Month: February 2019

With a third (give or take a fraction) of the inaugural Alliance of American Football regular season complete, only the Birmingham Iron and Orlando Apollos remain unbeaten.

Birmingham (3-0) has used a smothering defense to mow down Memphis (0-3), Salt Lake (1-2) and Atlanta (0-3), while Orlando (3-0) has been more offense-minded in conquests of Atlanta, San Antonio (1-2) and Memphis.

The Iron gave up 346 yards of total offense but only one touchdown in beating the Legends, 28-12, on Sunday at Georgia State Stadium.

“Our defensive coordinator, Rick Minter, did a fantastic job mixing up the calls and coverages,” Birmingham Coach Tim Lewis said. “We did a good job giving their offensive line all they could handle. Our running back (Trent Richardson) never ceases to amaze me. He’s a very powerful guy who always doesn’t look flashy, but he’s a strong, powerful runner.

“When we had to grind it out, he was able to put his head down and plow into the end zone. It was a tough game that came down to a matter of wills.”

Orlando managed just two TDs in a 21-17 home win over Memphis last Saturday, which caused Apollos boss Steve Spurrier to be muted in his praise of the Eastern Conference co-leaders.

“We feel fortunate to be 3-0,” Spurrier said. “We know the ball has bounced our way the last couple of weeks. We’re trying to improve as the season progresses and if we do that, we’ll have a chance for a big season.

“Offensively last week we weren’t terrible, we just weren’t good.”

SO FAR, SO GOOD

Alliance co-founder Bill Polian was in the press box for Atlanta’s home opener last Sunday, and says the “evolution” of the league’s teams is going about as he expected.

“At this stage of the game the defense is ahead of the offense, and it takes a while to get the offense going,” he said. “It takes a while to get cohesion and get everybody on the same page and I’m sure that will come. I was talking to both (Atlanta and Birmingham) general managers before the game and we’re as close to parity in this league as any I’ve ever been in, which is great.”

Polian suggests that even in football’s top league, offenses rarely find a groove until several games have been played.

“In the NFL it takes until about Week 5 for the offenses to get in sync, and that really shows up in the red zone because everything is much more congested down there,” Polian said. “We’re playing good football and have enthusiastic fans. You hate to say everything is hunky dory, but so far we couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

WATCH OUT FOR THE FLEET

San Diego (2-1) tuned some heads last week with a 31-11 rout of the San Antonio Commanders, avenging a season-opening loss to the Texans and looking like a team ready to make a move.

They now share the Western Conference lead with Arizona (2-1).

The Fleet rolled up 381 yards in total offense and got 202 on the ground in the conquest.

“We’re still a project on offense, but we’re getting better every week,” San Diego Coach Mike Martz said. “Everything seems like it’s coming together a little bit, but it’s not good enough. Everyone is getting better. Those who don’t get better will fall behind pretty quick.”

STRUGGLES IN ATLANTA

The Legends are winless and if you take a look behind the scenes, it’s no wonder.

Original head coach Brad Childress resigned a month before the season started, offensive coordinator Michael Vick was removed from that post two days before the season started, and last Friday acting OC and quarterbacks coach Rich Bartel resigned.

To make matters worse, many of the 10,717 fans who showed up for Sunday’s loss to Birmingham spent much of the day booing starting quarterback Matt Simms and chanting, “We want Murray,” in hopes former Georgia QB Aaron Murray would see action.

He didn’t, but Simms was defiant in the postgame press conference.

“I’ve earned the position that I’m in,” Simms said. “I earn it every day at practice. I earn it every day as far as what we’re asked to do, and I understand the situation – the feelings that some people may have. But at the same time, I’m earning my keep as well.

“I’m going to continue to do that, and continue to be the leader of this team, to be a team captain, and be the quarterback I know I can be when this team gets rolling.”

Simms completed 28 of 48 passes for 328 yards and a TD, but was intercepted three times and sacked twice for 19 yards in losses.

ONSIDE CONVERSION

There are no kickoffs in the Alliance which makes onside kicks rather, uh, difficult.

The solution to the problem comes in the form of an “onside conversion” in which the team that just scored gets a 4^th-and-12 play from its own 28.

If the team converts, it maintains possession.

Atlanta will go down in history as the first AAF team to have a successful onside “non-kick.” After the Legends scored in the fourth quarter to pull within 16 of Birmingham, Simms completed a 48-yard pass that allowed the Legends to maintain possession.

Alas, Simms was picked off on the following play to end the drive and ultimately make the unique play inconsequential.

ALL IS WELL

There were widespread reports suggesting the $250 million Tom Dundon committed to the Alliance of American Football recently was done to bail out a sinking league.

League CEO and co-founder Charlie Ebersol quickly said those reports were wrong and Dundon backed him up.

The owner of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes officially became the chairman of the board of the Alliance last Tuesday, and says his monetary contribution is to help the spring league thrive, not merely survive.

“As a lifelong sports fan and entrepreneur, I’ve always valued the opportunities generated in the ecosystem of sports and entertainment,” Dundon said. “I’m impressed with the Alliance’s stunning growth in-stadium and across TV, mobile and social media in just these first few weeks.”

Ebersol said the AAF always planned to bring in more investors, and Dundon was certainly a huge get.

“Since the beginning, it has been crucial that the foundation of the Alliance be set with world-class partners, and Tom Dundon represents just that,” Ebersol said. “Tom, Bill (Polian), and I will work with our great team at the Alliance to expand our football operations and technology business.”

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Offense: San Diego RB Ja’Quan Gardner (122 rushing yards, 1 TD).

Defense: San Diego RB A.J. Tarpley (5 tackles, INT return for TD).

Special teams: Birmingham P Colton Schmidt (5 punts, 49.2 yard average).

UP NEXT

Saturday it’s San Diego at Memphis (4 p.m. EST, BR/Live) and Orlando at Salt Lake (8 p.m. EST, NFL Network) while on Sunday San Antonio is at Birmingham (4 p.m. EST, CBS Sports Network), and Atlanta travels to Arizona (8 p.m. EST, NFL Network).

Follow Scott Adamson on Twitter @adamsonsl. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

By Scott Adamson
Adamsonmedia.com

ATLANTA, Ga. – Pro football teams representing Atlanta and Birmingham crossed paths on the gridiron for the first time on Sunday. And after all the work was done at Pete Petit Field at Georgia State Stadium, the Magic City owned a little piece of history.

With the defense delivering another stellar performance, Luis Perez passing effectively when it was necessary, and Trent Richardson continuing his role as designated scorer, Birmingham exited with a 28-12 victory before an announced crowd of 10,717.

The Iron improves to 3-0 on the season, joining the Orlando Apollos as the only unbeaten teams left in the Alliance of American Football’s inaugural season.

Atlanta slips to 0-3 and shares the Eastern Conference cellar with Memphis – Birmingham’s Week One victim.

“I thought our guys ground it out and lived up to our name, Iron – I think we’re a tough football team,” Birmingham Coach Tim Lewis said. “We’re resilient, we’re strong, we bend but we don’t break. The guys did a fantastic job today.”

Perez hit 17 of 31 passes for 160 yards and one interception, with Quinton Patton leading all Iron receivers with four catches for 58 yards.

Atlanta’s Matt Simms, on the other hand, completed 28 of 48 passes for 328 yards and a touchdown, but also tossed three interceptions and was sacked three times for 25 yards in losses.

Beniquez Brown was in on 12 tackles to pace the victors while Max Redfield, Jack Tocho and Jamar Summers picked off one pass each.

“Beniquez also forced a fumble, and our field goal kicker did a great job again,” Lewis said.

Leading 9-6 at the break, a 27-yard Nick Novak field goal at 8:20 of the third quarter gave the eventual winners a 12-6 edge.

And with five seconds to go in the third, Richardson capped off a 12 play, 62-yard march with a 1-yard plunge – and also converted the 2-point play – to make it 20-6 at :05 of the third quarter.

Atlanta’s last, best shot to get back in the game came when Perez was picked off deep in Birmingham territory, giving the Legends first down at the Iron 11. However, they went backward from there, and a fourth down sack kept the lead at 14.

“We did a really good job in the red zone,” Lewis said. “We took the ball away from them a couple of times.”

A Summers INT of a Simms pass midway through the fourth gave the Iron a chance to end all doubt,  and they did just that when Richardson highlighted a 17-yard mini-drive with a 6-yard scoring jaunt 4:28 from the finish.

“It’s amazing and a blessing, and I don’t take it for granted,” said Richardson, who finished the day with 46 yards on 17 carries for three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. “Just to be out there on that field and with a group of guys I call my brothers is amazing. To have a group of guys that are just hungry is something beautiful.”

Atlanta got an “Oh, by the way” score late in the fourth and the Legends also successfully completed an “onside conversion” that gave them the ball back after the score.

But Simms was picked off in the end zone by Redfield and that put the finishing touches on a 28-12 game.

“I told our guys after the game I’m disappointed for them, not disappointed in them,” Atlanta boss Kevin Coyle said. “They’re working as hard as they can and we want to get this thing turned around as quick as we can, and I think we will.”

The first 30 minutes was far from pretty, with the teams combining for 11 penalties totaling 123 yards.

But there was some solid slobber-knocking on both sides.

“The first half was anybody’s game,” Lewis had. “We had to grind it out and battle it out to get this ‘W.’ We’ll meet that team again and with the talent on that team, they’ll be ready to go.”

On the first drive of the contest, the Birmingham defense did what the Birmingham defense tends to do – keep its opponents off the board.

Atlanta looked good to take the lead with a nice mix of running and passing, making it as deep as the Iron 1.

But the Legends got no further.

On a fourth-and-three feet play, Simms misfired a pass intended for tight end Bug Howard, and the visitors took over.

Following a stop, Atlanta was at it again, and once more the hosts knocked on the door.

But a motion penalty turned a third-and-4 into a third-and-9, and the Legends managed to make up just six yards before calling out Younghoe Koo.

Koo’s 21-yard field goal was good, and Atlanta was on top, 3-0, early in the second quarter.

Birmingham made just enough plays to get into scoring range after falling behind, and answered with a 39-yard Novak field goal.

It was 3-3 with 10:27 left in the half, and a defensive struggle was brewing.

Yet with flags flying at a rapid rate, it was appropriate that a huge penalty finally led to a touchdown.

Perez overthrew DeVozea Felton on a deep ball but Atlanta was called for interference, and the resulting spot foul was worth 55 yards and put the Iron on the Legends’ 10.

Two plays later Richardson went over right guard from five yards out, and Birmingham was in front.

Two straight motion penalties made the conversion a 12-yard try, and Perez threw incomplete to leave the score at 9-3.

More penalties helped put Simms and company in business on the ensuing drive, but it fizzled out at the 17.

Koo salvaged three points with a 35-yard field goal, and that ending scoring in the opening half with the Iron ahead, 9-6.

The Legends didn’t score again until the game was well out of reach.

“We had three chances down in the red zone and didn’t come away with touchdowns,” Coyle said. “We had some turnovers in the second half and before you knew it, the game was lost.

But this is a helluva group of young men, and we’re going to get this thing turned around.”

Birmingham hosts San Antonio next Sunday at 4 p.m., while Atlanta travels to Arizona on Sunday for an 8 p.m. start.

I’m genuinely excited about Sunday’s matchup between the 2-0 Birmingham Iron and 0-2 Atlanta Legends at Georgia State Stadium.

Is it because it’s a Week 3 clash between a pair of Eastern Conference rivals in the Alliance of American Football?

Sure, there’s that; I’m enjoying this league a lot and the more I see, the more I like.

Or maybe it’s because it features two of my favorite American cities. Even though I don’t currently live in Birmingham it’s my hometown, and I’ve developed a real fondness for Atlanta over the years.

But for me, the historical significance of the game is the biggest reason I’m eager to watch.

In fact, it’s been 45 years in the making.

Sometime during the summer of 1974 – while the World Football League Birmingham Americans were riding a 10-game winning streak – I was thinking big.

The Ams were the class of the upstart circuit, and the WFL would, quite obviously, last forever. I mean, I assumed it was formed as a personal favor to all football-crazy 13 year olds like me who didn’t previously have a pro team in their city, so it was implied that we’d grow old together.

The first order of business was for Birmingham to become the dominant franchise in the league, and not knowing any better, I figured the WFL was already the National Football League’s equal.

And even though they were separate leagues and had an adversarial relationship from the get-go, I wanted nothing more than for the Americans to play – and destroy – the Atlanta Falcons.

Why?

Because I was jealous of Atlanta, and wanted Birmingham to beat it at something.

See, in the early 1950s, the two cities were roughly the same size and basically had an equal shot at becoming the biggest of the big Southeastern cities.

But while my town had become infamous for clinging to Jim Crow laws, their town was working toward a more progressive – and inclusive – future.

So when businesses looked for opportunities, they looked at Atlanta. And when it came time for an international airport to be built, the “Empire City of the South” got it.

There were a number of factors, of course, but the air hub was game, set and match. It will likely always be Atlanta’s biggest victory over the Magic City.

It’s a major reason why the Birmingham Falcons, Birmingham Braves and Birmingham Hawks never were and will never be.

But Birmingham was going through a renaissance in the 1970s, and I just knew pro football – WFL style – was going to help it give the ATL some competition.

Besides, while Birmingham was in the midst of a season that would end with a WFL championship, the lowly Falcons were stumbling to a 3-11 mark.

Oh, how I wanted the NFL and WFL to agree to exhibition games, in the hopes that a Falcons vs. Americans game would take place.

Of course, I knew nothing about the business side of pro sports and didn’t realize such a pairing was out of the question before the question was ever asked.

But I had convinced myself Birmingham could beat Atlanta in football and maybe – just maybe – that would in some weird way close the prestige gap between the cities.

We’ll never know.

The WFL barely survived its first season and didn’t make it through its second. In fact, on October 19, 1975, Atlanta lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 22-7, while Birmingham beat the Memphis Southmen, 21-0.

But three days later the Falcons were back on the practice field prepping for a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, while Birmingham’s WFL team (renamed the Vulcans) were no more.

The World Football League folded on Oct. 22, 1975.

So not only was I denied a chance to see Birmingham earn bragging rights over Atlanta on the gridiron, I was denied a team, period.

There have been others since then – the Birmingham Stallions (USFL), Birmingham Fire (World League of American Football), Birmingham Barracudas (CFL) and Birmingham Bolts (XFL) – yet until the Alliance came along, there was no opportunity for Birmingham versus Atlanta.

The record will show that on February 24, 2019, that finally changes.

The Alliance isn’t the NFL – or even the WFL – but it’s a quality spring league that’s going to give me a sporting event I’ve always wanted to see.

It’s about time.