USFL Mid-Season Review, Talking w/ Luis Aguilar & more | USFL Podcast #57 - The UFL Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
We're at the halfway point of theUSFL season and Zach and I are here
to talk about it. The Rep'sgot a new look. We're preview in
week six with picks all that morecoming up next on the USFL Podcast.
One Killed three Wow. Welcome backeverybody to another amazing edition of the USFL

(00:47):
Podcast. I'm the REP representing USFLNewsroom, the leaders in USFL News,
and boy, oh boy, ohboy, oh boy, we got a
big week for you. I'm tellingyou, Zach, it's a good week.
It's a great week. And I'mtelling you, I'm telling you,

(01:07):
I'm telling you I'm not a brokenrecord, but it might be the best
week ever. But before we goany further, I'm joined as always by
my man, Zach Coleman. Howyou doing today? In studio? Being
promised that I'm going to see somethingthat is not that is not the same

(01:29):
as what I usually get, som obviously the teaser I'm holding out.
I'm I'm I'm given in a shot. But I'm telling you, I came
into this show not expecting anything ofthis new look ref that I better be
seeing pretty soon. Oh We're gettingthere. We just have some houses because
I need some joy in my life. I hope this isn't some some some

(01:51):
deal with the Panthers. I'm justgonna keep on sinking down to a spiral.
No, no, no, no, this is only good news,
good news for everybody involved. Wejust have a couple of housekeeping items to
get through. And I mean,let's start where everything starts. Social media.
What the hell are you doing ifyou're not following us at USFL podcast,

(02:15):
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Weeven got that TikTok, baby,
And I'm telling you I'm working onthat Summer Stock dance and talking about Summer
Stock June thirty at July first,come and join us down and get know
how for the USFL Championship. Baby. Day one, we're doing a group
tour of the Pro Football Hall ofFame. We're gonna have that flag.

(02:36):
We're gonna be prepared. We're notlosing the crowd this time around. But
Day two, come and join uslive for a tailgate before the biggest game
of the year. And I'm gonnamake a little We're gonna make I think
some predictions in our mid season reviewcoming up on that. But I'll tell
you what, when you come outto Summer stock. You probably want some
fresh new gear. Well, Igot some good news for you. Head

(02:59):
over to break int dot com slashUSFL newsroom or just simply use code USFL
newsroom for ten percent off your order. And we got a new gamblers gear
up in there this week in markwe trust. If you want that and
will in any of any of thethem you got them, you get signed
up, you save ten percent,and it hooks us up a little bit.

(03:20):
And I'm gonna end it off ontwo things for all our audio listeners.
First, you're missing out today.We haven't gotten to the new look
yet, but you're gonna miss out, so make sure you check out on
social media because I'm sure we'll getthere. But if you're listening on the
audio, here's what I needed todo. I need to take a second
pause maybe and go and review thepodcast. We have so many damn people
that listen to the podcast, andI never ask for a just a pity

(03:43):
little review. Sign us up,get get you know, get in where
you fit in, drop a review, and then we'll end it with this.
If you're on the video version,the preferred version, the full package
version in full color, here's whatI need to do. Click the subscribe
button, click the bell. Itbuilds morrell. And I know some fan
Zachy boy that needs some morrel thisweek, and I'm gonna start it off.

(04:09):
I'm gonna get right into it.You know, Zach, I've had
I mentioned this. I think itwas Monday, early early Monday. I
said, look, folks, I'mdebuting a brand new look, no REF
shirt. I got so many dms, I got so many questions, I
got so many people on the discordask me, ref, what are you

(04:29):
doing? What's the new look?Where are you heading? I mean,
but before we get into it,let's let's just use this as a time
to reflect, a time to reflect, Zach. Over or at least nearly
twenty years, I've been wearing thisREF shirt, holding it on my back,
putting in the work of a ref, trying to make a name for

(04:54):
the refs, show that not allrefs are the bad guy. And you
know what, it did work outtoo great for me, Zach. So
I have a new look, andyou know what, I might even debut
a new name. We'll debate thathere in a second. So let's just
do a little countdown, three,two, one, that's right, baby,
I'm the world's number one Panthers fan. You know why, Zach.

(05:16):
Ever since I put my trust behindyour Michigan team, there's been a little
team down South going all in,all in, baby, I'm telling you
what I'm feeling. Panthers blood isgoing through my veins. Let's hunt,
baby. And if you can't see, Zach, this is this is one
of a kind hat right here,number one Panthers fan, here to represent

(05:42):
my Panther's crew with my buddy,the number two Panthers fan, Zach.
And but this is you know what, Zach, this is our week.
This is our week, the Panthers. We're mulling this week. We're scratching
away at the competition. Okay.And because the more I root for these
Panthers, oh man, all indoubt, South, the best thing that

(06:04):
could ever happen to me and mysanity as a Gamblers fan was to start
rooting for the Panthers. I mean, even last week. I don't know
if you remember this. Now,I will say I don't really like the
fit of this as much as Ido the ref shirt. Now. It
is comfy, it does feel good, and I'm feeling like, I mean,

(06:26):
we're not going to get to thepicks Jess yet. But I think
everybody knows who I'm going for thisweek, guys, now that I'm honest,
thoughts, what do you think?Is this as unique maybe as the
ref? Or what are you thinking? Should Ann Should I change my name
from the ref to the Panther?Because I might? I am. I
am sure you're going from from Michiganthis week, my friend. But I

(06:49):
have one response for you. Ohno, oh no, no oh no,
did you I think you knew whereI was going with this. I
don't so, folks. This justso everybody knows, this was not planned.
This was not a planned and Ididn't expect a retort or a reverse

(07:10):
curse. Now I will say thereverse curse is tended. It's not really
worked with me. But let's seewhat kind of reverse cursed you have?
Reverse curse? Reverse curses me havingto buy gamblers gear. But that just
seems wrong. Oh oh oh,that was you were just leaving the show.
I was waiting for you to comeback with a new fit. I

(07:32):
get it. Hell no, Iwas just well, sorry, guys,
you're going too far, That's whatI was telling you. Whoosh right over
my head. You know what maybethat's the reverse curse that I needed.
But Zach, I don't know,Man, I don't know. Let me,
let me, let me just runthrough the scores this week, and
we're gonna jump into the action.I mean, first things first. Kicking

(07:55):
things off this weekend, we hadthe Maulers traveling to Ford Field take on
the Panthers. The Panthers, youknow what. They started it out hot,
but that was enough, that wasall that they had. They went
out twenty three to seven at home, three in a row. Moving up
next, a pretty good game.This weekend, we had the Houston Gamblers
taken on the Birmingham Stallions without KenjiBihar and going far so far to take

(08:20):
another w twenty seven to twenty againstthe Stallions. Day two kicked off with
the Generals and the Stars, andboy, oh boy, was it a
day for kickers and breaking records,with the Stars coming out on top twenty
four twenty one. And rounding thingsout was the show Boats doing what nobody
thought they could do, taking downthe last undefeated team in the league seventeen

(08:43):
to ten. So let's start itoff here, Zach. Many have said
this was the week of upsets,the week of surprises the week of the
Unknown. But I don't agree.I don't agree now I was wrong with
my pick with the show Boats.I will say this, not that it
counts not I'm not that it countslock you for that. Before the game

(09:09):
started, I changed my pick ondiscord. Not that it counts here,
not that it counts here. Iknew it. I knew it. My
I'm so in tuned with the leagueright now. Look at me, fan
of the best team in the league, Michigan Panthers. Let's hunt all day,
all night. I mean, asa fellow Panthers fan, how did

(09:31):
you feel about the game, theopening game of the weekend where the Panthers
lost twenty d to seven and FordField. I mean, I'll buy you
dinner so you can stop this charade? Is what is? How far I
will I will go at this pointso I can stop seeing a three plus
game losing streak, a homestand fromhell continue. Because I don't understand how

(09:56):
this sofense has regressed so poorly insuch a short time, unless coaching has
failed on that end, It's thatsimple. Teams must have figured this out
as soon as Week three and havecontinued to pummel the Panthers with the exact
same style. Because how does JoshLove regress from having two solid, too
excellent games and then all of asudden is becoming a clay mold of nothing

(10:22):
out on the field. I don'tunderstand it. Carson Strong got harassed for
four sacks, he's out. Yougot Eric Berrier coming up, which,
hey, I'm with some people.I want to see him play because at
this point I think anything is onthe table. They did, of course,
being Brian lew work from the formerMichigan State player, the former TSL
quarterback on this week because they neededit. Because the fact that Strong's on

(10:45):
ir because he took such a beatingover the last week against the Mallors.
You gotta do something else. Youcan't do run first, because the thing
is teams are keying in on therun. The deal is you got to
find something in the past game.It's gonna get hard because Ishmael Himan just
got knocked out as well being inactive, they's gonna have some gut punches defensively.

(11:07):
I don't know what else you dois Michigan, because they did everything
right in terms of keeping up withPittsburgh, and yet here we still are
sad thing right there? You know, you don't sound very much like a
Panther's fan, Zach. Now,let me give you the full Panthers perspective.
If you're okay, But here's thething you as a Panther's fit,
you're gonna be positive about this game? Is that how far we gotta go

(11:28):
down? Well? Here, youknow, here's the thing, Zach,
this is the curse that follows mearound. I really don't like the way
that this fits me. You know, I guess this is the curse on
me is bad fashion. I lookedlike I got like jumbo arms over here.
Anyway, you guys, the Panthers, they started out hot. They
came out that first drive they werelooking pretty I think that's what they need

(11:50):
to focus on here. Whatever theydid in that drive, focus on that.
Now. The good news is,Zach, now that I'm on your
side, only good things are goingto happen to your team. We've seen
that ever since I started following thePanthers two weeks ago, what three weeks
ago, They've been doing amazing Andso I think that you're fine. I'll

(12:11):
just leave it at that. Butthe Maulers Let's give the Maulers some credit
here. I mean, can wetake a moment to give the damn Maullers
some credit because I think there's alot there's a lot of focus on,
oh my god, the Panthers arefalling apart, but there should be more
focus on, boy oh boy,the Maulers are becoming a scary team to

(12:31):
play because in the beginning part ofthe season we knew they're gonna come at
you from a defensive angle and sometimesthere's not a lot you can do well
if they can come at you withthe offense. Now, I mean,
you know, as we've learned fromthis weekend, and we'll get into this
more with the mid season review twoand three. Across the board in the

(12:52):
North, this is anybody's game now. We all know that the Panthers are
gonna make it. They're gonna sweepthe rest of the season. Along with
my Gameler's all in Zach, Soyou only get one that can sweep.
This is what's killing you. You'resaying too, we're gonna do it.
That's why this is a reverse andalready we already played once. We could
both sweep the rest of this season. No, no, no, we

(13:13):
can. We are, Zach,we are. You See what you're doing
is you're activating what I am usedto in Chicago, which is being pessimistic.
No, no, I'm waiting foryou. I'm a Michigander. I'm
you know. I had a hardchoice when we started this show. I
said, well, Zach, youalready picked the Panthers. I'll pick the
gamblers. I'll go all in.But I'm a realist, my friend.

(13:35):
I see when things are going south, there is no no blind optimism.
You will not find this here inmy cold dead heart. When I know
a team is falling down the rabbithole, this is a realist. You
haven't been a Detroit football fan longenough, then, Zach, I've been
a Chicago Bears fan. It's halfa step above above. I don't know

(13:56):
about all that. Hey, Hey, I wasn't born in the eighties,
won the seventies. I don't knowwhat a championship feels like except for one
go over a year and I waseleven then. Zech. That's it,
Zach. The damn Lions have wonone playoff game in my entire life.
I don't want to hear it.That's why I said it's a half a
step. We've only won a fewmore playoff games than you, my friend.

(14:16):
I know, Wow, this isgoing downhill. But the thing is
you gotta do anything you can tofix the problem, which is the passing
game. That's it, because teamsare just queuing into the run game and
just basically saying daring you to throw, and you're watching basically optimistic drives.
If I get a turnover inside myopponents thirty, I should be scoring.

(14:37):
If I have someone that's throwing apick and it gets run back for seventy
three yards, that's abysmal. IfI have another interception go my way and
it's on basically my side of thefifty, within the forty and forty five,
I should be expected to score.That should happen. That defense should
be pissed off as hell at thefact that that offense was so horrible that

(14:58):
I wish it was like the eightyfive Bears, where both sides would get
into fights of practice and actively wantto get at each other's throats for not
performing because it's that bad. Thisis me talking as a fan round You
want me to get angry, I'mgetting angry right now. There's no optimism
here. We ain't doing that.I think the pat we're gonna be just
fine. I think they're gonna bejust fine. Now, I don't know,

(15:20):
Maybe this will put put you ina better mood. Let's move on
to the later game that day.Now, there was some i'll say,
unjust controversy Houston Gamblers taken on theBirmingham Stallions. Both teams a little beaten
down, broken down, battered,beaten up, a little bit of everything.

(15:41):
Gamblers. I mean, you knowwhat I wanted to I wanted to
strangle a couple of people through theTV at the end when they went for
two. So what what what areyou doing? Guys? What do you
don't don't give me flashbacks, don'tgive me that PTSD from last year of
just making one little her mistake atthe end that ends up biting you.

(16:02):
But you know what, they gotit done, and they got it done
without Kenji Bihar. Now I'll tellyou this, Zach, I had two
choices, two choices on my newlook. This one I felt was right
because we all know the Michigan Panthersthey're gonna sweep the restless season along with
the Gamblers. But the other,the other look and feel the other identity

(16:23):
if you will, that I wasgonna go for is possibly the million dollar
man, because I don't know ifyou saw the check, Zach. I
posted it on social media last week. You know, screw the stallions.
Put that baby in the memo signme up? The check cleared. You
can deal with me being on theopposite side of you as one person,
but you really don't want to don'twant to poke the bear. Oh on,

(16:47):
what was a discussion of referee man? We are partying with Topo Chico
this week. Sign us up.Maybe that's another reason I had to change
my gimmick, Zach. You knowthe other refs is said, hey,
you know what, everyone's natural instinctis going to be that ref dude online
that you know, grease the wheelif you will. And so I said,

(17:07):
no, don't worry. I gotyour cover. But I was think
a million dollars man. The problemwas I have no money left after all
the money that may have gone tosomebody else. But let's be honest here,
let's no more joking around. Therewas no funny play in that game.
The gamblers are just better. Thegamblers are going all in. I

(17:29):
said it last week. I saidit the week before, and I said
it the week before that, Zach, all in, we're sweeping the rest
of the season. I mean,you might as well get used to this
phrase right here, Gamblers win.All in, We're getting signed up and
this is just the beginning. AndI'm gonna see you in Canton, Ohio

(17:52):
along with the Panthers. The Panthersand the Gamblers. The ref can do
no wrong. Now, Zach,what are your thoughts time this game?
I know you have no You're youknow, maybe probably closer tied to the
Stallions than the Gamblers just because ofthe tailgate groups and our time in Birmingham.
What did you see in this game? Are you excited for Gamblers fans

(18:15):
or are you worried for Stallions fans? I mean, I'm more excited.
I think I'm more excited for Gamblersfans. But I will put an asterisk
on this game not because of thereferee reaserficiating. I'm gonna I have a
firm stance that that I thought wascalled correctly throughout the fourth quarter, because

(18:36):
if you watch that fourth quarter thoroughly, there are a lot of mental errors.
Honestly, Birmingham imploded. It wasa complete meltdown. I'll after you
had that beautiful fifty one yard touchdownpass from Terry Wilson to Antony Rathliff Wlims,
which was a touchdown catch. Bythe way, I will stand with
Mike Prayers ruling on that the restwas of meltdown endless penalties for at least

(19:00):
last two and a half drives thatyou were given on both sides. Unt
I don't get the understanding on someof the cheap calls. Yes, the
Gamblers had zero penalties. There wasa missed PI. We're just that good,
Zach, We're just that flipping goodall in. I mean thanks,
you're doing my job for me today, Zach. Thank you. I call
it discipline, and I also tocall a few a few times you can

(19:22):
get away with Sometimes the ref doesn'tsee everything. If you want me to
be honest, A referee can callI can throw a flag on any play
that has been like a underwritten rulingof any type of officiating. But the
thing is is that Houston played adiscipline game. I thought Birmingham defensively had
Houston in a few situations in thefourth quarter that with a few at least

(19:45):
more situationally aware defensive backs not havingto draw PI calls, you probably avoid
going down twenty to thirteen. Thenyou're ensuing drive. This is what kills
me. And this is why Ican't fully like, I don't even support
why some people are saying this isa rig game, because here's the deal.
You have the ball in your possession. Even if you want to discuss

(20:08):
about the fourth and four call,that are the third down and four call
that misses a PI. Okay,fair, you know what that should have
been called. Here's what happens yournext two plays, and this is this
is what kills me, because theystill had the ball, was still in
their court. Picture this, here'sthe scenario. Three timeout. It's minute
forty nine on the clock. Youjust got outside the two minute warning.

(20:29):
Okay you it's fourth and four.All right, nice, I'm going for
it, and I'm at my kenif I'm double remembering this right there,
my own thirty two and that's thefirst that's the first red flag. Wait
a minute, why are we goingfor it this deep in my own territory?
That's insane. First off, ifyou're a fan talking about that,
that's insane. But you know whathappens. They converted one problem. That's

(20:52):
one of the most blatant offensive PIcalls I have ever seen, and I'm
talking like bad in terms of howobvious it was. There was no attempt
to pretend it was a pick.There was no attempt to pretend that that
was anything else but Michael Petway runninginto a dB to get an intentional block
before the ball was thrown. Itwas that bad. Even if you want

(21:14):
to argue with me about having amissed PI, the next play, you
had redemption and you let it go, and then you proceed to go for
it on fourth and fourteen. That'sjust dumb play calling. And I don't
usually call out skip polts for stufflike this, but why are you stuck
in your head going for it inthis situation with three timeouts and your defense

(21:37):
up until recently, up until PIcalls, up until one perfectly placed fifty
one yard pass has been playing apretty damn good game today, and you
decide to piss it away by goingforward on fourth and fourteen. That's on
you, that's not on the officials. I don't get that argument because that's
basically a coaching decision. That ishow bad that was, and then go

(22:00):
down score TV and then what happensis you proceed to forget. You have
three timeouts on your next drive thatyou get all the way down twenty eight
seconds, twenty eight seconds you callyour first time out. That is ridiculously
bad for time management. It wasa complete meltdown. The officiating is a
massive scapegoat to try and avoid theobvious. It was a meltdown. The

(22:21):
Stallion screwed up in all phases onthe fourth quarter that day. They had
a win in their hands and theydecided to blow it up by not getting
a little more discipline and thinking alittle bit. Emotions got in the way.
I will definitely skip holds. Ithink definitely got effected by emotions on
Sunday on Saturday and he just gotchill out. That's the thing I get.

(22:42):
There were no calls. That's frustratingwhen there's some calls that are missed.
But the deal is you still hadthe ball in your court and you
let it slip out of your hands. Your players did, and your decision
making did. There's no one elseto blame about yourself. Now, some
people might rather leave a comment inthat, but I thought it was of
ridiculous that someone said it was rigged. It's not. It's not rigged.

(23:03):
That was bad play calling, adecision making to end that game. I
like, I like when people sayit's rigged. It makes me feel better
and it makes me it. Itdoes it does because I'm like, no,
it ain't rigged. You're coping,You're coping hard. What did I
say last week? Big mad,big mad? And now bigger matter,

(23:23):
bigger matter. I mean, we'llhave to we'll see, we'll get to
we'll get to our picks later andwhat I have to say on that one.
But I mean big mad, bigmad people, big mad at me
people. You know, I gotthe messages. I got threat zack threats,
I received threats. Not really nobodywants. Nobody's got. Everybody loves

(23:48):
the raff. I mean the panther. Now let's hun, let's go,
let's hunt. My claw sign usup. So I mean, big day
for the gamblers, big mad dayfor the Stallions fans. I mean I
still wouldn't be worried if I wasa Stallions fan other than I mean,
there is a lot of injuries there. There is a lot of injuries going

(24:11):
out with the team. But Imean, you have plenty of time that.
I mean, everything's open wide.Everything is open wide. As we'll
discuss in our mid season review.That the first Sunday game, Zach boy,
oh boy, what a showcase forkickers. I mean, sign it
up, a showcase for kickers,generals and stars. Stars, pulled it

(24:36):
out, pulled it out against thegenerals. I don't think a lot of
people had that one picked. Idon't think either of us did twenty four
to twenty one exclusively, one manalone, Louise Aguilar. Let's let's just
one record breaking moment here, eightfor eight on the day. Here's here
the ranges twenty two, forty two, fifty six, thirty six, twenty

(25:00):
seven, fifty one, forty nineand a fifty five yard game winner.
This game almost went to overtime.Three hundred and thirty eight combined field gold
yardage yards of all of his fieldgoals three hundred and thirty eight yards,
new all time pro football record.My god, sign him up, Sign

(25:22):
this dude up. And after thiswe're after we go through the rest of
week five. Here you'll we havemister Aguilar on the show with us.
Zach, you caught up with them. I've not even had a chance to
listen to the interview yet, sowe're gonna listen to it. I'll be
listening with you fans, with youfans. But boy, oh boy,
what a game. The other,the other note that I have about this

(25:47):
game here, and this I wouldsay is a little concerning for generals fans.
It just was not Darius Victor's day. I mean, every time it
looked like he was gonna have aredem shouldn't drive and he was carrying it
and you could tell the coach wasgiven it to him, say look,
go out there, fix that mistake. Get the touchdown, because this is

(26:07):
a closed game, right even oneby three, but it was almost overtime,
and even right at the end ofthe game, Dari's Victor right by
the goal line boom drops it again. It I feel bad for the dude.
This was just this was just ananomaly of a game though. I
mean, when's the last time you'veseen a team when exclusively from a kicker,

(26:33):
and I mean convincingly it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen often. I
mean, I honestly thought this wasone of the best days that the Stars
had offensively in some time. Andyou know they did a lot of things
that I was hoping that they wouldadjust. Now credit still a few too
many instances where they left case cookUs on an island and hope to God
that the line was gonna settle thingsdown, because Jersey did fea New Jersey

(26:55):
feasted at times. They got theirshare of sacks and pressure. But one
thing that I gotta give credit tothe stars. They were focusing more on
getting the ball out of Kukus hishands and delivering on time and in a
timely manner. They got the rungame going a little bit more than usual,
which was a good sign. They'reone of the worst. They're the
worst. They are the worst runteam in the in the USFL. There's

(27:15):
no shut going that so they neededthat. But I mean, if anything,
I think this really comes down alot more besides the field goals.
I think that's a bigger deal.You have a hell of a kicker in
a league that has amazing kickers throughouta lot of its rosters. But I
think the generals just have to lookat themselves in the mirror and go what
the hell just happened? Because Imean they I think that you look at

(27:40):
a lot of this momentum, theStars defense stepped up tremendously. Most of
this affair stands. Of course,the final TD drive Kyle Aletta coming in,
I think that muddies some things.I know that Johnson you can say
is the more athletic natured QB.But now we're in the same situation as
last year, where which one doyou want? Do you want the more
athletically gifted quarterback or do you wantthe one that's more pass pro and more

(28:03):
accurate with the stories, because itdefinitely felt like Lauletta was more in command
of the pass offense than Johnson.First, I've been all season other than
that first drive he jumped in becausehe got picked off. I mean he
did get picked off. I meanthat was a big blow for the Generals.
Now, so from what I understandis DeAndre Johnson was out on the
sidelines because he adds the funny pebblesday. The thing of the game,

(28:26):
pebbles, right, whether it's atouchdown or whatever it is, the pebbles
matter. Well, one of thosegot in DeAndre Johnson's eyes. He has
to come out. You put lawLetta in first drive, throws a pick.
But like you mentioned, Zach everysubsequent drive. I mean, he
looked, he looked a lot betternow. Was he able to get the
job done? Was he able toget the win now? But I mean

(28:48):
it's it's a tough job to comein mid game. I mean, yeah,
he didn't get the job done.The pick doesn't help. Yeah,
defensively they held him to a fieldgoal. What really should be getting I
mean, if you're looking at NewJersey, you're kicking yourself for is we
could have had this in the bagif we have a better if we do
just a better job on a kickreturn, you know. I mean the
USFL they released a clip on theinside the drive because it was a game

(29:11):
winning field goal. But you lookat the drive. You know what the
drive was. It was a reallydamn good return with one run that goes
for about five yards. They calla time out kick a fifty five yard
or and that's the game winner.And I'm not knocking the drive for it,
but like that just shows you onecritical error in a day of errors
that was endless for the Generals.The two fumbles, the two fumbles for

(29:32):
Victor just brutal, and that that'sa damn shame because one of those was
inside the ten, going for theend zone, he gets it popped out
of his hands and just gets grabbedout, just basically is grabbed in the
end zone. That's it. It'sone of those days you just don't know
how to come back from it,or you have to gut it out and
hope to God that you make justenough to win. And they looked like

(29:53):
they were going to ot. Ithought this was going too because the fact
we were already seven field goals.I was saying, one of these is
gonna miss. There's no way hehits eight. You know, you're alway
at five. And I was like, okay, this is kind of getting
crazy. We have three times inthe year doing this. And then he
hit six, like oh crap.And then he hit seven. It's like,
come on eight, and I'm goingand I'm and everyone's the same way.

(30:15):
We're like, holy, oh mygod, this man must have broken
sure enough confirmed he tied a professionalrecord with with Rob broonis Over, who
was playing for the Tennessee Titans atthe time. Wild Day and if anything,
like I said, if you're inNew Jersey, you gotta kick yourself.
You probably had this game in thebag with a few less mistakes and

(30:37):
that's it. If you're Philadelphia,you're much like Bart Andrews when he was
talking in the post game. Inthe post game, I would say,
pep talk if you will. Everyone'stwo and three Season three starts right now.
You have to feel so damn goodthat you got that win and that
your other adversaries. Either you hadPittsburgh who had to play the best teams
and you get a chance to kindof line up with them, or you

(31:00):
get another shot at Michigan, youget another shot in New Jersey. You
feel like you're confident you can takeon New Jersey. Now anything's wide open,
you know. And they did thatfor themselves. That has a feel
good moment, New Jersey. That'sanother thing to kick yourselves on. They
had them dead to rights. Ifthey just comely and collectively play a discipline
game in Philadelphia cut by a thousandknives and it helps them develop their offense

(31:21):
more. Because I think Andrews forgotthat his line was not I think Andrews
didn't realize his line was still behindaccording to several other teams in the league.
And he's catching on again like lastyear where his play caller. His
play calling is going okay, let'sspeed some things up because I don't want
my quarterback to die. And nowwe have a legitimate shot at getting a
playoff birth or the division. Eventhough I don't feel it's confident about them,

(31:45):
they have a legitimate shot at thedivision. Now. I mean everybody
does right, and I mean deathby kicker, death by kicker. We
saw the Malers do that earlier inthe season against the Stars, funny enough,
and now we see the Stars,I mean coming out top the same
way. It just shows you thevalue of a good kicker. I mean
it can make or break. Theylegit won a game because Louis Aguilar,

(32:07):
And like I said, after thisnext recap, we're gonna go to that
interview. But before we do that, let's talk about a final game of
the weekend, arguably one of thebiggest upsets. We have the Showboats,
we have the breakers, breakers cominginto this game, the final undefeated team
leaving the leaving the game no longerundefeated, taking a loss. I mean,

(32:29):
I think everybody's shocked. I willsay I did change my pick on
the discord. I had to goin and say, look, I can
feel it in my blood. Everything'scoming up ref it's a showboats kind of
day. Now. It was aslow burner, if you will, seventeen
to ten. I still think wesaw good audible teams. But I don't

(32:51):
know, Zach, what are you? What are you seeing here? Showboats?
Are they about to be on therise? Flute game worried? I'm
not, I'll tell you this,I'm not worried. As a Breakers fan.
You gotta lose every now and then. But what are your thoughts on
this one? I think it atteststo how much we've seen Todd Haley adjust
and grow this Memphis Showboat's roster.I mean we're talking about some of the

(33:15):
adjustments were already showing up in theirWeek three matchup when they came from behind
against Houston and just couldn't pull thingsout. And that was a defense that
was the worst in the league ata time back in Week three. These
past two weeks, in credit lastweek, you could have kind of disregarded,
Oh, well, you know,it's the Panthers. They've been trending
downward anyway. But now this weekyou play against New Orleans, who has

(33:37):
been the best offense in the leagueby every statistical measure. Even after this
week they are still in every category, leading for yardage, for passing,
rushing, and receiving, and yetthey found a way to win. They
slowed down the breakers and I thinkwhat was amazing about it was, you
know, west Hills had his opportunities, but he was still stalled out so

(33:59):
he had to throw, which,of course you're thinking, Okay, MBT,
he's got all these weapons. That'sgreat, they're gonna throw. But
you know what they did well,they got pressure. They made Mike McLeod
Bethel Thompson uncomfortable every passing down theycould, and he got his moments.
You know, he still got toucheddown out of the deal. They still
were able to make some drives.But at the end of the day,
Memphis kept themselves in and they're inthe game bought time. They have an

(34:22):
offense that has been getting progressively bettereach week. Cole Kelly is the guy
and he's also the leader that isthe legitimate piece for this I think that's
what's been great. He has embracedthis fully. Every time you see him
on the sideline, he is jazzto be here. He believes in this
team fully. He was borderline aboutto cry on camera after they won that
game because he loves that team thatdamn much. That is a legitimate good

(34:45):
player and one that is in lovewith what he's doing right now and with
the guys he's with. And youknow what, that's a complete one eighty
from what Todd Haley was dealing withjust two weeks ago with Curtis Johnson.
You know, we thought he wasthe sourpuss coach of the year. And
they've changed things around for a newleaf, you know. And again,
they're only one game out of aplayoff seed right now, and they played

(35:05):
Houston to the wire their last matchup. They put they didn't play Birmingham as
great. This isn't the same teamanymore that lost forty two to two,
I think, But I think thatit's still to me, if I'm being
fully honest, I gotta give Memphisthe credit. I do partially lean on
this might be a fluke game becausethere's league's too good to have a perfect

(35:28):
record type of team. I'm sorry, this is not the same year's last
year where you're gonna have you know, Okay, once in a full moon,
this team wins like the Mallers andthen they just go down and out.
No, this league has so muchtalent spread around it. Now.
I fully believe that this was aflute game. For now, Memphis is
still legit. But I think NewOrleans just was not in the zone on

(35:52):
the day. I think next weekyou're going to see that coming full force
credit. You know, if Philadelphiaplayed well, I don't think they played
well backed back weeks against a betteroffense in New Orleans. So that's where
I landed. And not to mentionthat, you know, the show I
would say the Memphis, the Memphis. What am I saying? The Breakers
were controlling their destiny. It camedown to a really good drive from the

(36:15):
Showboats another another inside the drive fromthis week as well, got two of
them. I gotta give it toMemphis though, you know, fantastic effort,
but this was not New Orlean's besteffort. Is definitely an off week
for them, for sure. I'mlabeling it a little bit more on that
one. I'll say this though,what a difference two week two weeks makes.

(36:35):
Two weeks ago, we saw ToddHaley bicker in from between coach to
coach. This past weekend, Zach, you know, we saw we saw
a coach Haley Twerkin and thanks tothe USFL social team, they got to
put it out and put it onblast for everyone to enjoy. To sign
them up, No, man,sign them up. You know, shake

(36:55):
what your mama gave you. Youknow what they say, and they say
for a reason. But I wasnot throwing it back. That's not my
bingo card. Even know what,get the win. You can do whatever
you want, man, you coulddo whatever you want. I posted that
it was not my bingo card,or I put it for our account.
Someone replied, Burton the bingo car. I love it. I love it.

(37:17):
Overall fun, interesting week of theUSFL. It just shows you anything
can happen in the United States FootballLeague, or as we like to call
it, the Ultra Super Fun League. Get let's get signed up before we
get into our mid season review,which is just basically what we talked about,
plus some more with the whole yearso far to date. Zach,

(37:39):
how about you tell the guys whoyou met up with and let's let's go
into the interview of the week.Baby, Yeah, Interview of the week.
We're getting a little more common withthese, and you already hinted at
it a little bit. It's therecord holder himself. Now, Luis Aguilar,
we had a fantastic conversation about reallya lot of principles of I guess

(38:00):
the kicking game, just his experienceon the day, and also the fact
that you know, he was dealingwith a new polder. He's been rotating
a lot of holders that this seasonon. Devin Gray gets a lot of
credit for this effort, you willlearn in this interview. Take a listen
right now. Welcoming everyone into thelatest edition of the USFL podcast Player Interviews
series, bringing you the latest notonly from players, but of course from

(38:22):
personalities and also folks from around theUnited States Football League. Today, we
do have an interview, of coursewith a player, one that I would
say it's, you know, madehis mark on football history as of this
past week. I would say,was you could put as the leading reason
that the Philadelphia Stars are two andthree. He'll say otherwise, but I'll

(38:43):
put it out there that you know, when you put up twenty four points
on your own, you kind ofgot to get that recognition. He is
place kicker for the Philadelphia Stars.Les Haguilar himself joining on the show.
Luise, welcome to the program.Congrats on your historic weekend. Seriously eight
eight field goals that is uh.You know, like I said, we

(39:04):
had to start checking the check inthe history books once we got pasted like
six because I got curious. Igot curious to a third quarter. I'm
like, what pace are we onright now? That's hilarious? Yeah,
I uh, it was funny becauseI remember week one, I was one
of the kickers from New Orleans.The New Orleans kicker went five for five

(39:25):
and set the tone already here fora week. He went five for five
And how did the usfile record?I believe, And I was I was
like, I was like, holycow, Like yeah, like that's huge.
And then um, we kind ofstarted off slow and wasn't the game
any attempts and and then I waskind of like, it's so weird because

(39:51):
leading up to this week, Iwas kind of like manifesting it, like
let's what if we could just endhim getting a ton of fields. It's
just so weird. Oh, theuniverse is a mysterious play place. That
that is, uh, that isironic, though, I'll be honest with
you, it's funny you mentioned MattCoughlan. This is yours is the third

(40:12):
time this year that the kicking recordin the league in terms of the eighties.
Overall record for the USFL since Obsiderationexists existed has been either tied or
broken. Chris blew it Over inPittsburgh also tied Matt Copland's record, who
also tied Scarred Norward's record from ninefrom nineteen eighty three. And now you
have the eight. Um you did. I'd actually did read up. And

(40:36):
I know you've asked this by FoxNews, but I do want to ask
as well. During the game,was any of this kind of come into
your head, like, I mean, you gotta get at some point realize,
Okay, I'm kicking a lot offield goals here. Uh maybe maybe
maybe I'm I'm just in the zoneright now. Um. Yeah, So
I had known, like I've knownabout like the eight field goals in the

(41:00):
game, being like the record andlike I've known about it like like years
kicking like like like like you know, just you know, you know,
you're just no fun facts, right, yeah, and about it. But
in the game, Um, it'sso different in the game because like you
know, adrenaline's going and as akicker, you kind of, you know,

(41:20):
you kind of want to be arobot and be just a system kicker,
you know, just take it onekick out of time, trust your
snaphold kick and just let let itgo. So you're you're not really thinking
about the kick before, and you'renot thinking about the kick after. You're
thinking about the kick that's about tohappen. And so after every kick,
it's kind of like trying to justworry about the next kick. So like

(41:43):
whatever happened previously was like just it'sjust I'm just not in my I'm not
it's not in my head, youknow, right, And that's kind of
like the way I approached that wholegame and the web and trying to approach
the whole season so far. ThenI do that in practice, you know,
I've been doing it for years whereI kind of just tell myself one

(42:04):
for one, one for one afterevery kick definitely, Yeah, I always
go to the next one. Andconsistency. Obviously, this is a very
cutthroap position in any level of football. Um So, I mean, you
know, having having accuracy and havingthe ability to be able to say I'm
I'm an automatic three points every timeI step on the field. That that's
massive for yourself and I imagine foryour prospects if you are looking beyond the

(42:29):
league of the league here too.Not saying that's far ahead. You got
the season ahead of course, butyou know, we all think about it.
We all hope for the best ofplayers as they move up. But
that's great for film for yourself justsaying, well, I'm that guy that
kicked eate field goals in a game. I've been pretty consistent here. It's
a cutthroa biz, but I dohave that mark towards me. Yeah,

(42:51):
correct, I mean M being herein this you know, the USFL platform
that we have to continue to youknow, do what we love is huge.
Um. I told myself though comingin to this season, is I
want to be more present and kindof just enjoy it more because I know

(43:12):
last year I didn't enjoy it asmuch because I was so stressed and like
so like like like two like Iguess I said, I was like pressuring
myself a little too much about youknow what I gotta do. Sure,
I had a good I mean Ihad a good year. Um, but
coming into this year, I toldmyself, I want to enjoy it more,

(43:35):
um, but still get my workdone, you know, not think
too had you know, and sobeing here, it's it's been. It's
been awesome, great group of guys, great snapper. Um rotated through five
holders already, I was gonna ask, I know, I saw, I
saw someone brought that up that DevinGray did this week, and you're talking

(43:58):
about a lot of new place.I mean, just go through this for
people. I mean, that's notI've I haven't done it in my own
capacity on the football field before,but that does take something. You do
have to be pretty precise and yougot to get down the speed and kind
of at least getting what you needas a kicker to accurately hit the ball.
You don't, you know, noone wants the laces hitting your foot.

(44:20):
You know. That's like that's likethe worst nightmare for you is to
have that that possible chance of itbouncing a ricocheting wrong way off a lace.
Yeah. So, I mean Ihave a really great long snapper,
really great long cyper. So hemakes the holder's job easy, right,
Um, But my mindset is kindof like I'll do my job, like

(44:45):
like I'll just focus on my job. I Like, the last thing I
need to do is just like thehole is gonna be there. I just
need to do my job, right, you just kind of trust my guy
because at the end of the daywhen he's kind of start like Warren about
like how is he gonna hold it? You know, you know, it's
kind of like you stop, youstart warning about things you can't control,

(45:06):
and you want to It should beopposite. You should just kind of focus
on things you can't control, whichis the way I'm gonna approach that kick.
You know where my planet's gonna be. You know, So the past
five weeks, I've been kind oftelling myself, I'm gonna attack every kick
and just whatever I get, I'mgonna just push through. Just just you

(45:29):
know, just power it through.Umpproach is done a good job in practice
getting us reps um, making surethat I don't go in there um without
any reps with with the guy who'sholding for the week. UM. And
Devin stepped up big time because itwas the first time he held in a
game too, and I think wegot to practices in with him and he

(45:54):
caught on really quick. And likeI said, I mean like I have
a really good long snipper. Andthen the old the guys up from blocking
just oh yeah, every team hasbeen every team has been bringing pressure.
Um, so this is a teameffort. This is a whole team effort.

(46:14):
So right, I mean you you'renot joking about the long snap position.
That's something I can relate to from. That's a position I did,
you know, for when I playedfootball many a moon ago, um,
in high school. But you're mentioningRyan Navarro as kind of the guy getting
credit credited here, and you know, hey, it does take that that
piece is is important because we're talkingabout you know, you want the correct

(46:37):
spin easy to catch, and youwant it to be able to not have
any chance of dragon or going overthe guy's head if you have any and
I'm just I'm speaking from my ownexperience, you know, any inconsistency that
I mean that is a mechanical processalmost like a manufacturing assembly plant line is
how you don't want it and likelike if from like the starting point,

(47:00):
if it's not going smooth, it'skind of like you're gonna have like a
bottleneck in the middle or like youknow, so Ryan makes it easy for
for the holder. Um. He'sa true pro. He works at his
crafts every day and he's awesome tobe around with. And I live with
him, so it's it's cool up. You know that that's that's some chemistry.

(47:25):
Although I will say probably stuff thatprobably probably missed, miss snaps and
things that that leaves the feeling maybedoesn't always see the field, like hey,
you gotta go back home and whathappened to practice? Now we'll talk
about this later, uh for yourself. The league actually just dropped the one
of their inside the Drive segments.Of course you're you kick the game winning

(47:46):
field? Have you watched any ofthat, because I mean, I'll be
honest with you, a lot ofgood audio. It's funny Bart coach andress
when he's mentioning your kick. Youknow at this point you've kicked seven.
But the way he talks about it, he's just mentioned it is quote kick
at Louis. I need to saythat out in the game. I heard

(48:07):
him say that when I because theycalled time out. So yeah, I
was lining up, they called timeout and then I run back to the
sideline while those field goal teams onthe field should I reset all the time,
So I have to reset, goto the sign, take my sip
of water, I'm going back,and he goes pick it like a pat

(48:29):
and in my head. I'm like, yes, sir, I didn't rent
actually respawn, but it's just inmy head. I was just like,
yes, sir, oh sure,which which which is funny that he said
that, because I actually think likethat. I try to think like like
a fifth yard or whatever it is, like kick it like a pat because

(48:51):
usually all my pts are you know, like it's all mental, but my
pat kicks, you know, Ifeel like I hit him really good.
And if I just could just havethat same mentality when kicking a fifty yard
or usually you want to have thesame kick, exact same technique, same
ball flight, whether it's fifty ora PT. So it's funny you said

(49:15):
that because I already already try toimplement that in my routine. Automatic.
Automatic. I just like the extracontext of it, because I was wondering
too that when the video was posted. You know, like I said,
you kind of just see if peopleare catching on if it's just business as
usual, which I mean to somepeople maybe you think that's the case,
but you know, when it's whenyou're on the field, it is,

(49:37):
as you say, business as usual, just another another snap, another repetition.
You know, you nail it.You celebrate, and then, as
we heard in the locker room,of course, you know, go to
overtime and maybe things are a bitdifferent there that you get to decide it
on your own terms. Obviously.Yeah, I don't even know overtime roles.
M Is it like college where like, wait, do you not know

(49:59):
the USF over time rules? Idon't really? Oh wow, okay,
um, I didn't expect this onmy card today. Um, so basically
be a shootout, I think hockey, you know, each one exchanges an
offensive possession and all that. Mm oh, so there's so there's no
kicking. I mean I don't believeso, yeah, it's offensive possessions.

(50:22):
So you would have basically seen caseand Case and company having to see if
who plays better him or Kyle willletta slashed dere Johnson at that point.
Good. Good to know I didnot expect that that. That's fine,
that is hilarious. But there yougo. Now you didn't have to you

(50:44):
you learned in a different way.You get to celebrate and you can talk
about it after the fact because that'sthe thing. But you know, it's
still I find that hilarious. Uh. Nonetheless, oh man, that's that's
good. That's a real good.Um, Louise I gotta I gotta ask

(51:04):
you here, Um, have youhave you heard of the term death by
a thousand cuts with this in thistype of stuff, because that's it's that's
how I was gonna lead in thisshow and I didn't do that, but
that's it's usually how a game goeswith a kicker wins the game for you
in terms of all that. Thescores are just kicks. Yeah, that
was a pretty surreal moment. Itstill really hasn't hit me. Twenty four

(51:32):
points wild, Yeah, it's justit's sure. I was talking to Ryan
my long happen today. I waslike, like a for eight, Like
is that really? Like is thata lot? Like? Like like I
like a genuinely because in the gameit didn't feel like that it was that

(51:53):
many m hm. But it's crazyhow like you think about it. It's
basically it's field was a quarter.Yeah, pretty much. It's got two
possessions of piece and is all itis, you know, But again,
you don't see that happen often enoughor you know, usually at least get

(52:15):
a touchdown snuck in there. That'swhat I was expecting for a bit.
I guess that's what happens for yourselftoo. I guess I'll ask this while
I had. I know, allegid is a place kicker, but and
you know you did mention this tome pre show that you know, some
of the kicking situation for Philadelphia ischanging this week. But I mean,
as I've been seeing you were doing, you've been doing punts and bunch extra

(52:35):
work on the side. Do youknow, multifaceted weapon not just a place
kicker as of late. Yeah,So they they brought me in with like
mostly like like like hey, you'regonna be the kicker. Um, we
need you know, watched to escortpoints and then they wanted to save the

(53:00):
roster spot um, and so theywere gonna have me fun because I have
I used to punt in college andI have a background punning, and I
I think I could do it prettygood. I think my spot, like
what I was really comfortable in doingwas the Aussies. Um, that's what
that's like what I love you,like like kind of like the bootleg punts,

(53:23):
yeah, side at the fifty andlike that's what I'm really comfortable doing.
Um. But yeah, no,we just we just signed a uh
liam Um. I don't want tomispronounce his last name, but he's been
around. He's been around um theCFL and the NFL. UM really talented

(53:45):
veteran kicker that just had his restpractice today and he's gonna be handling um,
punting and kickoffs. So um.The the goal for that was to
lighten my load, um, forjust for longevity reasons. So I was

(54:07):
cramping in the fourth quarter, endof the third quarter right now, story,
which was usually like doesn't it's notreally common for like both my quads,
you guest, store, But Iwas getting a lot of reps in
between kicks, like against the net, trying to stay ready for punts or
field goals. And it was justone of those games where both my quads

(54:30):
happened to get really store and startedcrapping up. Well geez, I mean
I didn't even think about about that, but I mean, yeah, you're
talking about eight field goals, plusagain you gotta do punt duty, so
you know, and then kickoffs anyway, nine kickoffs. I think I kicked
twenty times in the in the gamethat doesn't include like the warm up.

(54:54):
It almost sounds like the equivalent ofa picture throwing like well passed one hundred
pitches for or his inning count.Yeah, someone someone described to me like
that too. Yeah, that's thefirst time to say that analogy, because
because that's what I'm thinking about,Like, if you're doing all three positions
like that, eventually some muscle inyour leg's gonna give. Oh you know

(55:15):
it's I would think like same goalsfor I think like a QB. Like
say, if Case was throwing likefifty passes a game, I'd be sitting
here on the couch going, how'sthat man still his shoulder? How's the
shoulder all right? You know somethinggiving that your head coach loves throwing the
football on a normal basis. Yeah, seriously, Oh yeah, don't don't

(55:36):
get me wrong. I iced.I iced my legs, you know,
sna hot, more eyes just blushingout all the soreness. And I mean
I'm feeling feeling better now, butI think tomorrow I'll be better, like

(55:57):
way more fresh before I let yougo, Lease and again, awesome job.
Again. Can't say enough. Alot of us, thank you,
a lot of us, not justin the USBL but like I think the
football community as a whole has beencelebrating just seeing that your effort you put
out there. Obviously, I wantto get your take on this because I
think coach Andrews said it best notonly just for the Stars, because the

(56:19):
league is the whole, and especiallythe North Division. In your post game.
In the post game, I wouldsay, pep talk he gave is
that you know, everyone's two andthree whole second season, we're basically zero
zero ahead. How you guys,how does it feel? How's the team
looking like they're approaching this so far? Zero zero? Everyone's zero zero.

(56:39):
It's kind of like it's it's likea fresh start, like in a good
way allows it to like kind oflike weren't so since we're in the second
half of the season, it's likeblank slate. Okay, everyone's even in
our division. Let's just go oneand every single week and you know we

(57:02):
we hold our own destiny. Youknow. Um, we've got a tough
matchup this weekend and that's that's theonly team we're worried about as of this
moment. So tough kicking battle thisweekend too. From what week as well,
My boy, Matt, you weremad going in a great kicker,
great kicker. They also have agreat long stopper and punner. Um,

(57:25):
I know, I know, Iknow, they're specialists, so it'll be
fun to see them in person andcatch up ast of the game. But
very great, great group of guys. So well, well, he's I'm
wishing you in the Star is thebest of course, Uh, moving forward
again, Congrats on the accomplishment thatis, uh, definitely nothing nothing to

(57:47):
slouch. Other is that's remarkable tobe a piece of football history right there.
Um, best of luck this restof the season, you know,
and getting to focus in a littlebit more on your kicking skills. Thank
you, Hey, thanks again toUlias Aguilar, place kicker for the Philadelphia
Stars, for joining me this week. Again, I think you can tell

(58:07):
he still is a little baffled byjust the I guess, the whole experience.
I thought the interesting part when wewere talking, you know, and
I brought this up, but youknow the fact that we were talking about
it almost was feeling like a pitchcount for his leg. As he's talking,
his squads are sore from having allthe kicks do and he was still
at this time. Now, creditthe Stars did just sign on a new

(58:30):
punt. As you've learned in thisin this episode, they signed a new
punter and place kicker or for kickoffs, so his focus now is only on
field goals he does. He's notdoing the punts anymore. He's not doing
the kick returns or the kickoffs andkick returns, so he can rest his
leg a little bit. But youhave to remember, while he's kicking these
eight field goals, he's still kickingpunts. He's still kicking off after those

(58:51):
kicks, so your leg is gettingworn down. It takes a lot of
effort to do that much kicking ona regular basis like that when you are
the offense. So getting him somelittle rest and I guess some help with
that so that they can focus onhim just doing his best job. He
can on what he is perfecting rightnow. Really smart move, I think
on the Stars part, especially sincethey were originally using it to save roster

(59:14):
spot. Now they're deciding it's worththe value, and I think that game
helped it. When you score twentyfour points and you win the game for
your offense, pretty sure you showthe coaching staff okay, we can go
out and get a punter, forsure, one hundred percent. Either way,
I love to hear from these guys. Every time we have one of
these new interviews. I love tolisten to him myself. I know it's

(59:35):
hard to believe, but I dolike to watch these shows. Well,
I mean, I edit them,so I kind of I'm forced to in
that regard. But it's a it'sa good problem to have. But boy,
oh boy, Zach, isn't itcrazy? Halfway through the USFL season,
halfway through season two of the USFLand anything can happen. That's we

(01:00:00):
know anything can happen. We talkedabout it earlier. The North, everybody's
at two and three. Anybody's game. The South basically equally open. Yes,
the Breakers they look like they couldrun away with it, but they
got put in their place a littlebit by the show Boats evened it up
as much as it can. Butthe South is equally as open as the

(01:00:22):
North. I'd say, we don'thave any undefeated teams, which I think
the Stallions were still undefeated at thehalfway point last season. Yeah, they
were well into the second half ofthe season before they lost to Houston in
Birmingham, which funny, that's funny. It's I know they played two both
games of Birmingham last year. Butit's like now two years in a row

(01:00:45):
they have it where Houston's owning theirown home stadium. I mean, and
they have to go play in Memphisfor this next one. You can't retry
it in front of home crowd.That's right. All in, baby,
I mean, no surprise. Everybodyshould have known. I warned you all
the gamblers, We're going to bea team to watch for. I think
the key. The key was acouple of things. One reverse, so

(01:01:07):
reverse Uno last year, you don'twant to win that first game. Let
the Panthers have one, and youknow what build up the Panthers self esteem.
Now I had to come in andfix the problem for the Panthers fan.
Now I'm the number one Panthers fanto turn the ship around for you
guys. See thank me at theend of the year, Zach, when
the Panthers are in the championship thanksto my fandom and my fandom alone.

(01:01:30):
Now the gamblers, I mean,all in, baby, all in now
for one thing that I'll say herethat we'll go into a little bit further.
Home team advantage not so important thisyear, it seems, I mean,
the Stallions they started out fine,but when we look at the Panthers.

(01:01:51):
Man ever since they hit Ford Field, No bueno the Stars. They
pulled one out at home, soI think you know they're doing all right.
The Mauler's funny enough. It mightas well be the Mallardome they got.
I think they have the most winsat Ford Field have the Panthers loot.
I didn't have the Panthers not beingwinless at this point in Detroit.

(01:02:13):
That's what kills me is that Philadelphiagot their first win as a as a
freaking hosted team. They're compared tothe one that actually is having a home
field advantage every week. That's justDetroit for you, man, Detroit Sports.
I should have warned everybody a littlebit more. The curse is real,
and people have tried to reverse curseme, Zach. People have tried.

(01:02:36):
They said, oh, Ralf,We're gonna reverse curshee. No,
no, no, no, thereain't no reverse cursing Ford Field. Now
I'm I'm gonna sell. I'm gonnasave it though, because I am the
number one Panthers fan. So we'lltalk about that in the in the preview
and picks. I have a coupleof thoughts on that Panther Stallion's game,
but overall home team advantage not asimportant this year. Interesting Now, I

(01:03:01):
don't know why that is. Idon't know. I think it's probably I
think once we get teams more acclimatedto these hubs, that will change.
As the fans get an identity,that will change, right because you'll have
these weekly folks coming out to thegames that these players. I mean,
I'll tell you this, I know, and I've spoken to a lot of

(01:03:22):
players. One thing that they alldo, and if they say they don't,
they're lying, is they pan thecrowd. They pan that crowd every
time they're out in one of thosegames, maybe not during the game,
but before after some points during it. And they're seeing those people. They're
seeing those week the people that areshowing up week in week out. And
Zach, you've been to many ofsports games where there's that guy they I

(01:03:44):
mean, I've seen them at theat the Lions game. There's the guy
that wears the full blue with theLions main there's the guy that had then
sixteen grocery bag on his head.Right. But the more you get of
those types of fans, I thinkthat's where your home team advantage comes into
place. So season three, seasonfour, just being at home, I

(01:04:08):
mean, does it really matter whenyou're traveling. You're a building team,
You're a building league. I mean, for the Stallions, I think last
year kind of proves to my pointis those fans had such an identity in
season one. They were the huband they were right. I mean,
I believe in the league. That'sall they had, you know, And

(01:04:30):
I think that's what you're seeing nowis you know, there is a little
bit more you get to kind ofspread your wings on, you know.
I even with them losing, Istill have been impressed with Detroit fans coming
out and supporting because really, Imean, here's the deal. It's a
city that watches and you know this, it's watched mediocre football for decades.
It could easily bow out and justsay we'll forget about it. But yeah,

(01:04:51):
crowds are still coming out to thisteam and watching them play. And
I gotta give give them some creditfor that because they don't have to,
you know, but it's fun familyentertainment in the late spring right now going
into the summer, they still haveanother game after this upcoming home with the
Stallions, and it's been a funtime and Biggie has been great for out

(01:05:12):
there. It's been a fun atmospherewith him too. The league done it
has done a great job with thatsetup. It's just now you gotta have
the Panthers start winning games in Detroit. That's the thing. And what kills
me is that, you know,I've we started so hot and we're celebrating
the eighty three championship at the homeopener and I'm like, yes, yes,

(01:05:33):
so good. We're a good team. And it's not in the same
sense. Well, I got goodnews, Zachie boy, because I'm here
to save the Panthers season. I'mgonna be at that final game, and
that is only good news for you. When I'm in ford Field, only
good things happen. And I'm gonnamake you were in ford Field week one

(01:05:54):
game anyway, only good things happenedto the Panthers from here on out.
Playoff predictions, I'll even start here. I'm gonna make a bold prediction for
the North Panthers Mallers. What doyou think, Zach Panthers Mallers in the
North for the playoffs. Things haveto change and it have to start this

(01:06:16):
week, and you'd have to Ithink do something drastic to get things going
on the passing game front. That'sthe main thing for Michigan. Again,
it's so easy to queue in onthe run game because it's really the only
thing that they can lean on rightnow. And even then it's not enough,
like this isn't like a New Jerseygeneral's line that can bully you and
get run game only type of gamesand just plow it down the field.

(01:06:40):
There's no quarterback like a DeAndre Johnsonthat can just bail out of the pocket
for right now. For Michigan,everything has to be on the table going
into this week against Birmingham because itis zero zero right now. They are
lucky to have been in this spotbecause I think New Jersey we could luckily
New Jersey has had either a partof tough schedule and they slipped up last
week. Because now everyone's on thetable, so you have to be drastic,

(01:07:05):
which is why I'm saying, likeeven if they go ahead and kick
things off with Josh Love to kickthings off for this week, which to
confirm this, we did have thedepth charts drop as we're recording this and
from looks, but yes, JoshLove is starting. But Eric Barrier is
up is the second option. Iknow they've been rotating qbs every week so

(01:07:26):
far since this home stretch. Donot have a long leash. Love gets
pulled if it's if it looks ugly. You put Eric in if things are
getting dicey, because people remember howEric played last year. I think that's
why people want him in. Theyknow he's a decent QB. Oh yeah,
and I think he got kind ofburied on this roster, and why
not you have what do you gotto lose? Well, Josh hasn't been

(01:07:48):
performing well, you might as wellthrow him in one hundred percent. I
mean, I think that's the silverlining here. Like you mentioned, they
also have the work in there aswell. But I mean, yeah,
there's a lot of people that havebeen asking where is Barry A? Where
is Barry A? Well, thismight be the week that we get to
see him as we head into thesecond half of the season. I mean,

(01:08:10):
it's still crazy to me. Sookay, So I said, Panthers
Maulers, if you had to pickon the North, who do you think
we're seeing from the North as itstands now? I think it's funny you
say this because of just how itshows how much things have changed in one
year. Because the Mall is themost certain team right now in the North
to me that I think will eitherend up winning the North or they will

(01:08:32):
be a playoff team in At thevery least, they are the one lock
I have as a playoff team inthe North. That is so weird.
But everything that I was talking aboutthe week prior is doing what I expected.
Troy Williams, he's trending up.That offense has been getting better every
week since they pick the right quarterbackfor the job. They have a decent
run game. What's really amazing isthat Bailey Gaither and Troy Williams are getting

(01:08:56):
a rappaport to where they have adynamic one two punch with those two.
Williams also as the wheels. Hecan run out of the pocket. They
still have some issues at times withsecuring the pocket, but you know what's
good. He can run away fromthose situations where James Morgan couldn't. And
then the defense, I don't evenhave to say anything. You know,
everyone who's watched the league knows theMahler's defense is right now playing the best

(01:09:19):
in the league. New Jersey Ithink makes a good case too. But
I'll say, like how Webb isover with USFL network Statistically they're dominating.
Last week they did whatever they pleasedagainst Michigan, and they've done this to
where there's a few of those gamesagainst top ranked teams in the league,
to where if you had your QBsituation figured out to begin with, you

(01:09:39):
could argue they could be almost inthe same spot in New Orleans is in
right now, they're four and one. That's how much they've been building up
so far. They're my lock theother one in terms of confidence, I'll
say New Jersey, but you gotto clean up your act. And now
I have questions because Mike Riley lovesplaying around with his quarterbacks. He never
it's like a shining new objects showsup and he turns his head and he

(01:10:00):
was, oh, yeah, andso now now the Kyle's gotten in.
Yeah, DeAndre Johnson still is yourmost athletic guy, but now he's seen
Kyle and he said in the postgamepress conference, I wanted to play Kyle
at some point, which him saying, I'm like, what do you mean
you wanted to play Kyle at somepoint? You have DeAndre right, That's
how he is he likes the multipleqbs, and so now I don't know

(01:10:20):
because even though the proof is inthe pudding, that two QB system for
him was not effective as much inthe early going. He might go back
to it, right, and Idon't agree with it at all. You
know what they might do if theyget wins, you can't be mad at
it. I'll say that, likeif they get well, if they go
with the two QB system, youknow, to your credit, it only

(01:10:42):
got him so far last season.They get to the they did get to
the postseason, but they didn't getto the championship. Now let me I'll
let you go first on the South, since I went first on the North.
What he was the playoff picture foryou look like in the South.
I think everybody knows my thought,so we'll start with you. My lock
is New Orleans, I think again, I thought it was an off week

(01:11:05):
for them against Memphis, although gottagive kudos again Memphis. They came out,
they smacked him in the mouth andthey kept doing it, and they
ended up getting one good drive atthe end and one good defensive possession.
The rest was history and they heldon. So kudos to Todd Hailey and
company. They're still going to bea pest for the rest of the season.
You can't count them out for therest of the league though. Besides

(01:11:27):
New Orleans, it's hard for meto tell. I think I still have
to give Houston the edge because ofthe fact that they have They're doing the
less injury. Kenji Bihar will comeback. It's not as severe. He
looked like he was ready to go. They just were playing it safe last
week. Terry Wilson's a good,solid backup that has wheels and does have
good passing capability when he was allowedby the way something I didn't point out

(01:11:48):
in this game, and this isagain another example of why I disliked to
two QB systems. This game Ithink might not even be as close as
it was in the second half ifyou didn't play until Cozart for at least
three drives. He's not the rightguy. They decided to score touchdown with
Terry Wilson and then bench him aftera stalled drive. What was that?

(01:12:10):
That's what killed me, And itcould have come down to they wanted to
see how they were on film,but dude, just pick one. Look,
he was already playing hot. Whydid you waste time in the first
half. You gotta keep the gamewith someone else, Zach keep the game.
You gotta make it. You know, if we just we were just
the gamblers, we'd run it upon everybody ninety nine to nothing every week.
But we gotta give the other teamsa chance. You're Al Wilson said

(01:12:34):
it best you play to win thegame. That's not a move that plays
to win the game. That's amove that plays because all had a game
plan and I was too stubborn tochange it is how I looked at it.
But I digress. They have aroster that is very much been proving
itself more than it did in thepreseason. I mean again, you know,
I even with the trash talk wewere talking, I was worried about

(01:12:55):
Houston coming to the season, andI gotta get props that that offense has
been getting better every week. KenjiBahar has been settling down, He's gotten
into a rhythm with receivers, andJustin Hall Anthony Ratlith Williams A rat Williams
has taken a step this year.Justin Hall has been a great pickup as
a free agent pickup, as abruiser, as a small guy that can
hit as a receiver. He's hungry. I love the hunger and the key

(01:13:17):
piece that really fired it all theway Mark Thompson being gone for two weeks
coming back, it's been a completegame changer. The guy is stepped in
and they are now a completely multifacetedoffensive attack to where Mark can either bruise
you or you can bounce it outsideand out running on the outside. He
is He is basically a Leonard Fournetteof the USFL right now. And the

(01:13:39):
body type, the speed, I'mtelling you, that's how I best compare
him. And I think that thehealth and the weapons right now, along
with the fact that every week thatdefense has been finding its rhythm too,
getting pressures, being good in coverage, that has been vital. I have
to give them that right now.Now that Birmingham can get healthier and if
they can figure out who is theirnumber one rusher on that side, then

(01:14:04):
maybe they stand a shot. Youcannot have Alex McGoo being all your offense
every week because eventually it slips upand eventually you have no answer. I
mean McGoo is a magician right now, He's definitely I mean, you can
make a case that you know,he has been as impressive as MBT,
if not better, because he's beendoing these magical plays with his feet.

(01:14:26):
He's a running throwing he leads intouchdowns for a reason right now. He
has been one of the top QB'sin the USFL this season. But he's
got to have help. You gottagive him some sort of help. And
that's the thing. Skip Holtz lovesthat ground and pound run game. But
Bobby Holly getting knocked out in weekone, both Scarborough getting knocked out week
one, both on IR. They'vehad no answer for how to fix this.

(01:14:47):
And then sure mcgook is getting betteras a passer every week and they're
finding options, but injuries are piledup too, and it just doesn't help.
Scooby writes out, Probably for IR now it sucks. Get a
great game week prior and he getsknocked down on IR. You do get
Jojoe Tillery back this week. Thathelps. We just wonder like, is
this going to be the cycle wehave all years? Guys that are banged

(01:15:09):
up early on, do they haveenough to keep up and then steal at
least the game against Houston and thenkeep ahead of Houston or even ahead of
New Orleans. I'm not I can'teven count out Houston for fighting for the
top spot because it only one gameout and you never know. Oh I
know, But I'm saying there's somany injury question marks right now. It's
hurts so much of what they didwell last year. They love to run

(01:15:31):
it through the run game. Theycame into T formation. Right now,
they fake T formation. That's thebest they can do. They haven't been
doing a realistic like T formation sincethey tried Week one. Right, that
was it? Right? Right?Well, I'll tell you this, Zach,
I tend to agree with you onyour picture of the South. I'm
gonna say we got the breakers.I'm gonna say we have the have the
I can't even talk here because I'mso excited the gamblers, gamblers going all

(01:15:56):
in. Now when I look atthat championship, I think I might have
alluded to this already, Zach.I set it before the season, Alan,
I'll say it in the middle ofthe season, and then you can
all sit back at the end ofthe season, say, how did the
ref or the panther? We'll seeno that this was gonna happen. But
I'm saying it right now, righthere, Gamblers Panthers Championship. Grudge came

(01:16:23):
too, and I don't even know, Zach, We're gonna have to grudge
against each other unless you're gonna switchand be a Gamblers fan because I am.
If you don't know the number onePanthers fan, but here we are,
Zach, Gamblers Panthers in the championship. Do you think it's it could
be a reality. Are you evenentertaining the idea or are you really fully

(01:16:46):
soaked in what it feels like tobe a Detroit sports fan. The more
you do this, the more Idebate if maybe I should have just not
let you pay for that barbecue backin Memphis tense because if this was if
I, if I had had aglimpse in in the future and this is
what I was going to be getting, maybe I should have said, you

(01:17:10):
know what, I'll take the bill, and then we walk out. And
it's a completely different social media postingbecause this is not what I was expecting,
And I have a I have apost that has aged like freaking rotting
milk with me going we've arrived,We're here. No, we definitely did
not get here. We have wehave let the cat up. We have
we have dropped the bag. Wehave fumbled the bag hard. We dumpster.

(01:17:34):
I'm here to save it. Numberone Panthers. We threw it in
the dumpster in front of WHI That'swhy I picked that dumpster. I'm I
love that picture so much, Zack, I'm so glad. I mean,
anybody else, anybody, any otherpodcast, TV show, radio show,
anybody else, in any other situationwould have taken the picture in front of

(01:17:57):
the restaurant, in front of fordField, anywhere except for where we took
it, which was in front ofa dumpster. And I don't know,
man Zach, I grew up inDetroit. It felt right to me when
I looked, and the first thingI said, well, there it is.
That is our photo opportunity. Imight get that one framed like I
have the one of you and Ifrom the championship game. That one might

(01:18:20):
go to it real small because itcracks me up so damn much. I
love that picture, damn dumpster picture. But anyway, Panthers, Gambler Championship,
the ref slash. The Panther iscalling it now now when we look
at like MVP awards, I meanon the offense. I mean, there's

(01:18:41):
no denying it. I mean theirrecord really says it. All four and
one. Yeah, they lost one, but they are just like running shop
when it comes to the offense.We have the breakers. I mean,
naturally MBTVP question Mark, See Igot it out. I didn't think I
would zach mbt VP the afternoon signme up. Me trying to figure out

(01:19:02):
the acronym. Oh yeah, youmean MVP right now? I think,
right now he does make the bestcase for it, given that you know
his his passing yards, he's onpace four. Um, yeah he doesn't.
He's not leading touchdowns, but seriously, he has the you can argue,
one of the top two running bestrunning backs in the league at this
time in the moment, So Ithink, yeah, he I mean,

(01:19:24):
he's been a commanding force for theBreakers so far. I gotta give it
to him. I think you cansay another argument is his teammate West Hills
right next to him, who hasbeen If we're talking about touchdowns, yeah,
you can say he's snubbing touchdowns,but he still has eight tds.
You know, Mark. You cansay Mark Thompson is making a now quickly
a push with his three weeks ofwork because he's scored now eight touchdowns as

(01:19:46):
well as well as West Hills,so he's definitely made an impact. Um,
those are my three leaders at leastfor an MVP vote. Uh,
I mean, I think you cando other individual awards, like to me,
the one bright spot out of theout the Panthers right now, besides
maybe sometimes when they get a goodrunner two. Brylin speaks to me as
the defensive player of the year rightnow, at least, I think he

(01:20:06):
is the current front runner. I'veseen people talk about Chris Orr. I
think that's a good option. Ithink you can talk about other options on
the mallers if you wanted. Honestly, Ruben Fosters probably that can candidacy if
he gets back to where he wasbefore he got knocked out with injury because
he was on a tear early onin the year. So I got speaks.
He has six and a half sacksright now. He's been causing havoc

(01:20:28):
every week on pace for thirteen,which would beat Chris Odom's pace last year
at this time. And he's reallybeen I mean last week he was one
of the reasons why they stayed inthe game. Against Pittsburgh, so I
got him. But I mean thetwo other options for MVP, you can
argue we're also offensive candidates as well. If one doesn't win, the other
should you would think arguably or MarkThompson. You could say Alex mcgooy,

(01:20:50):
I think should be in that inthat candidacy right now. But I think
it really depends on how how muchBirmingham recovers. I mean, I think
you can definitely say MVP of theoffensive side because he is the offense right
now. Sure he is calling themon their back to keep this team at
three and two. Let me askyou the special teams I mean, does

(01:21:11):
Louise Aguilar win Special Teams Player ofthe Year based on last week's performance alone?
I think maybe unless somebody gets ninefield goals this year. I mean
that, how do you argue,I mean, how how can you get
it to where you want up someonelike that? Is what I am very
much curious about, because having arecord of that magnitude is nuts. Credit.

(01:21:38):
You know, here's the thing that'sfunny is that you know there are
two kickers in the league that Ithink are looking at this and going,
well, wait a minute, now, I'm I'm ten for ten, I
haven't missed a field goal year,and that's Matt Colin, Coughlin and Chris
Blewett, right. But Aguar,Yeah, he's missed two kicks, but
he has that record eight and haswon a game by himself. You know.

(01:21:58):
I think Kauflin makes an argument too, because he was the driving force
for that win against the Malers inWeek one. But I think the special
team's honor Jesus, that's kind ofup in the air. I think your
three candidates are Coughlin, blew Itand Agar. Agar gets the front run
for the record by itself right now, right, But you can't ignore the
other two because they haven't missed adamn kick all year, and we missed

(01:22:20):
the thing. And we've been seeingpeople fight about this in the discord,
which if you're not in the discord, click the link down below. It's
a blast. Come hang out withus. We're always partying in there.
But boy oh boy, there's someheated arguments about the kickers this weekend.
But let's real quick. So wetalked about the players coaches. I mean,

(01:22:40):
there's the one that stands out tome, and again, it kind
of goes back to what we weretalking about with the offense, and that's
coach Flip flipping the script. Ithink there was a lot of worried Breakers
fans and the off season when Fedoratipped his hat on the way out.
But then Coach Flip came in alittle bit of a different identity, molded
the team the way he wanted tomold it. I mean, he stacked

(01:23:03):
it up like we just talked aboutwith the offense between MBT, West Hills
and other supporting cast over there.And I mean other than this last week,
which everybody has their games, everybodyhas their off weeks, and it
just seemed like that with the Breakers, they've been looking pretty damn good.

(01:23:25):
I know I probably stole the thunderon that, Zach, But any other
arguments for any other I mean,my second I'll tell you this all in
Curtis Johnson for turning things around downthere too with the gamble, because I
think that does come into the mixnow this argument. It'll be interesting.
We'll have to see what the endof the year looks like. If the

(01:23:46):
Breakers only go out with one lossand that was their only loss of the
year, I mean, it's hardfor me to not give it to coach,
Flip, you're coming in as afirst year coach with coaches like think
of it like Skip Holtz had theadvantage second year coach kept the majority of
his team, won a championship lastyear, and then you have a guy
come in like Flip. Flip inthe script in the South, I mean,

(01:24:10):
I think it gives you the adjob even if the Stallions only take
two losses on the year. Toughtough call, because I would definitely say
that Flip has an argument. ButI'm looking at how when I see the
coach of the year, this iswhat I'm looking at. A few categories.
Either you're a coach that you foundaway from the year prior to basically

(01:24:30):
double up your performance or exceed expectationsyear over year in your program. Or
you come in and you change thegame entirely and you change the favors of
your team immensely and performances better acrossthe board. I think, Flip,
you can have a case. Thingis New Orleans brought a lot of talented
pieces back, but offensively though youcan't ignore that. You know he's done

(01:24:53):
an amazing job on that side ofthe ball on bringing in his own concepts,
so he's definitely in the versation.However, I think Curtis Johnson definitely
right now is the leading candidate.However, I don't think he's the one
that wins it if my certain situationgoes this way, because if the Malers
win the division, Ray Horton winsthat title, and you can't you can't

(01:25:16):
come to me and say, welland sure, yeah, I mean Houston
had blown leads last year, Kevinsomeone did get three wins, but I
mean Pittsburgh was open the worst.They were borderline of laughing stock by people
last year. And like if youcome in with yours, Ray and Jarren
come in, and Ray comes inand helps them get an offense that they

(01:25:36):
brought basically most of their coordinator,both the coordinators back. He comes in
and helps stabilize things. They bringin a bunch of talent. Lonnie Young
should win Executive of the Year ifhe If he does, if they do
win the division and they come inand they finish it off offense gets better
every week. They've looked respectable throughhalf a season like this, they are

(01:25:57):
in the to me right now,I think they are the most in the
driver's seat for the North right now, because of the roster they have that
to me, is the coach ofthe year. If they win the division
in the North, there he getscoach of the year nodds in my opinion,
and that's because I mean, Ican't predict the playoffs, and those
awards get given out before the playoffs. Obviously, Mike Riley won last year,
and we saw what happened in thesemifinals. But right now he's my

(01:26:18):
candidate. Curtis Johnston and him,it's neck and neck. If one of
them wins the division, it's gameover. You give the one that won
the division to both win. Thenit comes down to semantics. It honestly
really will come down to which onedo you feel did just that much better.
But if Horton comes out on topand you see him being the team
that hosts or is the one seedgoing in, I have no choice.

(01:26:41):
It has to be them. Imean, they've only one win team last
year. You make a convincing ronment, man, if yeah, if you
can take a team from going worstto first or at least first in the
division, even if even if theyhave a worst record than the South but
the best team in the North,then yeah, I think he might be
right. I mean that goes towhat I was saying earlier. It's it's
not just about this season, right, you have that last season to account

(01:27:01):
for and whether you're coming back oryou're a new coach and you turn that
team around. I think that shouldaccount into this as well. We'll have
to see we're halfway through the season. Though we are, I can't believe
it. So you know what,I think, let's shift our gears here.
Actually, well before I do that, any other thoughts on the midway
point, before we shift gears here? Any other thoughts I got on the

(01:27:25):
midway point of the year. Iguess reiterating it's parody wins parody is amazing
so far, and it's weird consideringthat we had an insane amount of one
score games this year. We don'thave as many of those, but yet
it feels like it still is anygiven Sunday, and that we have better
teams across the board in twenty twentythree than we did last year. Again,

(01:27:47):
there's no there's no even with Memphis. Memphis looked like they were going
to be like the malors of twentyof this season, they've gotten off the
mat they look respectable. All theseteams. You can argue, even with
Chian, even with me getting dissingMichigan right now, on how they've looked,
you still can argue that that flooris higher than the floor last year

(01:28:08):
for the worst team in the leagueor the worst performances in the league,
because Michigan was even worse last yearin my opinion, than this year's roster,
which is weird me saying that,but it is, and so to
me, the professional level of playhas been better across the board. This
is a better looking league than lastyear. We're halfway through the season and
you can our discord communities on Twitterand Facebook. They have no idea how

(01:28:30):
the hell this is going to endright now. That's awesome, I know
that's what That's what league officials want. They're like, oh my god,
this is this is gorgeous TV.We can market the hell out of that.
But it's everyone's game right now andit could stay this way until the
very end of the season. Wouldn'tit be amazing If Week ten we're watching
for maybe not one playoff spot fora for a couple right now, that's

(01:28:54):
must see TV, baby, Andwe got robbed of that last year because
of the fact that you had thatbig split between the top and the bottom
this year because you have it socrunched and with the North being the North.
I agree. I think the lastweek of the season, you're gonna
see that like biting fingernails type ofmoment as a fan where you're like,
oh, I hope this goes myway, you know, type of game.

(01:29:15):
And the good news is is I'mgonna be in Detroit for that final
game of the season. So whenthe Panthers inevitably need that final win of
the season, I'm gonna be there. Good luck and all in Ford Field,
number one Panthers fan. So Ithink that's a good opportunity for us
to shift gears to the question ofthe week. Baby, let's kick that

(01:29:38):
intro, real quick, question ofthe week. Question up the week,
Question up the week? Boy ohboy, did we have a question of
the week. And here's what itwas. It says, what was the
most surprising moment of USFL Week five? I mean it was it was the

(01:30:01):
week many people called it the weekof upsets. I'm gonna go here,
Ducky community legend. You know,he came in hot to trot on this
one. So I'll take the blowback. I'll do you the favor, Zach.
Here's what Ducky Ducky, not me, had to say. Stallion's fans
blaming the refs for their team beingundisciplined once the most surprising for me.

(01:30:23):
No comment for me, but againhe's to me, He's right. We
talked about this in our own discordserver. The only ones they can blame.
You can argue for one, Ionly saw one bad, bad call,
But even after that, they hadthe chances to make this comeback happen,
and they still let it slide outof their fingers. That's why I

(01:30:44):
agree with him. You know,he's on the same page as I am.
They let this happen to themselves.Oh he's self destructed. So that
was great. I love giddy uppodcast here going Week five, just the
whole thing. Just Week five ingeneral, which sure, you got you
got stellar, you got upsets acrossthe you gotta you gotta two upsets the
kicking game. You know, Ithink Houston making a statement win. Yeah,

(01:31:05):
that definitely makes Week five definitely feellike it meant something a little bit
more for this season. Um,I'll get it. Here's this one,
I'll read just because of the justbecause Louise, But Louise Aguilar, this
is Emory Lewis. By the way, on our Twitter, Luis Aguilar,
dude said, fine, I'll doit myself and won the game on his

(01:31:26):
own. Good win for the Stars. But the offense needs to get it
together. They can't rely on kickingwins every week. And I agree.
You know, you have to finishdrives. When you have eight drives stall
like that, that means that youI mean yet, first off, you
did get bailed off by your kicker. But second you gotta figure out one
or two things to keep that goingin motion and you gotta just execute.
That's a simple thing. Hell thatuh that inside the drive? You know

(01:31:47):
with Case Kucas, I'm trying toremember which which receiver he was throwing two,
but essentially slide overthrow that the firstplay of first down was an overthrow.
It was an open pass they couldhave gotten within the twenty and then
they had to settle for basically anincompletion and a quick run point. And
so I agree with Emory here nowPhiladelphia, good progress, but that's not

(01:32:09):
gonna win you every game. Youcan't rely on Aguar to be getting you
eight kicks a game because it's onlyhappened two times and he's done it once.
Now we'll say this. I dolike seeing we have a Breakers fan
being a little humble Breakers season overon Twitter show Boats continuing to create tunovers
on defense against the undefeated Breakers.Even I can admit that the defense was

(01:32:29):
suffocating the old line. So,I mean, you kind of love to
see that, especially after this weekend. There was a lot of angry fans
all over the plays. Teams wereunexpected wins, unexpected losses, anger flying
all over the place. Nice tosee a little bit of humility there.
But so everybody, here's the realdeal. We're gonna be putting out questions
of the week. Just stay tunedafter the games conclude on Sunday. It

(01:32:53):
could drop Monday or Tuesday, maybeeven Wednesday. I don't know. It
depends when I get a good questionin my silly little brain. We'll be
sure moving forward to add question ofthe week into the tweets. Maybe maybe
not, Maybe I won't. Zach, you gotta be refreshing that page.
You gotta respond to every one ofour tweets, every single one. I
got it. Okay, I'm justsaying fair, fair, fair's fair.

(01:33:15):
Week six though we are if Weekfive get out of here halfway point,
no one cares. We're in thesecond half of the season. Week six,
first game up, Maulers and showBoats, twelve thirty Eastern on USA.
Zach, Zach, Zach. Threeweeks ago, I think a lot
of people would have been looking atthis and saying that is gonna be a

(01:33:39):
snorefest. After last week you sawyou saw the Showboats take out the last
of the undefeated teams. You sawthe Maulers, mall R team, the
Panthers number one fan over here.I don't know, Zach, what are
your thoughts going in? What isyour pick on this game here? Buddy?

(01:34:00):
You know funny you say I don'tknow because I originally was going to
go definitively with the Mallers. Butcredit Showboats again. Defense, they've stepped
it up in that category. BothIt's funny. Both sides have improved in
in things that they have struggled onin overall. You know, Memphis needed
some defensive help. Credit I guessthey both phases, but really they did

(01:34:23):
need defensive help. When you goforty two, you have to get a
gut check. When you go upthirty the next week, you have to
give a gut check in both weeksthat since they have been living it up
to the hype, they beginning pressureon teams these past two weeks. Four
sacks against MBT and that's something thatthe Mallers. They do struggle a bit
in the protection scheme. However,they have defensive presence on the opposite side.

(01:34:44):
It's going to be the hardest testfor these showboats since the Birmingham Stallions
contest in Week two. Do Ithink that? Do I think that the
Memphis offense is able to overcome aPittsburgh defense. No, I do not.
I actually think Pittsburgh will be ableto walk away at this win.
It's not as convincing as I originallythought it would be, but I'm high
on Pittsburgh. I'm making Yinzer folkout in Western Pennsylvania very happy the last

(01:35:10):
few weeks because again, this teamis starting to live up to what we
were thinking in offseason projections of whatthey could potentially be, although with some
different changes at QB. Nonetheless,defense has been living up to the hype.
They get Ruben Foster back this week, by the way, massive addition
to a defense that has been playinglike they don't even need them, but

(01:35:30):
they definitely could use someone that natureand that ball hawking skill that Ruben Foster
has. Memphis, on the otherhand, they have positives they can build
into this game. Obviously, they'reon the high from beating New Orleans.
I do worry about the withdrawal fromthat. They do get to go home.
That is a key. Crowd's gonnabe looking pretty good apparently Corey of
ticket sales right now for this Showboatsvictory, for this Showboat's potential game,

(01:35:53):
So they do have that in theircorner. I just like where Pittsburgh's heading
defensively. I think that they slowdown Memphis enough offensively. I think they
actually keep building on what they've beendoing. I got Pittsburgh in this.
I think it's gonna be a littlebit lower scoring. I don't think you
hit a thirty burger for either oneof these teams. Give me, give

(01:36:14):
me like twenty to thirteen, andI think I think that's a reasonable amount
that Pittsburgh can hold the show Boatstoo. And I think Pittsburgh has done
enough offensively in terms of getting JohnTomlinson's scheme in the right direction to where
they can put twenty on Memphis andwalk away with a one possession win.
One hundred percent. So you knowwhat, I tend to agree with you.
I think the Maulers are going toput it out. Will it be
a blowout by no means, butit'll be a fun game to kick off

(01:36:38):
the weekend. I'll tell you thatmuch. Moving to the second game,
man oh man, oh man,oh man, oh man, oh man,
oh man, I only have onething to say to you. The
Panthers are coming to hunt end.This streak ends this week. And it's
partially the Panthers. Okay, it'spartially the Panthers. It's partially that me

(01:36:58):
I am the number one fan,But it's also doing part that the Stallions.
We talked about this earlier. They'rebeaten, they're broken down, they're
battered, and you know what,the worst part of all, they're making
mistakes. They're making mistakes that arecosting them the game. Now, if

(01:37:19):
everybody last week was worried about reffsrigging a game, I would love I
would love to see the excuse whenthe Stallions lose this week against the Panthers
in Ford Field, because that can'tbe an excuse. The refs aren't ever

(01:37:39):
going to help a Detroit team,a Michigan team, or whatever team a
home team in Ford Field, sothat excuse goes right out the window.
But I think the Panthers pull itout. I think Love gets the start.
I think we do see Eric Barrierin the game. I think we'll
probably see the coach at minimum putBerryer in even if Love is doing good,

(01:38:00):
just to get him kind of ready, get him into the game plan,
get him in the rhythm in somereal game action in the off chance
that they really need to lean onhim in the second half of the season.
We talked about it before, Zach. Everybody's tied for two and three
in the North. The Panthers havejust as good of a shot as everybody
else. Now when I look atoverall games the first five games, although

(01:38:24):
the Panthers have lost three, theyall have lost three. I would say
the first two weeks of the Panthersseason look better than any of the weeks
of any of the other teams inthe North season. And that's coming from
me, the number one Panthers fan. The Panther bookt Panthers win this weekend.
The streak ends. Now, Idon't know about that. I know

(01:38:46):
you. I know you're firstly playinga bit here. I'm not Everything I
say is legitimate, okay and straightfor'all right, I see it. I
see how it is again. I'mthe realist. This is this is bitter
Zach. This is the Zach yousee when my watch Bears games. I'm
not. I am average to watchwith. You don't want to buy you

(01:39:09):
if you're an optimist, you wantme two barstools away right now and just
being enjoying my beer. Okay,I'll give you and throw you a bone.
Here as to things that will helpMichigan, though, first things first,
and this is something that I thinkhas been a little troubling for me
watching the Stallions pass rush. They'reone of the worst in the league of
getting a pass rush going. Andthat's something that Michigan has been struggling with

(01:39:31):
in some of their losses, iskeeping arms away from the quarterback, keeping
guys away from m QB said,Josh Love can get the ball over the
line. Now, credit part ofthat I think is coming on Josh Love
at this point. He's been gettingit to the point where it's almost expected
in the three straight losses that hehas a ball or two knocked down.
That's on him getting the ball overthe line, but the linman also need
to get their hands down and geta better job of creating a pocket.

(01:39:55):
The Stallions have seven sacks this year. That is one better than Philadelphia,
who is the worst in the leaguget past rush, surprisingly and that is
five behind Houston at twelve. Everyoneelse has double digit sacks in the USFL
except for two teams. And that'snot like they've had massive injuries really on
the front line. That's not thesection of their defense that's been effected the
most, which is troubling to me. Scooby Wright would help that regard,

(01:40:17):
but still it's been a weak partof their game. That helps Michigan,
gives them a little more time.You can try and bullyball at a little
bit in the run game, somethingthat Houston was able to do at times
last week. You can get alittle more time for whoever's passing in this
game. I'm with you. Ithink at some point Eric Barry comes in
because unless Josh Love changes a newleaf because he gets a little more protection,

(01:40:42):
something's happened with him. I don'tget it, and I think you
just got to spark something. Ithink what's gonna happen. Mcgoo's gonna go
up by seven? You maybe getlike a turnover, either Eric Marty or
Mike Nolan says this is the lastStraw pulls him and then they do the
same song and dance. But Ithink Barry a does come out and play
ball. He did against New Jerseylast year. I know he's capable of
doing. We know he's capable ofdoing. He got buried because of Josh

(01:41:04):
love how he played last season inCarson Strong's prospect, but they kept him
on because they know what he's ableto do. I think he comes in.
You see a guy basically turned intowhat is a Cole Kelly figure right
now and has better production. Ijust don't think they win. That's the
thing. I think Alex mgoo hasenough to muster up and beat the past

(01:41:24):
defense that Michigan can provide. He'sable to maneuver. Breelan speaks in company.
Garrett Marino's out for this game too. By the way, it's gonna
be a little harder. Sure,No, it's gonna be in a beat
him up kind of game, that'sfor sure. I think it's gonna be
similar to what we saw with theGamblers last week, but again similar enough.
I think the Panthers pull it out. So Sunday Sunday Sunday, we

(01:41:47):
got the breakers coming to try toredeem themselves. This time they're taking on
the Stars here twelve pm Eastern FSone. Zach break it down for me.
Who you got, oh Man andFS one matchup? New Orleans getting
twelve o'clock games. It is likea marriage made an awkward heaven or an
awkward marriage made in heaven. Idon't get it. For a fan base

(01:42:10):
that has been looking like they aregoing to be the most obvious to get
a home stadium next, it surprisesme they get put in these time slots.
But I digress. New Orleans iscoming in. Yes, they had
an off game against against the Memphisshow Boats. Defensively, they still played
an excellent game. Offensively, theygot bullied up front a little bit.
You know what helps, similar towhat helps with Michigan in the game we

(01:42:31):
just talked about. What did Ijust say? Philadelphia? They are the
worst pass rush team in the USFL. Six sacks to their name that is
going to do tremendously for New Orleansin both fronts. They are also one
of the worst rush defenses in theleague. Even after last week, New
Jersey was still able to have theirway in the run game. They just
turned the ball over. The simplesolution for me with New Orleans played disapin

(01:42:55):
football because otherwise on the opposite side, and I'll give credit, bart Andrews
probably still adapt and continue to adjusthis offense. I think eventually you find
that you're going to get an opportunesack or a turnover off of pressure in
case cookus on the opposite side ofthe ball, and then you run away
with it. I got New Orleansto me in a comfortable win. I
know it was a really impressive windefensively for the Philadelphia Stars last week,

(01:43:18):
but there's not I don't see enoughgoing Philadelphia's way to come in with a
Breakers team that MBT looked pissed offat the end of that game against Memphis.
They didn't really he didn't get toomuch beyond a few shots, but
you could tell he was actively frustratedat how poor he was performing and how
poor that that line that at leastthat offense was performing, and imagine Flip

(01:43:41):
was acting the same way. Wejust didn't get enough shaline shots of him
losing it because they're not going todo the same thing two weeks in a
row. This is too good ofa team. They're gonna get a win
against Philadelphia in Detroit and get thething right back on the tracks after basically
getting on the side for one game. That's how it is. Yeah,
New Orleans is gonna be four andfive and one after this week. I'm
feeling you. I think it's aredemption a redemption game. I think they're

(01:44:03):
gonna come. I think they're gonnarebound. I think they're gonna take care
of the stars here, which leadsus to the final game of the weekend,
Best for Last, might say bestfor last. We have the Generals
taken on the Gamblers four pm Easternon Fox and Zach two words. All
in, baby. You should knowthe pick before it's even coming, because

(01:44:26):
I told you earlier in the seasonwe're sweeping the rest of the season.
Gamblers are going all in now.I will say, are we going to
see the Generals of last week?No? Do I expect Darius Victor to
drop the ball as many times ashe did last week. Hell no,
do I think the Gamblers coaches andall that know that. Absolutely, they
are going to be preparing for ahard team and a very well coached team.

(01:44:49):
I mean when I look at theStars and the Generals, Andrews and
Riley, I mean they seem tohave something about it when it comes to
spring football team. We saw itlast year, and I think they'll be
able to turn these ships around.So that worries me going into this game
as a Gamblers fan, But atthe end of the day, I'm going

(01:45:11):
all in. I mean, theGamblers, Mark Thompson in Mark, we
trust, Buddy Key Chisholm making aflipping name for himself. It seems like
every week now he's making a bigplay for the Gamblers, and I expect
them to extend that. And honestly, like I said, it's not going
to be the same Generals that weplayed that the Stars played last week.

(01:45:31):
But you know, the coaches arewatching that as well as all of the
other film this year to see,well, if they've made this many mistakes,
what other mistakes are they making?How can we break through this line?
How can we break through and getto the end zone and put up
some points and end out the weekendwith the win. So again, all
in, I'm going Houston Gambler ZachAgree, disagree? What do you think?

(01:45:54):
I don't think you have a wronganalysis on this. I just think
that if you're looking at the overallscope of who they've played this season,
this will be your most challenging defensivetest is New Jersey because they still have
to play in Pittsburgh later in theyear, which I can't say it's the
most challenging because Pittsburgh does I thinkhave a half step better defense, but

(01:46:15):
you are going to be put inyour most I would say your most pressuring
situations will be against the Generals interms of provide, in terms of I
think getting opportunities, not to mentionthat the General's pass rush, they have
the most sacks in the league.They have some dogs on that line.
Toby Johns. Toby Johnston has beengetting back to defenders on a consistent basis

(01:46:35):
this year, and I think that'sgoing to keep on providing some problems.
You're gonna have to settle down andyou have to dig deep. It's gonna
be a grit of a game.That's how New Jersey plays it. These
aren't runaway games. You have toplay their game. You have to be
able to Muniah to kind of,I would say, methodically move down the
field. You're not going to findexplosive plays as often. If you do,

(01:46:58):
then we're gonna have to reevaluate againjust even how much better Houston is.
But generals are gonna make you playtheir game. You just have to
play their game better, and thatis stay patient, may create less mistakes,
stay disciplined like last week, becausethey were disciplined, and you can
walk away at the win. Ithink it's a winnable game. I think
the other question is who does NewJersey trot out as the QBA. You

(01:47:20):
will find out that until a littlelater after the show's posted, because they
haven't dropped that depth chart. Butthat's a big question this week, even
if we're talking the turf, becauseMike Riley opened that door and so now
we have to wait on seeing whois behind door number one. And you
know what, I'm looking forward toit. I'm just looking forward to every

(01:47:40):
game this week. I'm looking forwardto them too. Halfway through the season,
hitting up the second half, we'regetting so close to the championship game,
which means we're getting that much closerto springs of summer stock. Oh
my goodness, what reality I'm in. The Panther doesn't even know what time
of year we're heading towards. Anyway, I mean, I'm the number one
Panthers fan now, Zach. Howexciting we have the number one Panthers fan

(01:48:04):
as a host on our show.I mean, world world recognized number one
Panthers fan, the Panther, thePanther. I gotta go change the color
in my car now, I gottago get like a burgundy or a Champagne
colored Tesla to match my new andalways real to me personality, the Panther,

(01:48:28):
the number one Panthers fan in theworld. All in, I mean,
let's I'm so happy that you arein a Nothing phases you because I
see signs and I go, well, it's been a ride. I'll ride
it out because I'm not a quitter. But boy, do I know I'm
going to suffer as one of thesepeople that clings on not anymore, Zach,
because I'm here to fix the season. And like I said, when

(01:48:51):
your playoffs are inevitably on the lineat that final game of the season,
I'm gonna be are you there,the number one Panthers fan. I might
even wear this get up and justjust to really bring everything full circle,
my love. Until the Panthers winagain, I ain't pulling out that button

(01:49:15):
up shirt because they they don't needthey need to prove to me that they
were that team that won two straight, that beat Houston week one. This
is why the West winning, Zach. You have no heart in them,
you have no faith in them.That's why I'm here. I'm doubling down
for you. I had faith forthree weeks and then lost to Memphis.

(01:49:35):
It's that lost to Memphis was theone that killed me. That's the one
that got me, got me goingand saying, wow, we really forgot
how to play. Well. Nextweek they did it again. Well next
week when I'm celebrating the Panthers andthe Gamblers win, which hasn't been something
that's happened this season yet. Butwhen I'm celebrating them both, you're not

(01:49:56):
allowed to the party, Zach.How you like that? I mean that's
because I don't believe they're going towin anyway, and I don't have that
one subourbon old here in my sideof the United States, and I'll go,
Yep, this is exactly what Iwas expecting. It takes a sip

(01:50:16):
ah pitiful. I'm not letting youcelebrate if the Panthers win the championship.
I hope you know that. Ihope you know that. Well, either
way, we have a whole halfof a season before we get to the
playoffs, Zach. Any last thoughtsbefore we go into some housekeeping stuff and
right off into the sunset for anotherweek. Yeah, you know, I

(01:50:40):
do hope that the Panthers do geta win. But again, I'm a
realist. It's how I play myteams. Man. You don't get you
know, I'm realist. I yeawords words, words, I got nothing.
It is when it is you've thrownme off with the get up today
because I just don't I don't getit. Well, I'll give you some

(01:51:02):
good news, Zach. The answeris always yes, this is the weekend
for the Panthers. Always, justi'd have four wins, don't you.
Well you gave up on your team. Now I'm here, I'm the number
one. I'm the number one fan. Your energy should provide wins. We're
gonna now because now the number onefan I didn't have the hat before.

(01:51:27):
Now we're gonna get it. Okay, now we're gonna win anyway, this
is our week, guys, Panthers. Let's all say it together. Three
two, one, let's hunt.Let's go all in baby for the South
before we go, before we rideinto the sunset. Here's the real deal.
Social media, what the hell areyou doing? You need to be
following us at USFL podcast, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, even the TikTok.

(01:51:53):
We're gonna have that Summer Stock dance, so you want to make sure
you're subscribed for when it drops.Speaking of Summer Stock, June thirty at
July first, so nice. We'redoing it twice when we're covering two months.
How crazy is that? But dayone we're doing a Group two or
the Pro Football Hall of Fame andbeautiful can't know, Ohio. But not

(01:52:14):
to be outdone, because day twowe're going live. The party's in the
parking lot and for real this time, because we're doing a live tailgate and
live stream for the USFL Championship.Come out there, have a good time
in person. But if you can'tmake it, we get it. You
can tune in over on YouTube,which hey, if you haven't already made

(01:52:35):
sure you're subscribed. Click the bell. It builds Morrell and we all need
it, especially Panthers fans. Makesure you're clicking that bell. We need
the Morrell. Rise up, Panthersfans. We're doing it this week.
Let's hunt, baby, but makesure you subscribe. If you don't click
the button to get the Morrell,then it's their fault, Zach that the

(01:52:58):
Panthers don't win this week. Hey, get them, get them Morales so
you can listen to the realist inthe groom. Well, I'm not buying
this facade. I know what thisis all about. We'll see, We'll
see, you know what. We'llhave this discussion next week. All in,
let's hunt. But before we go, one last thing. We know
you like merch. We know youlike the USFL and even more so,

(01:53:20):
we know you love a discount.Head over, head over to breaking t
dot com slash USFL newsroom, orsimply use the code USFL Newsroom for ten
percent off anything you order. Theygot XFL gear, they got USFL gear,
they got NFL gear, they gotMLB gear. You can use our

(01:53:41):
coupon on all of them. Butyou know what I'm picking up zack in
Mark, we trust all in.That's the latest show. No, no,
no, no no. You're thenumber one Panther you. I'm also
a gambler, Stan you gotta pickpick the one that's give me the ball.
I get at that one too.I'll get it to your pick up.
Thompson, you're right now I canget a bath and you can't do
two ways. This isn't all thiswork? No, I think it is.

(01:54:02):
But I can because I've been pickingof Stallion's gear. Well I can't
do that. Why not I haveStallion's gear. Anyway. You can save
ten percent off no matter what yourteam is, and I'm going to save
ten percent off my gamblers and Panthersmerch because I'm the number one Panthers fan.
I think that's it for this week. Zach, it's been fun.

(01:54:25):
I can't wait until we next untilwe talk next week, and until next
time, guys, sign you up.

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USFL Mid-Season Review, Talking w/ Luis Aguilar & more | USFL Podcast #57

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}USFL Mid-Season Review, Talking w/ Luis Aguilar & more | USFL Podcast #57