Week 1

The 2013 USFL season got underway today and scoring was at a premium as 15 teams scored less than 10 points. In fact all 4 East division teams scored in single digits, but at least Philadelphia won. San Jose QB Myron Dustin is off to a hot start, throwing for 723 yards and 7 TDs. The SaberCats beat Honolulu, although Hawaiians QB Victor Russell threw for 468 yards for 2nd place in the league so far. With all those passing yards, it's no surprise that 6 of the 9 100 yard receivers came out of this game. San Jose had 4, with William McDuffie gaining 244 yards. Nicholas Reyes had 215 receiving yards against New Jersey for 2nd most. We also had 9 100 yard runners with Houston having 2. Los Angeles RB Jerry Witherspoon tops the league with 195 yards.

Eric Rodriguez ran for 104 yards and the San Antonio defense shut down the Chicago offense in a 16-3 win for the defending champs.

New Jersey's defense had 6 sacks and forced 2 turnovers but their offense had less than 100 yards on the day. James Wright threw for 300 yards and 2 TDs, Nicholas Reyes had 215 yards and 1 of the TDs and Gerald Waldon ran for 105 yards for the Legend Retirement Tour as New Orleans wins 24-3.

San Jose got off to a fast start over division rival Honolulu, taking leads of 16-0 and 30-3 before the Hawaiians made it 30-16 at the half. The Honolulu defense had 5 INTs and 5 sacks but couldn't stop the barrage of yards and points. The Hawaiians tried to keep it close but they never could get the San Jose lead under 12 in the second half as the SaberCats win 54-33. Not only did San Jose have 4 receivers with over 100 yards as noted above but the top 3 also caught 2 TD passes each.

Los Angeles has a competent owner again and their team should be solid. Time will tell if they're ready to challenge San Jose and Honolulu for the division, but they were ready for Southern California today. Jerry Witherspoon ran for 195 yards and a TD while Donald Davis threw for 2 TDs. The Express also forced 4 turnovers in a 27-13 win.

This was the West division round robin week and that division has had recent owner turnover. They get to feel each other out before the rest of us get a chance. Denver beat Arizona 13-3 in an offensively challenged game. Bernard Smith threw a TD pass for the only TD of the game and the offense didn't turn the ball over or allow any sacks. The Gold defense had 4 sacks and forced 2 turnovers.

Oakland beat Portland 18-9 in the other West game. It was a kicking contest with Oakland getting a safety with a sack in the end zone for an 11-9 late lead. Sean Sheffield's 3 yard TD run in the final minute clinched the game for the Invaders as they overcame 3 INTs by QB Domingo Robinson.

Houston had it all working in a 41-3 win over Detroit. Rob van Dam ran for 124 yards while Snake Roberts had a double triple with 123 rushing yards and a TD to go with 4 catches covering 104 yards. New Houston QB John Adams threw for 340 yards and 4 TDs, 3 to Gilbert Hung. Defensively they had 5 sacks and held the Wheels to 67 total yards.

Defenses ruled the day in a Southwest showdown between Memphis and Oklahoma. The Showboats defense sacked Sam Axe 6 times and intercepted him twice while George Hoffman ran in the game's only TD as Memphis wins 13-3.

Michigan ran over Cleveland 30-0. Rookie Sergei Federov ran for 101 yards and Greg Reed ran in 2 TDs as the Panthers had 271 yards rushing as a team. Willie Reddish threw 2 TD passes but also had 2 INTs and took 4 sacks but the Panthers defense was stingy in it's own right, pitching a shutout.

Orlando ran over Shreveport 31-2, rushing for 256 yards and 4 TDs. Giuseppe Jones had 102 yards and a TD while Thomas Gilbert had 89 yards and 3 scores. QB Michael Smith didn't play well but he didn't need to with that running game. The defense also played well, allowing no points (offense allowed a safety) with 3 sacks and 2 turnovers.

Charlotte took an early 6-0 lead on Tampa Bay but the Bandits scored the last 17 points for a 17-6 win. Carl Gillard ran for 91 yards while David Fields was an efficient 17/19, 134 yards and 2 TDs with no sacks or INTs.

Jacksonville escapes Georgia with a 13-7 win after the QBs played hot potato with the football. Georgia QB Adam Patrick threw 2 INTs and was sacked 4 times while Jacksonville QB William Barron had 3 INTs and 3 sacks. Each QB also threw 1 TD pass but the Bulls were also able to kick a pair of FGs for the winning margin.

Andrew Paul ran for 134 yards for Pittsburgh but the Maulers couldn't get the ball in the end zone and found themselves tied 6-6 late against Boston. With 2:34 to play, Breakers QB Kevin Via was sacked in the end zone by Michael Peters and that was the difference in Pittsburgh's 8-6 win.

Philadelphia outgained Birmingham 319-81, thanks in large part to sacking Russell Gall 8 times. They also intercepted Gall twice while not turning the ball over themselves. Despite all of that, the Bell only led 6-3 late when Birmingham tied it with a FG in the final minute. The game would go to OT where John Everhart made the game winning 54 yard FG on Philadelphia's 2nd drive of OT. Everhart saved his day with that kick as he struggled overall, making just 3 of 6 FGs.

Washington outlasted New York 12-6 in a game featuring lots of running and pass defense. Michael Kreuger ran for 92 yards and James Coleman ran for 72, as Washington got out to an early 9-0 lead on a FG and a Michael Erickson TD pass (XP failed). New York's comeback bid failed as well in the second half.

Baltimore outlasted Florida 25-22 in OT. Neither team led by more than 7 and the game was tied 5 times (3-3, 6-6, 16-16, 19-19, and 22-22 at the end of regulation). Florida kept it close despite not getting into the red zone at all. Baltimore was there 5 times but had to settle for a FG 4 of those times. Baltimore punted on their first OT drive but the defense came up with an interception, which led to Brian Bennett's 37 yard game winning FG.

I apologize for severely slacking in this area. I meant to keep up but after Week 1 my schedule got messed up and I got out of my rhythm. Sundays is impossible for me to catch up on stuff during the NFL season as I'm watching for fantasy/gambling purposes.

It also doesn't help when people ignore PMs and have 5 punters and kickers on the roster with none in the depth chart, which leads to a parade of punt blocks and losing by 100+ points. Yes Cleveland I'm talking to you, not that you're reading this anyway.

Seeing a score of 108-0 doesn't make me feel good about the state of MFN. What am I gonna do, kick him out and let AI take over? Birmingham is in better shape and nobody wants that team so idk what to do.

Meanwhile JDB is still working on the UI, which is impossible to use on mobile if you get ads no matter the version. I've read his explanations about why UI came first before fixing the game but how long is this going to drag on?

I see this negative stuff in MFN so when I think about starting to write something, the motivation to spend an hour or so doing it just isn't there.

I will say it looks like the Pacific division is the new Southwest. Every team is 5-1 or 4-2 with all losses coming in division play.

And I just noticed 2 divisions where all the teams have negative point differentials...the West and Midwest. That should change in the Midwest tonight after Chicago crushes Cleveland.

Michigan is on the struggle bus this year. Using the same pass plays I have for years, and Reddish keeps getting sacked. I did get a new HC, but with the same offense style as the last one. Maybe there is a hidden attribute to HC's that JDB doesn't share.

We have some good division races through 7 weeks. The Pacific is a 4 way logjam, separated by 2 games top to bottom. San Jose leads the way at 6-1 followed by Honololu and Los Angeles at 5-2. Southern California is 4-3. San Jose is 3-1 in division play, having split with Los Angeles and are the favorites to take the division. The rest of the division is playing well and is in the thick of the wildcard race (not too early to start thinking about this).

The West is also separated by 2 games top to bottom but this division will get just 1 team in, barring some dramatic turnarounds. Oakland and Portland are tied at the top with 3-4 records with Arizona 2-5 and Denver 1-6. Oakland is 2-0 in division play with a win over Portland.

The Southwest is not dominant from top to bottom but Oklahoma has won 3 in a row after an 0-4 start and is not out of the playoff race if they can keep winning. Speaking of keep winning, that's what the defending champs have done. San Antonio is off to a 7-0 start but so is the Memphis Showboats. Obviously they have yet to play each other and divisional play will be a huge factor down the stretch. Don't forget about 9 time champion Houston. They are in 3rd place but at 5-2 they are in the thick of the playoff race.

The Midwest looks to be a race between Chicago and Michigan. Chicago leads currently at 4-3 with Michigan right behind at 3-4. Both teams are undefeated in division play so their 2 games will determine the division champ. Detroit is 1-6 while Cleveland is on their way to 0-16.

Orlando and Jacksonville are tied atop the Southeast at 6-1 but the Renegades have a win over the Bulls. Tampa Bay is 2 games back at 4-3 but they just traded for a playmaker so they are ready for a playoff push. Florida is 2-5.

New Orleans will most likely win the South. The VooDoo are 6-0-1 with 2nd place Birmingham sitting at 2-5. The Stallions have allowed 4x as many points as they have scored, which is a similar ratio as 1-6 Shreveport and 0-7 Georgia.

Pittsburgh and Washington will be battling for the Atlantic all season. Tiebreakers are not likely needed as the Maulers have a tie on their record at 5-1-1 with the Federals 5-2. Baltimore is 2-5 while Charlotte is 1-6.

The East is a 2 team race between New Jersey and Philadelphia and they are tied at the top with 5-2 records. The Generals are 3-0 in the division, including a win over the Bell. Boston is 2-5 while New York is 0-7.

San Jose QB Myron Dustin has 31 TD passes through 7 games, a record breaking pace. The record for most TD passes in a season came in 1996 when New Jersey's Don Ferguson threw 64, exactly 4 per game.

Memphis ball carrier George Hoffman is also on a record setting pace with 1,019 yards and 13 TDs through 7 games. We've only had one 2000 yard rusher and that was our first season. In 1974, Chicago RB Bruce Fine ran for 2,056 yards. The record for rushing TDs was set in 2008 by Pittsburgh's Kenneth Allen, who ran for 18 TDs.

HOUSTON GAMBLERS

During free agency, we threw a ton of money at QB John Adams (546 million) to become the new face of the francise.

Statistically, it made zero sense since he never threw for more than 2,182 yards or 9 TDs in a season. He was drafted by Arizona with the 9th pick of the 2nd round. He sat out his first season before starting his last 3 seasons with Arizona. He went 13-34-1, throwing for 6,362 yards, 20 TD passes and 34 INTs.

Houston won their first 5 games before losing 2 straight to division opponents but Adams has already set season highs in yards & TD passes and with 27 TD passes to 5 INTs, he has surpassed his career passing TD numbers in just 5 games.

So far, so good for the money spent!

Times like this I wish we had an Elias Sports Bureau to fall back on. We have the first of 2 games between 8-0 San Antonio and 8-0 Memphis coming up. I'm curious if this is the latest time in a season we've had 2 undefeated teams play each other.

I remember Pittsburgh and New Orleans had a late season game for home field advantage last year?, or the year before but I think the Maulers already had a loss.

Anyway MFN says it's the game of the week but actually it's more like the game of the year. Good luck gentlemen.