Not very often I run across someone who has as much passion for APBA Football or has rolled as many games as I have.  Mr. Jerry Zajack is not a household name in our hobby but he should be. Trust me, each member of the National Football Card League (NFCL) or American Football Card League (AFCL) view Jerry with the highest regard. His knowledge of the game is unmatched, every time I have the opportunity to play against him I learn something. Prior to playing our game yesterday, Jerry asked me how come I didn’t get Sony Michel any carries in my previous game. I answered that he was a member of my “taxi squad” but Jerry nicely pointed out that Jack Doyle missed last game due to injury. Nice job Oguard62, enter a game with a 47-man roster instead of the assigned 48. Rookie mistake!

Since we play our games on SKYPE one person types and the other coach manages the Master game booklet to retrieve play results. I swear that Jerry can practically do both at the same time because he has most play results memorized. Simply Amazing! If there was an APBA Football Mt. Rushmore, Jerry is as deserving a candidate as Howard Ahlskog, Ray Dunlap, Greg Wells or Mark Zarb!

I just finished my second game versus Brad Morgan and his Miami Dolphins and it once again came down to the wire. Brad has built an incredible 45/45 rated defense with three 5-rated All-Pros, DeForest Buckner, Xavier Howard, and Minkah Fitzpatrick. 

My New England Patriots were ahead 30 to 23 with eight plays left in the fourth quarter. After a touchback, the Dolphins began in B/B index. Brad converted a 4^th and 2 from -33 with five plays remaining and scored on a 49-yard “trick play” pass from Landry to Parker with three plays left. Brad elected to go for two and the win but lucky for me the dice turned cold.

I would like to study Brad’s trick play call closer because it just demonstrated what an outstanding coach he is. The game clock was at the two-minute warning and he was faced with a 2^nd down and one at the NE 49. He not only dialed up the perfect call at the absolute right time, but he also had to do everything possible to prevent me from being in a dime defense which would have nullified a trick play call. He went with a Pro Set formation and I fell into his trap with a nickel defense. This is just another example of the beauty of playing this great game face-to-face against an excellent coach.  

After rolling thousands of ABA Football games solitaire style, I finally dipped my toe into league play. Jerry Zajack and company were nice enough to allow me in their Skype “American Card Football League.” So today I took my New England Patriots (yep, this diehard N.Y. Jets fan is the coach of the dreaded Patriots) to face off against Jared Garman’s Las Vegas Raiders.

Jared was a joy to play against, he is a first-class guy who is a rock-solid coach and a tremendous general manager. As a general manager, he built an offense with three A* receivers, Drew Brees behind center and his featured back is Miles Sanders who has a 5.3 yards per carry average. He stayed with 11 personnel throughout the game and proved extremely difficult to defend.

The scoreboard read 20 – 20 with 0:04 remaining. Jared called a long pass against my dime defense in “D” alignment, however, I failed to “double cover” the correct receiver and paid the price because Jared rolled a 66 resulting in a 61-yard “Hail Mary” TD reception. Incredible finish!!

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