UFL 2025 Week 3 Results + Reactions!!!

We are going LIVE to react to and recap UFL 2025 week 3 on Monday, April 13th!! Join John Lewis Sports and me for your weekly UFL 2025 recap show with results from the weekend's United Football League games, including our reactions and analysis!!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well see, and now I'm all confused on that because
I used to know the music, John. I used to
know the countdown to welcome John to all that, and
I'm like, are we going live? And then I'm on camera.
I destroyed the entire illusion that we were to create, John,
how are you?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm great and I got I'm I can't front on
that new music. I love the new music. I love it.
I think stream Yard has done a great thing with
this new music.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
It really chills me out here before we're ready to go.
I do promise, I do promise we are. I think
I've made a better mood today. I certainly couldn't be
in as bad of the move as I was last week.
But we have a ton of stuff to talk about today.
Welcome to the Markcast Week three. Here ufl or recapin
analysis John Lewis with John Lewis Sports follow him a

(01:32):
hour later today. I appreciate flexibility. I had to go
get a shoot in before I'm plying to Vegas tomorrow. John.
It suns out, guns out what Pat call? Yeah? Yard
read is here?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yard Reid has returned real spring football.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Twenty four hours from now, Dorothy and I will be
at the Oyo Hotel in the pool, all things hopefully
here in Vegas and then gearing up for WrestleMania weekend
next weekend. So John, we're going to have a dilemma
here in the minute we'll talk with you about. But yeah,
welcome everyone. Lots of comments, exciting stuff here first of all,
and then I'll do the plugs and said, John, this

(02:06):
was an a low bar, but the best weekend of
UFL football we've had.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
The first thing I had in my notes, like after
I watched all the games, like was this the best week?
And I think we have to say yes. No, I
mean maybe the bars low, but these were really fun games,
even the ten to nine Arlington Birmingham game. Was it
great football?

Speaker 3 (02:25):
No?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
But was it fun at the end. I mean probably
not for Arlington fans, but I mean it was wild
and you had you know, we'll talk about them all,
but you know Memphis and I listen, I had. I
had to wear my Houston rough necks here. They got
the win. I don't know if they'll get another one.
We see J blowing kisses to the crowd. I mean
it was it was a whole vibe down there.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
It was good. So we really do have a jam
pack show today, a lot of destroy and Haiti and
we'll be on there. John has Eyewinness accounts from Memphis.
John went went to Mecca, went to They went to
Liberty Stadium there in Memphis, talking through all the other games.
Lots of have to get to like and subscribe, give
a thumbs up on the channel. I try to get
this up. Remember, we are doing two free jerseys through

(03:09):
Dustin at Royal Retros when we hit four thousand subscribers, John,
you also have your promo code. See. I was still
like we got done with the stream last week and
I was like, God, I was so mad. I didn't
even plug anything. So I can't be mad enough to
not I gotta plug and then I can get mad. John,
tell us about your referral code. We'll get some comments.
We'll get underway here.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, if you go to Royal Retros dot com, there's
a place to put a code in when you're checking out.
If you put JLS for John Lewis Sports, you'll get
ten percent off your order.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
There you go and get and like subscribe here. Like
I said, Dustin helping me out anything you need jersey wise,
he's got the letters coming from me. I'm building a
custom mare in a Jersey. Very excited about that. Comments here,
and then we have a conundrum we'll get into before
the week. Here Scott checking in, Hey reading John good evening,
William's checking in here. What's happening, gentlemen? How about those

(03:56):
DC defenders duel here? I'm surprised John is back to
being quoted on ESPN. Oh did you make it up?
I didn't even realize he got me.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Football Talk four ms have picked it up bigger shows.
Amazing to me. That amazing to me. That like, that
was a cool thing to me. And if you looked
at the comments, it was read, You're the worst person
in the world. And I'm like, I thought that was
kind of a cool thing. And then everybody thought I

(04:26):
was apparently the worst person in the world because that
wasn't the right You going to Memphis. I'm like, he's
in Memphis this weekend. He doesn't live there. He travels
to Saint Louis multiple times. Like you want to talk
to a super fan that they're oh, read You're just
the worst. I'm like, right, Well, here's here's the thing.
Both of us have worked in local journalists. We both

(04:47):
worked in journalism. When you're working on a deadline and
someone says, hey, can you talk to me, and then
the person that you're trying to talk to says, yes,
I can talk to you. They're going to pick up
the phone right there and talk to you. Because as
our man, uh, as our man analyze and educate, says
Pat says, uh, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
The best ability is availability. And so I was available,
and I was. There was one quote. There was one
quote in that article. And I don't know why people
got so mad like I was some Battlehawk's poser, but
it was one quote. It is great.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, a lot of that all yes, all football, uh whatever,
we all football. That just what is the name of
the website? All folltball gy Just guys getting righten up.
But it's good. It's exciting. So we're going to get
in everything. We got Mike's we got Mike's say, TV
ratings for the Friday night game that came in. We
have attendance and then we have a UFL championship location
kind of all that stuff. John. Here is what we

(05:42):
we will decide at the end of the show. Here's
the question I'm going to wrestle Innia next weekend. I
will admittedly not be watching any United Football League action
next week. Uh, we will need to decide if you're
gonna want and I can co host. And now I'm
not promising anything, but I am going to WrestleMania. And

(06:05):
I have not talked to this person with the long time.
People know who I'm talking about, So I don't know.
If we could work on something when we're in Vegas together.
I think that could be kind of cool. So you'll
need to decide. We'll decide, but we could have like
spoiler alert, like I could get Paul Sanchez on next week.
I gotta work on it, but I'm gonna be I mean,

(06:25):
I'm gonna be in the hotel with them. You may
get Paul back on. You got to decide, John, if
that's worth it. I think people would be exciting and
excited to see. Uh would you do you? Did you
even listen back when Paul was an authors?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Uh? Yeah, I'm sure I did. Yeah, John's not excited
at all. I think no, I think it's great. But
here's the thing, A lot of people need to realize.
This is Easter weekend. So Sunday I was just informed
earlier that I am having dinner with my in laws,
and of course being it's gonna you know, when you
have dinner on the holiday, it has to be at
the weirdest time ever, So it's going to be at

(07:00):
four thirty Eastern time. So I don't know how much
football I will get in before we do the podcast.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
If we do the podcast, so well, we'll decide, Well,
it will be TVD, but we maybe we'll do it.
We'll do a pow wow. Maybe we'll just shoot the
breeze and hang out and I'll probably be hung over.
It could be fun to give me fun.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Last comment here, Read is the heel of the UFL community.
John is the ould school baby. I like that. I
like that. Let's get to this first. Mike Mitchell here,
just breaking news on this UFL Friday night here six
eighty two thousand for the Renegade Stallions game. I was
looking at my article. A three percent increase, so I said, I,

(07:39):
I said, Darryl Johnston is probably popping champagne somewhere decent, decent. Uh,
we're there. I think that's the floor. I think six hundred.
That's kind of where we're at. Any I don't need
we don't need to do a deep dive on this today,
but it kind of thoughts on it. I feel like
we've discovered kind of where we're at.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, you know we were you mentioned our boys seth
last uh last week, and he's he's trying to convince
me that these numbers are okay, and I really pushed back.
We had a lot of discussions back and forth, but
I I think you're right, and I think he's right,
like this is what the number is gonna be, you
know here, and the good thing is I mean, you know,

(08:18):
it's it was a Friday night. It was not a
great game, so that maybe that is the that's what
it's gonna be. And if that's what it's gonna be,
I think that's okay. I really expected more, you know,
going into it, that it would be more than that,
like maybe around the eight hundred thousand of maybe nine
hundred thousand mark, and you know, I don't know what
the projections are, and maybe that was just being too optimistic,

(08:39):
but you know, being on Fox on Friday night, I
thought they would they would maybe get some more numbers
than that. So but if that's what it is, it's
what it's. That's what it is.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, you know, and Mike Mitchell right about this as well.
If you want to see this. His article for the
ratings is always have a UFL and newsub dot com
over there with Mark and everything on that Mike's skin.
It kind of balancing some of you know, we get
some of the articles market some of the articles. It's good,
you know, the Friday night thing paints a picture, and
I think maybe if we get through the halfway point
of the season, maybe we can, you know, stop down here.

(09:11):
It's just there has been no apples to apples, even
the kickoff game versus last year's kickoff game and the
Saturday and the Friday and now yeah, we have the
Friday stuff here. I hate the standalone Saturday game. I
wish the UFL was at a point where we could
do the one Friday double header, Saturday double head Sunday.
I loved the doubleheader Sunday, mostly just because I was

(09:32):
at home. I was I had the Mariners on one screen,
I had the UFL, and then it rolled in today
like that was awesome. That's what you need. I know.
You've talked a lot about the gap, right kind of
between the games. You know, you want to tighten that
up and scheduling, but I don't, you know, six hundred
thousand on the round, my point, six hundred thousand for
Fox on a Friday is different than six hundred thousand

(09:54):
ABC Midday on a Saturday. So I would just like
to see kind of once we get midway through the
season and kind of where where the actual network ratings
kind of balance out, because like the FS what we
we just haven't had a lot of like sample size
this season thus far.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I don't think, Yeah, you know, my concern is, and
in fact, there's a comment right here on this thread there.
My concern is, does Fox start to look at this
and say, we could have put a rerun of Mass
Singer that that aired earlier in the week and probably
gotten the same numbers. So I don't know, you know,
how much they're they're willing to invest. Is it like,
is it going to cost them more to air a

(10:27):
Mass Singer than it would be to put on a
full production on a Friday night. I don't know, So
that's my only concern, But you're you're right, I think
that this is what it's gonna be. I thought they
would do it up a lot more than they did
and make it a presentation and we just really have
not seen that. We did get Kevin Coogler though, so
that was pretty nice. That was a good crew they
had Friday night.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, I'm just looking here because Leon's talking about next weekend,
you know again going up again trusting Mania next weekend. Uh,
you know the Friday night game. I hate how they
they guy can scroll here. Let me pull this up
just real quick. We'll do schedule step at the end
on here. But yeah, the Friday game at Ford Field,
Saturday here, twelve thirty midday, right, both of these, so

(11:10):
twelve thirty and then seven, you're going to begin to
WrestleMania starting for that night game and then Sunday here
at five, so you're going up. Well, see you also
had yeah two week to Fox to ABC. What do
you also have the nineteen million people or whatever Sunday
they watched Rory on The Masters, So I'll be curious
what the doubleheader on Sunday looks like for the.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
You know, that's what we talked about about. That was
the main sports competition and I did not realize that,
you know, when Rory got was in contention there pretty early,
and then it looked like, you know, end up that
final round being pretty good. I was like, oh, this
could be tough for the UFL.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Well, I mean talk about just just sports drama and
human interest. I mean, I'm not a golf guy, and
I sat there last night watching the recap just like
I'm like, I'm holding my phone and then he's walking up,
but I just he just couldn't imagine, just couldn't imagine.
I thought it was really cool. Yeah, lots of comments here.

(12:08):
I'm just kind of scrolling through here. Maybe we'll do
some comments at the end about all that. So I
see Scott and all that just marketing promoting getting the
stuff out of here. But we'll see. I'll be curious.
You're never gonna have a clean weekend. I joked about
this a lot when the USFL came in, and well,
April is the best time because nothing's on. And then

(12:29):
the second they hit the Ratians and it was like, well,
you know, we have golf and then you have women's basketball,
you know, the draft or what they come up with
all these you know, every time of year is the
best time of year until it's not.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
And right, that was Yeah, I mean, I still kind
of leaned toward I really wish they would start in February,
but you know this, this is what we have right now.
We could what's golf anyway? So yeah, to me, I
thought that that February start was almost perfect. It was
certainly perfect when we had almost around football with the NFL,

(13:02):
the XFL, the USFL. Those are the good old days.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Uh. We got Mike's attendance here so Birmingham the Friday night,
ten thousand on that Memphis right around that forty five
hundred mark Michigan. You know, we've talked about this and distribution,
and then the Saint Louis that's kind of their base
number there. We've talked a lot about distributed tickets and
all of that. Last week, I will tell you I
thought the Battlehawk's crowd looked very low. That was the

(13:30):
lowest that I had seen. I wasn't uh I think
it ended up. I did people, you know, of course,
comment and where like I didn't think it was like,
I was just like, I'm just watching. I never think
like it's the most like I'm seeing. I'm like, this
is the least amount of people ever. You're an idiot,
But it did they padded that. I'm probably closer to
twenty twenty five on that. Anything stand out for you

(13:53):
there dies Mission Memphis. Did that feel like a five
thousand person crowd?

Speaker 2 (13:57):
No, No, it was not. And I mean, you know,
like we said, we're not going to freak out about
the numbers when because you know, again we know what
the numbers are. It's tickets distributed. We've talked about that.
There were not There's no way there was forty seven
hundred people there. I mean it was fun, it was
you know, there were times when it got as loud
as it could. They don't sell tickets on one side

(14:18):
of the stadium, so you don't have anybody over there.
They're all on one side of the stadium. So no,
that that was. But even still, even inflated, it's still
forty seven hundred.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
That's tough, you know, thirteen thousand week three average like that.
That makes me feel a little That makes me feel
a little like you're not trying to be too bad,
but it makes me feel a little bit like whether
we're doing here well.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
It also makes me a little concerned. I need to
go back and look at it. But teaser here you
might see a video come out, Oh don't know, maybe
tomorrow around six am Eastern time. Talking about Memphis and
all the different leagues that have played there, especially in
the Liberty Bowl. But when we started talking about you know,

(15:02):
you start looking it's like all these were terrible attendances
for the AAF and even the CFL back in the
mid nineties it was still about three to four times
what we're seeing right now with these numbers, and that
that makes me a little concerned. Now again, I'm sorry again,
I know a lot of people are gonna say this.
The attendance and ticket sales are not a big part

(15:23):
of the financial model. But after a while you have
to start asking yourself, why aren't we connecting with the
local community. If there's not interest here, is there going
to be interest nationwide?

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Yeah, we have a question here from David just Birmingham, Carroll.
I see them when they're at least Memphis is bad.
The salary to one of the shining examples. It's hard
because you get to that, you get to that quo,
you know, you get both sides of that right where Wow,
like the Brahmas have been bad, so how do you
expect them to get or Memphis has been bad. But yeah,
but then you go, shoot man Burmie. I mean you

(15:56):
couldn't you couldn't ask for more from Birmingham from a
sports team and a well run organization and good coaching
and good staff and you know, a good GM there
before he moved and got it right, didn't Zach? Didn't
he get promoted somewhere else or whatever? Yeah, you had
all of these states like so, so it's both sides
of it. I don't know. I think we need to
do a deep dive on this. I've even seen people

(16:18):
commenting on my stuff kind of you co signing me
and just like why, like why is this not working?
Why a Memphis? Why Ald? I? I mean it is a
dead horse at this point. But uh, that that is
there are certain markets where it does not feel like
things are resonating. But then you see Michigan kind of
you know, tick up a little bit and you think, well,
is that working out? To me, Memphis is the worst

(16:39):
because that is the second longest ten year team in
a home market, you know, after Birmingham.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Well, and I will say there was severe weather in
the area in Birmingham before the game. Now when the
game started, if anyone if you watched it, you could
tell there was not severe weather. It did look like
it might have been raining a little bit. Uh, but
still your team's won three championships. Go, you know, as
long as there's not lightning in the area, go sit
out in the sprinkle and it's fun. I mean I
was down there last year for the season finale and

(17:07):
it was poor and rain but there were still a
lot of people around and it was humid, and that's
what it was. But it's you know, there weren't as
many people as it should have been for a game
that technically decided the USFL Conference champion, even though if
Michigan had won, they still would have had to play
at Birmingham because ford Field wasn't available.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Here's my last comment here. Gemini says, it's not the
business model, but it effects the business model. Believe they
need to understand that. You know, I was just thinking
about that here right. Obviously, YouTube, we care about number
of people to watch the show, right, but we need
people on here right now doing comments. Right. You want
people engaged in your stream live as it's happening to

(17:46):
give that and you know, we're just sitting here and
it's it's you know it's it's Max in the chat.
You doesn't do as much for me when we have
a group, So you know, it's all effects that it
affects the energy. To me, the biggest thing we've talked
about this it's a perception. I show my mother or
my wife or my neighbor the game and there's forty

(18:06):
seven hundred people that it affects perception more than anything.
And at the end of the day, I will tell
you my Saint Louis tweet and my Memphis tweets. A
lot of CFL people I call that like, ooh you know,
and you got to oh, man, I did this league's done?
So you know it comes from all sides. Anything general thought. Sure, else,
I'm going to pull up the arlington. We'll talk to

(18:27):
the game here.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, no, I think you covered it all. It's something
we say we're not going to talk about, and we
continue to talk about. But it's just you know what, again,
we talk about these things because we are pulling for
the success of this league and we just really want
to see it kind of take off.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yes, So for the for the Orangine game here, so
I was so, oh, I didn't I'll tell you my
story at the end, I'll say, remind me of the
end to tell you my story about how sick I
got after our stream LOSK so I was I was
going to say I was fortunate. I don't know if
I was fortun I was. I was fortunate enough to
this game on the plane undisturbed, flying back from my

(19:04):
work trip from Orlando, so I got to see all
of this. I don't even think there would be much
to talk about in this game if it were for
you know, kind of the end of game kind of
scenario and all of that. You have general thoughts in
the game before we kind of get to all that breakdown.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
The general thought is when Matt Carrall is good, he's great.
When he is bad, it is hard to watch. And
when look at that stat line nineteen for forty one.
Now he did have two hundred and fifty five yards,
you know, but it's just some of these passes. There
was one I think he was trying to throw a
corner route and he just threw it over the guy
and skip Holtz there there are a lot of times

(19:41):
when they have taken video, you know, taking shots of
of skip Holtz and he's coaching them up or this week.
It was there were tons of shots of him just
being so frustrated. There was sound of him being frustrated.
And here's another thing with this now that case Cookus
is there, the signing that none of us could figure out.

(20:03):
You know a lot of people were starting to say,
maybe we need, you know, put let's put Kate case
Cookus in there, because Matt Corrall struggling so much. But
again he has such good games, and so there's that spark.
But I think now Skip Holtz has an insurance policy
with with case Cookis.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, do you like that? Do you like him moving
in there? There was you know a little bit of juice?

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Uh yeah, I mean I still think you you you
you stick with Matt Corrall, I mean until you don't. Well,
you know, that's kind of what we saw with with
Memphis a little bit. And well, I mean and frankly
we saw it with Houston in that game. Let's let's
also remember don't take anything away again from this Birmingham defense,
because I mean they held on some you know, almost

(20:49):
goal line plays against Arlington. Now Arlington's defense, i mean
offense was you know, sputtering a little bit obviously only
scored nine points. But man, I mean Birmingham's defense, if
they had not stepped up the way they did, this
is a different story.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, we have here Puzol fan Sternberger fumble was pretty wild. Yeah,
I said that must have been too busy with all
that tweeting about you know, Mark Nelson and articles and
all that. Oh darn Jase, like but you know, have
anyone criticized But it was a good play.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
It But but the thing is, uh, I think the
defense held on that play. So yeah, I mean that
was why. I mean that was a touchdown. I mean
he dropped six points, but they were able to hold
Arlington to a field goal I think on that possession.
So yeah, that was. Yeah, that's pretty wild. And you
got to burn in on old Jase.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Oh, I was gonna say too, And because Canala had
a fumble too, right at some point, I was kind
of I was, I was pretty.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Tired there was that when he got blown up. It
might have been a fumble then.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
But I was gonna say, just a side note, I
did just get that email from the Renegades. Hey, they
had a sal Canela like spotlight article coming out. Dank Christ,
It's not it's not a little press like no, I
mean that like that's awesome. Like if I was, if
I was a person for one of these teams, that's great.
I every week, then you do salad this week, and

(22:11):
then you do someone on defense next week and use
something like it's that's free or two times a week,
do three times to do an offensive and defensive and
the specialtyam like yeah, send them six questions. Do you
like your bread toasted or untoted? Like I don't you
know what I mean, Like it's not people like that stuff.
I think that's great. I have a question here where

(22:32):
David yet to Where's David's question? Is it time to
move later? I would like to see them score points again.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Uh, you're gonna You're gonna bench the King of Spring.
I mean, what was it? What was what were his
stat lines? I mean, what was his what were in stats?

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Like it? Here?

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Because I said, I mean I still think his numbers
are okay. I mean I don't think they were they
were terrible? Were they? I mean? Yeah? I mean still
had over two hundred yards passing twenty six or thirty
eight is not bad. I mean you're right, no touchdowns,
but no picks either. Yeah, I don't. I don't think
he was the problem. And a foosball fan brings up
a good point about how he thought Arlington played some
good defense. I kind of questioned Arlington's defense because they

(23:12):
had to hold off Houston and then you know, then
they gave up the game time touchdown and that one
point conversion there at the end of the game. I mean,
it was kind of a crazy ending to the game.
Uh yeah, it's their defense. You know, it seems like
it's good until it's you know, crutch time.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well let's talk about that. So let's talk in the
game here. And I was because I was watching you know,
you know how watching like football on a plan is
and like he right, So then so I watch it
and I watched the replay and because I'm okay, I
want to make sure I got everything. But you know, obviously,
excuse me, Birmingham driving all that, and you know, the
fall start and everything, and you know, Steve's not being
able to decline they got it, right? Do we like that?

(23:52):
I mean a lot of controversy. I thought that was
kind of the main takeaway from the game.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Well, it starts bringing out the conspiracy theory too, thought
that you know, Kansas City was supposed to win the
Super Bowl, and you know till that conspiracy theory theory
fell through and they're they're all, they're in Saint Louis's corner. Well,
that conspiracy theory died, so now all these conspiracy theorists
are on Birmingham. When you get the call right the
way that the UFL rules are set up, I thought

(24:19):
that was fine. There were people saying, why didn't Bob
Stoops decline the penalty? Well, you can't decline the dead
ball penalty. Uh, that's that's what it is. And no,
I think it's I think it's fine when you are
when you can make those kinds of calls in crunch
time of games. I think that's one thing that majorly
separates the UFL from the NFL or any other pro

(24:41):
league and the Super Challenge, which I expect any time
for the NFL to to steal that one because they should.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
You had a lot of officiating this week and I
felt like, we excuse me with you with with Mike
and all that, and the Dean was the lover. I mean,
there was just a lot of uh you know, controversy
that way. But yeah, I always say Birmingham is what
is it the Birmingham in the league's poker? However you
want to say that, I don't know. I mean it's frustrating.
I think Arlington, you know, made it to write to

(25:11):
the red zone three times previously, you had plenty of
opportunities to put that away. Do you view that Arlington
giving the way away or giving the game or Birmingham?
You know?

Speaker 2 (25:20):
No, I mean I credit that to Birmingham's defense. I
just thought they looked good the entire game, So, I mean,
can both things be true? Yes? To me, I just
thought that was just some really strong Birmingham defense throughout
the game. I was really impressed with them. They've been
good all year. They were good last year.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
I'm looking here, you know, so Arlington here second in
the XFL, obviously undefeated defenders that way, David asked, I mean,
Louis and all that, do we ride for just a
bad week? Birmingham's defense is stout? How do you kind
of adjust to that?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, there's too much knee jerks. Everyone wanted to bench
Kellen Mond. Now, did they lose? Yes, Here's the thing.
I'm going to get killed for this, but I have
I have kell I have San Antonio in our power rankings,
I put San Antonio third. Now do I They're zero
to three. I understand I'm gonna get killed for this,

(26:13):
but Kellen Mond was a different quarterback. I mean it
was a close game obviously in Michigan had to come back.
Your guy, you know, destroying, got destroyed there and missed
the game time field. So but I'm just saying there's
too much knee jerk that. You know, people wanted to
sit Alex Magoo after week one when he was getting

(26:34):
absolutely killed. We kept saying every week Kellen Mond needs
to jail a little bit. He's got a new offensive coordinator.
With the offensive coordinator comes in now Peyton Pardee and says, hey,
you know this guy could run a lot in college.
Maybe we should let him do a lot more of that.
Certainly worked out, he was much more, you know, he
used his feet a lot more. Again, I think that

(26:56):
this team is gonna Gael And you know, I kept
saying that Memphis was the best OH and two team.
Now I think San Antonio might be the best owen
three team.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well, it's interesting because yesterday was the best week, you know,
day of games, right, So you're you know, three and
a half weeks into the season where you're seeing that.
And my question was, you know, this player strife and
potential lock it, you know, walk out and kind of
all that stuff. You know, how much of that in
training camp and the quarterback's not doing that? You know,

(27:26):
how much should all this effect we're now you know,
we're three weeks into the season, right, they had you know,
two three week training you know, now you're kind of
at the point where we're getting to that, we're getting
things going. I just think where that that first week
or two of the spring football is always such a cluster,
like uh, getting everyone together? Does that make sense? Like
I felt, we're kind of all these teams are kind

(27:46):
of hitting stride.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Now well, and it's so compressed already anyway. You don't
have two to three months of you know, of pre
you don't have two to three months of training camp,
you don't have preseason games. You're launched straight into it,
and if you go oh and three like San Antonio,
you're fighting for your life before mid season to get
to the postseason. But I think you're right. I think
we are starting to see maybe some of the effects

(28:09):
those first couple of weeks of that, you know, sitting
out of the of the quarterback camp. But I think
this third week, I think you're exactly right. You're on
track there. We are starting to see what happens when
these teams start to practice. Now and now they're starting
to play together, They're starting to figure out these offenses
because everything is just so compressed when you compare it
to a lot of other leagues, especially the NFL.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
UH A couple I have a question for you, and
then someone said, we got comments here, we'll do it
as king Williams not to ever react. A week one,
do you think Parde might be the coach of the
future in San Antonio? They look fired up. Yes, we
didn't talk about it. A J. Smith and everything, a
lot of we just didn't have a chance to talk
about it because that was Wednesday, Thursday. I was working

(28:52):
and I was in Orlando. You know you hear rumors, right,
he got pushed out. They didn't want to use his offense.
We see did that step back to the championship game
last year where they looks so anemic. I saw Brandon
Silver's tweeting out in support of A. J. Smith. Obviously
he was close to them in their time? What did
you I guess, what do you make of the AJ
Smith stepping down? And then? Yeah, I mean, I guess

(29:16):
we'll talk about this. We weren't going to go to
this game yet, but they goes, what did you make
of this? I'm coming ahead here, John.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
That's quite all right. Yeah, I've seen two different reports
now from San Antonio that AJ Smith left because he
was at odds on what offense he wanted to run
and what offense that maybe Wade Phillips or the organization
wanted to run. But I'm telling you they lost, Yes,
but didn't that offense look a lot better with Peyton Party.

(29:42):
I mean, again, like I said last week, A J.
Smith didn't forget how to coach. I don't think that's
the question. But you have to, as Brandon Silver says,
that you had, you know, you've got to You've got
to let an offensive coordinator decide what personnel and what
kind of scheme he wants to run. Otherwise, why do
you have an offensive coordinator? You just need a you know,

(30:02):
a play caller like Ken wizen Hunt. I mean not
that they don't have an offensive coordinator, but he you know,
he's the play caller. There's a lot of that that happened.
So I don't know that A J. Smith is going
to work in a system like that where that was
gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah, I just like said, they're dude and foosball fan.
They're fighting in the chat. That's funny. I hear it
as well. I just I'm tired. I'm going on macation here.
But here we go, DeMarcus John, You're absolutely wrong. If
they challenge you is fine. But the place on now
we're back. This is what I have was all kind
of talking about the renegads on this I jumping you around,

(30:35):
keeping you on your toes. Uh, we're going back to that.
So the false start ID and going all the way
through your playing changing the game. That was where I
wanted to in the conversation, and then we'll move on.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, I mean I could see why people are upset
by that. Uh. And you're right, you know, if if
if there's a false start, that play, that play should stop.
I mean it stops on every level of a false start.
But yeah, it did go through and then they went
back and looked at it. But I just that's the UFL.
I don't I you know, I don't think I'm wrong
on that. I mean, that's what you that's what the

(31:06):
UFL does. That was the rule.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
It annoys me and for anyone that doesn't watch hockey,
it feels very similar to like offsides challenge in hockey,
where they might be in the offensive zone for two
or three minutes and score and then they go, well
on the entry it was, you know, and they'll go back,
you know, and and sometimes those teams will know, right,
they'll know and you see, I mean shooting football, you

(31:30):
see that, Oh he's got a free play or he
knows or oh, well get you know Aaron Rodger, remember
he was the.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
King, Like, oh Aaron, he's so crafty, he always knows,
he's got to like But you get that hockey and
they'll go back and that team maybe new a minute
and a half ago, Hey this is off side, you know,
and then obviously you're gonna play, but then.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Change out all around anything else with that. You want
to move on to Memphis.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, it's like the goaltending call in college basketball. Now
they can go back and look at or you know,
at or review a three later.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
And so yeah, I did have a show. Where was
it don't. I don't think I had a tweet pulled out,
but I was like, yeah, Birmingham is the matric city
because they make the fans disappear. All right, So John
went to Memphis. You were there, John took photos for us.
We have I still have not heard back about it

(32:19):
that stuff in terms of being able to use haven't
had time this week by that.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I will not charge you three hundred and fifty dollars.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
John, Please don't. Yeah, John Shott spirol John Shott's photos
at John Shott's lots of things. Yeah, video of Curtis Johnson.
But you were there. You were there for the Roughnecks.
When I tweeted out Chris Johnson as coach more winning
football games than you or I have, and likely anyone
reading this tweet for the most well, not knowing my

(32:45):
Twitter feed, there's actually a lot of like smart football people.
Maybe not my maybe not, but there you go. I mean,
it was, what did you make about I'll pull up
the game stats, but Curtis Johnson pulled it out.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Yeah, I mean I think Ken w Hunt set Ken
wesen Hunt said after the game, you learn, you learn
from these things. He disagreed with the assessment that it
felt like the defenses were ahead of the offenses, you know,
in in the UFL in general. I don't know. I mean,

(33:16):
he knows a lot more football than I do, but
it does feel that way anyway. But I think both
I think both teams might have found their quarterbacks. You know,
It's what I when Pat Raffino put on Analyze and Educate,
he did his you know, top quarterbacks of the season
or of the week, and you know, talking about e J. Perry,

(33:39):
it's kind of like Matt Carrall. When e J. Perry
is good. You know, that is a very good quarterback.
But he absolutely had a meltdown at the end.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Of the game.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
One was a pick six and you know generally that
was I mean, you can look at it and that
was kind of the turning point. It might have been
the winner there for Houston and then Memphis going for
two for for the win rather than going for the tie.
It just it was an interesting game. First half was
not great. You know, we talked about that. I I

(34:08):
ask you, like, does this look better on TV than
it does here from field level? A second second, second
half was good. I mean, but when Nolan Henderson came
in there for Houston. I mean, it was it was
a different game.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Do you and and this always happens, right when you're
a bad team and you get slept on and I've
had this and you know, her team's play up or
I mean, Seattle teams are the prototypical We play up
and then we played down to the to you know,
our competition that way. But excuse are the roughnecks kind
of compiling something here building something? Or is this uh

(34:43):
this is this show box just asleep with the.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Show boats? Gave this one away. It's what happened, you know.
Troy Williams came in there, looked a lot better, you know,
put them on some drives. You know, again e J.
Perry start, I rewatched the first you know, I'm gluten
for punishment. I rewatched the first half this morning. But yeah,
it was like, you know, e J. Perry continued to
kind of have you know these drives he's putting together,

(35:08):
got in the rhythm and but then you know I
saw it in person in the second half, it just
it was just kind of a disaster. No, no, I
mean in my power rankings, I couldn't put Houston last.
I mean, I couldn't do it. I had to put
Memphis last. But still, uh, you know, I don't know,
maybe it sparked something I could be wrong to me.

(35:29):
Memphis lost this game more than Houston won it.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
So now you know, firmly bottom of the USFL conference here, Yeah,
Birmingham and obviously they're at the top. They're they're your
worst team, whether I think Greg Parks is, they'll be
working on their you know, our power rankings this week
for all football. That just but that's where you got them.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
I mean I do reluctantly. I mean I think if
you play that game three times, I think Memphis wins twice,
and I think Houston got them on the one day
that they were going to win.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
David has a question for you as EH Perry the
best worst quarterback, the worst best quarterback in the UFL.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
That's all that is an entire podcast in to itself,
I know.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
I mean, I have a question from football fan here
that could be an entire podcast. We'll get to at
the end.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
I can imagine. Yeah, I mean again, it's like E. J.
Perry versus Matt Corral It's like the highlight reel throws
and runs and then and then it's like and then
if you put together a reel of all they're bad,
of all the bad plays, you know, these guys can't
play on any level. It's just it's just so different.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
Did anything we'll get moved to the to the Sunday
game show that might give us a little bit more,
but finishing with the Memphis takeaways from the game or
take away you know, getting to be on the media
side there taking photos, sideline, any other stories, any other observations.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Memphis does it right. I got to park right up
beside the stadium. I did not have to pay for parking.
You know, press pass was easy to pick up. Walks
straight in. Uh no, I mean they it's it as
far as the whole game day operation goes. I mean,
this is you know, it might be kind of inside
baseball here inside football, but as far as the game

(37:12):
day operations go, it is a great set up there.
And you go right in there's a media room set
up where they actually do the interviews and you know,
the postgame stuff. It was great. And you know Andy Seely,
who's the PR guy. We've mentioned his name several times.
Class act just is so helpful and you know, just
friendly and appreciates the work that we do. So yeah, No,

(37:35):
it was just it was it was really cool to
be there again. I As I said, I worked in
in Louisville television for twenty years and University of Louisville
used to go to the Liberty Bowl every year in football,
but I never got to attend to I never went.
I was always the guy sitting in the studio saying,
here's so and so from you know, from the Liberty Bowl.
So I wanted to go there because I mean, we

(37:55):
never know, as we've seen these leagues pop up and die,
and it's like when I'm I ever going to get
a chance to go to Memphis again or or have
an opportunity to go watch a game there that's in
a league that I enjoy. So that was why I went,
And it was it was really fun and it was
a class act and everybody was just you know, very helpful.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Did was there a large number? Was there a large
was there? A large number of other media folks there
from Memphis.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
No w R e G seems to do a lot
uh Channel three there in Memphis, and they seem to
do a lot with the Panthers, And I just saw abduels.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
I just saw we'll pull it up, we'll pull it up,
which is true.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Uh, But no, I think and I don't know that
they I don't even know if they shot the game. Really.
I think they were in there for post game. I
think uh. Uh me and this we were like the
That was pretty much all. There were only a few
cameras there on the sidelines. Uh. And there was a
there was a group there from Arkansas State. Uh, some
college students there that they were shooting. I saw that

(38:54):
they were given the Memphis players high fives after they
ran in touchdowns. So it was it was it was
quite the experience.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
I would be curious. And I know that the UFL,
you know they they have the highlights for us, Yeah,
on that media portal. I'd be curious, you know, if
they shot that. I'm curious how much they shot that there.
If they're calling at the Memphis TV stations every week, like,
hey we got five minutes and game highlights and you know,
two postgame interviews if you want to use some, I
would just be curious. Like it's one thing to have

(39:24):
them there, it's another thing to shot that. Yes, we
did see them deals coming, not shocking. The childis can
park anywhere with the Abdul. You do not know the
interactions we have had in Arlington. You would think that
that would be you can't even get free parking in
in Arlington. So I did would think.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
That I did get free parking. And when I got there,
I was I walked out. I got there way early
because I wanted to get there and get some video outside.
And I saw there's some tailigators over here. And then
I saw this just this giant, just stretch of tents
and all these people out there, and I was like,
what now, what a scene? This is like people are
really showing up. But come come to find out, there

(40:04):
was another community event that was happening on that side
that had nothing to do with the UFL, but it
was interesting. There were some Houston Roughnecks fans there. Uh,
and I was shocked and in fact, like the video
I sense some video back. I had some great video
of CJ walking off the field. He's blowing kisses to
the I don't know twenty Houston Roughnecks fans over there.
Was it was pretty funny.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
I know, I was shedding. There was anyway for me
to pull that out here.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Well and Here's what King Williams here brings up a
good point about you know, if local news isn't covering,
how are you know people supposed to know? I told
you read I think you know. I was down there
and kind of flipping around watching local television. I I no,
not to say it didn't happen, but I never saw
one mention of the Memphis Showboats game happening. And when

(40:50):
they were talking about different events that were happening and
the weather forecast, I never saw one. I never saw
one mention of the Memphis Showboats.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Let's see if I don't break this hole and John
Dunnan there you go, don't don't don't give me a
strike here, you have to see that enjoy And I
got he goes, I got John Lewis Wayne for me,

(41:22):
I got, I got time to do. But it was good.
I'm glad you got to do that.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Yeah, it was fun. I'm glad I got to too.
And you know, I've I've been to you know, Birmingham
a few times, Saint Louis a few times. I got
to go to Canton, which was really cool. I mean,
that was one of my favorite trips ever. And then
you know, and then going to Memphis. It is fun
to go to these things. I do wish that there
was a little bit more you know, fans set up.
I mean they had a great tailgating area.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
The theme was Memphis Wrestling, which you would have enjoyed.
During the timeouts they slammed the guy through a table
on the concourse. They were having actual wrestling matches matches
before the game with some of the Memphis area wrestlers.
It was it was quite the same. And I ate
a foot long corn dog, So I mean, what day.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
You know it was when I took Dorothy to the
Arlington Renegades game. It was memor of the weekend last
year we went. I I agree with you when you're there.
They do a fantastic job for the fans. It's getting
the fans in. I think the people that are doing
the game day, including the hosts that are doing the crowd,
all of that is that like in the wrestling and

(42:31):
we get the emails and you know, the roughnecks are
doing whatever, and this is doing you know, they're they're
trying these theme things. I think it's great. It's just
getting people to the game. We Dorithy, I had a
great time we walked out around Chalkdaw they had stuff
to go check out in the merch store and they
had you know, I think that was the day we
didn't stay. I think that was the Dave Marquete King
like saying after the game.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Or we didn't stay for the concert.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
But you know, they have things there. It's just getting
people to the games.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, And that was another great they which they did
not have in Saint Louis last year, was they had
no merchandise out in the tailgating area or outside the stadium.
Uh And in Saint Louis, So by the time that
we were you know, my wife and I were there
and we were like walking around outside and by the
time we were going in, we're ready to go, you know,

(43:18):
grab some drinks and some food and go to our seats.
And then they had all that in there. Now there
wasn't on the concourse there in Memphis, they had a
they had a pretty nice setup and you know that
was opened the whole time, so you had like plenty
of time to go in there because there wasn't a
whole lot to do outside. So that's always a good
thing because I mean, and they had some like like
some good under armor merchandise, had a lot of stuff there.

(43:40):
It was cool.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah, they're they're ramping up like that's we have a
question here about it. This is a failure in IP.
But well we'll get to that. We'll we get to that.
Uh So here we go. This is the big destroying
game San Antonio and uh Michigan Panthers. Here out for field.
Let me get that pulled up here this you know,
the desjoint and made the big field goal. Was all

(44:04):
excited and then they right then he missed one, but
then he was the one to tie the game, and
then they were like he was doing all the whatever.
I'll talk about it in a minute, but let's get
your general thoughts in the game in the world.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Well, the first thing, I was surprised to see that
Danny Etling take to take the starting quarterback snaps. I
was like, I mean, Bryce Perkins has completely like to me,
he was and this line is going to be misleading
because Danny Etling got absolutely blown up.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
I was a little bit got murdered on TV.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
I was behind because I had just gotten back from
Memphis and so I was about thirty minutes behind. And
that's when you texted me, it's like Danny Etling just
got murdered on television. So I was like waiting for
that to happen. But I was just surprised that he started,
really because I don't know. Again, Mike Nolan knows a
lot more football than I'll ever know, but it just
seemed to me, I don't know if he's trying to
go two quarterbacks here, but Bryce Perkins continues to impress

(44:59):
and he he comes into the game, and I mean,
look what he did. So and then the San Antonio
defense started to really get after him, you know, pretty quickly.

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
But then it's felt like he was starting to heat
up in the second quarter, in the third quarter, and
I know the fourth quarter was what you were really
focused on.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Here, well, football fans, Yeah, Danny ally wish is he
didn't start the game because he did not finish well.
But that was my thing and just and not to
again like I have my one Donald thing here. I'll
talk about this, but like like everything about the Bronx,
it's not even really about like Wade Phillips there, it's
like it's all the destroying show and it's when you

(45:38):
when you pin everything around him and you know he right,
he made the first kick and then missed the second
kick and then missed the third, like you know, and
they're oh he like he says he's good from sixty.
Oh yeah, I did it, And like, okay, we're doing
the press game and they were doing this, Like I
just I tweeted out, I said, I wish the UFL
would promote their football league as much as they promote
destroying because that is all I know, Like, let's talk

(46:01):
about the new offensive. I mean, I know you don't
want to talk about like people stepping down, but let's
like type that up. But I just it just kills
me that, like that's technically like my team, and I like,
you know, I I liked aj Smith and everyone, and
I was more involved in them last year and you
know before kind of all these people moved down. But
like it kills me that that's all we have to
kind of hang our hats on here in San Antonio.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah, and Wade Phillips, you know that he wasn't even
on the sideline. They said he was in the locker
room for the game because he was under the weather.
Uh yeah, I understand. Maybe if you are continuing to
try to bring in. You know, you're trying to bring
in viewers, You're trying to bring in younger viewers. This

(46:44):
has not worked. It has not worked with destroying. I'm
sure he puts a lot of stuff on YouTube. I'm
sure he probably put the highlights on there. He probably
didn't put that kick on there. But it's not working.
And I don't know we've talked to about this before.
How you know, it's kind of like with the Luis
Perez or the beer snake. It's like these are the

(47:05):
things that they keep saying that we see all the time.
The casual viewer might not see all the time. But
I don't know that the whole destroying thing is working.
I mean that for the first kick he made looked
really good. That looked like it might have been good
from sixty, but after that kind of went downhill.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Well, and I had that Isaac Punts. I'll play the
video here in the saying because I made my little
funny montage of he's trying to miss O'donald missing. But
like one of the quote truths I had, he was
that Isaac Punts. And he has a YouTube like he's
in special teams and he does YouTube. He goes. My
problem with Destroying is that like the misses are so
he misses so much, like it's not like, oh, justin

(47:41):
Tucker and then okay, it just like it's it's that
that one wasn't even close. And that to me is
obviously when he feels like he's you know, he doesn't
have the range or whatever, and then he's exerted.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
And that was that was something that we kind of
we saw with Chris Blewett that was surprising. Yeah, uh, well,
of course he's got it. Did you know that he
has millions of followers on Instagram and YouTube? But yeah,
we just it was not it was not a good
day for for kickers. Uh in in in Memphis, although
Houston did win the game and uh destroying Donald did not.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, here we go so and I so this killed me.
So I'm sitting here watching the game and I had
someone call me or I would have been on it
even quicker because I'm like, sit because I'm texting. I
think we were texting back and forth. Oh man, if
Donald misses this kick.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
To go there overtime, Mike, you said he's going to
miss this, isn't he?

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Uh So I made this I think this is going
to play the second I the second I played, so
so we'll play this, and I said, I always wanted
to do this, and it's setting something to the Titanic
theme songs. I was, I've always wanted to do this.
So this is Donald's kick set to the Titanic theme song.

(49:01):
I'm for good. I'm pretty proud of my soul. John.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
It was good kick a man while he's down.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Man. But like, but also, that's the dynamic, Like I
don't even care like people like, well, you're still like,
that's the dynamic. You're a professional athlete. I'm not like that.
And who was it? It was Matthew. Oh my god,
I'll pull it here talking to that because I want
to pull up some on the really quart.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yeah, well, when you when you continue to build someone
up like this like they do in these broadcasts, these
things are going to happen. And when they do, you
can't say, oh, well that's too bad or I mean,
that's it's what's gonna happen. You're right, they're professional athletes,
but I mean that's pretty hardcore.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Duel says, destroying this five to seven, that's not terrible.
Felt like that was when he missed he was rushing. Well, yeah, no,
because he was She's in the camera, she's here. But
that's what it was. It was Matthew and Matthew Sexton,
who is a friend of mine, is on the team.
He's plays for the prom especial teams. He goes, Man,
I thought you were a cool dude. Why are you
hating so much because you're playing the games. I have

(50:02):
to watch them bend over backwards to talk about Donald
every eighteen seconds on my TV. So he gets it,
and Matthew Sexton gets it. He goes, Okay, whatever, and
then we said, yeah, I like that. But I mean
that was my takeaway of that game. Obviously we saw
that the Brahma get a bounce back with aj Smith
and all that. How do we feel going in the

(50:23):
next week, and then we'll move on to the Defenders game.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, and I got to I can't remember who they're
playing here. Uh, but yes, no, I think this is
again they're the best OHEN three team. I mean, I've
said that again about Memphis.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
But there was improvement. You're seeing improvement week over week.
I go back to Kellen mand and this added dimension
of him running the ball a little bit more because
he is an active player. I mean he is, he is,
he has a he gives you a much more. He
gives you more of an offense when he starts to run,
and he can really do that. He did it in

(50:57):
college and we saw that a lot more. And they
put in some places for that, you know, designed runs RPOs. Yeah,
I I I will say, I think this is a
team that that does have a shot to get to
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
So let's move in here. Oh god, they just they
make this so hard to pull up.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Sorry, Oh they played. They play the defenders, that's what
they play.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
So yeah, there, that could be tough, all right, So
here we go. Okay, well we'll do the games overthing,
all right. So we got here. Yeah, defenders at battle Hawks.
This was the big battle hockey and it's this big
illustrious home field advantage for the battle Hawks. You can
never win at home, right, defenders here at three and
the exciting game. A lot of turnovers, right, and we
had a Jordan Talamu with a couple of interceptions and

(51:36):
Wilkins with a bunch of interceptions. Thoughts on this one,
I have some funny comments effort.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Well, you know it was a you saw. I think
it was a twelve nothing DC start there, Like they
started to really get after after the BattleHawks. Uh, you
know many started to use his legs. I mean that
is like one of I mean that is strong when
he that, But there's just you know, Frank Darby had

(52:04):
hay out a great catch in that for the touchdown.
But it just felt like again the DC defense taking
nothing away. I mean DC defense was strong there, especially
in the second half. Jacob Sailors continues to be a
workhorse for the battle Hawks. He is so fun to watch.
But that that Wilkins interception that I was thinking, it's

(52:25):
about a minute and a half to go. I mean,
you just can't. You can't make that play. You can't
try to make that play where you're thrown across your
body and try. I mean, he would have been better
off to try to throw it away. I just it
was he just had a bad game. And you know
there it had happened before when he was filling in
for aj mccaeron he actually won a game. I think
it was him that won a game when Aj mccern
was hurt either last year or year before. But then

(52:48):
there were other times that he played and he's like,
that was kind of the Manny Wilkins that we saw
and that might have been why he wasn't, you know,
getting as much playing time. But let's you know this,
this is a snap shot of the week. He was
playing a very good defense, and Manny Wilkins, I think,
is is the answer. I don't you know, I thought
they were going to try a two quarterback system. He

(53:09):
noticed that Anthony Beck did not put in Max Duggan
in there like for you know, any lenth the time,
if at all. So that's that's not the answer either.
So that was kind of my takeaway. I mean, the
biggest takeaway was when the announcement was going to be, Oh,
they got this big announcement coming up at halftime, maybe
this is when we're gonna find out who are the
expansion teams, because we all love expansion talk, and it was, oh,

(53:33):
Saint Louis is gonna host the championship again, all right,
So I mean it just it felt like kind of
air let him out of balloon.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Actually, yeah, let me comment on that, because I do
have comments about the game. We might go five minutes
over guys, just I'll try to keep it here close
because I know it's even later for John here as normally,
so I appreciate it. Yeah. So obviously they had the
announcement of the Oh, they had the announcements coming to halftime.
Everyone knew it was the championship I and people like, oh,
do you think they're yeah, the expansion. I go, it's
the halftime thing. What bothered me more even than that

(54:05):
was the like I saw the clip I must have
been in the post afterward with Danny Garcia talking and like, well,
you know, like Saint Louis and they're so great, you know,
kind of all this stuff. You guys like, if it
weren't for Saint Louis, you guys would be so sol
right now, Like it's not even funny. Was kind of
my was kind of my takeaway of it, was like

(54:26):
I would thank God every day right now that the
battle Hawks in twenty twenty and what was that Kurt
herb Street and or what was it? No, it wasn't.
What the hell was the guy's name that ran the team?
What was the guy? You know, the team president for
the battle Hawks. Everyone knows this. Someone plays a Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
They moved on to the baseball. They played for the
baseball anyway, Right, But I go, I would thank God
every day that like all of this was done for you.
You are the you were the example of waking up
on third and thinking you hit it, like there could
not be more blatant, been like, well, you know, and
all this hard work we've done here, Like what hard

(55:04):
work you haven't? You were? The attendancyer is down every
year since you've taken over.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
Yeah, I mean, and it's almost like you're you're having
it there by Yes, yeah, had Kurt Street in my
head too, but you're I mean, the Saint Louis is
built in it That Saint Louis right now is built
for spring football, much like d C was when the

(55:33):
NFL team in d C was bad. Uh, Saint Louis
is again as a as A really good quote that
I saw in a recent ESPN article that was for
me was that, you know this, it was kind of
the middle finger to Stan Kronkey who took the Rams out.
So I think that's to me, it's it's like a
perfect recipe for success. You have fans who are hardcore

(55:57):
football fans who want foot and they got somebody to
rail against to can go show them, Yes, this is
this is what we want. So yeah, I'm not sure
it's the UFL or the XFL that had built this up.
I think it's Saint Louis that's built this up.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
Yeah yeah, just flashions for comments, David, no doubt read
if the league exists in five years, say loose would
be the reason. Even though no Battlehawk's game the Dome
without dry You know what, exactly one seeded at downs
and dems is less than twenty nine people will pay attention.
All right, let's do a couple of game comments and
then that we have a couple of general comments, we'll
get out. Uh so hear about this, David, just talking

(56:33):
how about like William's fortune over three sacks? But here
was my question, So Dynamite Gaming DC simply dominated the
line of scrimmage rushes too much. I saw some chirping
on Twitter with DC defenders coaches like hey, like Reggie
Barlow was commenting and stuff like hey, I thought we
were all gonna fall apart with Greg Williams and all
this stuff, and like, uh, I can't remember what he said.

(56:55):
I think I have a bookmark. We have it. Reggie
was like, ooh, tea or what I was I go, okay,
but hey, look at this DC gutted and Greg Williams.
That was this week also right with AJS, Like my
week was was wiped and that was also this week
with Greg Williams leaving.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Yeah, this week it's happening. It's happening faster than Yeah,
this was this was Blake was This was his Yeah,
Blake Williams first uh, first game as the defensive coordinator. Yeah,
and it held Saint Louis, a very good Saint Louis
team to what one hundred and sixty something yards of offense,
So yeah, no taking. And he also sounds exactly like
his dad when he's playing, when he's calling plays. It

(57:34):
was incredible.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
And then here's my last coming here. David Manny was
was many exposed. This is the first time Battle Hawks
had to play from behind and he was forced to through. Also,
this ton of I felt like a lot of pressure,
a lot of running in Tiamu too. It felt like,
I mean, obviously the Lions and everything in this league
and trying to get up to speed, but you know,
a lot of scrambling obviously pays dividends in these leagues
with you know, the the lack of offensive line. But what

(57:56):
did you think of it? David's comment there.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
No, I think he's right. And if you saw many
at the when he's sitting on the bench, he looked
like Rocky at the end of the I mean he
was like bloody on one side. I mean that last
one of the last hits, his helmet came off, and
so they were really pressuring him. But you're right as
far as being exposed, this is the kind of thing
that we saw when he was under pressure. He was
just making some really bad passes. Now, I mean a

(58:19):
lot of quarterbacks can look good, you know, behind an
offensive line that that's solid and and they can run
and they have a running game, and that is what
the BattleHawks have. But I don't think they faced the
defense like like they saw in DC before. I don't
think that at all.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
I do it here if DC continues to be a
successful at Channon Harris wanted to stay as a head coach,
I don't believe. So.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Yeah, it's like the pay for a head coach in
the UFL be more than a QB. I mean maybe
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
It's not even a money thing. It's like us want
to be right, Well, it's a resume thing. Do I
want to be bumping shoulders and kind of in this
for the next six months or there. That's kind of
how I would look out. Like sometimes I might take
a lesser paining I'm freelance. I might take a lesser
paying gig and I'm just making up Hawaii then like
making more money to go to Boise, you know, like.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Hey, boys, he's pretty cool, but it's not Hawaii. You're right,
h Yeah, I don't know that. I think that's a
good question. I think Shannon Harris is really doing a
good job so far. I mean, you know, and that
Reggie Barlow was right. I thought they'd fall apart, and
then you know, there was so much turmoil. I think
that's been one of the good things that we have seen,
uh is there's fire. There's some stability now after three weeks.

(59:33):
I mean it was like before the season started, you
had Reggie Barlow leaving, you had Ken wizen Hunt you know,
out for we didn't know how long it was. Luckily
it was only a week. Then you know, you have
aj Smith stepping down, you had you know, whatever was
going on with wayde Phillips. Uh, like one week he
was up in the booth, and then there was you know,
then last week he was in the locker room, so
you know, hopeful all is well with him. But now

(59:55):
it feels like there's a little bit of stability. You know,
those things can change, you know, on a dime, but
you know, so so far, I think that's been the
one positive thing that we're starting to see better games,
coaching stability, players stability. We haven't heard a peep or
I haven't anyway about any kind of labor issues. So
I mean those are all good positive things.

Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
The quest we have a question here. The one thing
for me about the coaches leaving and I because that
was yeah, it was yeah when Greg Williams left, And
I because I think you had sent me the article
and I just tweeted out, like things go from bad
to worse for the UFL. Yeah, Everyone's like again, I
thought that was like a that was a pretty safe

(01:00:38):
like wow, another coordinators leaving, Like that's not a good thing, right,
You're an idiot. No one's like, am I go to me,
it's not even that like Greg Williams is leaving or
like does anyone care that Greg is? It's like the
way I view it and this is this isn't the mean,
it's reality. Is I care? And this isn't just the
Greg Williams any of these coaches leaving. It's the pay

(01:01:02):
and whatever. At this I'm not really concerned, Like I
can burn this bridge to go to another bridge because
I don't view myself going back here and that's just
not a good place to be at from the league standpoint.
Like that's my my fear, right, like you know, yeah,
like because like Nathan asked on Twitter, and I hate
to like throw my other body is like do you

(01:01:22):
think anyone's like going to DC games? Because I go,
well no, But like you, when these people keep leaving
and not caring, it just speaks to like, well, clearly
they're not leaving a lot if they're happy to just
like walk out the door. I know people have other
work and like Greg wanted to go work at Tennessee
and they the scouting time, but like whatever and all
these comments, but like it just doesn't look good. It's

(01:01:42):
not a good look. It doesn't continue to look good when,
especially in the same day, when two people midweek leave,
two coordinators of eight teams, like there's sixteen coordinators or whatever.
I think a couple of them. But you know, like
it's just right, can we admit that, Like that's like
not the best look.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
No, it's not only my and Mike and Leon both
bring up good points. Anthony Beck was looking you know,
he was pretty open about West Virginia. There was also
reports and as Leon pointed out, there were reports about
him looking at the at a Jets coordinator job. So
I mean, yeah, it's not a good look. If this
is you understand it. I mean we all understand that.

(01:02:21):
But as a league, when you start to see these
kind of headlines, those are the thing gets in headlines
because it was funny when Greg Williams left. I saw
a headline from it. I don't even remember where it was,
but it was controversial NFL coach leaves job for It's like,
oh my god. And then you know you click it,
you see it's like, oh, it's Greg Williams who used
to coach in the NFL, and that was controversial that

(01:02:43):
he's going to go to Tennessee State and he was
a coordinator for the UFL.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Yeah, so that to me, I'm just like, it's just
not a good look. I get it, Like I get
why people are doing I get what, but it's just
and I would like the UFL or you know, like
the CFL, like people aren't just leaving CFL jobs for
the most part to like go hop on and do
like you want to be at a point where the
job that I'm at at least good enough for me
to finish the like the job that I'm at and

(01:03:10):
then move on like you should be above like replacement
level job. Is that? Like is that a crazy statement?

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Job after replacement? Is that the stat you're looking at?

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they appreciate. Yeah, here we go
the further replacement. Yeah, we're gonna have the replacement pretty soon.
We're gonna have Shane Falco calder Reeves like running around
here and coaching real quick. This is super quick. Here,
we'll get out of here. I'm on the pack just
next week. Yeah. So we talked about this Michigan at
home Saint Louis here a couple of midday games going
up against WrestleMania their Saturday Sunday with the Roughnecks Stallions,

(01:03:47):
and then the DC Defenders should be good. I mean,
I kind of want to see if the Brahmas have
some juice there. What's standing out to you for week four.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Well, I think it's good that they're playing those, you know,
the Sunday games later, you know, being Easter Sunday. I
understand you're not gonna have a noon kickoff. I think
what is it five and eight? Is that what they're doing? Uh? Yeah, yeah,
that I mean that makes sense and that's smart. I mean,
you know, it's it's always tough, as you said, when
you have spring football. A lot of different things happened
in spring. It's gonna I'm interested to see what San

(01:04:20):
Antonio does and is there a bounce back here for
for Saint Louis. I think those are the two main
things that I'm looking for this week.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Yeah, so we'll figure out and like I said, next
week and maybe we'll do something, or maybe we'll come
on and just shoot the breeze. Don't know, we'll see,
but it might be like a loose episode next week
if no one's if it's like Easter, it's kind of
like no one did their homework because maybe people aren't
watching either. Like maybe next week we're just kind of like, hey,
now no one, none of us watch the games here,
let's just kind of be asked.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Let's let's deep dive into one game because I know
I can watch that at least on the treadmill or something.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
Yeah, let's do that. This is my last comment. They
just made me laugh and then I'll tell my story.
We'll get out of here. No, that wasn't that one
where well, yeah, Lise Fan said, is this a failure
or are we in the year four of spring football
with talks have expanded? Fan. I think that's a very loaded,
fair question. And I think either is is I think

(01:05:16):
either is fair.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Yeah, I mean we Yeah, we get a little negative
on here. That's true sometimes because we're fearful because history
has been a history has been a teacher for us
and a lot of things. But that is a very
good point. We're in year four and there is talk
of expansion. Uh, and I think it is serious talk. Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
And then last year, yeah, Liam was hagging you then
got the UFL with these copy of really yeah the
I f a staff today, I'm like.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
That wasn't crazy, Like, I mean, it's not really a surprise,
but like, and then the four teams were going to
like split off and make their own thing, and.

Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
That's my thing. And then I see them tweet I
we were talking in the group chat that the i
f A is like the MLF football like in disguise.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
Like it is. I mean, but it's going to kick
off next year and next year and next year.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
No. No last week for me. So John remember last
week and I was like we yo. I was starting
to feel sick kind of like midway through the show
and I was like John, we got off the show.
It was like John, I got to get out. I
was sick from Monday. We got off the show at
four and I immediately went in and threw up. I
think I had food poisoning. I did not really eat
solids till about Friday. Like I was very, very very sick.

(01:06:30):
I I room serviced a bagel a to bagel to
my hotel room about ten o'clock on Wednesday night to
see if I could eat something. But I could not
keep solids down Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday until about ten
o'clock that show and I podcast through John, you know
we no. I like that was I I literally like,

(01:06:52):
was ht the point where that's how sick? I was
like I can't. I came home. I came home and
I go like I I I have suffered from like
any disorders in my life, so I can talk about
this like very very openly. But I was like, I'm
kind of excited to weigh myself because I wanted to see, Like,
because I had gotten to be such a fatty, I
kind of wanted to see. I mean, I'm over it now.

(01:07:13):
But no, I Leon, I think I lost like many pounds,
So it was good. I'm ready for Vegas. I'm in
pools shape.

Speaker 2 (01:07:19):
You are? You got guns? Are out? Ready to go?

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Any there? Anything else from you, John before we get out?

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
No, I think you know. Again, on a positive note,
you're right. I mean, I think this was the best week,
and I think what we saw again the point you
brought up, we're starting to see these teams play together,
practice together, and they're much better. So that was I think.
Hopefully that's this is a trend that will continue and
hopefully we'll see some of these ratings and attendances start

(01:07:50):
to move this way too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
Yeah, I know, I didn't. I did. I did not
have the VID. I I have been traveling for work
sickly for a month, off and on for a month,
and I have been sick some portion of that the
entire time. In terms of a head colt or a
stomach like a stomach bug or I think I had

(01:08:11):
sinus whatever, and then food poisoning. So like I'm ready
to just not be I would just like to be, like,
you know, I can stay at home and be sick.
But it's it's really bad. John getting on a plane
and flying to Orlando.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
I can't imagine. Listen, players are supposed to be not
healthy during the season, not people who just sit and
talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but no, I'm very excited. I think
this was a great week. We'll figure out next week
all of that stuff. But no, like this is the
best balance. A couple of decent games, some funny things
to talk about. Donald missed a kick like that. That's
all I need to you, you know what I mean.
And like people are, oh, you're like, it's okay, it's okay,
it's okay to be critical about stuff. All Right, We'll

(01:08:52):
get out of here and we'll see you guys next time.
Like and subscribe, give John's channel thumbs up, and all
use is JLS Royal Retros. Did I do it?

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
You got it?

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
All right, We'll see you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
It