QFL Football Fever

 

Recap

Three-peat: defense wins championship for the Reds

NFC champions duffeldoffel's Reds beat AFC champions Eagle Eyes 20-0 at Fever Bowl III to complete a perfect 8-0 season and clinch an unprecedented third straight QFL world championship.

The Reds were carried by a stellar defensive performance as the league's no. 1 defensive unit not only registered the first shutout in QFL postseason history but also set Fever Bowl records allowing only 144 total offensive yards, 79 rushing yards, 65 passing yards and seven new first downs.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of these dice. Offensively, okay, we were pretty solid, we didn't make many mistakes, but their defense gave us a hard time out there, you gotta give them credit," coach duffeldoffel said. "But I really, truly cannot remember such an excellent defensive performance against a very capable offense as we did today."

"We certainly played very well on both sides of the ball all season, but, yeah, I do feel that our defense won the championship for us today."

The Reds' Run Defense Die was named Fever Bowl Most Valuable Die for registering three forced fumbles, two deflected bombs, two stops for loss and four no-gains.

The Eagle Eyes' defense, who had finished the regular season in last place, held their own limiting the league's no. 1 offense to only 107 yds in the first half and certainly doing enough to give their team a reasonable chance to upset the heavily favored two-time defending champions.

After quickly stopping the Reds on their first possession, the Eagle Eyes even had a shot at drawing first blood before a disrupted draw play and a holding penalty got them out of field-goal range. Instead, on the Eagle Eyes' next possession, a lost fumble in their own territory set up the opening score for the two-time defending champions who capped their 7-play, 30-yd drive with a 9-yd touchdown pass a minute into the second quarter.

Five minutes later, the Reds extended their lead to 10-0 with a 41-yd field goal at the end of a 7-play, 36-yd scoring drive, again set up by a fumble recovery. After blocking a punt at the end of the Eagle Eyes' ensuing possession, the Reds were in position to run away with the score, however, the Eagle Eyes' defense stood tall forcing and recovering a fumble of their own thus keeping their team in the game at half time.

Coach duffeldoffel seemed to have made some good adjustments as his offense finally got to move the ball with their first second-half possession. The Reds took almost six minutes from the clock with an 11-play, 72-yd scoring drive finished with a 16-yd touchdown completion to extend their lead to 17-0.

Even though he had a comparably quiet game, the Reds' quarterback finished the game with 20-of-27 for 120 yds and a passer rating of 107.0, his third 100+ rating in as many Fever Bowls.

The Eagle Eyes' defense recovered well from the Reds' first lengthy scoring drive forcing the Reds to finish their next possession with a punt. The Eagle Eyes then reached the Reds' 34-yd line with a 29-yd completion, one of only four completions by the Eagle Eyes' quarterback throughout the game. However, their hopes to get back into the game received a huge blow as they lost another fumble on the ensuing play adding to a frustrating night for their offense.

During the Reds' ensuing drive, the Eagle Eyes' defense finally showed signs of fatigue, but eventually forced the Reds to settle for a 34-yd field goal at the end of a 16-play, 64-yd scoring drive. More hurtful than the three points were certainly the 8:24 minutes the Reds had taken from the clock as the Eagle Eyes would still need to score three times but have only 8:12 minutes left to do so.

The Reds scored 13 of their 20 points off turnovers and had 41:30 minutes of possession.

Set up by a 39-yd punt return, the longest play of the game, the Eagle Eyes had one more shot at avoiding a shutout, but the Reds' defense would not fall for a field-goal fake run from the Reds' 32-yd line with about three-and-a-half minutes left.

The game was over when the Reds' defense registered their only sack forcing and recovering yet another fumble just after the two-minute warning.

After the game, coach duffeldoffel announced that he will be taking a sabbatical next season but may return for Season V.