Week 6 was the week of the shutout as there were 5. The biggest blowout was Birmingham's 52-0 win over Boston. I'm just finding out what happened as I open the box scores and I saw a punt return TD. I saw that New Orleans had one against me in our Week 7 game and I know Washington had one earlier in the season. We never use to have more than 1 or 2 a year but this is 3 already that I know of. Last season we had 4 but 3 were by Washington's William Flock, who also has 1 of the 3 this season. We had none in 2009, 4 in 2008 and 6 in 2007. If the all time stats are to be believed we've had 73 total punt return TDs all time, about 2 per season on average. I say "to be believed" because sometimes when you go to another page when a bunch of people are tied, the names repeat/switch order. If 73 isn't correct the actual number is probably a couple less.

Let's get back to the games, not a good sign I'm sidetracked already. Russell Gall threw for 303 yards and 3 TDs with Mohammed Manno leading the receivers, catching 13 for 112 yards and a score. Gary May ran for 128 yards and 2 TDs while Philip Snyder had 114 and 1. Defensively they allowed Boston just 133 yards and less than 19 minutes time of possession.

Tampa Bay had the next biggest blowout, a 47-0 win over Cleveland. Defensively they held the Thunderbolts to 75 total yards with 1 turnover and 3 sacks. Offensively the Bandits ran for 219 yards and 5 TDs while QB David Fields threw for 324 yards and a TD. Carl Gillard had himself a game, gaining a combined 223 yards. Gillard caught 4 for 74 yards but on the ground he ran for 149 yards and 2 TDs. James Harrison only had 68 combined yards but he made the most of that, matching Al Bundy's 4 TDs in a single game. Harrison ran for 48 yards and 3 TDs while catching a TD pass among his 3 catches for 20 yards.

Houston had the 3rd biggest blowout shutout, beating Los Angeles 44-0. I don't know which running plays the Express use and I'm too far behind to look but whatever they are, they did not work as 15 rushes saw them lose 10 yards. Their passing game gained some yards but the defense couldn't stop the Gamblers or Macho Man Randy Savage today. Houston racked up 615 total yards, 299 on the ground with 4 TDs. Dale Baber threw for 323 yards and 2 TDs but the story in this game was Randy Savage. Macho Man not only had a double triple, he put a cherry on top of each with 4 total TDs. On the ground Savage ran for 103 yards and 2 TDs on just 10 carries. As a receiver, he caught 4 for 154 yards and 2 more TDs.

The New York Stars rudely welcomed Shark1720 back to the USFL with a 31-0 victory over Philadelphia. I don't know if it was the game plan, a player revolt over Lemon leaving, a great defensive performance by the Stars or a combination of many factors. Whatever the reasons, the Bell stunk today as Joel Jasso threw 3 INTs and was sacked 7 times. Philadelphia also lost 2 fumbles for 5 total turnovers. New York scored 3 of their 4 TDs on short fields so they didn't generate a ton of yards. With New Jersey and Boston struggling, this was an important win for New York, as it puts them in the driver's seat in the East.

Pittsburgh beat Arizona 17-0 thanks to solid defense and the running game. Pittsburgh didn't force any turnovers or have any sacks but the defense was effective regardless, holding Arizona to 201 total yards and allowing no points. The Maulers ran for 270 yards led by Kenneth Allen's 151. Thomas Hampton only threw for 162 yards but he threw 2 TDs with no INTs or sacks taken. Allen added 39 yards as a receiver for 190 total yards.

I'm going to continue writing but take a short break. I'm posting this teaser now because I see a few people popping in for game planning.

More Week 6 action...

Memphis crushed Detroit 43-7. This game would have been a shutout if not for a 104 yard kickoff return TD by Matthew Reynolds. The Showboats defense allowed 27 yards for the game, including negative 14 rushing yards on 18 carries. Memphis had 6 sacks and 2 INTs to boot. The Showboats ran for 339 yards and 4 TDs, led by George Hoffman's 154 and 1. Randy Schmidt had 147 yards and 2 TDs himself, leaving Gary Westerfield to not have to do too much. Westerfield threw for 171 yards and 2 TD passes, both to William Beasley.

Now it's time for a couple of lopsided victories that weren't quite blowouts. San Antonio stays perfect with a 27-3 win over Honolulu. Glenn Graham ran for 100 yards and 2 TDs to lead the offense while the defense forced 2 turnovers and held Honolulu to 161 total yards. I hate to leave this recap short because it feels like I should say more about an undefeated team but nothing from the box score jumps out at me other than Glenn Graham. When you're 6-0, who cares if you win boring?

That loss though hurts the Hawaiians as guess who is on a winning streak? The defending champion San Jose SaberCats are getting serious now after they dug themselves an 0-4 hole as they beat Southern California 47-22. Offensively it was a typical San Jose game, lots of passing yards with some sacks and INTs thrown in. Myron Dustin completed 49/69, 599 yards, with 3 each of TD, INT, and sacks taken. The 599 yards produced a trio of 100 yard receivers, Perry Nelson (6-146-1), Lynn McLaurin (16-135), and David Pinkerton (8-103). The defense is still a concern as they allowed the Sun 389 yards, but they did intercept 4 John Barrios passes.

Portland took a huge step toward winning the West with a 22-3 win over Oakland, giving the Storm the sweep and tiebreaker, although Oakland has an actual tie on their record so tiebreakers won't matter unless one of these teams ties again. This was a boring game through 3 quarters with Portland leading 6-3. Domingo Robinson then threw his 2 INTs in the 4th qtr, allowing Portland to score the last 16 points of the game for the win. Aaron David kicked 5 FGs for Portland.

New Orleans stays undefeated with a 17-12 win over Georgia. New Orleans has been a great team the last several seasons and it shows when they repeatedly win games like this when they aren't firing on all cylinders. Anybody can dominate when they are blowing teams out, but great teams find a way to win when things aren't going well. This isn't exclusive to the VooDoo, there are several teams this applies to but I'm singling New Orleans out now because this was a game where nothing really pops in the box score and I needed something to type. Gerald Waldon did have 100 yards receiving but James Wright threw more INTs than TDs. 6-0 is 6-0 though, style points don't count.

Michigan beat Chicago 24-20 in a key Midwest division game. Chicago led at the half 20-17 but both teams tightened up the defense in the 2nd half, with Charles Keller's TD run in the middle of the 3rd being the eventual game winning score. In the first half, both teams moved the ball but after halftime, the Blitz offense was kept under wraps by the Panthers defense. Michigan was able to sustain some drives in the 2nd half but lost a couple of fumbles. Willie Reddish threw for 338 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT to lead the Panthers to the win. William Barrett caught 8 for 121 yards while Brendan Tullis had 116 combined yards.

Washington beat Charlotte 17-3. If I'm Charlotte, I'm somewhat happy because Washington has been crushing teams, having scored 174 points their previous 4 games. Holding the Federals to 17 points is no easy task and it's something to build on. The positives for Washington were James Coleman rushing for 127 yards and Jacob Hazlett catching 10 for 103. The Washington defense made life extremely tough for the Hornets offense, holding them to 110 total yards.

Jacksonville beat Orlando 17-13 in an important Southeast division game. The Renegades produced 356 offensive yards but 2 INTs and 2 lost fumbles by QB Michael Smith did them in. Giuseppe Jones is looking like a stud in his rookie season and he had 129 combined yards today. Jacksonville QB William Barron didn't have a good game but he did throw the game winning TD pass and 2 point conversion to start the 4th qtr.

Denver beat Oklahoma 19-14 thanks to the defense, who intercepted Robert North 3 times and sacked him twice, once for a safety. Denver led 5-0 at the half before Robert North gave Oklahoma the lead with a 61 yard TD pass to Michael Warner. Denver then got a TD run by Mark Reyes and a 2 point run by Kevin Hillman gave the Gold a 13-7 lead. Robert North got the Outlaws back in the lead with a 75 yard TD pass to Donald Ramirez but Denver kicked 2 FGs in the final 3 minutes for the win.

Florida beat Baltimore 19-10 in a game with a lot of big defensive plays. That's a nice way of saying both offenses stunk. They combined for 387 yards, 3 turnovers and 9 sacks. The most interesting thing from the box score is the scoring sandwich. Clyde Averill started and ended the scoring with a pair of FGs for Florida and Florida's scoring was the bread as they scored the first 13 points, followed by 10 Baltimore points in the middle before Averill's FGs ended the scoring. Florida's defense had 4 sacks and 2 INTs while Baltimore's defense had 5 sacks and 1 INT.

New Jersey beat Shreveport 13-9 in a game with no offensive TDs. Shreveport moved the ball better and Frederick Martin was the box score hero, rushing for 139 yards but he also lost a fumble. Martin wasn't alone as Shreveport lost 3 fumbles in all, with New Jersey's Jax Teller returning one 36 yards for the game's only TD. Michael Applebaum also threw an INT to give Shreveport 4 turnovers. New Jersey had 3 turnovers themselves in an ugly game.

Week 7 was played early this morning and we lost one of our undefeated teams. Portland was upset by Denver, leaving only San Antonio and New Orleans as 7-0 teams. Georgia got their first win of the season, leaving Cleveland and Boston as teams looking for their first win. We also only had two shutouts this week and 3 games decided by 30+ points.

Denver upset Portland 24-19, handing the Storm their first loss of the season. Portland had been playing tough defense but Denver got them for 479 yards today, with Kevin Via throwing for 301 yards and Kevin Hillman rushing for 117 with 2 TDs. Via threw 2 total TDs, one to each team as his 1 INT was a Pick Six by Mark McKibben in the 4th qtr. Denver had a 24-7 lead at the time and they lost a fumble on the next series. Portland missed the 2 point try but after the fumble they were driving toward more points when Curtis Torres was intercepted. Torres would throw a TD pass in the final minute but it was too little too late to avoid the loss.

San Antonio beat Oklahoma 38-20. The 20 points is the most the Gunslingers have allowed this season but Robert North had too many negative plays to pull the upset. On the 2nd play of the game Patrick Leibowitz returned a Robert North INT 25 yards for an instant early lead. North settled down for awhile, leading Oklahoma to a 20-14 lead in the 3rd qtr. The 4th qtr was a different story as North threw 3 of his 4 INTs and San Antonio scored the last 24 points of the game to win going away. George Warner threw for 384 yards and 2 TDs to Daniel Cruz, who caught 11 for 124 yards. Glenn Graham found running the ball tough, gaining 30 yards and a TD on 18 carries but as a receiver he caught 7 for 130 yards.

New Orleans beat New Jersey 30-3 to remain undefeated. James Wright threw for 289 yards and 2 TDs, with Nicholas Reyes the leading receiver, catching 10 for 146 yards. New Orleans held the Generals to 150 total yards, intercepting Eric Hansen twice and sacking him 3 times. David Ellison had a 56 yard punt return TD for the VooDoo.

Washington crushed Arizona 65-7. I believe this is the 3rd consecutive week a player has pulled an Al Bundy with 4 TDs in a single game and today James Ford scored 4 rushing TDs to lead the Federals to yet another lopsided victory. If my team were a playoff contender I'd be scared of Washington. The Federals can run the ball well with multiple runners, and today was James Ford day, although he "only" had 108 yards. Norman Thomas chipped in 67 yards and a TD on 11 carries. The Federals can also pass as Michael Erickson threw for 376 yards and 2 TDs today. None of those went to James Ford but Mr. Bundy did catch 8 for 82 yards. William McDuffie caught 4 for 102 yards to lead the receivers. The Washington defense had 5 total turnovers, 3 INTs and 2 recovered fumbles along with 4 sacks. Alexander Land took 1 of the INTs 24 yards for a TD.

Memphis improves to 6-1 with a 23-13 win over Southern California. QB Gary Westerfield has shown he is turnover prone when asked to carry the offense, but with a focus on running the ball, the wins have followed for the Showboats. George Hoffman leads the league in rushing and he had 141 yards and a TD today. Running mate Randy Schmidt had 71 yards and a TD and he is currently 5th in rushing yards. Defensively they shut down the Sun running game although John Barrios completed 21/26, 290 yards and a TD. Memphis averaged more than 7:30 time of possession on their 4 scoring drives, another benefit of their run heavy approach.

There are just 7 teams with 5-2 records or better and I've covered 5 so far, 7-0 San Antonio and New Orleans along with 6-1 Portland, Memphis, and Washington. That leaves two teams at 5-2, Southeast leading Jacksonville and East leading New York. Oakland and Pittsburgh tied earlier this season and both now have records of 4-2-1. Everyone else is 4-3 or worse.

Jacksonville shutout Chicago 19-0 as the Bulls offense barely outscored the defense. Jacksonville got their first TD when Gabriel Barry sacked Douglas Lee in the end zone, causing a fumble that he recovered in the end zone for a TD. The offense got a FG in the 2nd qtr, a 51 yard William Barron TD pass to Marion Stroup in the 3rd and a safety in the 4th when Harold Mulholland sacked Lee in the end zone. The Bulls had 7 sacks in all along with 2 turnovers forced.

New York beat Shreveport 16-10. The Steamer had the better yardage but they allowed 4 sacks and 3 turnovers while New York played unspectacular, error free football. In the end, the turnovers were too much to overcome as the Stars score 13 points in the 4th to steal the win. Frederick Martin was the stat hero again, rushing for 113 yards and a TD, although I'm sure the Steamer and Martin would trade stats for wins any day.

San Jose keeps climbing out of their hole with a 22-6 win over Houston. It seems odd to not have much offense to talk about in a game between CJ and Smirt but here we are. Randy Savage had a combined 143 yards from scrimmage, 74 rushing and 69 receiving. San Jose only had 224 yards but their first score was a fumble recovery return for a TD, then their offensive points came from short fields thanks to Houston turnovers. San Jose forced 3 Gamblers turnovers in all while their offense had none.

Pittsburgh beat Birmingham 22-19 in a battle of playoff contenders. Each team moved the ball well, gaining over 300 yards, running for well over 5 yards a carry and gaining good yards through the air. Birmingham QB Russell Gall threw 4 INTs though while Pittsburgh fumbled 5 times, miraculously losing just one. Despite all of the turnovers, Birmingham had chances to win the game as there were 3 lead changes in the last 3:06 of the game. Philip Snyder had 133 rushing yards today, with most coming on a 75 yard TD run and Birmingham led 13-7 after 3 quarters. Pittsburgh's Kenneth Allen ran for 105 yards, with most coming on a 61 yard TD run with 3:06 to play. The XP gave Pittsburgh a 14-13 lead. Russell Gall responded with an interception and Pittsburgh followed that with a fumble, but of course they recovered it but still went on to miss a FG. Russell Gall then found David James with a 60 yard TD. The 2 point try failed but the Stallions now led 19-14. Pittsburgh scored their first TD on a Thomas Hampton pass to Wilbur McKey and the pair connected again with 1:22 to play for the game winning TD. Russell Gall ended any OT or winning hopes by throwing his 4th INT.

Honolulu got back on the winning track with a 17-7 win over Los Angeles. Victor Russell overcame 2 INTs to throw for 313 yards and a TD while the Hawaiians defense helped him out with 5 sacks and 2 INTs of their own. James Shick had 144 combined yards with a rushing TD while Fred Thomas caught 5 for 103. Most of the scoring came in the first 18 minutes of the game as the defenses took over after a rocky start.

Michigan beat Detroit 34-3 to break their tie at the top of the Midwest. Willie Reddish threw for 260 yards and 3 TDs to lead the offense while the defense held the Wheels to 116 total yards with 3 INTs. Brendan Tullis had a combined 145 yards and 2 TDs, one each on the ground and through the air while William Barrett caught the other 2 Reddish TD passes.

Orlando beat Tampa bay 15-12 in a game where each team scored once each quarter. Seems odd for such a low scoring game but it happened. Each team also had 222 yards of offense. Tampa bay got single FGs each quarter for their 12 points. Carl Gillard ran for 108 yards but the OL had trouble pass blocking as David Fields was sacked 9 times. Orlando had FGs in the 1st and 2nd qtrs for a 6-6 halftime tie that was broken when Thomas Gilbert ran for an 8 yard TD in the 3rd to give the Renegades a 13-6 lead. The Bandits clawed back within 13-12 with their last 2 FGs before Orlando closed the scoring with a safety on a sack in the end zone by Jimmy Laforge.

Philadelphia bounced back with a 38-7 win over Boston. The turnovers were still there for the Bell as Joel Jasso threw 3 INTs and Philadelphia also lost a fumble. The difference is today the offense was able to overcome them, with the help of the defense. They only forced 1 turnover and had no sacks but they only allowed 200 yards and 1 TD. Five Philadelphia ball carriers combined to run 38 times for 170 yards and a TD while Jasso threw for 268 TDs and 4 TDs when he wasn't throwing INTs. Jasso reconnected with last year's leading receiver Jason Wharton, as he finished with 5 catches, 139 yards and 2 scores.

Oakland beat Baltimore 20-0 in a ho-hum type of game. The Invaders defense forced no turnovers with 4 sacks and 129 total yards as the majority of Baltimore drives were three and outs. Offensively the running committee ran 42 times for 187 yards and a TD while Domingo Robinson threw for 147 yards and a TD.

Florida beat Cleveland 22-7. I'm looking at the box score, trying to find something to write about but the numbers just aren't there. Nicholas Meis threw for 186 yards and a TD to Ronald Proctor, who caught 7 for 79 yards. Florida got out to a 10-0 lead before Cleveland pulled to within 10-7 at the half. Florida scored all 12 second half points on a safety (sack in the end zone), an Otis Hyatt 20 yard TD run and a FG for the win.

Georgia beat Charlotte 18-13 for their first win of the season. Adam Patrick threw for 262 yards and 2 TDs to Wiley Kraatz, who caught 4 for 117 yards today. Charlotte started the scoring with a FG before the first Patrick to Kraatz TD. Georgia decided to forgo XPs today in favor of going for 2 but it didn't work and they led 6-3. Georgia added a FG in the 3rd for a 9-3 lead before Charlotte scored the next 10 points for a 13-9 lead early in the 4th. Georgia would cut the lead to 13-12 with a FG before Patrick found Kraatz for a 92 yard catch and run TD with 2:45 to play. The 2 point try failed again but the Force led 18-13 and sealed the game when they recovered a Charlotte fumble on the ensuing drive.

Feels good to finally be caught up with the game recaps. Tomorrow's games mark the halfway point of the season and it's the weekend so there is an extra day. I do work my normal Friday/Saturday night shifts but I hope to look at the stat leaders at the halfway point in addition to game recaps at some point before the Week 9 games Monday.

Here is the current playoff picture at the halfway point. In the American Conference, only San Antonio has a division lead greater than 1 game and 11 teams are within 1 game of a playoff spot. Things aren't quite as tight in the National Conference as New York has a 2 game lead in the East and New Orleans has a 4 game lead in the South, although 13 teams are within 1 game of the playoffs.

This is every QB who has thrown multiple passes this season. First thing I notice is not one has thrown 20+ TD passes. The next thing I notice is 2 of our better QBs struggling as Joel Jasso has thrown 22 INTs and Russell Gall 15. Looks like we have a race for most passing yards as well, with the top 4 being quite close. Smirt's QB usually runs away with this but his QBs also usually have way more pass attempts than anyone else but this season Myron Dustin is 4th in pass attempts. Dustin is 5th with his 7.94 yards per attempt so it's all about the volume.

From this list we see why passing TDs are down. These are all the ball carriers on pace for 1,000 rushing yards. We have only had 1 runner with a 2,000 yard season and that was back in 1974, our first season. The following is a list of all 1,700 yard or better rushing seasons in league history.



Since I'm on the subject, here are all the 15+ rushing TD seasons...



At the halfway point of 2011, these are the contenders to join the above list...

A season of 2,000 receiving yards isn't as rare as a 1,700 yard rushing season as it's been done 32 times in league history. Despite passing numbers being down as a whole apparently, we have 2 receivers on pace for 2,000 this year.



This is a list of receivers on pace for 1,000 yards.

Receivers with 5 or more TD catches...

Next we have kickoff and punt return TDs...