Subject: Week 16 Drama So although this announcer was busy drinking in the booth (a la' Major League Style) and missed the first 3/4 of the game... the 4th was big enough to make it the write-up of the week. I know its long, but it was a ridiculous ending. The Niners took the field expecting a cakewalk over the hapless Cardinals (Howie), and sauntered onto the field, their arrogance shimmering in the early-afternoon sunlight. But what was supposed to be was quickly forgotten as the Cardinals charged out determined to be a spoiler- if they were not in the postseason, then they were gonna damn well do their best to put the Niners in jeapardy of losing their spot to any of the four teams waiting in the wings (and eagerly watching the game on FOX). The pundits laughed at the comparison of the Garcia-Owens connection to the Plummer-Boston one, but it was to be Arizona who had the last laugh. The gruelling match unfolded with a back-and-forth run-and-gun offensive duel between the two QB's and cornerstone wideouts. The endless series of matching TD's stretched to the horizon and beyond, with one defensive stop that resulted in a shanked FG by Arizona. It would prove to be a costly mistake. Finally in the fourth, the game gets interesting- or I should say, really really fucked up. It all began when the Cardinals recovered an onside kick through a forced fumble with 3 and change on the clock. Plummer completed the 20-yd TD pass to the super-glue coated hands of David Boston, and took the Cardinals from being down 3 (...that missed FG) to up by 4. The Arizona defense never showed up to play, and then what followed was the most ridiculous two minutes of football to ever grace a football field anywhere. From the pick-up games in the fields outside Minneapolis to the Annexation of Puerto Rico Play in the garbage dumps of New Jersey to the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europe to any XFL or Arena team- never has any announcer seen such stupidity. For the first time this season, the Patriots have been overshadowed for that dubious honor. With 2 minutes left and down by 4 points, Garcia looked deep, only to see the full Cardinals secondary and team bench surrounding Owens, he looks left and sees Stokes all by himself smoking a stogie and relaxing. The easy pass is caught and Stokes leisurely walked toward the endzone, and then inexplicably, ran to the sidelines on the 3 yard line and dove headfirst to the ground to be tackled. The next play saw the same thing happen as another crack-smoking teammate junkie followed the white rabbit to the sideline for the stop. Then, as all eyes followed Owens cutting in the endzone, Garcia is laid out flat by a DB who broke through and just buried him. The third down flat pass was knocked down, leaving Garcia with a 4 and Goal on the 6 yard line situation with 1:47 on the clock. Down by over a Fg, with no other option, they went for it and the pass is sent once more into the back of the endzone, but the CB made a highlight real dive to bat down the pass for a 4 and out series. From there, it only got weirder. A delay of game left the cardinals on the 1 yard line with just under a minute left. The Cardinals were faced with the unhappy possibility of a safety and then losing possession of the ball with the required punt. The full-on blitz panicked ol' Jakey, and he let it loose scrambling off his back foot, passing across his body, as he tried to thread the needle.... quite unsuccessfully. It was easily picked off and ran into the endzone to give the Niners a 3-point lead with 42 seconds on the clock and no time outs by the Cardinals. Plummer stepped on the field to start his end-game drill and connected immediately with Boston who is just outside the sideline- but the play is reviewed and OVERTURNED as a closer looks sees him dragging his second foot just inside the line. What a great call. The next series does not go so well, however, as down by a FG (that DAMN wide-right earlier on... it was all that one field goal), Plummer tried to get them within range of their punter (who is replacing their injured kicker) and was picked off to give the Niners the ball and to effectively end the game. BUT!!!! FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON............... the spectacular effort by one player is recognized regardless of the games outcome and the PLAYER OF THE GAME is from the losing team David Boston, 507 yards (more than double the Card's ave. 270 passing) and 6 Touchdowns.