Month: April 2023

Notes, quotes and more from the New Orleans Breakers’ 45-31 victory over the Birmingham Stallions Saturday at Protective Stadium …

HOW THEY SCORED

Deon Cain took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, racing 82-yards to paydirt. Brandon Aubrey kicked the extra point, and just like that the Stallions were up 7-0 at 14:49 of the first quarter.

New Orleans answered back quickly, with MacLeod Bethel-Thompson capping off a five play, 53-yard drive with a 40-yard TD pass to Lee Morris.
Matt Coghlin kicked true, tying the game at 7-7 at 12:17 of the first.

Back came the Stallions.

With Alex McGough throwing from the pocket and on the run, he helped move Birmingham inside the 10. The six play, 54-yard march stalled at the seven, however, but Aubrey’s 25-yard field goal at 8:48 of the frame put the home team back on top, 10-7.

A mixture of Bethel-Thompson passes and Wes Hills runs got New Orleans on the move after the kickoff, and Hills scooted across the goal line at 4:55 for his team’s second TD at 4:55 of the first. It capped off a seven play, 65-yard drive and the extra point made it 14-10, Breakers.

After a McGough pass was picked off by Jerod Fernandez in the second quarter, New Orleans took over at the Birmingham 25.

However, the Breakers got only six yards on three snaps, and settled for Coghlin’s 37-yard field goal at 7:52 to up their advantage to 17-10.

The Stallions “D” came up with an INT of their own – courtesy of Donnie Lewis II – and the offense took full advantage of the miscue.

Scrimmaging from the enemy 25, McGough hit Austin Watkins on a 24-yard gainer on first down. Three plays later CJ Marable bulled his way across the stripe for a one-yard TD 3:39 before halftime.

The kick knotted things up at 17-all.

It didn’t stay tied for long.

McLeod hit Dee Anderson on 42-yard jump ball on the first play of a four play, 75-yard scoring junket, and closed the deal with a 19-yard touchdown aerial to Anderson at 1:29 of the second.

The extra point was good, and the Breakers led, 24-17.

But McGough was up to the challenge, hitting three different receivers on a seven play, 66-yard march, and finishing with a 19-yard TD pass to Jace Sternberger.

The kick made it 24-24 at :31 of the second stanza, and that’s how the half ended.

New Orleans took the opening drive of the third quarter and traveled 54 yards in seven snaps. The big play came on a first-and-10 call from the Birmingham 34, with Bethel-Thompson finding Morris on a pitch-and-catch that saw Morris drag a defender into the end zone.

The PAT changed the score to 31-24 at 10:57 of the quarter.

With time winding down in the stanza, New Orleans took control of the game, moving ahead 38-24 thanks to an eight play, 75-yard drive.

The Breakers did an excellent job mixing the run and pass, and Hills got the TD on a one-yard dive with :40 remaining in the quarter.

The kick made it a 38-24 game, and the Stallions were in trouble.

McGough did his best to get his team out of it on the next series, engineering a six play, 70-yard march.

His most impressive play came following a sack when he made a great scramble and hit Davion Davis on a 49-yard toss that put the ball at the 11.

Two plays later he found Davis again for a six-yard touchdown, and the PAT cut the New Orleans lead to 38-31 with 12:32 to play.

But the Breakers scored again with 4:56 to go, with Hills capping off a 14 play, 65-yard drive with another one-yard run.

The extra point gave New Orleans a 45-31 lead, and that proved to be the final score.

The Breakers improve to 3-0 and move to the top of the South Division, while the Stallions fall to 2-1.

It was Birmingham’s second defeat since the league began play in 2022 and first since a 17-15 setback to the Houston Gamblers on June 11 of last year.

The loss snapped Birmingham’s five-game winning streak.

BREAKERS COACH JOHN DEFILIPPO SAID …

“Great team effort today. Huge credit to our football team … 27 first downs, 14 rushing the football, 200 yards rushing, 283 passing, we controlled the ball for nearly 37 minutes, we were 11-of-13 on third down. Defensively, we limited them to 14 first downs and 46 yards rushing. I thought it was a total team effort.”

STALLIONS COACH SKIP HOLTZ SAID …

“I told the team you wear that crown for a while and if you start believing it, it’s gonna eat you up. I thought they outplayed us, outcoached us … like I said last week, sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug, and today we’re the bug. They lined up and beat us.”

STANDOUT STATS

It was quite a day for Hills, who amassed 191 yards on 34 carries and scored three touchdowns. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry with his longest run at 28 yards.

“The guys are doing a great job up front, man,” Hills said. “They’re blowing open holes and they make me look good. I’ve got the easy part of the job.”

Bethel-Thompson continued to shine, hitting 20 or 28 passes for 283 yards, three touchdowns and a pick.

Three different New Orleans receivers scored, and Jonathan Adams led the way with six catches for 75 yards and a TD.

For the Stallions it was Alex McGough performing very well for the second consecutive game. He was 17-26-1 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

Davis led the receiving corps with 123 yards on five catches and a score, but didn’t seem too interested in his stats.

“Honestly, I flush it,” he said. “We didn’t get the win today. It’s a team thing and the stats don’t matter to me. I can’t do it without Coach, without any offensive or defensive player, so I just flush it and get ourselves ready for next week.”

Tyree Robinson and Nate Holley were in on 10 tackles each in a losing effort.

TODAY IN HISTORY

On, April 29, 1984, the original Stallions defeated the Denver Gold, 31-14, in front of 35,262 fans at Mile High Stadium. The victory improved Birmingham’s record to 9-1 in a USFL clash that saw running back Joe Cribbs rush for 110 yards and catch a 50-yard TD pass from quarterback Cliff Stoudt.

Stoudt finished with 231 passing yards and scrambled for 46 more.

On April 29, 1991, the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football defeated the San Antonio Riders, 16-12, before 8,114 fans at Legion Field in a nationally televised Monday night game played in a driving rain storm.

The Fire scored all of its points in a three and half minute stretch of the second quarter, getting a pair of touchdown connections from Brent Pease to Steve Avery as well as a safety.

The Riders were coached by current New Jersey Generals boss Mike Riley.

NEXT UP

The Stallions play their first-ever regular season game away from Protective Stadium next Sunday when they meet the Pittsburgh Maulers at 5:30 p.m. CDT at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.

The game will be televised on FS1.

Birmingham’s previous trip to Canton last season resulted in a playoff victory over New Orleans and a championship game conquest of the Philadelphia Stars.

The Breakers will also be in Canton, facing the New Jersey Generals on Sunday at 2 p.m. NBC/Peacock will provide coverage.

For as long as I’ve followed tackle football, I’ve heard about quarterback duels.

Truth is, they don’t exist.

I suppose if Birmingham’s Alex McGough and New Orleans’ McLeod Bethel-Thompson had spent Saturday afternoon firing tight spirals at each other’s heads it would’ve qualified, but that’s not how the sport works.

Nope, the QBs were dueling with opposing defenses, not each other.

But a quarterback duet?

That makes more sense.

A duet is simply “a performance by two people,” and a pair of quality USFL quarterbacks shared the synthetic turf stage at Protective Stadium today – although they were slinging instead of singing. Their goal, of course, was to play winning ball for their respective teams while putting on a show for fans in the stands (and potatoes on coaches).

Bethel-Thompson got to stay around for the encore thanks to the Breakers’ 45-31 victory over the Stallions.

Leading up to the South Division matchup between the clubs, I was intrigued by the signal callers’ contrast in styles – and experience.

As I wrote before the USFL ever played a down in 2022, it’s a league that features young Steves instead of Steve Youngs. At 27, McGough (6-3, 214 lbs.) is still a young ‘un in quarterback years (the average age for a National Football League starter is 32). In fact, after a few stints on NFL practice squads (and a brief active roster spot with the Houston Texans), it wasn’t until he suited up for the Stallions that he was able to throw his first official pass as a pro football player.

He also loves to tuck and run, much to the horror of his coach and delight of Birmingham fans (except when he had to exit the game briefly in the first half after taking a particularly hard hit).

Bethel-Thompson (6-4, 220 lbs.) is an anomaly in this league. Not only is the guy 34 years old, has a pair of Grey Cup championships under his belt and played on 10 different teams across the NFL, CFL, United Football League, Arena Football League and USFL, but he’s been making money from the sport he loves for 13 years.

He’s been there, done that, got the scar tissue.

When Bethel-Thompson first started playing for pay, McGough was merely 14 and simply playing to play.

Yet, while there are some notable dissimilarities (the older guy has a magnificent beard, the younger guy has magnificent tattoos, for example) they both want back in the NFL.

And this afternoon, they both played like they were determined to get there.

In the first half McGough had a part in all but 10 of his team’s total offensive yards, going 9-17-1 for 153 yards and a TD.

By day’s end he was 17-26-1 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns despite taking a pounding in the process.; the total offensive output by his team was only 253 yards

“I thought Alex played a heckuva football game,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “I think he’s dialed in. Ever since he took over the reins, I think he’s seeing the field and he’s throwing the ball extremely accurate. He made one mental mistake today when he threw the interception but other than that, I don’t know that we can ask a whole lot more out of him.”

Bethel-Thompson was even more impressive over the first two quarters, going 12-18-1 for 183 yards and two TDs.

Once the final horn sounded, he had completed 20 of 28 passes for 283 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

But man, did he ever have some help.

New Orleans racked up 483 total yards, and running back Wes Hills got 191 of them.

That formed another duet entirely, and allowed QB1 to cheerfully step out of the spotlight for several plays.

“It makes everything easier with a running game,” Bethel-Thompson said. “The pocket’s bigger, and you’re looking at second and five instead of second and 10 or 11, so having a running game like this is like a huge breath of fresh air. The impact on the team is huge, and you can see the result on the scoreboard.”

So, in Saturday’s quarterback duet, not everyone felt happy when the performance ended.

But thanks to a combined five touchdowns and 521 yards, I’ll bet they felt entertained.

From a competition standpoint, the United States Football League is entering its 15th week of competition. However, the Birmingham Stallions and New Orleans Breakers are already making a habit of clashing in big games.

In the new USFL’s debut last year, the two teams were undefeated heading into their Week Three showdown at Protective Stadium.

The Stallions won that one, 22-13, leaving them as the lone unbeaten team left in the USFL.

The eventual champions completed a regular season sweep of the Breakers with a 10-9 victory in Week Eight, but the South Division rivals met once more in the first round of the playoffs in Canton, Ohio.

Skip Holtz’s charges made it three-for-three thanks to a 31-17 victory, one that gave them the chance to play – and beat – the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL title game.

This Saturday’s skirmish at Protective Stadium also features a pair of 2-0 teams, and the fourth overall meeting marks a renewal of what is, so far, the league’s most frequent rivalry.

Holtz thought last year’s Breakers team was good, but suggests this one is different – and maybe even better.

“Offensively, all you have to do is look at (head coach) John DeFilippo, where he’s been and what he’s done, with all the quarterbacks he’s been around and all the places he’s been in the NFL,” Holtz said. “They’re a two or three base tight end set, so they give you a lot of different sets with those guys. They just give you a lot of different looks and they’re very flexible, meaning they’re very hard to get a bead on. They run a lot of different plays out of a lot of different formations. It makes it hard to cover everybody with what they do. They do a great job.

“They’ve got really good players, their quarterback is playing really good for them right now, and I think they’ve got a really good football team. There’s a reason we’re both 2-0.”

The QB matchup features two league leaders. Stallions signal caller Alex McGough tops the USFL in touchdown passes with five (he’s also rushed for one) as well as points produced (36), while Breakers QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson is the air yardage leader with 554.

The Stallions pace the eight-team circuit with 386.5 yards per game as well as 257 passing yards each time out.

New Orleans holds down the top spot in individual receiving yards (Sage Surratt, 206) and kicking points (Matt Coghlin, 24).

“I’ve only played two plays against them due to my injuries, but they do a lot of the same schemes as far as defense,” McGough said. “They have some new players on the D-line, but they’re great players. They have a lot of speed. athleticism, and the linebackers are really, really good sideline to sideline guys.

“So, we’re just trying to go out there and execute our plays against their coverage and run really good routes. I have to make sure I’m very accurate with the football and just execute.”

McGough is coming off a magnificent showing in last Saturday’s 42-2 beatdown of Memphis, hitting 21 of 28 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns. He played wire-to-wire due to the loss of J’Mar Smith, one of several Stallions taken off the board due to injuries.

“I couldn’t do it alone,” McGough said. “But I think as far as me playing, I thought I played very well. I thought my reads were great. But 10 other guys were doing their jobs and that made it all happen.

“We all fight for each other. Like, I know I’m not playing for myself.”

Wideout Austin Watkins, who caught three balls for 42 yards against the Showboats, agrees.

“We just play together as a team,” he said. “There’s unselfishness with all these guys. We know we need to be just having fun.”

CJ Marable rushed for 68 yards on 16  carries for Birmingham last week but it was ZaQuandre White who made the biggest splash in his first appearance as a Stallion, racking up 72 yards on eight totes and scoring twice. The 6-1, 215-pound University of South Carolina product was on the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad in 2022.

“He’s an incredibly talented individual,” Holtz said. “’Sizzle’ is a word that comes to mind. You know when you watch him run it’s like, ‘Wow, he’s different.’ You don’t have to be a football coach to figure out he’s pretty good. He’s just got to get more comfortable in the offense and be more consistent with what he does.

“So, I’m excited to watch his growth after watching him rush for 1,000 yards in the SEC. You saw what we saw the other night, and last week was the first time he was activated.”

While Birmingham has shown it can score points, its defense has proven it can prevent them. Under defensive coordinator John Chavis, the unit allowed just 10 points in a 27-10 season opening win over New Jersey and kept the Memphis offense off the scoreboard in a 42-2 blowout – losing the shutout on a safety.

Holtz knows Saturday’s opponent also has a formidable resistance.

“(New Orleans) has always had one of the best defenses in this league,” Holtz said. “When you look at the job (defensive coordinator) Jon Tenuta does, it makes you operate under pressure. He tries to dictate the tempo of the game and I’d say these two defenses are very similar. These are two of the better defenses in the league, but they’re also two very pressure-oriented defenses.”

Saturday’s kick-off is set for 11:30 a.m. and the game will be televised on the USA Network.

“The whole battle cry and the challenge we had last week was to try to win a football game with a lot of new faces – with seven starters out after week one,” Holtz said. “That’s a lot. Replacing a large percentage of your football team after week one, that’s tough. But I also think it speaks volumes to the depth that’s been required in the offseason and the great job (general manager) Zach Potter has done and continues to do.

“I’ve made this comment earlier … I think our team is deeper than we were last year as far as talent.”