I don't have the time to go through a game by game recap as I have to go to work soon, perhaps this morning after work. I will share a few things now though.

New Jersey QB Kevin Via threw 2 TD passes. No big deal right? Normally yes but it took several games last season before he got 2 so maybe the presence of rookie QB Sam Axe got Via to remove his head from his ****. We'll see as the season progresses.

Larry Henderson threw for the most yards in Week 1 with 488 yards. Big shock that a Smirt QB had the most, I know. Even bigger shock the only other 400 yard game came from Houston QB Dale Baber. Cjfred's offense usually produces big games.

QBs were sacked 85 times Week 1, an average of nearly 3 per QB. Curtis Kim (Arizona) and Joel Jasso (Philadelphia) skew the average with their 9 times sacked each.

Dale Baber also threw for 5 TDs to take the early lead. No other QB had more than 3.

Three QBs threw 4 INTs each, and they all came from 2006 playoff teams. Jerry Parker didn't make the playoffs with Baltimore last year and he threw 4 INTs in his Memphis debut. Darrell Harrington didn't make the playoffs last year because he was not on a team but the veteran free agent also threw 4 INTs in his debut with Pittsburgh. Raymond Settles threw 4 INTs for Oklahoma but they played Memphis so they sort of got cancelled out by Parker's 4.

Macho Man Randy Savage takes the early rushing lead with 143 yards and a TD but he had a better day receiving, more on that later. We had 4 ball carriers with 100 yards or more while Shreveport's David Sandoval had the only 2 TD rushing game.

Looks like Lee Ramos is the alpha WR for San Jose this year as he had 14 catches for 190 yards to top the league in both categories. Patrick Howard of Pittsburgh had his usual big game (6-164-1) while Honolulu's Donald Fleming caught 5 for 157 to take 3rd place. Macho Man Randy Savage is 4th after catching 5 for 146 yards and 2 TDs. Looks like Christian McCaffrey is a real life version of the Macho Man.

Jack Hupp of San Antonio takes the early sack lead with 4. Last year's sack leader Nathan Explosion (New Jersey) picked up where he left off with 3 sacks, joining 4 other players right behind Hupp.

Shelby Ryan (Memphis) and Gary Ellis (Baltimore) intercepted 3 passes each for the early league lead. Nobody else had more than 1.

I see just 1 real upset and that was San Antonio beating Philadelphia 19-14. Brxnivy has had success across MFN but I didn't expect him to knock off a strong team like Philadelphia right off the bat. Could we have a 4 team race in the Southwest?

That's all I have for now, time to hit the shower.

One more observation about my team. The Generals need to have a great first half of the season because the second half is brutal.

Sep 2 @ Charlotte Hornets (20-0)
Sep 9 @ Boston Breakers (0-1)
Sep 16 @ Houston Gamblers (1-0)
Sep 23 SAN ANTONIO GUNSLINGERS (1-0)
Sep 30 @ Jacksonville Bulls (1-0)
Oct 7 WASHINGTON FEDERALS (1-0)
Oct 14 BOSTON BREAKERS (0-1)
Oct 21 @ Baltimore Stars (0-1)
Oct 28 @ New York (NY) Stars (1-0)
Nov 4 NEW ORLEANS VOODOO (1-0)
Nov 11 PITTSBURGH MAULERS (1-0)
Nov 18 @ Philadelphia Bell (0-1)
Nov 25 NEW YORK (NY) STARS (1-0)
Dec 2 @ Memphis Showboats (0-1)
Dec 9 PHILADELPHIA BELL (0-1)
Dec 16 OKLAHOMA OUTLAWS (1-0)

Last half I have 2 games apiece against division foes Philadelphia and New York. The Bell have owned the Generals in recent years and the Stars are an up and coming team who made the playoffs last season. The other 4 games are against annual playoff teams New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Memphis and Oklahoma.

Looking like a 7-9, 8-8 type season in Jersey.

It's hard to get motivated today, hence the late start. I'll try to be brief since I still have 5 games to deal with.

Week 1 is just 1 game of 16, but since that's all we have, it's easy to overreact to what happened. We see it every year in the NFL and prior to Sunday the season should have been cancelled and celebrate Miami as champs.

It's still important to get off to a good start, especially if it's a divisional game. Nothing worse than being essentially 1.5 games back after 1 game. I know that's not technically true but it feels like more than 1 game back.

Week 1

I'm just going to go in order...

New Orleans 23 Orlando 10

The last time these teams met was in last season's Wildcard Round where Orlando won 7-6. This time was about what you'd expect from two playoff teams, some good offensive plays (Willie Graham threw for 3 TDs to lead the VooDoo), and some good defensive plays (Graham was intercepted twice, Dwayne Byrd was sacked 5 times and the teams combined for 5 turnovers). Special teams weren't special as the kickers combined to go 1/4 with all tries within 50 yards. Gerald Waldon led New Orleans in rushing (27 yards???) and receiving (104 yards...that's better than 27) with a TD catch.

Jacksonville 6 Georgia 3

The Bulls won the kicking contest 2-1 and therefore the game 6-3. Idk if it was bad offense, good defense, or a mix of both but it was an ugly game. 403 total combined yards, 25/49 combined passing, 170 yards and 4 sacks...no INTs for either QB though. Third down conversions combined were 3/26 which led to 17 total punts, 9 inside the 20. Not much else to say.

Birmingham 26 Los Angeles 6

A lot of eyes were on the Stallions to see how they would fare after "the trade". Most of you know about the offseason trade made between the Stallions and SaberCats and the outcry that followed from disappointed American Conference owners, so no need to rehash details. Lee Ramos did well in his San Jose debut, but this trade can't be fully judged until a few seasons from now once we see how the Stallions draft pick haul pans out for them.

Today, Birmingham's defense was stout, shutting down the Express running game while offensively Birmingham had nearly 200 yards on the ground, led by Philip Snyder's 105. Russell Gall threw 2 TDs and the Stallions start 1-0 again.

New Jersey 20 Charlotte 0

The Generals were led by their defense and Kevin Via's 2 TD passes. Last year's sack leader Nathan Explosion had 3 sacks while rookie DE Sheldon Cooper had 2. The Generals dominated 3rd downs, converting 9/17 offensively while holding Charlotte to 1/9 defensively.

I'll stop here and post this because I'm seeing people pop in the chat. I'll keep writing but might have to take a short break to plan for my XFL game.

XFL is done, I could have just let it go though as I'm locked into the 4 seed and will be one and done, maybe two and done if I get lucky and pull the upset. Three meaningless games to wrap up the season for me there.

Cleveland 12 Michigan 10

Cleveland escapes with a lucky win as they gave away 2 points having an inactive kicker and their FS missed 2 XP and a FG. Michigankicker Jonathan Ruch missed a long FG try in the 4th qtr that would have given the Panthers the lead. Cleveland QB Carl Langlois completed 25/32, 198 yards and 2 TDs.

Shreveport 34 Southern California 14

Shreveport finished last season 4-12 after a 3-0 start while Southern California was 8-8, so it seemed perhaps things were looking up for the Sun heading into this season. Shreveport didn't have QB Gary Westerfield last season though, and while the 3rd round rookie didn't have gaudy stats, he did complete 12/17, 141 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Westerfield was helped by a running game that produced over 200 yards, led by Ernest Percy. Percy ran 29 times for 124 yards, caught a 13 yard pass and had a 98 yard kickoff return TD. QB John Berrios had a decent game for the Sun but got less than 2 yards per carry from his running game.

San Jose 18 Honolulu 16

San Jose/Smirt pulled off one of their signature eff those picks trades to get himself a playmaker and it upset some fellow owners in the American Conference who felt a contender got a cheap, good, speedy player that tilted the balance of power. The first part of that is definitely true as Lee Ramos is fast (91 speed), and he caught 14 for 190 yards and a TD in his debut. The second part remains to be seen.

The SaberCats had 559 offensive yards but just 18 points (3 TDs, 3 failed 2 point tries) because they were 3/8 on 4th down. Although to be fair, their run out the clock drive could have resulted in points if they needed to score as the clock ran out with the ball deep in Honolulu territory.

San Jose's run defense helped bail out the failed 4th down tries as they pushed around the OL/RBs all day, allowing negative 26 yards on 28 carries. Despite all that, the Hawaiians were driving late for the go ahead score when they lost a fumble deep in San Jose territory that allowed the SaberCats to run the remaining 2 minutes off the clock to secure an important divisional win.

Larry Henderson completed 39/59, 488 yards, 2 TDs and an INT. Lynn McLaurin ran for 55 yards on 6 carries and added 85 yards on 11 catches while last year's reception leader Jacob Newman caught 3 for 88.
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So much for being brief huh? NFL League and Quick and the Dead game plans are next that need doing. Be back soon to finish this up before week 2 kickoff.

Washington 17 Denver 14

James Martinez ran for a TD and Edward Green had a 108 yard kickoff return to lead the Federals over the Gold. Denver out gained Washington 291-221 but they had the game's only turnover on their final drive and they converted just 2/13 on 3rd down.

New York 13 Tampa Bay 0

The (NY) Stars defense came to play, forcing 2 turnovers and recording 5 sacks while offering the Bandits zero scoring opportunities. No red zone trips and no FG tries, nothing. Not much to talk about stat wise, not even sacks as 5 different Stars defenders had 1 each.

Pittsburgh 30 Baltimore 3

Pittsburgh QB Darrell Harrington had an interesting first game played since 2005, completing 28/45, 369 yards, 3 TDs and 4 INTs. Patrick Howard caught 6 for 164 yards and a TD, Eugene Williams caught 11 for 108 yards and a TD, and Felix Vaughn had 133 combined yards, including exactly 100 on the ground. Defensively they held Baltimore to 153 total yards, forcing 3 turnovers to match their 3 sacks.

Florida 14 Detroit 10

Only 10 passes hit the ground in this game as both teams had over 300 yards of offense. Florida's Nicholas Meis completed 25/29, 268 yards and 2 TDs while Detroit QB Mark Lott was 27/35, 311 yards and 2 INTs for a grand total of 12 incompletions with 2 being intercepted. Neither team ran the ball well and Florida converted just 3/12 on 3rd down but still better than Detroit's 0/8. No individual stat line's pop out besides the QBs and nobody scored in the 4th qtr.

San Antonio 19 Philadelphia 14

Philadelphia QB Joel Jasso put up big passing numbers last year and he may still do so this year, but today...not so much. Jasso spent a lot of time getting hit as he was sacked 9 times and was held under 200 yards even without the sacks. The Bell did lead at the half 14-3 before the Gunslingers chipped away in the 3rd with a FG and a TD. That TD came late in the 3rd to make the score 14-12 and the XP made it 14-13 Philadelphia. The game was scoreless for the 4th qtr up to the point San Antonio took over with 2:19 left in the game at their own 39. QB George Warner didn't have a great game but he led a 9 play 61 yard TD drive capped off by a Glenn Graham 2 yard TD run with 0:15 left in the game. The 2 point try failed but San Antonio still gets the win 19-14.

Portland 16 Arizona 3

Portland had 309 yards of offense and nobody on that side of the ball did anything special, but they didn't need to because the defense imposed their will on the Wranglers. The Storm defense allowed 61 total yards with 9 sacks and 3 INTs while also keeping the running game under 3 yards per carry. Michael Semmes and Michael Carter had 3 sacks each.

Oakland 20 Chicago 10

Oakland doubled the yardage of the Blitz 336-150, sacking Glenn Burns 6 times and intercepting him 3 times. The Invaders BCBC ran 40 times for 170 yards and 2 TDs while QB Andy Fulkerson was an efficient 22/26, 166 yards and an INT.

Houston 58 Boston 10

Houston didn't win their 10th title last season and they took it out on Boston today as Macho Man Randy Savage had himself a game, as did Dale Baber. Savage had a 140-140 game rushing for 143 yards and a TD while catching 5 for 146 yards and 2 TDs. Dale Baber threw 5 total TD passes with 0 INTs and 410 yards with Harley Race also catching 2 TD passes among his 8 for 119 yards. Defensively they allowed negative rushing yards, minus 7 to be exact on 22 carries. The pass defense allowed Scott Dahl to complete 33/41 for 235 yards and a TD but they did sack him 5 times.

Oklahoma 27 Memphis 8

MFN doesn't designate primetime games but I imagine this game would have been the Thursday Night Opening Game, what with Oklahoma being the defending champs. Pick your adjective for this game...sloppy, defensive struggle, etc but each QB threw 4 INTs . Raymond Settles was sacked twice by Memphis while Jerry Parker was sacked 5 times in his Memphis debut.

After 3 quarters of play, Memphis led 8-7 on a pair of FGs and a safety while Oklahoma would take the lead on a FG early in the 4th and extend it with 4:36 to play with another FG. Memphis and Jerry Parker would get the ball back trailing 13-8 and Parker had yet to throw an interception.

That's right, Jerry Parker threw 4 INTs in the final 4:32 seconds with one being returned 32 yards for a TD by Christopher Parker in the final minute to seal the victory for the champs.
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And with that, I'm done with week 1 just in time for week 2 kickoff. Good luck everyone.

Week 2

Talk about parity, we have 8 teams 2-0, 8 teams 0-2 and 16 teams 1-1.

Who would think we'd see Houston in last place in their division? They have scored a league high 75 points and are 1-1, yet there they are at the bottom. That's because they are the only Southwest team without a division win.

That division race will be fun to watch for the 28 of us who don't play in the Southwest. It's been a 3 team race for years but now it's a legit 4 team race.

The Southwest is not the only division without an 0-2 team as the South and East can both claim that. San Antonio is the only 2-0 team in the Southwest while Birmingham and New Orleans are both 2-0, tied atop the South. The East is a 4 way tie as all teams are 1-1.

Four teams have either really tight defenses, or have faced struggling offenses or a combination of both. Pittsburgh has allowed just 3 points so far, Portland and Jacksonville 6 each and Birmingham has allowed 9.

San Antonio 13 Oklahoma 10 (OT)

I had to start with this game as the Champion Oklahoma Outlaws lose in OT to the upstart division rival San Antonio Gunslingers. I'm interested to see how these division games go now that the Gunslingers are no longer an automatic W.

Defense ruled the day in this game although both offenses did gain some yards. Oklahoma out gained San Antonio 307-282 but that was mainly due to sacks as the Outlaws defense recorded 9 for minus 71 yards while the Gunslingers defense only had 2 sacks. Turnovers killed a lot of drives as Oklahoma had 4 turnovers (3 INTs and a fumble) while San Antonio coughed it up 3 times (2 INTs and a fumble).

The game was tied at 10 since the 1st minute of the 4th and the rest of that quarter was punts. Same with the OT as San Antonio punted twice and Oklahoma once. On the Outlaws second OT possession, Raymond Settles was intercepted, leading to the game winning 49 yard FG by Lyle Lovett's cousin Dennis.

San Jose 48 Denver 9

I guess I'll just start with the games involving teams who are 2-0 since there are only 8 of you. San Antonio is the surprise 2-0 team, San Jose is not a surprise.

The SaberCats racked up 574 total yards, 501 of that through the air. They did have 4 turnovers, 3 of which were INTs and Larry Henderson was sacked 5 times but still completed 40/70 for 544 yards and 6 TDs.Lee Ramos caught 11 for 229 yards and 2 TDs while Lynn McLaurin caught 17 for 176 yards and 1 score.

Defensively they held Denver to 119 total yards, forced 2 turnovers and had 7 sacks.

Portland 27 Michigan 3

Besides 3 turnovers, Portland had a good offensive day as their BCBC ran for 172 yards and a pair of TDs while Raymond Oswalt completed 33/43 for 200 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. They converted 10/19 3rd downs while not letting Michigan convert any in 12 tries. The Storm defense had 2 INTs, 3 sacks and allowed just 98 total yards.

Oakland 8 Arizona 3

Oakland won despite only gaining 176 total yards with 7 first downs and 2 turnovers. Andy Fulkerson was able to avoid being sacked though while the Invaders defense sacked Curtis Kim 6 times, including once for a safety.

Other than that, Oakland won the FG kicking contest 2-1 and they are now 2-0 on the season.

Jacksonville 34 Detroit 3

Detroit kicked a FG on their first drive, then followed that up by punting on the rest of their drives until their last 3, when they decided to change things up and throw INTs.

Meanwhile Jacksonville QB William Barron was intercepted on the first play from scrimmage, leading to that Detroit FG, then threw just 15 more times the rest of the game. I don't know if that was because the coach was mad at him or because Detroit couldn't stop the Bulls trio of RBs. Normally I lump all ball carriers together and I'll do that here too as they combined for 325 yards and 3 TDs on 55 carries. Four players carried the ball in all but the BCBC was led by Patrick Edwards who ran for 120 yards and a TD on 13 carries. Jackie Huhn also topped 100, rushing for 104 and a score on 22 carries, adding 9 more yards on 2 catches.

The 3rd best rushing performance by the Bulls today was by Dwayne Wade's cousin Donald, who ran for 91 yards and a score but he also shined in the passing game, catching a TD pass among his 4 for 72 yards, giving him 163 combined yards.

Birmingham 34 Southern California 3

Philip Snyder ran for 110 yards and Russell Gall threw 3 TD passes to lead Birmingham to a lopsided victory over the Sun. Mohammed Manno caught 2 of the scores while the defense recorded 4 sacks and 2 INTs en route to holding Southern California to 171 total yards.

It's early but the Stallions once again look like a title contender.

New Orleans 30 Shreveport 10

This game was essentially over 1 play into the 2nd qtr when the VooDoo took a 21-0 lead following a lost Shreveport fumble. The Steamer would go on to turn it over 3 more times while New Orleans played a game of kill the clock and kick a FG every now and then.

Not really any stat lines worth highlighting as New Orleans played solid defense and spread the ball around offensively.

Pittsburgh 34 Washington 0

This game was interesting despite the lopsided score. Patrick Howard caught 7 for 116 yards and 2 TDs while Felix Vaughn ran for 87 yards and 3 TDs. That's not the interesting part though, I'll be writing about those 2 a lot it seems, and I wrote about Howard nearly every week last season.

The interesting part to me was how the Maulers defense pitched a shutout while being shutout on sacks and turnovers. That's not easy to do, allow zero points without taking the ball away or sacking the QB but here we are.

Those are your 8 undefeated teams, be back shortly with the other recaps.

Week 2 cont'd

Philadelphia 30 Orlando 0

At first glance, it doesn't seem right that Orlando is 0-2 but looking at their schedule, they have played 2 recent playoff regulars so no need for Renegades fans to panic. Turnarounds can happen quickly, just ask Philadelphia QB Joel Jasso. Last week Jasso was sacked 9 times but this week he remained upright and threw 3 TD passes. Mitchell Allen caught 2 of the scores but no other stat lines stood out as the Bell spread the ball around today.

Dwayne Byrd chucked up 64 passes today, completing half for 296 yards but he also threw an INT and lost a fumble in a miserable day for the Renegade offense. There was another fumble lost and Roger Love missed all 3 of his FG tries.

Memphis 21 Houston 17

Nine time champs Houston in last place. Speaking of things that don't seem right, I never thought I'd type those words while Cjfred owns the team. I'm obviously overstating the drama with that statement as 1-1, 1 game back is hardly cause for concern. It's not a reason to jump for joy either though.

Memphis QB Jerry Parker bounced back nicely from last week's 4th qtr meltdown, completing 26/31, 351 yards and 3 TDs with zero INTs. He was sacked 3 times but PrivateSnowflake would take this stat line every week if he could. Dale Baber was good too, completing 35/50, 369 yards and 2 TDs with 1 sack and zero INTs.

All of this passing success, no turnovers, so how is the score just 21-17? Lack of running game. Memphis ran for 11 yards on 19 carries while Houston ran for 57 on 21 carries. Randy Savage was held to 83 total yards after gaining 289 last week.

Houston held a 17-14 lead late in the 4th when they punted, pinning Memphis at their 7 with 2:26 to play. Last week Jerry Parker threw 4 4th qtr INTs, but this week he led a 7 play, 93 yard drive that ended with his 25 yard TD pass to William Blanton.

I hate when announcers say a team scored too quick as I think you should score when you can. If you try to **** around and burn clock and purposefully not score it could bite you. Play defense.

Well Memphis let Dale Baber drive into the red zone in less than a minute but the Gamblers failed to convert a 4th and 9 from the Memphis 13 and that was tha ballgame.

Boston 20 New Jersey 3

Kevin Via sucks. New Jersey WR Vic Mackey ran for 103 yards and the Generals ran for 165 as a team at an almost 6 yards per carry clip and only score 3 points all day. Why? Kevin Via completed just 11/26 for 78 yards and 2 INTs.

It's not all Via's fault as the Breakers BCBC had 4 players run for at least 55 yards as they combine for 251 yards and 2 TDs on 49 carries. Boston exercised ball security as well, committing zero turnovers while getting 3 from New Jersey.

Chicago 34 Florida 20

Florida had 308 offensive yards and they ran for nearly 5 yards per carry but Chicago had 430 offensive yards and ran for over 7 yards per carry. Brian Smith ran for 201 yards and 2 TDs for Chicago as both teams are now 1-1.

Georgia 26 New York 17

Georgia started 4 drives in New York territory and scored on 3 of them, with the 4th drive being kneeldowns at the end of the game. The first two times were the results of Jamie Orman INTs, leading to a FG and a TD right before halftime. The 3rd score, a TD, came after New York turned it over on downs when trailing late in the game.

Samuel Dunlap ran for 106 yards and Adam Patrick threw 2 TD passes to lead Georgia to victory.

Tampa Bay 41 Cleveland 3

Tampa Bay got 151 yards and 2 TDs from their BCBC to go with 2 Curtis Torres TD passes as the Bandits rout the Thunderbolts. Melvin Schmitt ran for 2 TDs, James Aguirre had 133 combined yards and a receiving TD, and Jean Shoemaker had 79 yards receiving with a TD and also scored on an 84 yard punt return.

Los Angeles 31 Honolulu 17

Honolulu out gained Los Angeles 359-306 but QB Victor Russell threw 2 INTs, including a Pick Six as the Hawaiians fall to 0-2. Russell was also sacked 6 times while the Hawaiians defense failed to sack Express QB Myron Dustin, who completed 15/20, 188 yards and 2 TDs. James Anderson caught both scoring tosses, including a 73 yard strike early in the 4th that gave LA a 14 point lead after the successful 2 point pass. Honolulu spent the rest of the game on their side of the 50.

Charlotte 25 Baltimore 16

It seems from the community message board that Baltimore did not want to go for it on 4th down deep in their territory late in the game, yet the engine had them do it and Charlotte immediately scored the clinching TD and 2 point conversion. Given the game situation, it's likely a punt wouldn't have helped much. Charlotte would have got the ball around midfield, Baltimore had 2 timeouts so best case scenario (other than a turnover) is they force a 3 and out with a punt going into the end zone for a touchback. I'm not trying to figure out clock but they would have had no timeouts left.

One thing about late game mistakes, refs screwing teams, whatever in real life and here, it's often easy to go back through the other 59 minutes of game action and find missed opportunities. My biggest late game complaint is The Tuck Rule and even that game I can tell you how Gruden f'd it up and it never should have came down to improperly ruling the fumble in the snow.

Baltimore had 4 red zone trips and came away with just 3 FGs plus there were 2 INTs thrown by Stars QB Hector Bednar so there are the missed opportunities this time around.

Some quick thoughts, just waking up.

Ex Generals starting QB Kevin Via sucks and has been benched for rookie Sam Axe. I'm glad Michael Westen didn't get Sam killed when they were playing spy games in Burn Notice so he can play QB.

We're down to 5 undefeated teams...San Jose, Oakland, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh.

We're also down to 5 winless teams, although it could have been 4 but in a battle of 0-2 teams, Denver and Baltimore tied, leaving both 0-2-1. Honolulu, Southern California, and Detroit are the 0-3 teams.

We have 2 teams in the 100 point club, Houston (110) and Pittsburgh (109). The Maulers have only allowed 3 points so their net points through 3 weeks is +106.

The South and Southwest divisions have cumulative records of 8-4, best in the league. The Midwest is 4-8, lowest in the league.

Larry Henderson has 1,554 passing yards already and the only other QB over 1,000 is Raymond Settles with 1,093. Henderson also leads Settles in TD passes 12-10.

We've had 12 QBs sacked at least 12 times through 3 games led by Curtis Kim (Arizona) who has been sacked 18 times.

Sam Axe is listed as having the best QBR but he doesn't qualify yet, having played just 1 game. Of the QBs who have played all 3 games, Joel Jasso (Philadelphia) has a slight lead on Houston's Dale Baber. Myron Dustin of LA is the only other QB with a QBR over 100.

Randy Savage is 4th on the league rushing yards list and 6th on the receiving yards list. Chicago's Brian Smith tops the league with 376 yards followed by Glenn Graham (San Antonio) with 314 and Pittsburgh's Felix Vaughn (305).

With all the passing San Jose does is it a surprise they have the top 2 in receptions? Lee Ramos has caught 46 and Lynn McLaurin 34. In receiving yards, Ramos is at the top with 632 while McLaurin is 5th with 295. Pittsburgh also has 2 in the top 5 as Patrick Howard is 3rd with 385 yards and Eugene Williams is 4th with 318 yards.

Ramos and Howard are tied with 5 receiving TDs each.

We've had 3 kickoff return TDs so far and 2 punt return TDs league wide.

Washington's Ronnie Burke has 9 sacks already to sit atop that leaderboard. Three players are tied for second place with 6 sacks, including a pair of Oklahoma Outlaws.

Don't throw the ball in the direction of Gary Ellis when you play Baltimore as he already has 6 INTs.The record for a season is 15, done 3 times. Jacksonville's Gordon Wong did it twice, once in 1984 and again in 1989. Lewis Gomez of Philadelphia tied that record in 2004.

Week 3

We started the week with 8 teams 2-0, let's see how they fared...

Oakland 20 Southern California 7

Oakland is the lowest scoring team among the undefeated teams but their 20 points allowed is the 3rd fewest in the league. Yardage allowed, the Invaders defense ranks 5th in the league, and while internet trolls talk about their schedule, they can't control that.

It's not like their offense is bad either, they rank 14th. Today, Andy Fulkerson completed 20/28, 233 yards, 2 TDs and an INT, getting a 100 yard receiving day from Miguel Gilbert (4-101-1) in the process. The Oakland BCBC ran for 144 yards and the defense had 5 sacks.

Oakland leads the West currently but they still have to play Portland twice and the Storm have owned this division. There is a lot of football left to be played but the Invaders could stick around in the playoff mix with that defense.

San Antonio 39 Boston 0

Before I get into the game, Boston beat my Generals pretty good and they got crushed in this game against my next opponent. I'm in danger.

San Antonio boasts the 6th ranked offense and the 8th ranked defense and 2 of their 3 opponents made the playoffs last season. The Gunslingers are real.

Those team stats could be skewed by this game however as they out gained Boston 503 to 80. The Gunslingers defense forced 3 turnovers, had 6 sacks and allowed Boston to have the ball for all of a Rush album...21:12,

The San Antonio BCBC ran for 308 yards and 2 TDs on 42 carries, and produced a pair of 100 yard rushers. Glenn Graham ran for 166 and a TD on 23 carries while Robert Raynor ran for 102 on 13 carries. QB George Warner only completed 20/37 for 203 yards but he had 2 TDs and zero INTs so nobody but fantasy players are complaining.

Robert Orr had 4 sacks to lead the defense.

San Jose 31 Cleveland 22

We already know Smirt's team is for real, not really a surprise he's 3-0. The SaberCats held the ball for nearly 43 minutes as Larry Henderson completed 44/62, 522 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, and 4 sacks. Lee Ramos caught 21 passes for 213 yards and 2 TDs while Jacob Newman also topped 100 with 137 yards and a score on 5 receptions.

Cleveland may have only had the ball for 17:06 but they still had 267 offensive yards. Their running game went nowhere but Carl Langlois completed 23/36, 273 yards, 3 TDs and an INT. Mark Baltazar caught 4 for 116 yards while Joseph Marshall caught 2 TD passes.

San Jose scored 2 TDs with 2 2 point conversions for a 16-0 1st qtr lead. The score stayed that way until the 3rd when Cleveland cut it to 16-7. Each team scored a TD early in the 4th with Cleveland getting a 2 point conversion while San Jose's failed for a score of 22-15 SaberCats. San Jose scored the next 9 points on a FG and a TD/failed 2 point play for a late 31-15 lead. Cleveland got a score inside 2 minutes to get within 31-22 (why not got for 2 there???) and recovered the onside kick but couldn't score again.

Pittsburgh 45 Charlotte 0

Felix Vaughn ran for 118 yards. Matthew Goebel ran for 3 TDs. Darrell Harrington completed 23/30, 268 yards and 3 TDs. Eugene Williams caught 10 for 111 yards and a TD. Patrick Howard caught 7 for 105 and 2 TDs. Charlotte had 44 offensive yards and was sacked 7 times.

Pittsburgh is good. How good? They have outscored their opponents 109-3 this season.

109-3 with all 3 games against division foes. Too early to call them Atlantic champs?

New Orleans 15 Birmingham 9

The first 4 games I covered featured 1 team that started the week 2-0, but this game featured a pair of 2-0 teams.

Willie Graham threw a 44 yard TD to Gerald Waldon early in the 3rd quarter for the game's only TD and that was the tiebreaker in the FG kicking contest that was split 3-3. The XP was no good but New Orleans still gets the pivotal, early season division win against Birmingham.

Not much to talk about stat wise in this game other than Willie Graham had a QBR of 101.41 in a defensive struggle.

Arizona 12 Portland 7

Now that I've broken the ice with 2-0 teams failing to reach 3-0, let's continue that theme. Portland has been pretty strong on defense this season, ranking 3rd in yards allowed even after Arizona put 362 on them today.

Portland led 7-6 after 1 quarter and the score remained 7-6 until Michael Chapin's 2 yard TD run early in the 4th. The 2 point try failed but Arizona led 12-7. Portland had their chances at the end of each hale. Late in the first half they faced a 4th and goal from the 2 and Thomas Frank got stuffed, leaving the score 7-6. Inside the 2 minute warning, they faced 2nd and goal from the 2 when Raymond Oswalt was intercepted in the end zone by Curtis Reed to save the game for the Wranglers.

Chicago 20 Jacksonville 17

Jacksonville out gained Chicago 258-198 but a pair of turnovers led to a 31 yard TD drive and a 9 yard TD drive for the Blitz in this game of runs. Chicago took an early 3-0 lead before Jacksonville scored the next 17 for a 17-3 halftime lead. The second half was all Chicago as they scored 17 unanswered points to take the win.

Brian Smith ran for 112 yards while Glenn Burns threw 2 TD passes to lead Chicago.

Week 3 continued

Now let's take a look at a pair of games where a team got their first win of the season. That happened 3 times this week and we've already discussed Arizona's first win of the season in the last post. Michigan and Orlando also scored their first wins.

Michigan 20 Tampa Bay 6

A week after scoring 41 points, Tampa was held to 6 by previously winless Michigan. The Panthers defense held the Bandits to 207 yards thanks in part to 5 sacks. Offensively, QB Bryant Smith was simply asked not to lose the game and he didn't, completing 15/19 for 117 yards. He had no TD passes but also no INTs. Charles Keller did the heavy lifting, rushing for 101 yards and 2 TDs.

Orlando 17 Florida 10

Renegades fans were nervous after an 0-2 start as Orlando has made the playoffs every year since 1999. The Renegades BCBC had 171 yards rushing with a TD. That score was by Henry Ward with 9:06 to play and it turned out to be the game winner.

Orlando's passing game wasn't great today and Dwayne Byrd took 7 sacks, 5 by Zachary Holland. The Renegades defense bent but didn't break, producing just 1 turnover and no sacks but limiting the Blazers to 224 offensive yards.

Denver 13 Baltimore 13 (OT)

The Gold and the Stars faced off with the winner getting their first victory of the season...unless there's a tie. Baltimore got out to a 13-3 lead after 3 quarters but Denver came back with 10 points in the 4th to send the game to OT. In the OT period, there were 5 punts and the clock ran out on the 6th as neither team won and their records are now 0-2-1.

Denver QB Richard Crum threw 3 INTs and the Gold's ball carriers averaged barely over 1 yard a carry on 32 runs. The good news for Baltimore is they doubled the yards per carry of their opponent but the bad news is it's still just 2 yards a carry. Tom Overton missed a 44 yard FG in the first half.

Someone tell Donovan McNabb games can end in a tie.

And with that I'm done for now. I have to get back to work soon.