The Philadelphia Liberty have come a long way, baby, since starting the season 0-4. A nail-biting defeat of the Montcalm Panthers gives them a 9-6 record and a probable wild card spot in the playoffs.
The Game
Trent Dilfer started for Philadelphia in place of the used up Trent Green. Fortunately, the Liberty offense is driven by the running game so the QB just needs to keep defenses honest and not make too many mistakes. This Dilfer can do if coached well. He threw for 240 yds and a TD but two interceptions, one in the 4th quarter that Montcalm converted to 7 pts, almost lost the game for them.
A bit snooze-worthy to start the game until the final minutes of the first half. Panther DE Chris Kelsey picked off Dilfer on the Philly 31 but Montcalm failed to capitalize. The scoring opportunity when Montcalm failed to get a first and a penalty on the field goal put them out of range.
Keying on Adrian Peterson was a big part of the Panther's defensive game plan but, with 3:42 left in the half, Peterson ripped a 77 yard scoring run on a rare play he wasn't keyed,
putting them up 7-3. Then Drew Brees and Wes Welker got rolling for Montcalm on a 71 yard drive featuring 3 runs by Willie Parker (69 yds, 1 td for the day) and 4 receptions by Welker including a 7 yd TD catch with 56 seconds left in the half regaining the lead 10-7. Philadelphia took the lead back in the only 3rd quarter score via a play action pass to Plaxico Burress while the defense keyed on Peterson. 14-10 Philly.
Brees, Welker, Parker & Company were contained by the Liberty defense for two series but S Marlon McCree picked off an errant Dilfer pass and returned it to the 5 giving Parker the honor of scoring the TD offtackle. 17-14. Thank you, Mr. Dilfer. But he redeems himself by going 6 of 6 on Philly's next drive, getting them to the 3. But the decision to run Peterson for the score instead of using Dilfer's hot hand backfires because the Panthers turn on the keying forcing a field goal. Tieing is better than losing. 17-17 with 4:37 to go.
Montcalm decides to put the game on Parker instead of Brees and the passing game. Curious decision. Perhaps because Welker and Marques Colston had reached season fatigue levels. Who knows. Maybe the Liberty knew because they keyed Parker on almost every play and forced the Panthers to punt with 2 minutes left. Montcalm held as well and a failed 62 yard field goal attempt by Philadelphia set them up 48 yards from pulling out a win. Alas, so far to go,so little time. Montcalm managed to make it to the 37 but time expired.
Philadelphia won the coin toss in overtime and took their sweet time (5:43) to get to Montcalm's 30 and end the game on a field goal.
The Season
It did not look good early on for Philadelphia after getting crushed by division leader Hermitage 30-10 in week one and losing to Donelson, Real Charleston and Death Valley. All three of those teams are 2-12 now. But things turned around when Trent Dilfer was benched and replaced with another Trent, Mr. Green, in week 5 against San Pedro. He went 6-1. Then the three-headed QB Monster Brunell-Carr-Dilfer rolled up two more wins. Green came back against Hermitage but got benched after going 2 for 7 because of season fatigue, Dilfer taking the remaining snaps in a 24-6 loss.
One asks, how does a team go 9-6 with brittle (durability 2!), average (62!) quarterbacks like Dilfer, Green and Carr? Not to mention Mark "0 Attempts" Brunell? I'll tell you how. Several factors...
1. There is another three-headed monster on the team by the name of McGahee-Gore-Peterson who've made Philly the 3rd in rushing yards. Although they haven't scored much (6 TDs) they don't need to because...
2. The defense doesn't let other teams score much. Usually. They stuff the run and have somehow managed to only allow 19 TD receptions in spite of being next to last in passing yards allowed (243 yds per game). But maybe that's because...
3. A soft schedule. They are 19th in Power Rankings with 7 teams with worse records ahead of them including (eh hm) Dallas at 4-10. Still, there's one win that can be attributed to a little Action anomaly...
4. The Brunell Conspiracy. That's right. Take a gander at that week 13 against Dayton, my friends. Explain to me how Mark Brunell manages to channel Tom Brady going 8 of 13 (61%) for 126 yds (that's 15.75 yds per catch) and two TDs for a 101.3 QB rating. Oh yes, he did through one interception. I guess HAVING 0 ATTEMPTS for a season might result in a mistake here and there. What might Mr. Dave Koch have to say about that.
But a little ol' anomaly...that's geek speak for "software bug", by the way. We don't even whisper the word 'bug'...that little anomaly does not significantly mar an excellent season by Philadelphia. In fact, we at the DTC are pleased with the Liberty's success because our Esteemed Leader and Provider, the Colossus Super Computer, predicted. Allow me to quote from a couple of pre-season articles...
June 9, 2008: "North Carolina is tanking, and Philadelphia is a QB away from a playoff spot. And the run game, led by Adrian Peterson, needs a line." Who would've thought Philly could go it with the Three Stooges? And I guess that running game doesn't need a line.
June 5, 2008: "Philly and San Pedro could give Hermitage a challenge for the division but ultimately the Heroes should come out on top...Philadelphia is showing several close games. They could go 10-6 as well. Coaching, coaching, coaching. Watch those games against San Pedro." How about 9-7?
Unfortunately, the Corsairs will defeat the Liberty in week 16. With Green used up, it will be difficult to sweep San Pedro who will be 10 point favorites. It may not matter depending on how the rest of week 15 games shape up, the Philadelphia Liberty could still find themselves in a wild card spot.
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