Month: April 2024

With two United States Football League championships on their resume, the Birmingham Stallions have already collected more hardware than any pro football team in the history of the Magic City.

Now they also own the longest winning streak.

Following Saturday’s weather-delayed, 20-18 victory over the DC Defenders (2-2) at Protective Stadium, Skip Holtz’s charges notched their 11^th consecutive victory dating back to 2023. That tops the 1974 Birmingham Americans of the World Football League, a team that won its first 10 games before ultimately finishing 17-5 and claiming the WFL crown.

Birmingham was victorious in its final seven USFL contests and improves to 4-0 in the inaugural campaign of the United Football League, holding a two-game lead over Michigan in the USFL Conference.

They also showed their mettle, overcoming a sluggish first half and turnovers to remain the league’s only unbeaten team.

This time the man of the hour (or several hours, thanks to the weather) was kicker Ramiz Ahmed, who signed earlier in the week to take the place of injured Chris Blewitt.

All he did was nail four field goals in subpar conditions – the last coming from 46 yards away and with just four ticks on the clock, securing the “W.”

“We’ve got rent-a-kicker for a week,” joked Holtz. “And he came out and what he did was unbelievable. I told him I’m gonna have to learn his name now. He was money … he was money. Just really proud of what he was able to do and the way that he handled pressure.”

Ahmed’s work was the biggest difference in a contest that saw the Stallions rack up 356 total yards but manage only one touchdown against a tough Defenders D.

Matt Corral went most of the way behind center, hitting 19 of 29 passes for 240 yards and throwing a TD pass to Amari Rodgers, who led Birmingham receivers with 82 yards on four catches.

“I know everybody thinks I’m crazy because I took a quarterback off the plate as well as (co-starter Adrian Martinez) did a week ago and played Matt,” Holtz said. “I’ve taken a lot of criticism for it, but I have confidence in both those quarterbacks that they’re good enough to play. And I have to answer in my quarterback room more than I need to answer in this room.”

Ricky Person Jr. and Corral were a solid 1-2 punch on the ground, with Person racking up 57 yards and Corral accounting for 51.

Kyahva Tezino has six solo tackles and 20 in all, while JoJo Tillery finished with six individual takedowns for the winners.

“It was a game that, defensively, I thought we played staunch,” Holtz said. “We gave up a couple of big play touchdowns that obviously I didn’t like but overall, I thought our defense competed its tail off and played against a really explosive team that’s been putting up a lot of points.”

Jordan Ta’amu was 12-22-0 for 161 yards and two touchdowns for Reggie Barlow’s team, and Kelvin Harmon had five catches for 93 yards and a TD.

Chris Rowland caught Ta’amu’s other touchdown pass.

Linebacker Anthony Hines was a monster for the DC defense, with 11 tackles (10 solo) and two tackles for loss.

Derick Roberson was in on six tackles and had two sacks.

Scoring plays: DC, Chris Rowland, 9-yard reception from Jordan Ta’amu, 3:29 first quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Defenders 6, Stallions 0; Birmingham, Amari Rodgers 50-yard reception from Matt Corral, 2:58 second quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Stallions 6, Defenders 6; Birmingham, team safety on muffed punt snap (Jace Sternberger tackles Paxton Brooks), 1:50 second quarter, Stallions 8, Defenders 6; Birmingham, Ramiz Ahmed, 48-yard field goal, :00 second quarter, Stallions 11, Defenders 6; Birmingham, Ahmed, 32-yard field goal, 9:37 third quarter, Stallions 14, Defenders 6; DC, Kelvin Harmon, 45-yard reception from Ta’amu, :53 third quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 14, Defenders 12; DC, Matthew McCrane, 23-yard field goal, 7:41 fourth quarter, Defenders 15, Stallions 14; Birmingham, Ahmed, 27-yard field goal, 3:26 fourth quarter, Stallions 17, Defenders 15; DC, McCrane, 39-yard field goal, 1:04 fourth quarter, Defenders 18, Stallions 17; Birmingham, Ahmed, 46-yard field goal, :04 fourth quarter, Stallions 20, Defenders 18.

Standout stat: Four. Number of field goals kicked by Ahmed, the last keeping Birmingham perfect on the 2024 season.

Next up: Birmingham faces the Houston Roughnecks Saturday, April 27, at Rice Stadium.

Kickoff is 6 p.m. CDT on FOX.

Football Capital of the South?: Last week in their home opener against Memphis, the Stallions had a modest crowd of 12,265 on a beautiful spring evening. Tonight, there were only 7,262 fans in the stands before lightning forced everyone to make a mandatory exit from the facility.

Hard to believe a team that has known nothing but success doesn’t draw at least 20,000 for their contests at Protective.

Throwback night: There was a throwback theme for Saturday’s game, with fans encouraged to dress in their old school gear repping the Stallions of the original United States Football League (1983-85). While the team’s modern jerseys and pants are close to the originals, the helmets are much different.

The vintage USFL logo was a full body red horse silhouette with a white outline on the side of a gold helmet that featured a thin red stripe down the middle.

The current logo is a white horse head with flowing red mane on a more creme-colored hat. The red stripe is also much thicker.

While I prefer the new logo (the current horse head is actually larger than the logo used in 2022-23), it would’ve been cool to see the team donning 1980s shells. Alas, the throwback look didn’t make it to the playing field – this time  .

Homecoming: The Defenders coach is no stranger to Birmingham, and his Alabama football roots run deep. Barlow was born in Montgomery, played high school ball at Sidney Lanier in the capital city, and was a standout receiver and kick returner while playing collegiately at Alabama State University.

During his time with the Hornets the team made a trip to Birmingham each season to participate in the annual Magic City Classic at Legion Field, facing Alabama A&M. It’s considered one of the premiere HBCU football events in the nation.

Barlow went on to have an eight-year NFL career (with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs) and returned to coaching at ASU, first as a QB coach and then the head man from 2007-14.

After six years at Virginia State, he was hired by the Defenders during their XFL 3.0 season of 2023 and made his return trip to Birmingham as a pro coach on April 20.

The two-time defending USFL champion Birmingham Stallions have played like champions through their first three games in the United Football League, and on Saturday they’ll try to improve to 4-0 against a former XFL club.

The DC Defenders (2-1) come to Protective Stadium for a 6 p.m. kickoff, hoping to derail Birmingham’s perfect start and keep pace with St. Louis and San Antonio atop their conference. It’ll be the second consecutive week Skip Holtz’s team has played in front of a partisan crowd.

“We have a DC Defenders team coming in that had the best record in the XFL last year, and they returned a lot of starters off that team,” Holtz said. “Jordan Ta’amu, their quarterback, is a very talented individual from Ole Miss and they can score a lot of points. They have scored a lot of points, and right now they’re tied for first place in the XFL Conference, so we’ve got a real challenge coming in this weekend.”

Ta’amu has connected on 52 of 101 passes for 627 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ty Scott paces the receiving corps with 152 yards and a score on eight receptions.

Those two played key roles in DC rallying from 11 points down with 2:08 to play to stun the Arlington Renegades, 29-28, last week.

After cutting the deficit to 28-26, Ta’amu and Scott hooked up for 19 yards on the fourth-and-12 onside conversion play, ultimately setting up Matthew McCrane’s 49-yard field goal to win it.

Michael Joseph has been far and away the team’s top defensive player, with 16 solo tackles and 19 takedowns in all.

“I think (Defenders coach and Alabama native) Reggie Barlow does a great job with that team,” Holtz said. “As I said, they were 10-2 last year and he was the Coach of the Year, and they are 2-1 this year, so it’s got all the makings for another great atmosphere, another great environment.”

The Stallions are the lone unbeaten team in the UFL, and not only set the pace in the USFL Conference but lead the circuit in myriad statistical categories.

They’re No. 1 in total offense (374 yards per game); all-purpose yards (513.3); total rushing yards (432); rushing yards per game (144.0); yards per reception (15.6); rushing touchdowns (five) scoring (26.7 points per game); total defense (226.0); fewest rushing yards allowed (126); fewest rushing yards average (42.0); and fewest rushing TDs (none).

Birmingham is coming off a 33-14 rout of the Memphis Showboats, one that saw the winners put together their most complete game of the season to date.

“Really proud of the team and what they were able to accomplish,” Holtz said. “I think the defense set the tone with two out of the first three plays in the game being sacks, and I thought our front seven – really our defense as a whole – challenged everything. I thought (defensive coaches) John Chavis, Bill Johnson, Corey Chamberlain and Deric Riley, all did a great job.”

Holtz pointed out that last year the team managed 17 sacks for the entirety of the 2023 season and hit that mark in just three games in 2024.

Aside from the strong defensive play – through 12 quarters Kyahva Tezino has been in on 22 tackles with 14 unassisted, followed by Chris Jackson (17/13), Lorenzo Burns (17/13) and Carlos Davis (10/6 and the UFL sacks leader with six) – the offense had a breakout game against Memphis.

Adrian Martinez went the distance at quarterback, and now has 448 passing yards and a team-high 161 rushing yards.

Martinez is the top rusher in the league followed by C.J. Marable, who has churned out 140 yards.

“Offensively, to see Adrian Martinez get his opportunity from wire-to-wire and to throw for 334 yards and to see him run for 44 yards was great,” Holtz said. “And I thought Ricky Person Jr. ran really hard, and our offensive line did a great job of protecting our quarterback.”

Despite Martinez’s excellent outing, Holtz says Matt Corral is still very much in the picture at quarterback. In fact, he’s listed as QB1 on Saturday’s depth chart.

“I named Matt the starter at the beginning, but knew that we were going to roll both of them early,” Holtz said. “Adrian had a great week (of preparation) last week, so we made the decision to go wire-to-wire with him.

“Both these quarterbacks are here to get film, but they’re both good enough to win with and we need to find a way to manage the room and play them both, because I do think that we’re going to need them both before it’s all said and done.”

Deon Cain leads the receiving corps (and the UFL) with 240 yards and a TD.  Person Jr., Jace Sternberger and Marlon Williams have all made an impact as well, cracking the 100-yard barrier in receptions.

One major change on Saturday will be at kicker. With Chris Blewitt nursing an injury, recent signee Ramiz Ahmed will handle field goal chores against DC.

Holtz hopes for another energetic crowd on Saturday.

“I was very appreciative of the fan base, the noise they made (last week),” Holtz said. “It was really nice to be back in Protective Stadium. You know we’ve been (in the Arlington hub) for about six, eight weeks now, and it just reminds you when you come back to Birmingham what a special place it is and how much it means to us on the field.”

Linebacker Scooby Wright has a big personality – no one will argue that point.

He also has plenty of talent to go along with it.

Whether running down the field with his hand atop his helmet, mimicking a fin (“I had to go Sharkdog on them … half shark, half dog”) or running a pick-six into the end zone and finishing with a somersault to cement the Birmingham Stallions’ 33-30 USFL Championship Game win over the Philadelphia Stars, the man is a force of nature.

But as he settles into his third year with Birmingham – and is an integral part of one of the United Football League’s most formidable defensive units – he has become a veteran leader for the 3-0 Stallions.

“It’s been a great year,” said Wright, who has been nursing a right knee injury this week. “My teammates get better every week and we just look forward to bringing a great product to the field.”

During his prep days, Wright was an all-purpose player. He didn’t care where he played – he just wanted to be on the field.

“In high school, I kind of did everything,” he said. “It’s kind of funny … I was talking to someone a few days ago, and I said I used to return kicks and return punts and stuff, so it was kind of fun looking back because there’s no way in hell I could do that now.

“But really, I just love playing football. To be honest, it didn’t really matter what position I was playing or anything, I just always see myself as a football player.”

When healthy, Wright was one of the greatest defensive players in Arizona State University history.

He was Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 as a freshman and a consensus All-American as a sophomore, earning the Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Award, among others, as well as Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

By his junior year he was limited to just three games due to injury, but closed out his college career with 145 solo tackles in 27 games, 14 sacks, an interception and six forced fumbles.

College success didn’t translate to more of the same in the NFL – at least not yet.

Following stints with the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals, Wright opted for an alternative pro football path.

The Arizona Hotshots of the ill-fated Alliance of American Football signed him in 2019, and he managed nine tackles before the league folded after eight games.

A practice squad job with the New England Patriots later that year lasted less than two weeks, and by 2020 he was with the DC Defenders of XFL 2.0.

That iteration of the league hit the halfway mark before crumbling under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, he managed 17 tackles in four games.

Since then, he’s been a staple of the Stallions, first in the reimagined United States Football League and now with the UFL. Despite being injured for most of the 2023 season, Wright managed 34 solo tackles and 31 assists, with three sacks and 23 tackles for loss.

This year he has five solo tackles and three assists.

“I played lot of football on my day,” Wright said. “I think the thing that we’re trying to adopt here and as a team is just trying to win every day. We want to control what we can control. Try not to not look too far forward, but just stay in the moment. “Stay focused, stay prepared. Just do what you do … just try to win.”

The Birmingham defense has put on quite a show over the past three weeks. The unit leads the UFL in interceptions (three), sacks (17), passes defended (18 with 15 breakups), and paces the circuit in total defense (226 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (13.7 points per game).

“We know how good we can be and how good we are, and know where we want to go,” he said. “So, I think it’s just a matter of attacking the day and just staying motivated.

“I mean, instead of just being one guy deep or two guys deep, we’re able to roll guys through. If you’ve watched games, you notice at the linebacker position we kind of rotate a little bit to keep guys fresh.”

The Stallions face the DC Defenders (2-1) Saturday at Protective Stadium with a 6 p.m. kickoff. It’s the second consecutive home game for the USFL Conference leaders and “SharkDawg” is happy to be back in the friendly confines. Since the team is housed in the Arlington, Texas, hub throughout the week, trips “home” are even more special.

“I definitely miss Birmingham,” Wright said. “I miss living in the city and miss all the fans. It’s great seeing them and just being out in the community.”