) ways to score points in the NFL:

6 points – Touchdown. The ball breaks the plane of the goal line when a runner carries the ball over the plane or a pass is caught in the end zone.

3 points – Field Goal. The ball is kicked through the uprights.

2 points – Safety. The quarterback is sacked in the end zone by the opposing team.

2 points – Two Point Conversion. Instead of kicking the ball after a touchdown for 1 point, the ball is caught in the end zone on a pass play for 2 points, or a runner breaks the plane of the goal line for 2 points. The cumulative touchdown score is 8.

1 point – Point After Touchdown. The ball is kicked after a Touchdown to make the cumulative Touchdown score 7.

The San Francisco 49ers played the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati. The final score was 13-8, with San Francisco improving their record to 2-1 and Cincinnati falling to 1-2.

The Cincinnati Bengals scored 8 points, and they could get there two ways. In one scoring scenario, they could score a Touchdown and go for the Two Point Conversion instead of the Point After Touchdown. The 6 points from the Touchdown and the 2 Points from the Two Point Conversion totals 8 points.

In this game, they scored two Field Goals for a total of 6 points, and then had a Safety which gave them another 2 points. This gave them a game total of 8 points.

The most common scores are 3 points for a Field Goal, and 7 points combined for a Touchdown. The 8 points scored by Cincinnati indicated to me that they had a Safety or a Two Point Conversion. The Safety is not a common score because the quarterback is not often in (or close to) the end zone. When the quarterback is that close to the end zone, and a Safety is a possibility, the offensive line needs to be aware of the quarterback’s position in order to protect the quarterback and prevent the other team from scoring.

New York Giants Win Home Opener

Game played last night (winner in bold):

St. Louis Rams (0-2) 16 at New York Giants (1-1) 28

The score is misleading because it makes it seem the game was closer than it was; at no point did St. Louis come close to taking the lead back after the Giants’ first touchdown. As a Giants fan, sometimes I do better with a periodic game check instead of watching the whole game. Last night was no exception, although I watched most of it. Several times I thought the Giants got lucky, but then I thought about the quote from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The Giants were able to score after two Rams errors.

The Rams led briefly, scoring first with a field goal. The Giants answered with a touchdown, and then the Rams second field goal in the first quarter brought them within 1 point of the Giants. The Giants had two touchdowns in the second quarter, and the teams went into the locker rooms with the score 6-21.

The third quarter saw the Rams score a field goal (9-21), the Giants score a touchdown (9-28), and then the Rams got a touchdown (16-28).  Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

The Giants and the Rams were both abysmal on third down conversions. The Giants went 5/15 (33%), while the Rams were 5/17 (29%). The Giants did not convert on their one fourth down attempt; the Rams were able to convert on fourth down, during the scoring drive in the third quarter that resulted in a touchdown.

The biggest game killers for St. Louis were fumbles and penalties. The Giants did not fumble; St. Louis had 4 fumbles and lost 2 of them. The Giants had 5 penalties for 55 yards; St. Louis had 8 penalties for 85 yards.

Tom Coughlin won both challenges last night; his percentage before the game was 40 wins out of 80 challenges, for a .500 average (the highest of any coach). He is now 42 of 82, increasing his average to .51.

Next week the Giants play the Eagles in Philadelphia at 1:00. The Rams host the Baltimore Ravens at home – game time is 4:05. The Sunday night game is Pittsburgh Steelers at Indianapolis Colts. The Monday night game is Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys.

Buffalo Bills Crucial Fourth Down Conversions

Games played Sunday, 9/18 (winners in bold):

Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) 3 at Detroit Lions (2-0) 48

Seattle Seahawks (0-2) 0 at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) 24

Chicago Bears (1-1) 13 at New Orleans Saints (1-1) 30

Green Bay Packers (2-0) 30 at Carolina Panthers (0-2) 23

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-1) 24 at Minnesota Vikings (0-2) 20

Arizona Cardinals (1-1) 21 at Washington Redskins (2-0) 22

Cleveland Browns (1-1) 27 at Indianapolis Colts (0-2) 19

Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) 3 at New York Jets (2-0) 32

Baltimore Ravens (1-1) 13 at Tennessee Titans (1-1) 26

Oakland Raiders (1-1) 35 at Buffalo Bills (2-0) 38

Dallas Cowboys (1-1) 27 in OT at San Francisco 49ers (1-1) 24

San Diego Chargers (1-1) 21 at New England Patriots (2-0) 35

Cincinnati Bengals (1-1) 22 at Denver Broncos (1-1) 24

Houston Texans (2-0) 23 at Minnesota Vikings (0-2) 13

Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) 31 at Atlanta Falcons (1-1) 35

What a wild day for Buffalo Bills fans! The Bills are off to a 2-0 start, and scored touchdowns on every possession in the second half. In my viewing area the Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets game was on; with the Jets holding a commanding lead, the network switched our programming to the Oakland Raiders at Buffalo Bills game. We started seeing the game midway in the fourth quarter. In the last quarter, there were 5 lead changes between Oakland and Buffalo.

At halftime the score was Raiders 21, Bills 3. I don’t know what head coach Chan Gailey said to the team, but they came out determined to score. The Bills had five possessions in the second half and scored a touchdown on every one. I know I already said it, but it bears repeating.

The stats for the Bills second half: 5 possessions, 35 points scored, 2-4 third down conversions. The key is in that last stat, because the two third downs that weren’t converted were fourth down conversions, both in the last scoring drive. In that last scoring drive, the Bills were down 35-31 with 3:41 left to play. The Bills had all three of their timeouts left, plus the Two Minute Warning. They made most effective use of their time, their timeouts, and their belief in themselves to convert on two crucial fourth downs. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick kept cool under fire and did what he needed to do to win the game.

Fourth Down #1: 1:03 left to play, Buffalo is 4^th and 3 at the Oakland 24. Pass caught, first down. (The Bills are down by 4 at this point; had they not converted, Oakland would have taken over on their own 24 and most likely would have run the clock out to win the game.)

Fourth Down #2: :18 left to play, Buffalo is 4^th and 1 on the Oakland 6 yard line. Pass thrown, caught in the end zone for a touchdown with no one around wide receiver David Nelson. The point after kick is good, and with :14 left to play, Buffalo is ahead 35-38. (Had Buffalo not converted on this fourth down, Oakland would have taken over on their own 6 yard line and won the game.)

Oakland moves the ball from their own 20 yard line to the 44 yard line, and with :01 left, Oakland QB Jason Campbell threw a Hail Mary pass into the end zone. A scrum of players from both teams were there, but Buffalo SS Da’Norris Searcy got the ball in his hands for an interception to end the game. Oakland Raiders 35, Buffalo Bills 38.

This is why I love football: some games go right down to the final tick of the clock and are memorable for a lot of good football action (and not just because my husband is a Bills fan).

Kickoff Weekend in the Books

Games played Sunday, 9/11/11:

Pittsburgh Steelers (7) at Baltimore Ravens (35)

Cincinnati Bengals (27) at Cleveland Browns (17)

Buffalo Bills (41) at Kansas City Chiefs (7)

Atlanta Falcons (12) at Chicago Bears (30)

Tennessee Titans (14) at Jacksonville Jaguars (16)

Indianapolis Colts (7) at Houston Texans (34)

Detroit Lions (27) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (20)

Philadelphia Eagles (31) at St. Louis Rams (13)

New York Giants (14) at Washington Redskins (28)

Carolina Panthers (21) at Arizona Cardinals (28)

Minnesota Vikings (17) at San Diego Chargers (24)

Seattle Seahawks (17) at San Francisco 49ers (33)

Dallas Cowboys (24) at New York Jets (27)

Games played Monday, 9/12/11:

New England Patriots (38) at Miami Dolphins (24)

Oakland Raiders (23) at Denver Broncos (20)

What a weekend! First the score-a-thon Thursday when the New Orleans Saints (34) lost to the Green Bay Packers (42), then the upsets in Sunday’s games: Buffalo Bills beating Kansas City Chiefs in a blowout; Houston Texans pounding Indianapolis Colts like they had a grudge against them and wanted to take advantage of Peyton Manning’s absence; Detroit Lions beating Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa.

The game of the week was Monday night, New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins. Records broken all over the place: Tom Brady became the 11th quarterback to throw for at least 500 yards in a game (517); Brady’s interception ended an NFL record of 358 regular season passes without an interception (the last one in October, 2010); longest play in Patriots history – Brady pass to Wes Welker, who ran it down the field for a touchdown (99 yard play); Chad Henne, Miami QB, had a career high 416 yards; NFL record for combined 906 (net) yards passing; Patriots total 622 yards set two records – Patriots franchise record and most yards allowed by the Dolphins. The Dolphins scored on the opening drive of the season for the first time since 2000. Brady was sacked once (compared to Eli Manning’s four sacks in Sunday’s game against the Redskins).

It’s going to be an exciting NFL season if this keeps up. I don’t know if the players had a lot of pent up energy and/or aggression because of the lockout, but there was a lot of good football played this opening week that sets a high standard for the rest of the season.

The "Line"

The “Line” on a football game is for gambling purposes, and has no bearing on the final game score. It does give people an idea about which team is favored, and by how much.

When people talk about the line, they mean by how many points a team is favored, and if they place a bet the favored team will need to win by more than that margin of points.

The line on the Cincinnati Bengals – Cleveland Browns game was Cleveland by 6 ½. There are no half points in football, therefore Cleveland would have to win by at least 7 points in order for someone betting on Cleveland to win the game. If the margin of Cleveland’s victory was less than 7, Cincinnati would be considered the winner. The final score was Cincinnati Bengals 27, Cleveland Browns 17. Since Cincinnati won by 10 points, and they were not favored to win, the line on this game didn’t make a difference in paying out on a bet; anyone who bet on Cincinnati to win won their wager.

Packers beat Saints in Season Opener

One game was played last night:

New Orleans Saints (34) at Green Bay Packers (42)

Last night’s game kicked off the 2011 football season with a score-fest that was long on touchdowns and short on defense. It was an exciting game simply because there was little time used on huddles or teams changing offense and defense; for the most part the offense got the ball and scored, and kicked off to the other team.

Both quarterbacks had three touchdowns, and both quarterbacks had no interceptions. Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay) tied Jack Kemp of the 1964 Buffalo Bills for having three touchdowns in the first quarter of the season opener.

The Saints looked tentative in the first quarter, and fumbled the ball on their first possession for a Packers recovery. Green Bay capitalized on that for their second touchdown.

New Orleans scored a touchdown on their second possession, and Green Bay countered with their third touchdown of the game as the clock wound down on the first quarter.

New Orleans had a field goal in the second quarter. Green Bay went three and out, and punted for the first time in the game. New Orleans’ Darren Sproles ran the punt back for a touchdown.

Green Bay scored another touchdown before the half, and the teams went into the locker rooms with the score 17-28. The final score was 34-42, with both teams scoring in the second half but not as fast and furiously as in the first half.

This bodes well for an exciting football season, which is good for fans. The preseason games were for the most part underwhelming, which was understandable after the lockout and lack of training camps.

All teams are playing this week, and I am looking forward to Sunday’s 13 games. The final two games will be played on Monday.

Opening Day

Today is opening day of the regular football season, and right now the season is sparkly with possibility. Today is the best day of the season because all teams are undefeated.

The first game of the season is tonight: the New OrleansSaints travel to Wisconsin to play the Green Bay Packers. The tally of wins and losses begins, and the speculation about which team has what it takes to go all the way to the Super Bowl.

A lot of energy is expended during the regular season assessing and talking about a team’s chances of going to the post-season, or winning the Super Bowl.

How hard is it to get to the Super Bowl? The Buffalo Bills went to four Super Bowls in a row, from 1991 to 1994 (following the 1990-1993 seasons). They didn't win one. No other team has gotten to the Super Bowl that many times consecutively.

The New York Giants have been to the Super Bowl four times, and won three. The last win was memorable for defeating the heavily favored, up to that point undefeated New England Patriots.

The Miami Dolphins still hold the record for having a “perfect season” (1972) for winning all the regular season games, and all post-season games including the Super Bowl.

The football season kicks off at 8:30 pm on NBC, and for the next four months it will be all football, all the time in some households. Our home contains a Buffalo Bills fan and a New York Giants fan - tension will be highest on October 16, when the Bills play the Giants in New Jersey. We’ll probably take that game on the road to a local sports bar, and sit with our respective fellow fans.