Season 22 – Week 1

The USFFL is back in action as all 32 teams completed their week 1 games. The AFC West came out strong and is the only Division with three 1-0 teams. All other Divisions had at least two wins, with the exception of the AFC East where New England was the only week one winner. The LA Chargers led all scoring with 42 points against Washington’s 35. Chicago put up the best defensive effort holding the Rams to only 7 points. Arizona was hit hard by the injury bug with WR Deandre Hopkins out for the next two weeks, combined with James Connor out for this week’s game against Tennessee. Other notable injuries include Seattle’s Chris Carson out for 6 weeks.

Looking forward, the USFFL has some great week 2 games on tap with Dallas facing the LA Chargers, Cincinnati at Chicago, Las Vegas ant Pittsburgh, and Tennessee at Seattle. My pick for game of the week is Buffalo at Miami, with both teams hoping to earn their first victory of the season.

Recap of the Week

Welcome back to the USFFL Dan Morin! Dan and the Falcons hosted Bruce Mogg and the Eagles in the Battle of the Birds in week one action. Dan rejoins the USFFL as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and posted a nice win over the Eagles. Nice write-up Dan!

Cordarrelle Patterson ran for 98 yards on 18 carries, rushed for the eventual game winning touchdown, and returned a Matt Ryan sack fumble 65 yards for another score midway through the 3rd quarter to lead Atlanta to a one-point season opening win at home.
The 1st quarter was scoreless but neither D could stop anything until weel into the second half as the teams would put up points on 5 straight possessions between them. In the middle of the scoring, Younghoe Koo drilled a 52-yard FG and the teams hit the break with the Eagles leading 14-9.
Philadelphia took the second half kickoff and pounded the rock for over 50 yards on yet another TD drive when Jordan Howard scampered in from 17 yards and a 21-9 Eagles lead. It was their last score. The Atlanta coaching staff again leaned on Patterson to start its next possession. 6 on first down and then a 6-yard run conversion on 3rd and 4 to the Falcons’ 35. Philly’s Javon Hargrave busted through on 1st down to sack Ryan who was looking short for 1st round pick Kyle Pitts. Ryan lost the ball but, yup, Patterson scooped it up and raced 65 yards to the end zone to pull Atlanta to 6 at 21-15. Another 2-point try failed. #gamechanger1
Finally, the Falcons D stiffened up to force two straight punts after giving up 165 yards on back-to-back Philly TD drives. Atlanta’s Avery Williamson returned the second one 65 yards to the Eagles 5-yard line (#gamechanger2). ATL halfback Mike Davis, taking over for the gassed Patterson picked up 3 yards on two carries but the Falcons were called for holding on the second run taking them back to the 14 (2nd & Goal). Patterson returned to pick up two to bring up 3rd and goal at the 12 but Philly was flagged for a personal foul placing the ball at the 1 for 1st and goal. Patterson blasted in for the score. Koo added the extra and the Falcons led for the first time all day 22-21 with 7:48 left.
The Eagles then failed on its 2nd 4th down bid of a drive at the Atlanta 31 and the Falcons took over at the 2-minute warning. Atlanta picked up a first down and forced the Philly to drain all 3 timeouts. After a punt, Hurts and Philly took over at its 23 with 1:22 left needing a FG. Hurts came through hitting Goedert short for 3rd down conversion, but offsetting penalties nullified the play. Hurts rolled out picking up 21 yards and the first to the Philly 42 with :37 left. He then threaded a short pass to Goedert for 17 yards to the Falcons 41 and a spike stopped the clock with :22 left. Hurts looked again for Goedert but was bottled up couldn’t make it out of bounds after only 1 yard. The Philly sideline opted for a game winning Hail Mary try with :01 left but Hurts was sacked by Foyesade Oluokun to end it.
Atlanta wins 22-21 #RiseUp thanks to Cordarrelle Patterson’s 2 TDs and 204 total yards from scrimmage, including the fumble return TD.

Top Performers

QB – Jimmy Garoppolo 33 completions, 401 yards and 4 TDs.

WR / TE – TY Hilton 4 receptions, 134 yards and 2 TDs.

RB – Michael Carter 172 yards on 18 carries (9.6 yards per carry), and 3 TDs.

D/ST – Myles Garrett – 4 Sacks.

Broadcast Games