USFFL XX: Week 8

We are at the halfway point in the USFFL’s 20th season. This week’s games included several very close matchups, and a few games where coaches were haunted by the old 2-12 randomizer rarely going their way. The week kicked off with a 2-4 Cleveland team facing the mighty Patriots. Tom Veltry had his Browns up 21-10 halfway through the 4th quarter before Brady got the magic touch. Denis Ljung led the Patriots on two scoring drives in the last 8 minutes, including a TD toss from Brady to Edelman in double coverage for the go-ahead score as time expired. 22-21 New England. on Tuesday, Scott Mueller brought his 2-5 Packers against Tim Ervin’s Chiefs – and the Pack prevailed 33-32. You can read more about this game in the Game of the Week section.

In the unlucky dice department Matt Lasalle’s Chargers couldn’t catch a break against Mike Martin’s Bears. With 4:30 to go in the 3rd quarter, the Chargers narrowed the score to 21-10 on a Melvin Gordon linebuck, only to have Chicago roll a 2 on the ensuing kickoff return for a touchdown and a 28-10 lead. Both teams appeared to be snake-bit when Dennis Crowley’s Seahawks flew to Atlanta to take on Anthony Tangorra’s Falcons. The Falcons coughed up the ball twice in Seattle territory, and were penalized 8 times. Not to be outdone, Seattle QB Russel Wilson was sacked 9-times, and the Seahawks were penalized 18 times for 145 yards. The dice were so bad in the Minnesota – Washington game, that all coach Vince Trivelpiece could say was “Rough dice and refs for Washington” as the Viking defeated the Football Team 31-6.

I’d also like to give a special shout-out to Jeff Wendlandt for his British-inspired write-up of the Bengals-Rams game that took place in Wembley Stadium. If you didn’t read Jeff’s write-up take a look on slack – good humor and a great game description.

Standings Roundup

This week’s division winners remained mostly the same and here’s where we sit at the halfway point in the season.

AFC

East – Patriots – 5 game lead over Bills and Jets
North – Ravens – 1/2 game lead over Bengals
South – Titans – 2 game lead over Texans and Jaguars
West – Chiefs – 1/2 game lead over Raiders

NFC

East – Dallas – 1/2 game lead over Eagles
North – Bears – 1/2 game lead over Vikings
South – Falcons – 1 game lead ove Saints
West – 49ers – 1 1/2 game lead over Seahawks

Mid-Year Review

In addition to paying tribute to the Division leaders at the halfway point, we’ll also take a look at how teams are performing in the USFFL as compared to how their NFL counterpart fared through the first 8 weeks of the season. As seen in the table below, some coaches are way outperforming their NFL counterparts. An especially big shout out to Anthony Tangorra and to Jeff Wendlandt. Both coaches have their Falcons and Bengals at +5 wins compared to their NFL dopplegangers. Great job guys!

TeamActual WinsUSFFL WinsComparison
Atlanta165
Cincinnati055
Denver253
Oakland352
Tampa Bay242
Washington132
Kansas City561
Dallas451
Philadelphia451
Tennessee451
Chicago341
New York Jets121
Arizona3.540.5
Baltimore550
Los Angeles Chargers330
Cleveland220
New York Giants220
Miami000
Detroit3.53-0.5
New England87-1
San Francisco76-1
Seattle65-1
Jacksonville43-1
Pittsburgh32-1
New Orleans75-2
Minnesota64-2
Houston53-2
Los Angeles Rams53-2
Carolina42-2
Buffalo52-3
Indianapolis52-3
Green Bay73-4

Game of the Week

Packers come in 2-5, with some poor coaching and cold dice to blame. Chiefs war machine is humming at 6-1 with Mahomes pitching for over 30 TD’s and the team on pace to score something approaching 600 points. So easy Chiefs win right?
Packers absolutely dominate the first half and go into the break up 30-10. All the stats decidedly one sided, yards 338-129. TOP 21 minutes to 9. Green Bay was aggressive on offense going for it 5 times on fourth down and converting 4 of the 5, several times deep in their own territory. But the thought was you have to outscore KC to have any chance. Rodgers ran one in and tossed two more including a 34 yard deep ball to Adams with just :08 remaining.
The Packers also get a safety late in the second quarter when Preston Smith nails Mahomes in the end zone. Interesting side note and something I’ve not seen before. The Chiefs hit the free kick 60 yards and when the Packers returner inexplicably lets the ball bounce, it ends up at the 1 yard line following the free kick.
Needless to say the cold dice from the first seven games heated up tremendously as Green Bay was rolling and Coach Tim couldn’t buy a break.
But football is 60 minutes long…
Chiefs come out in the second half and score on the opening drive using for them a strange thing (for them) called ball control offense. Fourteen plays and 6 minutes later they score to cut the lead. A missed XP only cuts it to 30-16 but plenty of time remaining for this offense. Green Bay’s ensuing drive looks a lot like the first half until it stalls inside the 10 yard line. But the Crosby kick makes it a three score game again at 33-16 with 3 min remaining in the third.
Did I mention the Chiefs can score quickly? Mahomes throws deep to Hardman on the first play and hits the LG roll on his QB card. Snake eyes on the LG roll equals an automatic 80 yard TD and the Chiefs make it 33-23 in the blink of an eye. The next drive is a total train wreck for Green Bay. Botched KR, penalties, two negative yardage plays without a sack AND MOST IMPORTANTLY AN INJURY to Aaron Rodgers on a handoff! The quick three and out has Green Bay punting from their own 3 yard line and Tim Boyle in for the remainder of the game.
Kansas City gets the ball at the GB 38 yard line to start this drive, trailing by 10 with a quarter to go and now seeing Mahomes paired up against Boyle for the final 15 plus minutes. The Packers defense steps up, holding KC to a 4th and 2 from the GB 30 and Butker heads out for a FG to make it a one score game. The kick is true but there’s an accepted holding penalty pushing them back to the 40 and facing 4th and 12. The Chiefs pass on punting and Za’Darius Smith is able to sack Mahomes on the deep pass attempt as GB takes over on downs just inside KC territory.
Not surprisingly the Boyle led Packers do nothing on offense, but are able to pin KC down inside their 10 yard line. No worries for Mahomes, he hits Hill for 35 and Hardman for 50 on the next two plays. The Chiefs run it twice and punch it in. But… In a critical play they miss a second XP. It’s still a TD lead of 33-29 after Butker’s miss.
Green Bay is able to muster one first down on their next possession, a 23 yard run by Aaron Jones but otherwise do nothing again on offense and punt it back to KC. With just over 8 min to go KC has the ball at their own 29 trailing by four.
Key play on 3rd and 10 Mahomes connects with Robinson on a 39 yard LG on the defensive card 3MIZ. This gives them a first down at the GB 22 yard line. A clipping call on the next play pushes them back and a couple runs give them a manageable 3rd and 14 (for Mahomes at least). But the Packers correctly double team Kelce on the critical down and the Chiefs bring out the FG unit. The kick is true and it’s a one point game with 4:48 remaining to play, 33-32 Packers.
Green Bay gets another bad KR starting deep in their end. But Boyle connects on a couple flat passes and one short pass to Adams to gain a pair of first downs. At the two minute warning the Packers face a 2nd and 20 following a holding call on the previous play. Aaron Jones comes thru with the play of the game gashing thru an off tackle for +28 on a boxcars roll. Tack on a meaningless KC personal foul call and the Packers get a first down deep inside KC territory. With the Chiefs out of timeouts, they’re able to ice the game with three kneel downs.
Crazy game, the first half one of those strat games where you scratch your head because literally every roll went GB’s game. The second half was a grind, particularly with a QB unable to effectively move the ball. This marks the second game this season Rodgers left early with an injury. GB wasn’t nearly as fortunate the first time.
Tim called himself out for the decision to go on the fourth down play vs. punting and pinning me deep. I don’t think it was a bad decision even though it was 4th and 12. Boyle was not a big threat to move the ball even from the middle of the field and Tim was still down two scores.
Great game to play, that KC team is a load and Tim knows how to pull the strings. Long review here but with only 3 wins at the halfway pole of a real life 13-3 team, I’ve had some pent up need to author a tome…
Green Bay 33 Kansas City 32

League Leaders

Quarterbacks

Derek Carr, Gardner Minshew, and Kirk Cousins each threw for 4 TD’s this week. Tom Brady led all passers on 35 of 48 passes for 397 yards.

Receivers

Miles Sanders had 10 receptions for 144 yards. John Brown led all receivers with 193 yards on only 7 receptions for a whopping 27 yard average. Darren Waller had 3 receiving TD’s.

Running Backs

It must be the NEW USFFL as only 1 RB managed 2 TD’s with Nick Chubb scoring twice in the ground game. Aaron Jones led all rushers with 163 yards. He was closely followed by Chris Carson with 161 on the ground.

Odds and Ends

Will Lutz and Matt Gay both scored 12 points with their legs. Miami’s Steven Parker had two picks, and Atlanta’s Vic Beasley led all defenders with 3 sacks.