May 2024 - Adamsonmedia.com

The game before the game

So, what’s to make of Saturday’s Week 10 clash between the Birmingham Stallions (8-1, 5-0) and Michigan Panthers (7-2, 4-1) at Protective Stadium?

The object of the game is to win, of course, but the win that matters most comes on June 8. That’s when they play again – at the same venue – with the USFL Conference Championship and a trip to the United Football League’s title showdown in St. Louis on the line.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.**

Do you rest starters?

Do you shut down your offense?

Do you treat the game like an exhibition, even though the best way for UFL players to get a shot at the NFL is to never take a day off?

If you listen to Michigan coach Mike Nolan, there’s plenty to play for this Saturday as well as the next. As for who’ll play, however, well … who knows?

All teams are dealing with injuries, but the Panthers have been inundated with them.

“Hopefully we get some (injured players) back, but I kind of wonder … do I want them back now, or do I want to wait till next week to get them back?” Nolan said. “Things like that are the kind of the decisions we’re in the process of making. Naturally, this game is important to us for a lot of personal reasons, I would say as much as anything because obviously you want to win the division.

“We all know that whether we win it or not, we’re still going back to Birmingham. So, a little bit of that plays into it.”

The Stallions clinch the division with a victory, or a loss by 21 points or fewer.

While the Panthers are coming off their fifth straight victory, the Stallions are trying to rebound from their first UFL loss – an 18-9 setback to the San Antonio Brahmas last Saturday. It snapped a 15-game winning streak dating back to the 2023 USFL season and was also the first time Skip Holtz’s team has been held to single digits in its nearly three season history.

Holtz said his charges are angry about the defeat, and have no intention of going through the motions in Saturday’s first leg of the Michigan series.

To get back on track, though, they have to fix some things.

“San Antonio has got a really good defense and did a really nice job, but I think we had three drops in the first quarter,” he said. “We ended up with four on the day. We just did not execute very cleanly, which was one of the frustrations that I had. It was just very hard to get momentum going … we weren’t very consistent as an offensive football team.

“But probably one of my biggest frustrations that came out of this game was the personal fouls. We ended up with four of them.”

Birmingham and Michigan met in Week 2 at Ford Field in Detroit with the Stallions taking a 20-13 victory. The winners rolled up 161 rushing yards in the that game, but since then the Panthers have become one of the best teams in the league at stopping the run.

If you look at that game for clues about this one, you won’t find many.

“They’ve changed quite a bit,” Holtz said. “They’ve changed philosophies. Offensively, they’ve become much more open. They started running their quarterback much more after our game. They had an injury to their starter, their backup went in last week, and he’s very athletic. They started running him a lot more, doing the zone read … they’ve gone away from a traditional professional offense.”

Since E.J. Perry went down for the season with injury, Bryce Perkins has stepped up for Michigan. In last week’s come-from-behind, 26-22 victory over Houston, the former University of Virginia record-setter went 12-15-1 for 121 yards and a touchdown.

Backup Danny Etling was 12-18-1 for 110 more yards.

“I think a lot of credit obviously goes to Bryce and his work ethic,” Nolan said. “He’s continued to work hard and he’s an exciting player to watch. He can extend plays, which is always important in our league and any league, for that matter, with the quarterback position, especially when the play breaks down.”

Birmingham has been led by Adrian Martinez, who is the league’s leading MVP candidate. He continues to top the UFL in rushing yards (487) and is third in passing, with a stat line that shows 120-201-3 for 1,586 yards and 14 TDs.

But before he won the starting job, he split time with Matt Corral, and it would hardly be surprising if the former Ole Miss star sees plenty of playing time on Saturday.

Running back Larry Roundtree III, tackle Armani Taylor-Prioleau, linebacker Elijah Sullivan, cornerback Mark Gilbert and kicker Chris Blewitt have been activated by the Stallions, while linebacker DeMarquis Gates, running back Ricky Person Jr., defensive back Nevelle Clarke and offensive lineman O’Shea Dugas have been placed on the inactive roster.

Ramiz Ahmed, who filled in for Blewitt during his absence, was waived on Tuesday.

Birmingham leads the league in total yards (3,252) and rushing yards (1,244), while Michigan is No. 1 in rushing TDs at 18.

Defensively, the Stallions and Panthers are 1-2 against the run and near the middle of the pack defending the pass.

On paper, it looks to be a fairly even match, but a mysterious one in that who plays and for how long is anyone’s guess.

Regardless of the lineups, Holtz – and Nolan – want their teams to come out of the fracas as healthy as possible.

“I think one of the things I probably didn’t take into account is the wear and tear that travel takes on your football team in this league,” Holtz said. “Something that I have never done before is where you’re on the road for nine straight weeks (traveling from the Arlington, Texas, hub). As the year’s gone on, I’ve kind of gone to just shoulder pads on Tuesday and shorts on Wednesday. But this week, we took them out of pads completely. We’ve got to coach little things in the details at this point.”

Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN and listened to on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM.

Tezino embraces the grind

Linebackers are sometimes called “quarterbacks of the defense,” and Birmingham Stallions hitman Kyahva Tezino has certainly been a vocal leader in that role.

It’s no surprise, then, that he harbors dreams of calling plays on both sides of the ball – once his playing career is over.

“If you’re a player wherever you go, you try to take a little from each coach and see what you can put in your coaching style one day,” Tezino said on Wednesday. “I think whenever it’s my time to coach, I’ll use what I’ve learned from (Birmingham head coach Skip Holtz) all the way to my Pop Warner coach and take it forward.”

At age 26, the United Football League standout has plenty of time to plan for his next vocation.

Right now, though, Tezino’s mind is focused on stopping the Michigan Panthers.

Not only do the Stallions (8-1) play the Panthers (7-2) in a Week 10 matchup, they’ll face them again a week later in the USFL Conference Championship Game.

Both contests will be played at Protective Stadium.

Birmingham won a Week 2 matchup with the Panthers, 20-13, at Ford Field in Detroit.

Tezino had five tackles and an assist in that contest, one that saw the winners limit Michigan to just 205 yards of total offense.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” he said. “But it can be done. Last year I was with the (Pittsburgh) Maulers and we beat Michigan three times, so it just comes down to the kind of want you have. You’ve got to know the situation. Somebody might say this is a ‘waste week’ or a game where we see what they do for next week, but I think we know what we’re playing for, and that’ll help us for this week.”

Through nine games with Birmingham, Tezino leads the team with 65 tackles (37 assisted), and also has a half sack as well as four pass break-ups. Among all UFL defenders, he ranks fourth in number of tackles.

As a senior at San Diego State University, Tezino was an Honorable Mention All-American as well as First Team All-Mountain West Selection. In five seasons as an Aztec, he made 148 solo tackles, assisted on 140 more, had 14.5 sacks and also picked off a pair of passes.

His single-game best was a 17-tackle showing against Army in 2017.

The 6-0, 235-pounder was taken by Pittsburgh in the 31st round of the 2022 United States Football League Draft.

During the 2023 season with the Maulers, he had 94 tackles (54 solo) and two interceptions. Stallions fans might recall he led Pittsburgh with 11 tackles in a 28-12 loss to Birmingham in the USFL Championship Game.

A year earlier in the Maulers’ debut campaign, he registered 55 individual takedowns and 70 in all.

Tezino was signed by the San Francisco 49ers last year before being waived in August, and originally entered the NFL after signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 27, 2020. Following his release three months later, he inked a deal with the Carolina Panthers as a practice squad player but was let go on August 16, 2020.

With designs on getting back to the NFL – something he hopes to do before transitioning to coaching – that means there are no off days. Week 11 has much higher stakes than Week 10, but Tezino has no plans to take it easy in the first of a two-game set.

“With a 10-week regular season you don’t have a bye week, so if you make the championship, you play 12 games straight games,” Tezino said. “But everybody knows that, and everybody is trying to get to the NFL, so you just have to take your soreness with a grain of salt.”

Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN and listened to on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM.

Road trip

“Holy hell!”

Blake laughed nervously and buzzed down the driver’s side window.

“Sorry,” he said. “But you scared the shit out of me.”

“Well,” Dana said, “You can’t get a higher compliment than that. Anyway, I was just wondering if the offer to ride with you still stood.”

With all the cars lined up as people tried to evacuate the city, it was just a stroke of luck that Blake and Dana had made eye contact and struck up a conversation a few minutes earlier.

“Absolutely,” said Blake. “But don’t you have a suitcase or something?”

Dana nodded.

“Actually, I had it sent ahead so it’s already at my friend’s apartment in Douglas,” she said. “Everything else is in my backpack. If you don’t mind, though, I’d like to put it in the trunk.”

Blake popped the trunk open and placed the backpack on top of his suitcase. He then walked around the side of the car and opened the door for Dana.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I can get it.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Blake said. “This door sticks, so, you know …”

Blake was nervous – it was hard to tell who to trust anymore – but he had a gut feeling that Dana was a kindred spirit. As they settled into the vehicle, he gripped the steering wheel and pulled off onto a side road … acutely aware that his palms were sweaty.

And while he made a point not to stare at Dana – which would’ve been a bad idea anyway because of that whole driving thing – she had beautiful brown eyes that seemed capable of actually smiling.

Her skin was eggshell white and she smelled of patchouli, which he thought of as something of a “comfort scent” since it reminded him of his home in Clearlake.

With miles and miles of talking ahead of them, that seemed to be as good a conversation starter as any.

“Is that patchouli you’re wearing?” Blake asked. “I’m not trying to be pervy or anything, it’s just back home there was a guy who made patchouli soap and used to sell it downtown during weekends. It reminds me of fall.”

“Thanks,” she said. “A lot of people don’t like it … it makes them think I’m a hippie or something. Which maybe I am now, I don’t really know. Probably doesn’t even matter at this point.”

“I secretly always wanted to be a hippie,” Blake said. “I could just never commit to the lifestyle, I suppose. Still, there’s a lot to be said for getting high and hugging trees and kissing bunnies. I wish those things were still an option.”

It wasn’t long before Blake realized talking to Dana was like talking to an old friend he had just reconnected with after years apart. And she seemed to enjoy the banter as well. With some of his friends already captured and killed, it was comforting to find an adventurous spirit.

In the first 100 miles of their journey, the vast majority of the country’s problems had already been cussed and discussed. When the topics turned less serious, Blake shared the origin story of all of his pets, and Dana had confessed that – while in her mid-20s – she was the lead singer for a retro punk band called Spurious George.

What had started as a solo road trip to a new life was solo no more, but Blake had no complaints. He could barely remember the last time he’d had a conversation with a woman. Hell, he could barely remember the last time he had a conversation with anything that wasn’t covered in fur and had four legs.

“So, what was it like where you were,” Blake asked. “Had they taken over your entire town?”

“Pretty much,” Dana said. “They’d come in waves. I usually stayed inside during the day, snuck out when I could at night to get food. Then – like you, I guess – I just figured I’d take a chance. If I went north, maybe I could get away from them. That’s what I kept hearing.”

“Same,” Blake said. “Where I was, a lot of the people decided to go along to get along and sometimes you might go a whole day without seeing one of those bastards. But I’m not gonna live like that. I realize I don’t have all that many sunrises left, anyway, but I have no desire to be controlled by monsters the rest of my life.”

The pair drove in silence for the next hour, until Dana pointed to a road sign that read, “Douglas. 30 Miles.”

“Well,” Dana said. “If you stay at this speed, we should be at my friend’s apartment in half an hour. And it really looks like clear sailing, doesn’t it? It’s just like everyone was saying … the further north we drive, the further away from danger we get.”

Blake was apprehensive, but hopeful. While information was spotty and not always reliable, there was a good chance that once they reached Douglas, they’d be out of harm’s way and have easy access to the hundreds of rescue crafts that were situated there.

At that point, it would all be up to the aliens – and how many humans they’d be willing to liberate from the occupying army.