Week 3

CJ just said Houston's defense is offensive and it's rare we have a 50-45 game like the Gamblers and Orlando Renegades just had. To be fair, Houston QB Dale Baber threw 4 first half INTs, putting the defense in bad spots after just coming off the field. Orlando built a 47-17 halftime lead and still led 50-31 at the 2 minute warning before Houston scored 14 points in the final 2 minutes. More on this game in a bit.

We are down to 6 undefeated teams: Oklahoma, Michigan, Orlando, Birmingham, Shreveport, and Pittsburgh. I know I keep bringing it up and I'm sorry Loftusranger, but I am glad to see you turn around a 1-15 team so quickly.

We have 5 teams still seeking their first win of the season: Oakland, Denver, Detroit, Charlotte, and Boston.

It's way way too early for this kind of talk but if the playoffs started now (which would be weird after 3 games) the National Conference would have a wildcard team with a losing record.

Four teams have scored over 100 points already: Birmingham (131), Houston (112), Oklahoma (109), and Orlando (102).

Only Memphis (101) has allowed more than 100 points and we all know the reason why. They only allowed 3 points this week so I don't expect the trend of Memphis allowing 40-50 points to continue.

The Pacific Division is the tightest in the league as 1 game separates first and last. Pittsburgh is the only one with a 2 game division lead already, although Birmingham and Shreveport are 2 games ahead of Georgia and New Orleans.

Not only does Birmingham lead the league in scoring, they also lead in scoring defense, allowing just 22 points in 3 games. Of course MFN has them 13th in the useless power rankings. Seriously, the power rankings by MFN make no sense and this is the first time I've looked at ours in idk how long.

On to the games where Oklahoma messed around in the first half tied with Denver 6-6. The Outlaws flipped a switch at the break, scoring 34 unanswered points to win 40-6. Raymond Settles threw for 303 yards and 3 TDs, with Arthur Reina catching 2 of the scores among his 8-130.

Memphis signed a punter and this week they looked like the Showboats we all thought we'd see as they put it to the Tampa bay Bandits 34-3.

Philadelphia's Roderick Uribe still leads the league in receiving yards but his margin got smaller as he managed a pedestrian 65 yards against Jacksonville.

Jacksonville *****...That was the headline on the Bulls website as they trailed 17-10 in the 4th qtr when Jackie Huhn ran in his 2nd TD, making the score 17-16. There were still 9 minutes to play so there is debate on just how ballsy of a decision it was, but they went for 2, eschewing the tie. Louis Bell ran in the conversion, giving the Bulls an 18-17 lead they held onto, upsetting the National Conference Champs.

San Antonio has their hands full with their division rivals, but they did knock Arizona from the ranks of the unbeaten. The Gunslingers won a turnover filled game 23-9.

Florida ran for 276 yards in a 20-6 win over Boston for their first win of the season. Graham Folks did the bulk of the work with 31 carries, 217 yards and a TD.

Orlando and Houston. 95 total points. 45 first downs. 1202 yards. 10 red zone trips, 7 TDs, 3 FGs. Orlando punted on their first possession before scoring on 8 straight first half drives for a 47-17 first half lead. Baber's 4 INTs didn't help but the Houston defense couldn't stop the Renegades in the first half. Houston's defense tightened up in the second half and the Gamblers offense got within 47-31 before 4 straight punts derailed their comeback bid.

Birmingham is looking tough to beat. 534 yards of offense without a 300 yard passer, 100 yard rusher or receiver. Russell Gall threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs and the Stallions RBBC, or is it RB/WRBC, ran for 270 yards on 37 carries. The defense had 4 INTs and 7 sacks, allowing just 150 yards.

Willie Reddish threw 4 TD passes to lead Michigan to a 28-6 win over Oakland.

Portland beat the NY Stars 17-3. The 2 QBs combined to complete 52/67 with 0 INTs but neither team got much help from the running game, keeping the score down.

New Jersey's defense got sick of hearing how much they sucked, and the 32nd ranked unit coming into the game sacked Adam Patrick 6 times (5 by rookie DE Nathan Explosion) and allowed just 179 yards after giving up 498.5 yards per game the first 2 weeks. The Generals beat the Force 23-10 to get off the schneid.

Pittsburgh beat New Orleans 25-17 behind 112 rushing yards from Matthew Goebel and 148 receiving yards from Patrick Howard. The Maulers improve to 3-0 while the VooDoo fall to 1-2. It's too early for worry in New Orleans but they are already 2 games behind Birmingham and Shreveport and they need to go on a winning run to get back to the top of the conference.

Shreveport beat Charlotte 17-13, forcing 6 turnovers in the process. The Steamer are 3-0 despite having the 25th ranked offense. Their defense is 9th, pretty good, but their success so far is boosted by a +11 turnover ratio.

Baltimore won the first half against Washington 17-0. Washington won the 2nd half 14-0. Add it all up and Baltimore hangs on for a 17-14 win. The Stars held the Federals to 131 offensive yards, although one of their TDs didn't show up in the yardage as Arthur Smith had an 82 yard punt return TD.

Cleveland won a low scoring game against Los Angeles 14-12 despite being outgained. The Express couldn't convert either red zone trip and were pinned inside their own 10 to start 3 drives, including their last 2 when they just needed a FG to take the lead.

Southern California had no trouble moving the ball in a 26-3 win over Detroit. The Sun had 428 offensive yards, 238 rushing. QB John Barrios completed 22/25 for 202 yards and 2 TDs. It could have been worse for the Wheels but the Sun converted just 1 of 4 red zone trips into a TD.

San Jose got a TD pass from Larry Henderson and a 2 point conversion with under 3 minutes to play to escape Hawaii with a win and a share of the division lead. Henderson threw for 334 yards and 2 TDs to Jacob Newman, who caught 12 in all for 142 yards. A Honolulu win would have put the SaberCats in a 2 game division hole and a head to head loss for tiebreakers.

I'll probably add some stat stuff later, I have to step away for a bit.

The highest season QBR was 137.60 (minimum 320 attempts) by Daniel McKee of the 1974 Chicago Blitz. I bring that up because we might have a challenger to that mark if Russell Gall of Birmingham can keep it up. Gall's QBR is currently 136.67, thanks in large part to his 10/0 TD/INT ratio.

Houston's Dale Baber threw 4 INTs to take the league lead with 8, but he also now leads in yards (1,259) and TDs (11). Baber has also only been sacked twice.

Georgia's Adam Patrick was sacked 6 more times, making 21 in 3 games. It's not a record pace by any means but he is on pace to be sacked 112 times. There have only been 9 QBs sacked 100+ times in league history and backup Generals QB Eric Hansen (sacked 218 times in 1999) feels his pain.

Florida's Graham Folks rushed for 217 yards in Week 3, pushing his total to 302 on the season to take the league rushing lead away from Pittsburgh's Matthew Goebel (300 yards).

Thomas Frank (Portland) and Jackie Huhn (Jacksonville) are the only ball carriers with more than 2 TDs. Frank has scored 4 times, Huhn 3.

Benjamin Jones (New Orleans) and Jacob Newman (San Jose) are tied for the league lead with 29 receptions.

Roderick Uribe (Philadelphia) still leads in receiving yards with 470 but he has company in the 400 yard club now. Patrick Howard of Pittsburgh has 437 yards, Orlando's Brian Henson has 404 and Houston's Lex Luger has 401.

Baltimore rookie WR Domenic Winstead leads the league in drops with 9.

Roderick Uribe leads the league with 6 receiving TDs to hold 2/3 triple crown categories.

League wide we've had 6 kickoff return TDs and 1 punt return TD.

14 kickers have yet to miss a FG. Oklahoma's Samuel Diaz is 11/11 and Tampa Bay kicker Samuel Oakes is 10/10.

I never talk about punters and I haven't been able to say much good about my team but New Jersey punter John Peeler leads the league with 13 punts inside the 20.

San Jose rarely punts, often going for it on 4th down but when they do punt, Daniel Madden kicks it further than all other punters. Madden has 6 punts and a 50.8 avg per punt with 2 inside the 20.

9 players have at least 5 sacks with Andy Epley (Shreveport) and Matthew Hardy (New Orleans) tied for the league lead with 7.

Three players are tied for the league lead with 3 INTs...Clarence Sessoms (Shreveport) and Birmingham teammates Joseph Bell and Bertram Clark.

Chicago's Jim Catt has the league's lone Pick Six

Week 4

We now have just 3 undefeated teams as three teams suffered their first loss in Week 4. The last of the unbeaten teams are Oklahoma, Birmingham, and Pittsburgh.

Four teams still seek their first win...Oakland and Denver in the West, who happen to play each other later tonight, along with Charlotte and Boston.

Birmingham still leads the league in scoring offense (165 points) and defense (allowed 25 points).

We have 5 teams averaging less than 10 points a game, and apologies to Denver for pointing this out but they've scored just 9 points on the season.

Orlando, despite being 3-1, have allowed 122 points this season, most in the league. They allowed 45 points to the champs last week and 58 to Philadelphia this week to earn this dubious distinction.

I'm sure Orlando doesn't care how many points they give up so long as they score 1 more point than that because they are in the division with the tightest race in the league. We're only 25% done with the season but the Southeast, aka Florida division sees all 4 teams separated by 1 game, the only division that close.

I'm sure Smirt is frustrated with his offense having scored 66 points in 4 games, especially being 8th in offensive yards, but what his offense lacks in style points, his defense makes up for it. The 2nd ranked defense took the ball away 6 times from previously unbeaten Michigan, including 5 INTs as they score 12 unanswered points to win 12-10.

Orlando was 3-0, traveling to Philadelphia to face the reigning conference champs. Whatever happened to the Renegades defense in the 2nd half last week carried over to today as Joel Jasso led an offensive onslaught that produced 750 yards and 58 points. All of that while former league leading receiver Roderick Uribe caught just 3 ***** for 78 yards and 0 TDs. Jasso was 36/51, 618 yards, 7 TDs and 1 INT. Ryan Davis and Frederick Martin both had nearly 130 receiving yards and a TD. Dwayne Byrd threw 4 INTs trying to keep up with the Bell point barrage.

Shreveport got to 3-0 thanks to their defense, and while that defense produced 4 turnovers against New Orleans this week, they couldn't stop the VooDoo from scoring 27 points. The Steamer offense had a day they'd like to forget, gaining just 96 yards and going 2/17 on 3rd down as they fall to 3-1, losing 27-6.

Chicago returned the opening kickoff for a TD but only scored 3 more points the rest of the game with 185 offensive yards. Adam Patrick was only sacked once today after going down 21 times previously and Georgia defeated the Blitz thanks to a FG inside the 2 minute warning.

We only had 3 one score games this week and I already covered 2 of them. The last one, Florida topped Jacksonville 10-7 behind 107 rushing yards from Graham Folks and a 69 yard TD pass from Nicholas Meis to Don Aguirre in the 4th qtr.

Oklahoma stayed perfect at 4-0 thanks to 400 yards passing by Raymond Settles with 4 TD passes. The Outlaws had a pair of 100 yard receivers as they maintain their 1 game lead on Houston.

Birmingham remained a perfect 4-0 and they look like a true World Bowl threat so far. The Stallions runners by committee saw 3 ball carriers top 40 yards as they combined to rush for 227 on 40 carries. Russell Gall didn't top 200 yards but he did complete 24/26 with 3 TDs and 0 INTs. Defensively, they allowed Washington 102 yards, forcing 3 turnovers, getting 5 sacks and allowing just 6 completions in 18 attempts.

Pittsburgh also improved to 4-0 with a 38-5 win over Honolulu, but the Maulers offense was anything but perfect. Of course when you lead 24-0 after 1 and 38-3 at the half you don't need to be perfect. Pittsburgh had 421 offensive yards, 185 rushing but they completed just 18/35 with 3 INTs, a lost fumble, and a sack in the end zone for a safety. The Maulers defense had their back, mauling the Hawaiians offensive line to the tune of 9 sacks, and less than 2 yards per carry and 2 lost fumbles. One of those fumbles was returned for a TD and they also intercepted a pass.

Detroit got off the schneid for their first win of the season, beating San Antonio 26-7. Detroit got 269 yards and a TD from QB Glenn Burns while the defense allowed less than 200 yards, had 3 sacks and intercepted 2 passes, one for a Pick Six.

Memphis has turned things around nicely after their rough start to the season. Their BCBC (ball carrier by committee) produced 3 carriers over 50 yards as they combined for 230 with 3 TDs. QB Eric McNamee was an efficient 16/18 for 170 yards and a TD as the Showboats beat Cleveland 34-10.

Tampa Bay got 156 yards rushing and a TD from James Aguirre as the Bandits beat Boston 23-13.

New Jersey won their 2nd straight game despite their free agent QB Kevin Via struggling to find his rhythm with his new teammates. Via threw 2 INTs and 0 TDs but the much maligned Generals defense intercepted 3, one for a Pick Six as they defeat New York 20-7.

Safe to say the Houston defense had a **** of a week of practice as nobody was happy giving up 50 to Orlando last week. The Gamblers defense came in ticked off and took it out on Arizona. They allowed 100 total yards, 181 passing yards but 10 sacks took 78 yards away and 14 rushes went for minus 3 yards. Dale Baber got the scoring started with a 91 yard TD pass to Randy Savage followed by a 96 yard TD to Lex Luger. Houston ended up with a 48-0 victory.

Portland probably should have beat Denver by a similar score, but as it was the Storm won 28-0 the hard way. Portland's first score was a TD then kicker Aaron David made 7/8 FG tries and the defense allowed the Gold just 61 offensive yards. The only bad thing you can say about Portland is they were 0/5 in the red zone, settling for FGs all 5 trips.

Southern California evened their record at 2-2 behind 146 combined yards and 2 TDs from Franklin Benevides as they beat division rival Los Angeles 24-10.

Baltimore beat Charlotte 31-17 for their second straight win as QB Jerry Parker threw for 422 yards and 4 TDs. Wilber McKay caught 10 for 109 and a TD and rookie Domenic Winstead, who leads the league in drops, had his best game so far as a pro with 7 catches, 138 yards and a TD.

Dale Baber of Houston still leads in passing yards (1,704) and INTs (10), although Willie Graham (New Orleans) has tied him there. Joel Jasso's (Philadelphia) 7 TD game saw him take the league lead with 16 and he caught up some to Russell Gall (Birmingham) in QBR, although Gall still leads with a 128.76 rating.

Despite being sacked just once, Georgia's Adam Patrick still is the most sacked QB with 22.

Matthew Goebel of Pittsburgh is the leading ball carrier again, taking the lead back from Graham Folks of Florida, despite Folks having a 100+ yard game himself. Goebel ran for 136.

Thomas Frank of Portland tops the rushing TD list with 4.

Philadelphia's Roderick Uribe fell to 3rd in receiving yards behind Lex Luger of Houston and Patrick Howard of Pittsburgh. Luger and Howard are tied with 574 yards each while Uribe has 548, more than 100 yards clear of 4th.

Uribe still sits atop the receiving TD list, although he's now joined at the top as Oklahoma's Arthur Reina caught his 5th and 6th TD this week.

Nathaniel Gongora of Chicago now has 2 kickoff return TDs this season to lead the league. There are only 5 other kickoff return scores besides his pair.

Tampa Bay kicker Samuel Oakes is 13/13 in FGs this season while Portland's Aaron David also has 13 FGs but he's also missed 2. They are on pace for 52 FGs and the all time league record is 50.

Florida kicker Daniel Pitts is 5/5 from 50+ and is on pace for 20 FGs from long range. The record for 50+ FGs is 17.

New Jersey punter John Peeler still leads the league with 18 punts inside the 20. The best ratio of I20 kicks belongs to Michigan punter Virgil Leon who has put 11 of 16 punts inside the 20.

Five players are tied for the league lead in sacks with 7, including New Jersey rookie Nathan Explosion, who has his 7 sacks in just 3 games, having missed one due to injury. Shreveport's Andy Epley is also one of the 5 tied with 7 and he is also tied with Charlotte's Jason McDonald atop the league with 9 hurries.

We have 3 players tied with 4 INT and we have had 3 INT return for a TD league wide.

Week 4

We now have just 3 undefeated teams as three teams suffered their first loss in Week 4. The last of the unbeaten teams are Oklahoma, Birmingham, and Pittsburgh.

Four teams still seek their first win...Oakland and Denver in the West, who happen to play each other later tonight, along with Charlotte and Boston.

Birmingham still leads the league in scoring offense (165 points) and defense (allowed 25 points).

We have 5 teams averaging less than 10 points a game, and apologies to Denver for pointing this out but they've scored just 9 points on the season.

Orlando, despite being 3-1, have allowed 122 points this season, most in the league. They allowed 45 points to the champs last week and 58 to Philadelphia this week to earn this dubious distinction.

I'm sure Orlando doesn't care how many points they give up so long as they score 1 more point than that because they are in the division with the tightest race in the league. We're only 25% done with the season but the Southeast, aka Florida division sees all 4 teams separated by 1 game, the only division that close.

I'm sure Smirt is frustrated with his offense having scored 66 points in 4 games, especially being 8th in offensive yards, but what his offense lacks in style points, his defense makes up for it. The 2nd ranked defense took the ball away 6 times from previously unbeaten Michigan, including 5 INTs as they score 12 unanswered points to win 12-10.

Orlando was 3-0, traveling to Philadelphia to face the reigning conference champs. Whatever happened to the Renegades defense in the 2nd half last week carried over to today as Joel Jasso led an offensive onslaught that produced 750 yards and 58 points. All of that while former league leading receiver Roderick Uribe caught just 3 ***** for 78 yards and 0 TDs. Jasso was 36/51, 618 yards, 7 TDs and 1 INT. Ryan Davis and Frederick Martin both had nearly 130 receiving yards and a TD. Dwayne Byrd threw 4 INTs trying to keep up with the Bell point barrage.

Shreveport got to 3-0 thanks to their defense, and while that defense produced 4 turnovers against New Orleans this week, they couldn't stop the VooDoo from scoring 27 points. The Steamer offense had a day they'd like to forget, gaining just 96 yards and going 2/17 on 3rd down as they fall to 3-1, losing 27-6.

Chicago returned the opening kickoff for a TD but only scored 3 more points the rest of the game with 185 offensive yards. Adam Patrick was only sacked once today after going down 21 times previously and Georgia defeated the Blitz thanks to a FG inside the 2 minute warning.

We only had 3 one score games this week and I already covered 2 of them. The last one, Florida topped Jacksonville 10-7 behind 107 rushing yards from Graham Folks and a 69 yard TD pass from Nicholas Meis to Don Aguirre in the 4th qtr.

Oklahoma stayed perfect at 4-0 thanks to 400 yards passing by Raymond Settles with 4 TD passes. The Outlaws had a pair of 100 yard receivers as they maintain their 1 game lead on Houston.

Birmingham remained a perfect 4-0 and they look like a true World Bowl threat so far. The Stallions runners by committee saw 3 ball carriers top 40 yards as they combined to rush for 227 on 40 carries. Russell Gall didn't top 200 yards but he did complete 24/36 with 3 TDs and 0 INTs. Defensively, they allowed Washington 102 yards, forcing 3 turnovers, getting 5 sacks and allowing just 6 completions in 18 attempts.

Pittsburgh also improved to 4-0 with a 38-5 win over Honolulu, but the Maulers offense was anything but perfect. Of course when you lead 24-0 after 1 and 38-3 at the half you don't need to be perfect. Pittsburgh had 421 offensive yards, 185 rushing but they completed just 18/35 with 3 INTs, a lost fumble, and a sack in the end zone for a safety. The Maulers defense had their back, mauling the Hawaiians offensive line to the tune of 9 sacks, and less than 2 yards per carry and 2 lost fumbles. One of those fumbles was returned for a TD and they also intercepted a pass.

Detroit got off the schneid for their first win of the season, beating San Antonio 26-7. Detroit got 269 yards and a TD from QB Glenn Burns while the defense allowed less than 200 yards, had 3 sacks and intercepted 2 passes, one for a Pick Six.

Memphis has turned things around nicely after their rough start to the season. Their BCBC (ball carrier by committee) produced 3 carriers over 50 yards as they combined for 230 with 3 TDs. QB Eric McNamee was an efficient 16/18 for 170 yards and a TD as the Showboats beat Cleveland 34-10.

Tampa Bay got 156 yards rushing and a TD from James Aguirre as the Bandits beat Boston 23-13.

New Jersey won their 2nd straight game despite their free agent QB Kevin Via struggling to find his rhythm with his new teammates. Via threw 2 INTs and 0 TDs but the much maligned Generals defense intercepted 3, one for a Pick Six as they defeat New York 20-7.

Safe to say the Houston defense had a **** of a week of practice as nobody was happy giving up 50 to Orlando last week. The Gamblers defense came in ticked off and took it out on Arizona. They allowed 100 total yards, 181 passing yards but 10 sacks took 78 yards away and 14 rushes went for minus 3 yards. Dale Baber got the scoring started with a 91 yard TD pass to Randy Savage followed by a 96 yard TD to Lex Luger. Houston ended up with a 48-0 victory.

Portland probably should have beat Denver by a similar score, but as it was the Storm won 28-0 the hard way. Portland's first score was a TD then kicker Aaron David made 7/8 FG tries and the defense allowed the Gold just 61 offensive yards. The only bad thing you can say about Portland is they were 0/5 in the red zone, settling for FGs all 5 trips.

Southern California evened their record at 2-2 behind 146 combined yards and 2 TDs from Franklin Benevides as they beat division rival Los Angeles 24-10.

Baltimore beat Charlotte 31-17 for their second straight win as QB Jerry Parker threw for 422 yards and 4 TDs. Wilber McKay caught 10 for 109 and a TD and rookie Domenic Winstead, who leads the league in drops, had his best game so far as a pro with 7 catches, 138 yards and a TD.

Dale Baber of Houston still leads in passing yards (1,704) and INTs (10), although Willie Graham (New Orleans) has tied him there. Joel Jasso's (Philadelphia) 7 TD game saw him take the league lead with 16 and he caught up some to Russell Gall (Birmingham) in QBR, although Gall still leads with a 128.76 rating.

Despite being sacked just once, Georgia's Adam Patrick still is the most sacked QB with 22.

Matthew Goebel of Pittsburgh is the leading ball carrier again, taking the lead back from Graham Folks of Florida, despite Folks having a 100+ yard game himself. Goebel ran for 136.

Thomas Frank of Portland tops the rushing TD list with 4.

Philadelphia's Roderick Uribe fell to 3rd in receiving yards behind Lex Luger of Houston and Patrick Howard of Pittsburgh. Luger and Howard are tied with 574 yards each while Uribe has 548, more than 100 yards clear of 4th.

Uribe still sits atop the receiving TD list, although he's now joined at the top as Oklahoma's Arthur Reina caught his 5th and 6th TD this week.

Nathaniel Gongora of Chicago now has 2 kickoff return TDs this season to lead the league. There are only 5 other kickoff return scores besides his pair.

Tampa Bay kicker Samuel Oakes is 13/13 in FGs this season while Portland's Aaron David also has 13 FGs but he's also missed 2. They are on pace for 52 FGs and the all time league record is 50.

Florida kicker Daniel Pitts is 5/5 from 50+ and is on pace for 20 FGs from long range. The record for 50+ FGs is 17.

New Jersey punter John Peeler still leads the league with 18 punts inside the 20. The best ratio of I20 kicks belongs to Michigan punter Virgil Leon who has put 11 of 16 punts inside the 20.

Five players are tied for the league lead in sacks with 7, including New Jersey rookie Nathan Explosion, who has his 7 sacks in just 3 games, having missed one due to injury. Shreveport's Andy Epley is also one of the 5 tied with 7 and he is also tied with Charlotte's Jason McDonald atop the league with 9 hurries.

We have 3 players tied with 4 INT and we have had 3 INT return for a TD league wide.

A couple more things...

I was trying to sort the knockdowns when the screen froze. Had 3 tabs open with MFN and they were all stuck, so I copied the long post because no way I was trying to type all that again. Luckily whatever the error was, it fixed itself quickly.

I was surprised to see two of my players at the top of the knockdowns but perhaps I shouldn't be. We're ranked 31st against the pass in both attempts against and yards allowed, so they're bound to knock a few down.

Mike Novick has 12 knockdowns to lead the league and Robert Francis is tied with Philadelphia's Mark Southern for 2nd with 11.

Idk what kind of minimum to set for catch allowed % but I still have to post this incredible stat line...Joseph Bell, CB Birmingham has 8 tackles without missing one and has allowed just 1 catch in 14 passes thrown at him for a 7.1% catch allowed. Seven point one!!! Oh, btw he also has 5 knockdowns and 3 INTs.

Orlando has a pair of CB leading the league in plays. Kenneth Jackson has 393 plays while Charles Scruggs has 392...that's almost 100 plays a game.

Rushing yards isn't the only thing Matthew Goebel leads the league in as he also leads in fumbles with 5. Nobody else has more than 3.

Sack and hurry co-leader Andy Epley also leads in fumble recoveries with 3 and is one of 5 players tied at the top with 2 forced fumbles. I think I asked after Week 1 or 2 if his big sack game was a fluke. Perhaps the sacks were but he probably has the best DL stat line in the league.

Florida's Jimmy Anderson has given up 8 sacks already.

Detroit center Alfred Iorio has allowed 21 tackles in just 101 run blocks.

Zachary Townsend of Washington leads the league with 4 penalties.

Love these write-ups. They are flippin awesome.

Week 5

We only had two 1 score games this week and 3 shutouts

Oklahoma, Birmingham, and Pittsburgh all won, maintaining their undefeated records

We are down to 3 winless teams as Oakland beat Denver in a battle of 0-4 teams while Charlotte and Boston also lost

Week 1 does not make or break a team...San Jose and Portland both started 0-1 but have 4 game win streaks going currently

On the flipside Chicago won Week 1 but now have a 4 game losing streak

Arizona started 2-0 but have now lost 3 in a row, including a current 9 quarter scoreless streak

Denver is also currently on a 9 quarter scoreless streak and have scored just 9 points all season.

The schedule makers must be Nostradamus or they have a great sense of irony and timing as Arizona and Denver play each other this week. 0-0 tie?

Birmingham "only" scored 34 points, falling to 3rd in points scored with 199.

Houston scored 46 to take over the league scoring lead with 206 while Philadelphia's 49 puts them in 2nd with 202 points.

Birmingham still has the stingiest scoring defense, allowing 31 points all season. Portland isn't too far off, having allowed 41.

Charlotte allowed 53 points to San Jose, dropping them to last in scoring defense, allowing 150 points.

Orlando only allowed 13 points after allowing 103 the previous 2 games

13 teams have allowed 100+ points while 12 have scored 100+

I hate the phrase "if the season ended today" because it doesn't end today, but if it did, all of the National Conference Wildcard teams would come from the South. Birmingham is 5-0 with a 2 game lead on the rest of the division, who are all 3-2. The only other conference teams with winning records are the current division leaders Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.

We have 3 other divisions where all 4 teams are separated by 2 games...Pacific, Midwest, and Southeast.

Shreveport and Cleveland were one of the 1 score games and they were tied at 7 in the 4th. Shreveport took a 10-7 lead with 4:28 to play but Carl Langlois led a 12 play, 75 yard drive for the game winning TD pass to Felix Vaughan. Cleveland is tied with Michigan atop the Midwest at 3-2. Shreveport is also 3-2 after a 3-0 start.

Los Angeles beat Chicago 24-17 in the other 1 score game. The Express led 17-10 after 3 quarters, then took a 24-10 lead with 4:46 to play on Myron Dustin's 3rd TD pass of the game. The Blitz pulled within 7 with a TD in the final minute but the onside kick failed and Los Angeles holds on for the win.

Denver and Oakland faced off with both teams sporting 0-4 records. Denver has scored just 9 points in 5 games, putting them on pace to challenge the league's season scoring futility record. I went year by year to check and found a low of 84 points in 1981, then the 1994 Arizona Wranglers managed just 37 points. The worst scoring team in league history were the 2002 NY Stars, owned by the aptly named Nosedive Neil, who scored just 31 points.

In fact Denver's offense has been so bad, they only have 2 red zone trips all season, with both coming in the same game. Oakland scored a TD on their 2nd drive and the Invaders coasted with FGs the rest of the way with the Gold showing no threat to score.

Raymond Oswalt threw 3 TD passes to lead Portland to a 31-0 win over Arizona.

Pittsburgh beat Southern California 35-18 but the Maulers were not efficient with ball security. Pittsburgh scored 5 TDs but also had 5 turnovers as QB Brian White threw 2 TDs and 4 INTs and lost a fumble. The Maulers defense and the league's leading rusher had White's back though. Matthew Goebel ran for 138 yards and 3 TDs while the defense allowed just 168 yards, with 79 of that coming on a TD with 1:15 to play when the game was already decided.

Smirt's San Jose SabreCats haven't looked like a Smirt team this season until this week, when they nearly matched their season point total. San Jose scored just 66 points in their first 4 games yet were 3-1. Tonight, they scored 53 and had 4 times as many red zone trips as Denver has all season (that would be 8 red zone trips). QB Larry Henderson completed 56/73 for 630 yards and 5 TDs.Jacob Newman, who was told by team owner Smirt before the game that he sucked, caught 15 passes for 193 yards...although the *** didn't catch any of the 5 TD passes. Those went to 5 different receivers and Robert Byrd caught 1 among his 7 for 148 yards.

Charlotte WR Robert Lavender caught 3 passes for 150 yards and 2 TDs in a losing effort.

Georgia QB Adam Patrick was sacked 4 more times but he also threw 3 TD passes in a 21-3 win over Detroit. The Force defense intercepted 3 passes and had 5 sacks of their own.

Well it had to happen sometime, and it finally happened this game for Birmingham QB Russell Gall. He finally threw his 1st INT of the season but he also threw 4 TD passes in a 34-6 win over Boston. The Stallions BCBC (ball carrier by committee) ran for 262 yards with all 7 having double digit yards.

New Jersey sucks, at least against Philadelphia. We couldn't stop them the first game through the air so we tried a different defensive approach. We still gave up too many yards through the air but it wasn't as bad as before...mainly because the Bell ran all over us instead. Three ball carriers combined for186 yards on 26 carries with 5 TDs. Even a great defensive effort would have been wasted as free agent bust Kevin Via continues to ****. I have to get my QB untracked or I'm going back to Sack King Hansen.

I'm going to leave off here for now, probably going to get me some breakfast and get ready for bed/work tomorrow.

I would probably be done with Week 5 random observations if grocery stores around here were 24/7 like pre pandemic. I got home from work/getting gas about 4:30 am, and before 2020, I would have gone to Meijer as well then come home for the day. Now though, I have to **** around until 6 when they open or go in the evening after all the good, fresh meat has been picked through.

I would just have them delivered but it's just me and I would rather choose my own food anyway. I also needed to cut the grass today and now I need a shower. Sometimes I wish clocks had pause buttons so I could get stuff done and still have plenty of time for myself.

Anyway you guys aren't here to listen to me ***** so let's get back to football. I left off with my mess of a team but tbf, I have lost to only upper tier teams. We'll find out how good or bad we are the rest of the season as we only have 2 games left against teams with winning records. Will the Generals make a wildcard push only to lose in the first round of the playoffs, or will they be watching from home in January?

The next game on the list is the NY Stars out kicking the Tampa Bay Bandits 4-1...or 12-3 in football score. There were no TDs in this game despite both QBs combining to complete 56/68 for 476 yards. New York ran the ball a little better than the Bandits, and the defense contributed 3 sacks and an interception. Both teams are now 2-3.

Jacksonville ***** again...but this time the ***** refers to an exclamation of frustration as Memphis had their way with the Bulls after falling behind 7-0. The Showboats defense had 4 sacks, an INT and held Jacksonville under 180 yards of offense. The Memphis offense got 3 TDs and 192 yards from their BCBC and WR William Beasley caught 7 for 145 yards as Memphis wins 30-10.

Offensive Taco is listed as the owner of the Houston Gamblers in 1983 but Cjfred and the current Gamblers made sure his San Antonio Gunslingers know who owns Houston now with a 46-10 win. The Gunslingers put up a respectable 275 yards but the Gamblers 28th ranked defense forced 3 turnovers including a Pick Six and had 3 sacks, one for a safety. Randy Savage ran for 127 yards and a TD while adding 41 receiving yards with the other 310 offensive yards spread among several skill players.

Orlando blazed Florida 44-13 behind 384 yards and 5 TDs from QB Dwayne Byrd. Brian Henson caught 11 passes for 185 yards and 4 TDs while Arthur Reader caught 10 for 100 and a TD. The Renegades BCBC had 195 yards and a TD while the defense held Florida to 151 total yards.

Oklahoma beat Michigan 23-13 in a battle of division leaders. Outlaws QB Raymond Settles threw for 322 yards and 2 TDs, overcoming a pair of interceptions. Michigan's defense played tough but Oklahoma's defense played tougher, forcing 3 turnovers, allowing less than 2 yards per carry and the Panthers lone TD was a Charles Keller 102 yard kickoff return. Oklahoma keeps pace with Houston and Memphis while Michigan is now tied with Cleveland atop the Midwest at 3-2.

Honolulu broke a 2 game losing streak with a 28-3 win over Washington. Dave Yang led the way with 125 rushing yards and Victor Russell threw a pair of TD passes for the Hawaiians. The defense allowed just 151 total yards and 1/11 on 3rd downs as they improve to 3-2 on the season.

New Orleans dominated Baltimore 35-0 to improve to 3-2 on the season. The VooDoo are still 2 games behind Birmingham, unfamiliar territory for a team that's been to 3 of the last 6 World Bowls. I wouldn't count them out though, as the VooDoo can still ball as evidenced by this game. New Orleans had 478 offensive yards with Willie Graham accounting for 359 of that through the air with 4 TDs. Benjamin Jones caught 7 for 171 yards and 2 TDs. Defensively the VooDoo didn't force any turnovers, but when you hold your opponent to 64 total yards, turnovers are just a bonus. They did sack Baltimore QB Jerry Parker 5 times.

I'll take a look at the stats shortly.

I'm going to start with something odd I found in the kicking stats instead of passing yards like normal.

There have been a total of 7 missed XP this season by all kickers and just one kicker has more than 1. Orlando kicker Roger Love is 15/19 on XP which is a lower percentage than his FGs (9/10 for 90%).

Sticking with kickers, 8 are still perfect in FGs, although only Oklahoma's Samuel Diaz has double digit attempts (15/15).

Daniel Pitts of Florida is 5/6 in 50+ yard FGs while Baltimore kicker Tom Overton is a perfect 4/4 from distance.

Houston WR Randy Savage leads the league in total yards (710) and TDs (8) but he is listed as out 2 weeks with a concussion.

Last week I mentioned Birmingham CB Joseph Bell and his incredible stat line. Turns out perhaps I'm a jinx? His catch % jumped up to 28% and no longer has the league's best mark. I'm only looking at the first page of INT leaders. Among those, San Jose CB Jason Winborne now has the lowest catch allowed percentage at 23.8, having allowed 5 catches in 21 throws while Bell is now 7/25 for 28%.

Houston CB Robert Patton leads the league with 5 INTs with 4 players tied for second place with 4 each.

Maybe my QBs struggles aren't all his fault as it seems our WRs aren't getting separation. Last week I mentioned how 2 New Jersey DBs were in the top 3 in knockdowns. Fast forward to now and after playing New Jersey, a pair of Philadelphia DBs are tied with 16 each, Mark Southern and Lewis Gomez.

Baltimore WLB Lazaro Mason has a league high 17 missed tackles, and as a bonus he's allowed catches on 8 of 9 passes "defensed".

Birmingham CB William Peterson leads the league in sacks with 9. Three true DE are tied for 2nd with 8 sacks each, including rookie New Jersey DE Nathan Explosion.

I know there were a lot of opinions about allowing WR to carry the ball, but for some reason not too many spoke about allowing DBs to play DE. Personally I don't like it but I have no plans to even attempt to make a rule, because of enforcement issues. Keep doing whatever you've been doing, it's just my opinion.

Before anyone chimes in on that, please only comment if you have a way to enforce a rule that doesn't involve kicking someone out. I don't want to be in the booting business so we'll just have to find a way to beat it or wait on JDB to fix the weight disparity issue...lmao did I just say "wait on JDB"? Dumbass lol. We'll just have to find a way.

Philadelphia's Joel Jasso retook the passing yardage lead from Houston's Dale Baber. Jasso threw for 394 yards against the Generals while Baber threw for 257. Jasso now has 2,005 yards on the season, Baber 1,961.

Right now Jasso and Baber are well ahead of the pack but San Jose QB Larry Henderson is likely to factor in soon. Henderson threw for 630, which saw him rocket up the list, and if you aren't aware, San Jose is owned by Smirt, who is the MFN version of Air Coryell, meaning he likes to throw the ball...a lot.

Passing yards isn't the only category Henderson rocketed up...he took 9 sacks in throwing for 630 and has now been sacked a league high 27 times. Georgia's Adam Patrick and Arizona's Curtis Kim have been sacked 26 times each.

Birmingham QB Russell Gall leads in completion percentage (72.1%), TD/INT ratio (17:1), and QBR (125.32). Jamie Orman (New York) is 2nd in completion percentage (71.8%), Joel Jasso is second in TD/INT ratio (18:4) and QBR (122.28)

If you want to win in USFL, your QB needs to be in the top 10 in yards per attempt. The overall record of the top 10 QB's teams is 39-11, with only Memphis (3-2) and Detroit (1-4) not being 4-1 or 5-0.

Better yet, you wanna be top 5, as Philadelphia is 4-1 (Joel Jasso 9.83 ypa), Houston is 4-1 (Dale Baber 8.45), Birmingham is 5-0 (Russell Gall 7.83), Oklahoma is 5-0 (Raymond Settles 7.81), and Orlando is 4-1 (Dwayne Byrd 7.32).

Another key stat looks to be 2 TD passes a game. We have 8 QBs with double digit TD passes led by Joel Jasso's 18. Those 8 teams have a combined record of 34-6 (Philadelphia, Houston, Birmingham, Oklahoma, Orlando, Pittsburgh, San Jose, and New Orleans), with just the VooDoo not being 4-1 or 5-0.

Surprisingly, throwing 2+ INTs a game is not a total buzzkill as the 6 teams whose starting QB have at least 10 INT have a combined 19-11 record. Four of the six teams have winning records: Houston, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and New Orleans. Of course Chicago and San Antonio would disagree with this statement.

Pittsburgh WR Matthew Goebel still leads the league with 574 rushing yards and he's tied for 2nd with 4 rushing TDs. Goebel leads Florida RB Graham Folks (438) by 136 yards

Portland's Thomas Frank still leads in rushing scores with 5.

According to an old quote from San Jose owner Smirt211, Jacob Newman sucks, but most, if not all receivers wished they sucked to the tune of 11+ catches per game. Newman has 56 receptions in 5 games to lead the league in that category. Benjamin Jones (New Orleans) is second with 45 and Lex Luger (Houston) has 43.

Philadelphia WR Roderick Uribe was leading the league in receiving, fell to 3rd last week and now he's 5th. He is tied for the league lead with Orlando's Brian Henson with 7 receiving scores.

Patrick Howard of Pittsburgh tops the yardage list with 690, Lex Luger has 646 and Brian Henson has 618. Benjamin Jones (605) is in 4th.

SPOILER ALERT for Arizona and Denver

Just a quick nugget I noticed at first glance...the Denver Gold not only got off the schneid and won their first game of the season, they more than doubled their season point total this morning. The Gold had scored just 9 points coming in and today's 19 gives them 28 now. It's still last in the league but they are no longer on pace to challenge for lowest ever.

I'm happy to see the improvement, even if they go back to scoring 3 points a game. I like writing about records and stuff but it's no fun pointing out struggles.