Category: Alternative Football

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.

After two weeks of league play, the Orlando Apollos (2-0) are arguably the Alliance of American Football’s best team.

There’s little argument, however, about the entertainment value of Steve Spurrier’s charges.

They’re a blast.

Orlando rallied from an early 12-0 deficit to defeat the San Antonio Commanders, 37-29, on Sunday afternoon in the best game of the weekend and – if we’re being honest – the most watchable contest the Alliance has produced so far.

The winners racked up 428 yards, including 393 through the air, to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Garrett Gilbert had a terrific game behind center, connecting on 19 of 28 passes for nearly 400 yards and two touchdowns.

Charles Johnson was Gilbert’s favorite target, hauling in seven balls for 192 yards and a score.

“A big takeaway for me is I had a lot of fun, and that’s something that I’ve really been focusing on,” said Johnson, who had a stint with the Minnesota Vikings. “Playing a sport again is really having fun with it, because I’ve kind of lost that desire to really have fun playing in the NFL for the first five or six years. It’s kind of just became part of my … what I did was a job. I kind of lost the fun and the love of the game.

“So, getting back to loving the game and having fun with it with a group of guys as passionate and willing to come out here to compete every day, I’m excited about that.”

Gilbert found eight different receivers for the Apollos, who have now put up a league best 77 points.

THE IRON CURTAIN

Sometimes, not even your best is good enough.

Other times, just enough is all you need.

Birmingham gutted out a 12-9 victory over Salt Lake on Saturday in improving to 2-0, and the contest was not – for the most part – aesthetically pleasing.

The victors netted only 216 yards of total offense and lost two fumbles, while the losers turned the ball over twice and missed three field goals.

But the object of the game is to secure the “W,” and that’s what the Iron did, staying perfect at Legion Field.

Once again it was defense and special teams leading the way; a muffed punt turned into Birmingham’s first touchdown, and the defense limited the Stallions to 105 passing yards and 256 total.

“Our defensive coordinator (Rick Minter) wasn’t here (Saturday) so I had the honor of calling a game for the first time in a long time,” Iron coach Tim Lewis said. “We did a nice job and the guys played hard, fast, tough, and played smart, did what we asked them to do. We did a nice job on third down and we did a nice job finishing the game. We had some adversity situations, and they did a nice job stepping up and making plays.”

In a 26-0 season-opening win over Memphis, special teams contributed four field goals and punts that forced the Express to work with a long field. Versus Salt Lake, they delivered in a different way.

“Fortunately, for our special teams, we were able to get a fumble and turn it into a touchdown,” Lewis said. “That was huge for us. Our special teams came up big again and really excited about the way the team played. Every day I meet with them about playing fast, smart, tough and to this point, two games into it, 2-0 and looking forward to getting ready for Atlanta, they’re doing exactly that.

“I cannot really ask for any more.”

STAYING HOT

The Arizona Hotshots join Orlando and Birmingham as the three undefeated teams left in the Alliance, and they did it the hard way on Saturday.

Arizona had to rally from a 12-0 halftime deficit to escape with a 20-18 victory over the Memphis Express before 11,980 fans at the Liberty Bowl.

“Memphis came out inspired and gave us fits with their defense,” Hotshots coach Rick Neuheisel said. “I coached with (Memphis defensive coordinator) Dennis Thurman a long time, and he had some tricks up his sleeve and basically stymied us, and those three first half turnovers put us in a real hole. But I found out a little bit about my team. I kinda expected we had that kind of grit and resolve, and we came roaring back.

“Our tempo put them in a little bit of a quandary.”

COMMANDING ATTENTION

San Antonio has played two home games, and the team is proving to be quite popular in the River City.

Saturday night the Commanders drew 29,176 paying customers to the Alamodome, besting week one’s mark of 27,857. San Antonio is far and away the top draw in the young league, with only Orlando and San Diego eclipsing the 20,000 mark in their lone home games.

Atlanta and Salt Lake have yet to play in their friendly confines, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can challenge San Antonio as the Alliance’s top hot spot for fans.

STILL SEARCHING

Speaking of the Legends and Stallions, they are two of the three winless teams remaining in the Alliance, with Memphis also 0-2.

Atlanta jumped out to a 9-0 first quarter lead but fell to San Diego on Sunday night, 24-12, giving the Fleet their first victory in pro football’s return to “America’s Finest City.”

Ironically, Salt Lake and Memphis also had 9-0 leads before fading down the stretch and losing their games.

UP NEXT

On Saturday it’s 2-0 Arizona at 0-2 Salt Lake, and 0-2 Memphis at 2-0 Orlando.

On Sunday 2-0 Birmingham plays at 0-2 Atlanta and 1-1 San Antonio travels to 1-1 San Diego.

Follow Scott Adamson on Twitter @adamsonsl. Email him at [email protected].