Kickers are people too. Portland's Aaron David is on a record pace for FGs as only John Bazile of the 1985 Washington Federals has kicked 50 FGs in a season.

Punters are people too, I think but I'm pretty sure nobody cares if I skip showing their stats.

The next 3 pics are the sack leaders, hurries leaders, and INT leaders.

Last up for player stats is total yards and total TDs...

Team stat leaders...

Week 8 is finished and our undefeated teams both had to face a division leader this week. Half of the league is between 3-5 and 5-3 and if this continues, the wildcard race will be a jumbled mess. Still half a season to shake things up and change your fortunes.

San Antonio hosted West leading Portland, winning 44-13. San Antonio jumped out to a 17-0 1st qtr lead, then overcame 4 turnovers to win going away. Portland's calling card has been defense this year and today they just got beat. George Warner did throw 3 INTs, but he made up for it with 441 yards and 5 TD passes. Glenn Graham missed a double triple by 11 yards, rushing for 89 and catching 6 for 188 yards and a TD. Jessie Anderson caught 4 for 111 and 2 TDs. Portland cut the initial 17-0 deficit into a 17-10 game before the Gunslingers ran off 17 more consecutive points to seize control of the game.

New Orleans hosted Southeast leading Jacksonville and the Bulls started out scoring the first 10 points of the game. That was enough for the VooDoo, as they shut down the Bulls the rest of the game while James Wright led New Orleans to 27 straight points to win going away. Wright finished with 383 yards and 3 TDs with Nicholas Reyes catching 9 for 148 yards and a score. Gerald Waldon had 162 combined yards, including 97 yards receiving with a TD.

San Antonio and New Orleans both have 2 game leads for home field advantage with their 8-0 records as there are no teams 7-1.

Portland was 6-0, now they're 6-2 after 2 straight losses. Oakland and Denver are putting pressure on the Storm for the West crown.

Oakland surprised Washington, winning 31-14. James Ford had been tearing up opposing defenses but the Invaders limited him to 40 yards on 18 carries. Michael Erickson did throw for 246 yards and 2 TDs, but for today at least Oakland had the better offense. Domingo Robinson threw for 363 yards and 3 TDs while the running committee had 112 yards and a TD. Harry Warnke caught 5 for 193 and a TD for Oakland. The Invaders are now 5-2-1, half a game behind Portland.

Denver beat Arizona 24-10 for their 4th straight win behind QB Kevin Via. Via used to be my QB, and while I'm a little surprised he's winning, it's despite him because he still turns the ball over too much. Via was 20/36, 210 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and 4 sacks. When Via had success in New Jersey, he often had a strong running game backing him up and today the Gold ran for 191 yards and 2 TDs, led by Kevin Hillman's 99 and 1. It was a 10-10 game at the half but Denver scored TDs in the 3rd and 4th to win the game and improve to 5-3, 1 game behind Portland.

Jacksonville's loss opened the door for Orlando and Tampa Bay. Orlando beat Birmingham 39-14 thanks in large part to 6 Stallions turnovers. Russell Gall threw for 307 yards and 2 TDs but he also threw 4 INTs and the offense also lost 2 fumbles. Thomas Gilbert ran for 2 TDs, Matthew Ellis had 130 receiving yards and Glenn Jackson made 4 FGs to lead Orlando. The Renegades capped the scoring when Gregory Chaney took Gall's 4th INT 28 yards for a TD as Orlando is now tied atop the Southeast.

Pittsburgh had a come from behind win over Tampa bay, 20-17. Thomas Hampton threw a TD pass in the 3rd and another in the 4th as Pittsburgh cane from down 17-6 to win, improving to 5-2-1, half a game behind Washington. Tampa Bay got 134 rushing yards from Carl Gillard and 2 rushing TDs by other backs but the passing game netted just 99 yards after the 6 sacks were taken off. The Bandits are now 4-4, 1 game behind Orlando and Jacksonville. Pittsburgh improves to 5-2-1, half a game behind Washington.

San Jose beat Honolulu 36-24 to force a tie atop the Pacific, quite a feat considering they started 0-4. The SaberCats used a balanced offense today, as their running committee had 204 yards and 3 TDs while Myron Dustin completed 16/21, 290 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 sack taken. Lynn McLaurin did most of the receiving work, catching 8 for 226 yards and both TDs. Old friend Vic Mackey made the most of his 2 carries, gaining 40 yards and scoring a TD on each run. For Honolulu, Victor Russell threw for 273 yards and 3 TDs, but 2 came in the 4th as the Hawaiians were trying to overcome a 30-10 deficit.

New York beat Philadelphia 29-13 to take a 2 game lead in the East. This is the 2nd win over Philadelphia in 3 weeks for the Stars, giving them the tiebreaker. Given how Joel Jasso hates the new Philadelphia offense and the Stars are looking like East champions. Jasso threw 7 INTs today, with the first one returned for a TD by Christian Newhouse. New York's offense was decent today but they only scored 1 offensive TD as Kenneth Williams booted 5 FGs. Philadelphia got their TD on a Jason Wharton 103 yard kickoff return.

Los Angeles upset Memphis 20-13. Gary Westerfield threw 3 INTs, one returned for a TD. Los Angeles did little offensively in the first half but the Pick Six saw them tied at 7 at the half. The Express came out in the 2nd half scoring a TD and a FG for a 17-7 lead they didn't give up. Donald Davis threw for 213 yards and a TD for Los Angeles while George Hoffman had 100 rushing yards for Memphis.

Michigan beat Florida 36-19. Willie Reddish threw for 400 yards and 4 TDs while the Panthers defense sacked Nicholas Meis 7 times. Kristopher Wrenn caught 4 for 157 yards and 2 TDs while William Barrett caught 13 for 131 yards and a TD. Florida was within 21-12 after the first play of the 4th qtr but that's as close as they would get late.

Houston escaped Southern California with a 31-28 win. Dale Baber threw 3 TD passes for Houston as they got out to first half leads of 21-0 and 28-7. The Sun ended up tying the game at 28 in the 4th behind 2 rushing TDs by Phillip Curry and 2 John Barrios TD passes. That comeback was aided some by Dale Baber INTs, as he threw 3, 2 in the second half. He regained his composure enough to lead a tie breaking FG drive, then the defense made it stand up for the win. Snake Roberts caught 6 for 100 yards and 2 TDs for Houston.

Oklahoma dominated Cleveland 59-0 behind 8 Robert North TD passes. North finished 26/34, 560 yards, 8 TDs, 0 INT and 1 sack taken. Domenic Winstead came off the milk carton to catch 10 for 242 yards and 3 TDs. Michael Hagler only caught 4 passes but they all went for TDs covering 151 yards. Gary Kahn had 210 combined yards, with 160 coming on the ground. The defense had 2 INTs and 6 sacks.

New Jersey beat Boston 20-13. Raylan Givens ran for 116 yards for the Generals. Boston had just tied the game at 13 with a FG at the 2 minute warning and it looked like we might have OT, but Apollo Creed returned the kickoff 98 yards for the game winning score.

Shreveport nipped Georgia 13-12. Shreveport got 115 rushing yards from Frederick Martin and took a 7-6 lead into the 4th. A pair of Oscar Hall FGs made the score 13-6 in the 4th. Georgia got their 2 scores on Adam Patrick TD passes to Harold Mullaney and they failed on the 2 point try after the first one. The second one came with 2:19 to play, cutting the lead to 13-12 but again they tried for 2 and failed. The final 2 minutes played out with nothing significant happening and Shreveport hangs on for the win.

Detroit beat Chicago 12-7 behind 4 Jack Maestas FGs. Matthew Reese ran for 87 yards to lead the running committee (177 total rush yards) while Curtis Kim did not turn the ball over at QB while Douglas Lee threw 2 INTs for Chicago. The Blitz did score the game's lone TD to cut the lead to 12-7 but that's as close as they could get.

Baltimore beat Charlotte 6-3 in a FG kicking contest. Rodger Brown had 110 combined yards for Baltimore, 82 on the ground to lead the offense. Not much else to say as the game had 18 punts, 1 turnover, and 4 sacks, 2 for each defense.

Week 9 is complete and we have 5 teams on pretty good win streaks. San Antonio and New Orleans both won again, making each team 9-0. The New York Stars have now won 6 in a row to seize control of the East. Then we have the San Jose SaberCats and Denver Gold on 5 game win streaks. After an 0-4 start, the defending champion SaberCats roared back and are now tied atop the Pacific with Honolulu. The Denver Gold are winning ever since Kevin Via took over at QB. It's strange, because Via has 3 TDs and 6 INTs yet the rest of the team has elevated their play.

San Antonio improves to 9-0 with a 27-9 win over Chicago. The Gunslingers didn't have a great offensive day, with no 100 yard players and George Warner threw for 248 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs with 2 sacks taken, including one for a safety. Glenn Graham ran for 82 yards and 2 TDs while the defense had 5 sacks, 2 INTs and held the Blitz to 156 total yards.

New Orleans beat Birmingham 49-23 in an aerial war to improve to 9-0. Neither team's running game did much, combining for 80 yards on 45 carries so this was a battle of passing attacks. James Wright outshined Russell Gall today, completing 22/29, 458 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT and 0 sacks taken while Gall completed 35/53, 211 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and 0 sacks taken. Nicholas Reyes caught 10 for 257 yards and 2 TDs while Bradley Schilling caught 6 for 166 and 2. This game was close for 3 quarters with New Orleans never having more than an 11 point lead. Birmingham cut the lead to 28-20 late in the 3rd before New Orleans scored 21 unanswered points for the win.

The (NY) Stars beat New Jersey 24-3 for their 6th win in a row. The Stars running game had 292 yards and a TD, led by Sleepy Sandmann's 131 yards, although he also fumbled 3 times. New York fumbled 4 times in all, losing 3 and Jamie Orman threw an INT but the Stars defense intercepted Eric Hansen 3 times and held the Generals to 178 yards.

San Jose beat Michigan 47-32 for their 5th win in a row. San Jose led 17-14 after 3 quarters before both teams combined for 48 4th qtr points. Myron Dustin completed 48/68, 529 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, and 2 sacks taken for San Jose and his leading receiver was Scott Isaacs, who caught 8 for 145 and 2 TDs. Michigan QB Willie Reddish was 26/40, 344 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT, and 3 sacks taken while William Barrett caught 10 for 100 yards and 2 scores. San Jose scored the first 2 TDs of the 4th and converted the 2 point play both times for a 33-14 lead. Michigan then scored a TD and XP while San Jose scored a TD but failed on the 2 point try to make the score 39-21. Michigan then got a TD and 2 to get within 10 but San Jose scored 8 to match before Michigan scored a FG to round out the scoring.

The scoring list in the box score shows Perry Nelson ran for 2 TDs in the 4th but the box score shows 1.





Denver was without Kevin Hillman today but they still got 148 rushing yards and a TD combined by Patrick Molina and Mark Reyes. Kevin Via threw for 191 yards and a TD with 2 sacks taken. Denver took a 23-13 lead when Mark Reyes scored a TD inside the 2 minute warning but Pittsburgh answered with a 75 yard Thomas Hampton TD pass to Arthur Ortega, who finished the day with 115 receiving yards on 8 catches. The onside kick failed but they did get the ball back for one last drive, but they ran out of time before they could get within FG range as the Gold hang on to win 23-20.

Portland bounced back from some recent struggles with a 40-3 win over Baltimore. Curtis Torres threw a TD pass on the first 3 Portland drives before the running game took over and nursed the lead until the end. Portland ran for 204 yards as a team, getting 84 each from Robert Settle and David Babin, with Babin scoring a TD. The defense held Baltimore to 104 total yards, forcing 2 turnovers and getting a sack.
________________________________________________________________________________

I'm going to stop here for now. I'd prefer to finish this before kickoff but work expects me to be there for some reason. I have a little more time to write now but nowhere near enough to finish.

Nevermind, I figured it out. It just says TOUCHDOWN and Nelson ran for 2. The TD went to an unnamed player, perhaps a fumble recovery?

Time to finish what I started yesterday. Six games were already written about for Week 9 so now we'll look at the other games. Keep in mind, this is not your most recent game I'm talking about.

Washington beat Philadelphia 41-24. The Federals jumped out to a 21-0 lead thanks to 3 Michael Erickson TD passes. Erickson finished the day with 4, with William Flock catching 8 for 147 yards and 2 TDs. James Ford had a solid day, not many yards (113 combined, 88 rushing) but he ran for a score and caught a TD pass. Erickson finished the day 23/31 for 295 yards, 4 TDs and a sack. Philadelphia QB Joel Jasso threw for more yards, 339 on 24/41 passing with 2 TDs but he was also intercepted twice and sacked 9 times. Sylvester Adams led the Washington defense with 3 sacks. Jason Wharton caught 7 for 184 yards in a losing effort for the Bell.

Memphis beat Oklahoma 9-7 in an important Southwest division game. The Outlaws defense held the rushing duo of George Hoffman and Randy Schmidt under 50 yards each, although they couldn't force Gary Westerfield into any mistakes aka interceptions. In fact, Westerfield completed 21/24 for 191 yards with no sacks taken. Memphis left some points on the field as they had to settle for FGs of 23 and 24 yards and lost a fumble while in scoring range on another drive. Oklahoma had 2 chances in the 4th but turned it over on downs just outside of FG range.

Houston needed a pair of 4th qtr TDs to put away the pesky, winless Boston Breakers. Boston was tied late last week with New Jersey before losing on a kickoff return and this week they went toe to toe with a much better Houston Gamblers team and it was a 10-9 Gamblers lead after 3 quarters. Boston's offense was not very good today but the defense took advantage of the QB bug that's been going around the league, causing the top tier passers to throw multiple INTs. Dale Baber threw 4 INTs today and the Breakers needed to convert some into TDs but had to settle for 3 FGs, 2 of them very short. When Baber wasn't completing passes to the defense, he managed to accumulate 281 yards and 3 TDs, enough to eke out a win.

Southern California escaped with a 21-20 win over winless Cleveland. I don't like to skip ahead when I'm behind but in Week 10 Cleveland lost a close game in OT so they aren't quitting either despite a sub par season. I haven't talked much about Thunderbolts players because they don't usually accumulate great offensive numbers but today Craig Kirk ran for exactly 100 yards and Carl Langlois threw for 2 TDs and 0 INTs. Those TD passes came on 2 impressive drives to close out the first half and they took a 20-9 lead into the locker room. That momentum did not carry over though as they punted on all of their second half drives. John Barrios brought the Sun from behind with a TD pass and TD run in the 4th qtr. They went for 2 points after both scores and failed, but the Sun now had a 21-20 lead with 6:36 to play. Cleveland punted the ball back to Southern California with 4:33 to play and never saw the ball again as the Sun ran out the clock and could have tried to score if they needed to.

Jacksonville beat Tampa Bay 13-10 in a Southeast divisional game. The box score shows nothing special. Neither offense was great but neither defense was dominant either. I don't even watch my own games but I imagine this game was a punch/counterpunch type game. Offense makes a good play, then next time defense does. Jacksonville got a Harry Graves 10 yard TD run in the 1st qtr and a FG in the 2nd for a 10-0 halftime lead. Tampa struck back in the 3rd when David Fields found Steven Franklin for a 79 yard TD before the Bulls added a FG to lead 13-7 after 3. Tampa Bay would get a FG in the 4th but Jacksonville kept the ball for 7 of the remaining 9 minutes to hold on for the win.

Honolulu beat Shreveport 17-10 thanks to Walter Bryant's 34 yard INT return for a TD in the final minute. Not much happened in the first half as Shreveport led 3-0. Early in the 3rd, Victor Russell found Fred Thomas for a 72 yard TD, helping Thomas finish with 108 receiving yards. Late in the 3rd Honolulu added a FG for a 10-3 lead going to the 4th. Frederick Martin (105 yards rushing) then had a 29 yard TD to tie the game at 10 with 12:29 to play. Down the stretch of the game, Victor Russell threw an INT for the Hawaiians while Michael Applebaum threw 2.

Streaky Orlando beat Florida 40-7. Rookie runner Giuseppe Jones ran for 104 yards and a TD, Henry Ward ran for 2 TDs, and Michael Smith had a solid game at QB. Smith completed 20/25, 256 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, and 2 sacks. Joseph Calkins was the leading receiver with 8 catches, 134 yards, and a TD. Defensively they sacked Nicholas Meis 6 times and held the Blazers to 160 total yards.

Oakland beat Detroit 35-9. The Invaders scored TDs on each of their first 5 possessions in a near flawless offensive performance. The Oakland runners combined for 190 yards and 2 TDs, both by Daniel Fleming, who led the committee with 69 rushing yards. QB Domingo Robinson completed 19/22, 253 yards and 3 TDs with no INTs or sacks taken. Detroit QB Curtis Kim had a solid game too, completing 25/29 for 162 yards with 4 sacks taken. The big difference was the red zone, where Detroit kicked 3 FGs in their 3 trips while Oakland cashed in TDs on all 4 of their red zone drives.

Georgia beat Los Angeles 26-16. QB Adam Patrick completed 22/35, 261 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT and 4 sacks taken. Neither running game got going and the passing games didn't produce huge numbers for anyone. Georgia still goes for 2 points after TDs despite getting burned by that last game. Even though stats weren't plentiful, this was a competitive, back and forth game. L.A. took an early 6-0 lead on 2 FGs and Georgia tied it with Patrick's 1st TD pass for a 6-6 halftime score. Adam Patrick's 2nd TD pass gave the Force a 12-6 lead before a FG cut it to 12-9 after 3. Georgia added a pair of FGs in the 4th for an 18-9 lead before the Express got within 18-16 on a 43 yard Donald Davis TD pass to David Woodland. Toward the end of the game, trailing by 2, Los Angeles turned it over on downs inside their 10 yard line, allowing the Force an insurance TD when Victor Lis ran in a TD from 4 yards out. This time the 2 point conversion was good and Georgia wins.

Arizona beat Charlotte 13-3. John Adams threw a 15 yard TD pass to Joseph Spaulding in the 1st qtr and the Wranglers defense made that stand up for the win. Not much happened after that other than FG tries and punts with a couple turnovers thrown in. Stat wise, the leading rusher had 36 yards, neither QB topped 175 yards and no receiver had more than72 yards.

My intention is to do the Week 10 write ups later tonight, which is more likely to happen now that CJ delayed XFL free agency. If anyone here is looking for another league to join, and you're not already there, I recommend joining XFL. A lot of crossover between our 2 leagues so it would give you another crack at beating some people.

Out of all the leagues in MFN, I would say XFL is most like USFL, in it's rich history, level of competition, and added content. CJ usually adds way more content than I do, although he has new job responsibilities now that dig into his time.

Sorry, I didn't intend for this post to be an advertisement for the XFL. I do have stuff to do around the house but I should still be able to do week 10 tonight.

Too bad we only get one free team