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Last couple seasons I've used this space for game recaps, but I don't have much spare time at the moment with Christmas coming up. I already missed Week 1 anyway so not much point recapping old news since we've all played twice.

Idk exactly what I'll post here this season, perhaps I'll recap some close and/or important games or maybe focus more on stats and such. I guess I'll just fly by the seat of my pants and see what happens.

The 2008 Season So Far

The Champion Pittsburgh Maulers will not be having another 19-0 season as New Orleans beat them today 15-10. Pittsburgh is still obviously a World Bowl contender but this league is full of those.

San Jose already has a 2 game lead in the Pacific as the SaberCats are 2-0 while the rest of the division is 0-2.

The West and Atlantic are the only divisions without a 2-0 team while the Southwest is the only division without a 0 win team.

Speaking of the Southwest, everyone except Houston is 2-0, the only division with 3 undefeated teams. Looks like another great 4 team battle again in the best division in the league.

The Southeast and the East both have a pair of 2-0 teams, and the list of 2-0 teams is as follows:

San Jose
Memphis
Oklahoma
San Antonio
Chicago
Jacksonville
Orlando
New Orleans
New York Stars
New Jersey

San Jose QB Larry Henderson leads the league with 830 passing yards but through 2 weeks, the best QB in the league has been Glenn Burns of Memphis. Burns is 3rd in passing yards but first in yards per attempt (10.03) and TD passes (8) with zero INTs and just 3 sacks.

Burns QBR is a whopping 139.75 and 2nd is Eric Hansen of Chicago. Looks like I might have kept the wrong QBs and should have given Hansen the job instead of Sam Axe.

New Jersey runner Vic Mackey leads the league in rushing with 351 yards and rushing TDs with 4. Mackey had a monster game against Boston today, running for 223 yards and 2 TDs. Second place in league rushing, Philadelphia's Frederick Martin only has 205 yards in 2 games.

It's no surprise that Lee Ramos (San Jose) leads the league with 31 receptions for 365 yards. Birmingham's Arnold Griego leads with 4 TD receptions.

League wide we've already had 5 kickoff return TDs with Tampa Bay's Jean Shoemaker returning 2 of those. Bandits opponents might want to avoid kicking to him.

Michigan's Patrick Croy already has 7 sacks, 3 more than everyone else not named Michael Carter (Portland), who has 5.

8 players have multiple INTs, led by the 3 of Portland's Mark McKibben.

Last item...I didn't like finishing in 3rd place in my division last season, but I do like having a 3rd place schedule, plus not having to play the Southwest.

Good luck to everyone as the season goes along.

Week 3 is in the books and we have 9 undefeated teams but only 7 of those are 3-0. We had a battle of 2-0 teams that could not be decided after 70 minutes of football so San Antonio and Chicago sit at 2-0-1.

San Jose and Memphis are the only 3-0 teams in the American Conference. THe National Conference has 2 divisions with a pair of 3-0 teams...the Southeast has Orlando and Jacksonville at 3-0 while the East has New Jersey and New York. New Orleans is also 3-0 so it's good to be a "New" team in the early going.

The Orlando Renegades have given up 6 points this season, a pair of FGs in Week 1. That 2nd FG came in the 4th qtr so the Renegades defense has had 8 scoreless quarters in a row. We'll see how that defense fares the next 3 games as they have to play 3-0 New Orleans, 3-0 San Jose, and 2-1 Pittsburgh. That's a pretty rough 3 game stretch.

Is the West division the new Midwest? Three weeks in and three teams are tied for first at 1-2 with Arizona last at 0-3. I haven't looked but I bet this year the West is matched with the Southwest schedule wise.

The Southwest is a combined 9-2-1, 7-0-1 outside of division play, as they are clearly the best division in the league. The East is a combined 8-4, 4-0 outside of division.

We have 4 teams with over 100 points so far, led by the 119 scored by both the Memphis Showboats and Jacksonville Bulls. Pittsburgh is 3rd with 116 and San Jose has scored 112. The defending champs Pittsburgh have a ridiculous point differential of +101, yet sit at 2-1 after a close loss to the VooDoo last week.

Orlando, as mentioned earlier, leads the league in least points allowed with just 6. Pittsburgh is 3rd with the 15 they've allowed with the team they lost to, New Orleans, in 2nd having allowed just 13. Memphis and San Antonio are also pretty stingy with the points, allowing just 16 each.

Florida has allowed a whopping 133 points this season and rank 32nd in run defense, with their next game being against the New Jersey Generals and their 1st ranked rushing attack. WR Vic Mackey already has 527 rushing yards and 5 TDs this season, with a 154 yard lead on 2nd place. If Mackey can stay healthy, he could have a monster season but that's a pretty big if. Mackey has missed 19 games the last 5 seasons due to injury.

Larry Henderson, San Jose, leads the league in passing yards with 1,457, 251 yards ahead of Carl Langlois of Cleveland.

Glenn Burns, Memphis, leads with 11 TD passes and his QBR is a league best 129.92 and he has yet to throw an INT.

Russell Gall, Birmingham, has thrown a league high 9 INTs while Portland's Raymond Oswalt has thrown 8.

Georgia switched QBs from last season but they still allow a lot of sacks as Christopher Williams has taken a league high 16 so far. Chris Miller (Charlotte) and George Warner (San Antonio) have been sacked 15 times each, John Barrios (Southern Cal) 14 and Larry Henderson (San Jose) 13.

Speaking of Vic Mackey, he also leads the league with 81 rush attempts, which is kind of high for a guy with his injury history. Next highest has 67 carries.

San Jose's Lee Ramos currently leads the league in all 3 major WR categories with 52 receptions, 808 yards and 5 TDs. You can take any pass catcher in the league, even 2nd place Larry Stafford (Jacksonville, 354 yards), double their yardage, and Ramos would still lead the league by 100 yards.

check out ramos stat line versus me,im aware of liberal rules in this league so will refrain from any further comment :(

When you say it like that, it seems like you think something is wrong or shady. There are reasons we have a lack of custom rules in this league but I'm not getting into them now because I just got home from a 10 hour shift and don't feel like it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the stat line of Ramos, other than your defense got torched.

"Refrain from any further comment"??? Why bring it up at all then? It seems to me you are hinting at something illegal going on that I need to look at.

If this was just an innocent comment with no hidden meanings, perhaps a better phrasing would be something like this...Wow, Ramos really killed us today, our defense couldn't stop him?

Please explain yourself, feel free to do so over PM if you wish, but I really want to know what your angle was with this post.

if you want me to explain myself greg,wasnt hinting at smirt doing anything shady as mentioned im aware of rules in this league i know guys manipulate speed by position changes,i know you have mentioned you dont have time to police 32 teams every day.
my post was meant to hint at my unhappiness as felt the gameplan from smirt was bit cheesy but didnt wanna come out and say it as i know smirt likes a argument on forums :)
anyway bud lets move forward smirt can take his win and good luck to him on his championship quest

It can seem cheesy with all the 4th down tries but most of his opponents know that going in. Sometimes those 4th downs bite him in the ***, most of the time they don't.

Cheesy or not, it's the way he wants to run his team and I won't stand in the way of that just like I don't stand in the way of trades. It's up to each individual owner how they run their game plans and personnel and not everyone will do things the same way.

I actually prefer it this way, this game can be boring as is, but if everyone ran cookie cutter offenses this would be unbearably boring.

I've been ready to move on, thanks for replying. I still think it would have been better to say nothing at all rather than poke the bear. Too late for that.

you live and learn next time ill suffer in silence :)

If we had daily fantasy for USFL, Vic Mackey killed a lot of lineups today. The league's leading rusher going against the 32nd ranked run defense was supposed to result in a huge game for Mackey. Instead they got 46 scoreless rushing yards and 1 catch for 1 yard.

New Jersey still won but we ran for 1.73 yards a carry, not what I expected. The Generals are 4-0, as are the Memphis Showboats, Jacksonville Bulls, New Orleans VooDoo, and the New York (NY) Stars.

The Chicago Blitz have yet to lose as well, but they have a tie and sit 3-0-1 after their comeback win over previously unbeaten San Jose. Last season the Midwest division struggled as a whole, but so far this season, Chicago has shown they deserve more respect. They tied with San Antonio, last season's conference champs and just beat 3-0 San Jose.

The SaberCats put up 476 yards of offense while allowing just 164 but they managed just 8 points on the day. San Jose led 8-0 most of the game until Chicago drove for a TD in the 4th, cutting the deficit to 8-6 after their 2 point try failed. The Blitz intercepted Larry Henderson on the next drive, turning that into a TD and a 12-8 victory.

Memphis QB Glenn Burns finally threw a couple of INTs and no longer leads in QBR but he still has Memphis at 4-0 after they beat Honolulu today. Burns has 14 TDs and 2 INTs on the year so far.

We had a battle of 3-0 teams in New Orleans, where the VooDoo defense intercepted 5 Dwayne Byrd passes en route to a 26-7 victory.

Oklahoma's Raymond Settles took the lead in QBR today after he torched Charlotte for 6 TD passes, completing 35/44 for 541 yards.

Houston beat San Antonio 26-14, sending the 2-1-1 Gunslingers to the Southwest basement. The Gamblers defense had 11 sacks and led 26-6 in the 4th until the San Antonio defense and special teams made the game closer with a safety and a return TD on the ensuing free kick.

Lee Ramos should top 1000 receiving yards next game. He has 941 already, more than double the yards of 2nd place Lex Luger's 469.

That's about all I have for now, have to do 4 game plans and get ready for work.

☆The Gamblers have passed the ball 38.0 times a game which seems like alot but it ranks 16th in the league.

☆Of the 16 teams which lead the league in passing attempts, 12 have a winning record which leads to the conclusion that passing wins in the league.

☆The Generals lead the league with 39.3 rushes per game and sit at 4-0 while only 4 of the top 10 rush per game teams have winning records.

☆The Gunslingers & Showboats lead the league with 2.3 interceptions per game and are a combined 6-1-1. The 6 top teams have at least 2.0 interceptions per game and are a combined 18-5-1 which proves that pass defense is essential for winning.

☆The Gamblers average 5.3 sacks per game to lead the league and are 3-1. The top 6 teams average at least 4.0 sacks per game and are a combined 13-10-1 which shows interceptions are more important then sacks for winning.

☆The Sabercats lead the league in total offense with 559.3 yards per game followed by the Maulers (532.8) & Outlaws (527.8) and are a combined 9-3 which proves offense wins in the USFL

☆The Voodoo lead the league in total defense by allowing 140.0 yards per game followed by the Maulers (173.8), Renegades (184.8) & Sabercats (192.8) who have combined record of 13-3 which proves defense wins Championships.

☆The Maulers lead the league in points scored (154), points allowed (18) & point differential (+136) yet somehow they are 3-1 while 6 other teams are undefeated. Their 3 wins were by a combined score of 144-3 while they lost 15-10 to the Voodoo.

☆The Showboats lead the league with a +9 turnover margin followed by the Generals at +8 and the two teams are a combined 8-0 while the Thunderbolts have the worst turnover margin at -10 followed by the Hornets, Stallions & Wranglers who all sit at -6. Those 4 teams have a combined record of 2-13-1 which proves winning the turnover battle is important for winning in the USFL.

☆8 QBs are averaging at least 300 yards passing per game and their teams are a combined 23-8-1.

☆4 players are averaging at least 100 yards rushing per game and their teams are a combined 12-4.

☆The 2 statlines above show that there is more than one way to skin a cat! Why anyone would want to skin a cat is a whole different debate along with why anyone would need different ways to do it since I don't see a reason to do it once let alone have the need or desire to do it multiple times plus why after doing it once for whatever bizarre reason would you find a different way to skin said cat if the first attempt worked?