Playoffs!

Final Review and Preview Show

*By the way I know the Fire aren't in the af2 anymore but I was making a point about attendance.

Playoff Update

Must Win

The Firebirds have no choice, they must win. If the Firecats lose and Albany does get the W, we'll be playoff bound! Watch tonight on NIFTYTV.

From my calculation we can win and have Manchester lose and still get in, but the Firebirds are not reporting that on their site. Manchester is currently 7-8, so if they lose they will be 7-9. If we win we'll be 7-9. We have a 4-4 division record and they have a 3-4 one. Plus we are 2-2 against them in the season so our division record should push us over them, right? Well I'll be keeping this in the back of my mind since it makes sense to me but it's not an official scenario.

Alvin Ray gets his interview on...

FBN brings you....the Firebirds in a video game!

No, it's not within the walls or on a 50 yard field, but I bring to you a very accurate Albany Firebirds team playable on PlayStation 3 or XBOX360. Every player is on the roster, and the uniforms are close enough to the real thing. The home field is the Tostidos Bowl with a custom Firebirds field. If you have NCAA 2010 for PS3, just search under "BSBenji" in the team builder and download the Firebirds! If you have Xbox, you may need to search "Albany Firebirds" instead. Here are some screen shots of the players in action (click on the thumbnails):

One week left, DO OR DIE TIME!

It's unbelievable that with a 6-9 record we stand with a chance to make the playoffs, but alas, we can do it.

This is the wildcard standings, only 5 make it!

1. South Georgia (10-5)
2. Kentucky (10-5)
3. Green Bay (9-6) 
4. Manchester Wolves (7-8)
5. Florida Firecats (6-9) 
6. Albany Firbirds (6-9) 

HERE ARE THE SCENERIOS WHERE WE WOULD MAKE IT:

1. We win, Florida loses. We would be 7-9, they would be 6-10.

2. We win, Manchester loses. We would both be 7-9, but we were 2-1 against them in the regular season, putting us ahead of them in the playoff standings.

We cannot lose and have Florida lose also, even though that would give us both 6-10 records. This is because Florida beat us in week 3. 

So, we've got two chances! Most importantly, we've got to win for anything to happen!

We lose, and the battle for a playoff birth intensifies...

That was the worst case scenario. The Birds lost against the team they were knotted with in the division. Manchester now moves to 7-7 while we lay at 6-8.

Here is how we stand now, remember - only five wild card teams.

1. South Georgia (9-5)
2. Kentucky (9-5)
3. Green Bay (8-6) - They drop a place.
4. Manchester Wolves (7-7)
5. Albany Firebirds (6-8) - We fall to fifth.
6. Florida Firecats (6-8) - Thankfully Florida also lost, keeping us in the top 5.

The Moment of Truth

Firebirds fans, there are only three games left. Eight teams make it from each conference, three division winners and five wild card teams.

The three division leaders: Pioneers, Valley Vipers, Barnstormers.

Where we stand with the wildcard:

1. South Georgia (8-5)
2. Green Bay (8-5)
3. Kentucky (8-5)
4. Albany Firebirds (6-7)
5. Manchester Wolves (6-7)
6. Florida Firecats (6-7) - They are last in their division.

So the deal is, we have a better in division record than Manchester, we have gone 4-4 in the East and they have gone 3-5. Two of our remaining three games are within the East, one is against Manchester which is in two days. Winning two out of three would be a safe bet to make it in, but 1-3 certainly would be no sure thing. I'll keep the updates on playoff standings coming.

Press Release

Albany Edges Pirates 56-52

Firebirds “D” Has Final Say In Shootout



ALBANY, NY – Firebirds Safety Kenny Williams broke-up a potential go-ahead pass in the endzone with 42.2 seconds left in the game and Albany took over on downs to secure a 56-52 victory in front of 4,372 fans Friday night at the Times Union Center.



The Firebirds took their sixth decision in the club’s last eight games to improve to 6-7 on the season and to maintain its advantage over Manchester for second place in the East Division. Peoria fell to 3-9 on the year and are now 2-3 under new head coach and former Firebirds bench-boss Mike Hohensee



Albany led by as many as fourteen points in the first quarter, but Peoria closed the gap to 35-34 heading into the second half. Firebirds defensive back Malik Jackson intercepted Peoria ’s Luke Drone on the opening drive of the third quarter for the first defensive stop of the game and the turnover set up an Alvin Ray Jackson touchdown that made it 42-34. Peoria ’s Brian Allbrooks hauled in the game’s next two scores to give the Pirates their first lead of the night at 46-42 heading into the fourth quarter.



Firebirds quarterback Stephen Wasil threw fourth-quarter touchdowns to Anthony Rodriguez and Jackson for each receiver’s third score of the night. Drone answered Wasil’s first strike with a passing touchdown to Dante Ridgeway, but his final drive of the game came up short as Williams swatted down a would-be touchdown in the final minute of action.



Both sides seemed to score at will in the first thirty minutes of action, with neither defense recording a first-half stop. Early in the second quarter the Pirates pulled to within seven points on a passing strike to Brad Kunz, but Firebirds receiver Adam Bednarik answered with a tough-catch in the back of the endzone to make it 35-21 Albany. Peoria ’s Dante Ridgeway caught the final two touchdowns of the first half to bring his team to within one point; the Pirates kept Wasil off the field late in the half by recovering a kickoff that took a long bounce off of the end-line Iron.



On the opening drive of the game SUNY Albany product Jon Leible scored his fourth touchdown of the year and the Firebirds quickly doubled their lead with an onsides kick recovery that led to Jackson ’s first touchdown. Pirates wide-out Darren Paige and Albany ’s Rodriguez split the contest’s next four scores for a 28-14 Firebirds lead after one quarter.





Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Final

Albany Firebirds (6-7) 28 7 7 14 56

Peoria Pirates (3-9) 14 20 12 6 52





PASSING LEADERS: (Comp-Att-Yds-TDs-INT)

ALB: WASIL, Stephen – 41-26-368yds-8TD-0INT

PEP: DRONE, Luke – 25-19-255yds-7TD-1INT



RECEIVING LEADERS: (Rec-Yds-TD)

ALB: RODRIGUEZ, Anthony: 7-154-3TD

PEP: PAIGE, Darren: 8-60-1TD



Russell Offensive Player of the Game: Stephen Wasil (ALB)

Aaron’s Defensive Player of the Game: Kenneth Williams (ALB)

JLS Ironman of the Game: Alvin Ray Jackson (ALB)

The Big Game Catch of the Game: Adam Bednarik (ALB)

Nifty Hit of the Game: Rob Wright (ALB)

Tweet of the Week

Review and Preview Show - Week Twelve