Two and a Half Men: 9/16 Lincoln 36

This is what qualifies as a thriller for the Lincoln Ships: a 16 point victory where the outcome was never really in doubt. In fact, this was an excellent lesson for the heretofore unmovable Ships' defense: teams that can throw the intermediate and deep routes will score points against this defensive scheme. As we all know, the Ships play a variant of Cover 3 pass coverage, which is easy to attack from the air (no pro team has used Cover 3 as a base defense since the 80s). The Jaguars were able to exploit the scheme and score more points on the Ships defense than were scored by their four previous opponents, COMBINED. I'm assuming Bongo Bongle will add a Cover 2 base defense over the next few weeks so when they run into a better team that passes in the playoffs, they won't have any problems.

Don't take the previous paragraph to mean the Ships played poorly. They didn't. The players played great and Tanner had what I thought was his best game yet, despite 2 fumbles and the "like-clockwork" miss of Pistol deep (only one bad deep pass - he completed a great strike to Pete later). Suzuki ran like a monster, again, and "I go both ways" Steimle picked up where he left off last week (at least during the first half). Our Two and a Half Men played stellar (more on them in separate posts, of course), and Zach kept busting people up (we're going to refer to him as the Hammer from here on out, for obvious reasons). So let's get to the action in a way that our football players can understand: with pictures...

Our fearless leader, doing a great job despite not bothering to check his mail.

"I go both ways" started off great, recovering a fumble forced by Slick Nick.

A Jaguar behind the defense? This was a theme last night.

You need good blocking...

... to complete the perfect pass. Seriously - that was pretty, Tanner.

Way to look it all the way in, Eli "I go both ways" Steimle! He scores!

You don't want to drop the ~~soap~~ ball with "I go both ways" around.

ANOTHER PERFECT DEEP PASS FROM TANNER! (Wait, isn't Suzuki a running back?)

Yes. Yes he is a running back.

That's perfect coverage by Slick Nick. But what the heck is he doing that deep in coverage? Seriously guys - I want you to tell me what the coverage was on this play. Man to man? No safety? I just don't get it. Let me know in the "Comments" section.

The Ships never let Mrozinski get too comfortable. Gotta say, though, the kid can play. And he's just a sophomore.

OK, OK, OK! I'll cut back on those jokes, Eli. I Promise. Just don't hit me again.

4 Jags + 1 Ship = Touchdown. /nonlinear equations

"Can a brutha get some safety help?" - Lil' Captain

Nope. No you can't.

"Fine. I'll do it myself, then." - Lil' Captain

You remember when John Madden used to say Brett Favre needed to be hit a couple of times before he played well? I think something similar applies to Tanner: he has to miss Pistol deep before he can play well. So I think the Ships should just have Pistol go deep the first play of every playoff game and tell Tanner he HAS TO throw it to him. Get it out of the way early. I'm dead serious about this.