Philadelphia at Chicago - LFL Game of the Week
Written by twhigham, Wednesday December 16 2009
"My prediction: Pain" -- Mr. T., as Clubber Lang in 'Rocky III'
Last week, Tampa proved that, in addition to dodging a beer bottle thrown into its huddle by a belligerent fan, it can play defense.
It held one of the LFL’s top running tandems – Cheryl Fairweather and Tyrah Lusby, to just two touchdowns and no extra points (that’s right, absolutely zero scores from the 5 yard line). Meanwhile, Tampa had three chances to score that were frittered away on offensive penalties and confused play-calling. By rights, Tampa should have won that game had it not failed on its offensive execution. But more remarkable than Tampa’s blown opportunities was the timely defensive play of Tyrah Lusby at strongside safety. She intercepted one pass in the end zone to kill one drive, and batted another sure scoring pass away late in the game.
That’s right. Tyrah Lusby is as dangerous on defense as she is on offense.
This week, Tyrah and company march into Chicago to face the Bliss, which features the most dangerous rushing tandem in the Eastern Conference: Tasha Pryor and Saran Dunmore. Together, Pryor and Dunmore have sparked a Chicago offense that’s outscored a very good Miami team 29-19, left a tough Tampa defense bruised and battered 27-18, and caused a New York team to beg out of a game altogether. That brings Chicago’s record to 2-0-NC and Philly to 2-1-0, with both teams fighting for command of the Eastern Conference and a guaranteed slot in the playoffs.
For Philadelphia, Jackie Danico will need to have a flawless game. Her passing skills are improving each week and she’s settled into her role as the lynchpin in the Philadelphia offense very well, but her scrambling is suspect. Then again, she won’t need to run because she’ll have Tyrah Lusby in the backfield with her, and Fairweather on the weakside for a corner pitch sweep. Look for Lusby and Fairweather to carry a majority of the offensive load, with All-Whigham inductee Jaime Diamonds as an alternative on the ground. If Danico’s arm is strong, she may be able to complete a long pass against a Chicago secondary that gave up a passing touchdown to Tampa when Brandyce Lee got behind the Bliss secondary. But, if Danico starts to struggle, it could get ugly.
Defensively, Philadelphia could surprise early and fold late. Tampa showed that you can run on the Passion, but you absolutely don’t want to throw against them, particularly on the strong side where Lusby is usually matched up against the opponent’s number 1 receiver. The big yardage gains will be on the weakside, where Diamonds will have her hands full trying to contain Dunmore on short routes and Pryor on weakside corner runs. Diamonds will have some help from Fairweather playing safety behind her, but she’ll have to hold her ground at the line for the initial contact until Fairweather can come forward to assist on the take-down. On the positive side for Philly, Pryor doesn’t face many defenders as agile as Diamonds and may be in for a big surprise the first time she tries to get past her.
For Chicago, expect to see Pryor leaving a trail of defenders on the turf behind her. The carnage is going to be horrible. Philadelphia is coming off a very tough, physical game against Tampa and they’re still bruised and banged up. Both Lusby and Fairweather played on offense and defense that game and saw a lot of action. Fairweather was already nursing an injury in the Tampa game, and getting pummeled by Tampa’s Britney Graska, Alexis Heyman, and Tracey Bartlett all game long didn’t help. Chicago is just going to add to that trauma. Any prominent edge on a Philadelphia body that isn’t already covered in a bandage, will be by the end of the game. And as the game goes on, it’s just going to hurt even more. Those Philly girls are going to have to Passion-up and play tough every single down, because Pryor is going to come at them like a runaway rock-hauler.
Defensively, Chicago is about average. They’re good enough to take advantage of a Philadelphia mistake, but they aren’t going to dazzle with remarkable pass defense. What they are good at is stopping the run. Remember, their defense trains against the best running tandem in the conference, and that counts for something when you’re facing a team that leans heavily on Lusby and Fairweather’s running attack. Chicago also has an advantage in that they’ve had two weeks to rest and recover from the concussions and body tissue damage Tampa gave them, whereas Philadelphia faced a much-improved Tampa team just last week and their bruises are still tender.
It’s going to be a chess match of running-tandem versus running-tandem on both offense and defense, but the final arbiter is the physical condition of the Philadelphia team. There was a lot of Philly skin left on the gritty green concrete of Trenton last week. For that reason, I’m giving the nod to Chicago for the win and a guaranteed spot in the play-offs.
Tags:
![Lingerie Football League Taking 2012 Off [VIDEO]](http://www.playerpress.com/pick_images/16136/LFL.jpg)
Leave a comment
Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login
Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!
Click here to browse
2 comments
Please sign in to rate!
I see Chicago meeting Miami again, but it's hard to call who goes to the Big One. This Friday's game will show just how far Cartabiano has progressed with her playcalling and passing, but mostly I'm curious to see if Chicago can block downfield. When Chicago meets Miami in the play-offs, they're going to have to come up with an answer to Caccavale at safety; either by being able to pass around her or get her blocked so that Pryor/Dunmore can get past her. Unlike Philly, Miami doesn't have an answer to Pryor offensively (look for Philly's Lusby to mirror Pryor in this week's game). Toombs is no longer on the Miami squad, and I have no faith in Caccavale as a power runningback. Unless Miami can come up with a running game that doesn't involve Dixon scrambling, I see Chicago going up against Dallas in the Bowl. ===================================================== The dark horse in the mix is (still) Tampa. They were the better team last week. They should've cake-walked over Philly by 2 scores, possibly 3. Not to take anything away from the Philadelphia squad - they did make 5 goal-line stands to keep Tampa out - but Tampa still has a very good chance of finishing regular season at 2-2, and a Chicago win tonight would theoretically put them in a 3-way tie (assuming Miami loses against Tampa next month). In my opinion, Tampa should be looking at 3-1; they're good enough. In the off-chance that Tampa faces Chicago in some bizarre play-off formula, Tampa just might win it now that they know how serious this sport is. ===================================================== On the Western conference, I see Dallas going all the way, with LA having a strong chance at an upset in the playoffs. Denver is done (theoretically), and Seattle is too much of a one-player show (Ryckman). If the Bowl was to be played in two weeks instead of two months, I'd say Chicago vs. Dallas, with Dallas for the win. But there are still a lot of variables. A healthy Tampa, a resurgent LA, and things could look a lot different.
Please sign in to rate!
I think your right. I'd say the script is already written for Chicago to make the play offs. This will be a close fought game. Gutted I cant watch it live but have to wait for the on demand viewing on-line.