I’m still high from Tuesday night. And not just because the sidelines became more and more clouded in weed with each passing minute. I’m high off the memories. The weather. The faces. The speed, agility, and skill of our players. The speed, agility, and skill of not-our-players. The intoxicating energy flowing between sideline and field. Between our guys – there to support each other…share in the high drama. The only thing better than a great play is a great play witnessed. A great play appreciated. To watch Irv turn in a dominant performance – so locked in. Legs making a hell of a catch in traffic. Jewballers forcing Yaron into a near pick. Solo, Oppen, and DK battling so fiercely – going to some deep, dark places to find the next gear and then the next. I’ve said it many times and I hope to say it for a few more years – it is such an honor to be part of this group. Special stuff.
Week 4 is a nice place to be. The season is still fresh and young, so there is no separation anxiety to speak of. We have our League Week done and all that controversy is behind us. The next League Week is 3 weeks away so no reason to think about it. It’s just a regular Week 4 of Jewball – granted that in the age of  the enlightenment….nothing is regular anymore…and whatever crusty, cranky vets are allegedly complaining to PJs…..that’s okay! It’s okay…..It’s okay.
Although it looks like we will be back to 3 games for Week 5 (season quarter point – 

……uh-oh….separation anxiety starts to whisper), Week 4 was our first Jewball week of only 2 games. People have obligations and some injuries have been mounting.
I’m going to try and go throwback with this recap and talk about the game. Enough of my pretentious bulls*** recaps! Let’s talk football.

On the last Sunday of the month of October, the car windshields, grass, and turf were coated in white frost at 7:45am. Fifteen minutes before Jewball would play Week 4. It was a reminder that seasons change and that leaving the house a little earlier to stretch and warm-up (both the body and the car) had become necessary. Of course, it being October in the age of climate change, temperatures would rise. The sun would emerge. Layers of clothing would be removed.
Upon arrival at the field, there was still a chill in the air and only the opposite field sideline was lit with a panel of sunshine. The field was covered in a ghostly pale layer of ice. A few minutes past 8am and it was clear we had a problem. There were two QBs on the field, but one of them was Pray, limping around, velcroed into his polyester prison. Yaron was there. Looking sharp and spry. Ready to continue his march of dimes. The QB on fire had messaged me Saturday night that we were gonna run wild on Sunday. (And so we did). But would the opposing QB – Zinn – run even wilder? Hard to say. He wasn’t there.
Before he can run, he needs to walk. And before he can walk, crawl. And before that, scoot. Although I’m not going to destroy him just yet (*because he did make the devil’s reception two days later), any Jewball Sunday that begins with Yaron calling your mom to see where you are and she says…. “I don’t know, he went to minyan”…..that’s a bad Sunday.
Lucky for us, Zinn makes up for in gamerness what he lacked in punctuality on Sunday. He arrived to boos at 817am and jumped right in. Yaron had started as official QB but it was a scoreless game when Zinn invaded.
Yaron in Colors with Jack, O, Held, Tom, Jordan, and Vegh, Zinn in dark with Daveo, E, Storm, Zada, Bert, and Goldberg – let’s go.
On Zinn’s first possession, he made the Colors defense look stupid. I believe Colors changed their defensive scheme three times during the game in an attempt to neutralize what Zinn can do. What can he do as a QB? Run as fast or faster than anyone. Cut as sharp or sharper than anyone. Throw as far or farther than anyone. And cross-body. If he has a weakness as a passer….it’s he can sometimes be in accurate. That’s where you need to get him. Otherwise, it’s just a matter of matching his offensive prowess. Week 4 was cool because Yaron and his squad were actually up to the task.
If I ever had it (and I don’t think I ever did), my ability to remember the exact game sequence is gone. Zinn did score first and right away. Again, he can run and pick up big yards at will – especially if not contained. Playmaka just could not beat Zinn to the sideline and time and again Zinn escaped the pocket and picked up critical yards for first downs. But he doesn’t rely entirely on his legs. He isn’t a run first QB with an arm like perhaps a Zez, Hood, or year one Pray. He looks for the pass. And with professional receivers like Storm, Zada, Goldberg, and Daveo…they were happy to oblige. I don’t recall drops. Like I said, Zinn can miss once in a while….and that’s your only hope. While I can’t say I recall who did what and when, I recall very clearly that it was a classic score for score game. Every time Zinn put a point, Yaron matched him.
Zada was responsible for the first two points of the game. He caught a TD and then tipped a TD to Jordan. 1-1.
Zinn ran one in, evading the entire Colors defense and going sideline to sideline. Tom cashed a stat before he exited and Kut replaced him. Just want to give a shout out to O before I forget him. He had a sack and he tipped at least one ball away. #stripbalzac
Although Vegh did not stat up in Game 1, he did make a ton of receptions that lead to scores. Most of the scoring for both teams was done in the red zone after big plays. Like the insane cross body bomb to Storm that I stupidly dared Zinn to throw. Storm catches it falling to the ground, giving Dark new life. Like the beauty Yaron threw to Jordan over Storm where Storm got the flag at the 1. Only long TD of the day was Yaron to Jordan in the back corner of the endzone on a perfectly choreographed gem. 
With 7 minutes left, the score was tied 5-5. Dark with the ball and with last possession rights. The way it has been going, this would be the final drive, and Zinn would find a way to score, and win the game. His first as a Jewballer. Enter chaos.
Zinn throws a 20 yard pass that is plucked from the sky by Jack! Colors had been holding on for dear life all day and now has its first opportunity to take the lead with 5 minutes on the clock. Ball is at Dark’s 25. I’ll spare Yaron the….NO I WON’T!
Everyone knows this is the spot where Yaron plays hero ball and risks everything. But not this time! We make it clear. Work the clock. Keep it simple.  Short yards. Move the ball. Score the easy way. The entire team is on the same page.
The ball is snapped. Yaron checks his receivers running slants and outs – and keeps the ball instead. Vegh is open deep. He can’t resist. Bron lofts one to Vegh that is destined for Vegh’s gloves and a score and the lead and vict- Scoot can swoop. Prime’s youngest leaps, twists, locates, invades, and steals from the sky the well-intentioned pass. It is his ball. His field. His time. Zinn with one last drive to win it.
I’m actually not sure how it happened exactly, but the defense did manage to lock down a bit. Yes, there was a
controversy on the Daveo pass, which we will get to, but in the end it was a 4th and long for the win. Zinn did his job. He put a perfect laser on Goldberg in a spot where it was Goldberg or no one and….you saw the film….like a blast of pure energy – the ball blasted through Goldberg’s hands at the back of the endzone. Would have been a sick ending for Dark. A sickening ending for Colors. Alas, a tie. No winner. No Jewball.
Let’s briefly talk about calls: Respect the call. That’s always Rule number 1. Sorry….Rule 1 is assume no one is lying….so, in that case, Rule 1 is don’t lie. That said, we respect ALL personal calls no matter how shitty because of Rule 1 (Don’t lie). However, a dropped ball is not a personal call but it is a call and it needs to be respected. Why? So we don’t have arguments. On a non-personal call, we tend to do a brief investigation because while we trust everyone…sometimes someone isn’t lying, but they are just objectively wrong/mistaken. First overrule goes to a teammate of the call-maker who contradicts the call. Meaning, if someone on the team that loses out based on the call being negated stands by the negation, we have to assume they are 100% sure. For example, Jordan catches a ball that is questionably out of bounds. If Jordan has any teammate that says it is out of bounds, it is out of bounds.  And therefore Jordan saying I was in bounds! is moot. If we do not have the fellow-teammate contradicting the call, we would also look to sideline for neutral people watching. They can help. Again, because this is not a personal call. It’s a determination – like catch or no catch or our of bounds or first down. If sideline is unanimous, we go with that. If not, we have to respect the call. It sucks, we just have no other choice. In this case with Daveo where it was a controversy whether he caught it or not, and everyone was completely split on it, including the sideline, we had to go with respecting the call made, which was ball hit the ground.
Game 2 admittedly was a letdown. Battle of the Rookie QBs wound up being very one sided. Perla is learning the guys still….but…..so is Dachs. And Perla was given mad weapons. I see flashes of talent. He can throw a nice ball…but…..something has still not caught up just yet. Not using the weapons he has at his disposal to their full potential. Irv wasn’t used. Zinn made some phenomenal grabs 3 feet over his head. Perla will find that Jewball gear soon. We are hopeful yet.
I believe Dachs jumped out to a 3-0 lead and it really was never close. The only storyline was whether Perla could come back in the end and make the score respectable. Or whether the huddles would get any shorter. Partial success on both accounts. From the stats, looks like Prime had himself a game. 2 TDs and a P6. Jewball to the 2019 MVP.
I’m heading to Memphis tonight. Will post teams tomorrow.