USFFL Season 21 – Week 2

Week 2 is in the books and the surprise of the season to date is the hot start for the Cincinnati Bengals. Coach Wendlandt has the Bengals at the top of the AFC North, one game ahead of the Ravens and Steelers. Coach Zalesne has the Bills off to a 2-0 start, and leads the league in points scored with 85 through 2 games. Coach Crowley has the Seahawks off to a great start. His team leads the league in defense (23 points against) and point differential (+32).

I’d like to pass along a BIG THANKS to the Commish Tim Ervin and Anthony Tangorra. Between the two of them, they broadcast over SIX HOURS of live coverage of USFFL action. The USFFL hosted six games on Wednesday September 15th and you can catch some or all of each of them on the on YouTube. Check out the #usffl-broadcasts channel for links to the Megacast on YouTube. And don’t forget, you can log in to the live streamyard feed to watch the game with the hosts.

Game of the Week

The Chiefs showed patience on offense in the first half of this game, running the ball more than usual against a base set of Dime on defense by the Chargers. This blended offense worked pretty well, as the Chiefs would score touchdowns on 4 of their first 5 drives. In fact, the one drive that did not end in a touchdown in the first 5 drives, ended on 4th and 8 from the Chargers 37-yard line when Mecole Hardman came up one yard short of converting the first down. But all of this running shortened the game for the Chargers, and they were also moving the ball and keeping within striking distance. The Chiefs were up 14-3 with 9 min left in the 2nd. The Chiefs went up by 2 scores again just before halftime when Mahomes found tailback Clyde-Edwards Hellaire for a 21-yard TD pass with just 8 seconds left to put the Chiefs up 21-10 at halftime. But as I said, the game was moving slow with a pair of defenses being very guarded against the big play. The Chargers came out in the 2nd half and put up a big 17-play drive that drained 7:48 of the 3rd quarter and ended with a touchdown pass from Justin Hebert to Keenan Allen to cut the Chiefs lead to 21-16. But the Chiefs came right back with a drive of their own, a 19-play drive that took exactly NINE minutes off the clock and ended with a short TD pass to tight end Travis Kelce, his 2nd of the game. The Chiefs were now up two scores again, 28-16 with 13:12 left in the 4th quarter… that’s right, the first two drives of the 2nd half took us 1:48 INTO the 4th quarter. After a couple of failed possessions, the Chiefs punted the Chargers inside their 5-yard line with just 8 minutes left in the game and felt pretty confident still up 28-16. But just two plays later, Justin Hebert would hit Tyron Johnson on a flat pass that he would turn up field for a 94-yard catch and run to paydirt. The Chargers would score again on their next drive with a 2-yard TD pass to Hunter Henry, taking their first lead in this game, 31-28 with just 1:07 left to go. Mahomes would get a chance to tie it with 67 seconds left in the game, and he drove the team to a 52-yard FG attempt, which Harrison Butker nailed at the buzzer to send this one to OT. The deciding play in OT was as 4th and 5 for the Chargers from their own 25-yard line with just under 2 minutes left in OT. The Chargers elected to go for it rather than punt it back to Mahomes. The call was a short pass, but defensive tackle Chris Jones knifed through for his second sack of the game. A couple of plays later, Butker would hit the winning field goal for the dramatic 34-31 victory. The Chiefs are now 2-0 and travel to Baltimore for a date with the Ravens next week, while the 0-2 Chargers will host the Panthers.

Players of the Week

QB – Justin Herbert – 36 for 51, 361 yards and 4 TDs

Receivers – Jakeem Grant – 4 catches 78 yards and 3 Touchdowns. Grant also pulled in a 2-point conversion

RB – Derrick Henry – 287 yards on 29 carries. 2 TDs.

Have a great week 3 everyone!