AAF Week 1 Recap: A New Day Has Dawned
The Gridiron Eye will be covering the Alliance of American Football (AAF) in weekly recap on Mondays during the league's 12 week season, not too dissimilar from Who Fed It & Who Ate It during the NFL season, except all four games will be touched upon in this format.
The Alliance of American Football began play on February 9, 2019 with players and coaches continuing their careers in the sport & football fans curious as to what they would witness. Given the television ratings and attendance figures, it was an unqualified success. The big question going forward, obviously, is that this opening weekend surge has holding power and, more importantly, the ability to grow the audience, both at the gate and on TV. But for today, let's focus on the positive and take a quick gander at this weekend's action.
The San Antonio Commanders put in a strong defensive performance in front of a raucous Alamodome crowd in downing the San Diego Fleet, 15-6. Football has long been considered an unofficial religion in the state of Texas, and this past Saturday, church was held in the Alamo City, with 27,857 strong to cheer on the Commanders as they would open their existence by winning with defense. San Antonio's D collected six QB sacks and three interceptions to completely stymie the Fleet offense, who were left scrambling at quarterback (no pun intended). Like many of the offenses in the AAF, the Commanders will more than likely improve as they continue to practice and play together. But if their defense can play like they did this week, they will be in the Western Conference playoff conversation. As for the Fleet, head coach Mike Martz has his work cut out for him. Losing projected starting quarterback Josh Johnson to the Washington Redskins put San Diego in a spot, as both of their current signal callers will be learning on the job, appropriate for a developmental league, but rough in the competitive nature of a sport federation. The good news for the Fleet is that all the teams will have places that will be projects, so all will not be lost in this inaugural season.
The Orlando Apollos put up an offensive clinic against the Atlanta Legends, with a 40-6 win that showed a stark contrast of the coaching staffs. Orlando head coach Steve Spurrier may be 73 years old and coming off a three year layoff from patrolling the sidelines, but his Apollos looked as crisp and effective as any team could after a month and a half of practicing together. On the other side, the Legends are already in turmoil thanks to sudden departures of head coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Michael Vick before the start of the season. New head coach Kevin Coyle is now trying to put the pieces together on the fly. Because of the rest of the league set at novice mode, the Legends could catch up, but coaching instability can wreck NFL locker rooms that profess to have largely rosters that are set. We'll see if Atlanta can pull the nose of the plane up.
The Birmingham Iron posted the AAF's first shutout in blanking the Memphis Express, 26-0. With the teams on Saturday showing some struggles on the offensive side of the ball, it did leave one to wonder if a team could get a goose egg hung on them. Unfortunately for the Express, they were the ones who were shut out at Legion Field. The Iron, on the other hand, put up a team effort. The defense snagged three takeaways, wide receiver Quinton Patton 107 yards on 4 receptions, and running back Trent Richardson punched in two goal line touchdowns. The Express will need to go back to the drawing board, as QB Christian Hackenberg put up putrid numbers and had problems defensively. We'll find out if this was just a bad day... or a bad team.
The Arizona Hotshots used a 16-0 third quarter to power past the Salt Lake Stallions 38-22 in the weekend's most entertaining game. The NFL Network will be televising AAF games on Sunday night (8pm EST/EDT when applicable) throughout the campaign. And if that "primetime" slot motivates teams to play like the Stallions and Hotshots did, then good football is here to stay. These teams traded scores in the first half, with Arizona going into halftime with a 19-16 lead. But the Hotshots scored two touchdowns and two 2 point conversions (no point after touchdown kicks allowed) to pull ahead of Salt Lake for good. Arizona quarterback John Wolford had a great game: 18 of 29 for 275 yards and 4 TD's, giving him a 132.9 NFL passer rating, a strong outing regardless of the level of competition. The 'Shots used a form of no huddle on offense, which would keep the Stallions defense off balance. But Salt Lake showed that they were ready to play, as both their quarterbacks were able to attack Arizona's secondary. Yes, Salt Lake lost, but they also showed more effectiveness in a losing effort than all other road teams (yup, all home teams won). If both teams continue to play like that, and San Antonio continues to be dominant on defense, then the Western Conference will be really interesting to follow. But we'll see if that holds going forward.
