WEEK 5 SFL NEWSLETTER
- Cameron Irvine
- Jul 25, 2014
- 5 min read
Feature of the Week
New York capitalizing on other's mistakes
Owner Erik Barkley has always been known to be savvy. He created arguably the most difficult passing game to stop in league history and as a result Joseph Redfeather still holds multiple career passing records, as do his former receivers Freeman Goodspeed and Jake Legacy.
The lethal down field attack was short-lived however. Without a running back to help Redfeather, teams improved their secondaries in the off-season, locked down the one-dimensional attack and knocked New York from playoff contention. Barkley, however, is not known for staying complacent.
Oklahoma City owner Michael Irvine made a mistake. He used an attribute change in the off-season to improve St. Clair, in an effort to get him back in a restructured deal. That backfired, as the Knights scooped up a quarterback looking for a fresh start, a quarterback who was the arm of two championship teams.
Kailua owner Jaimie Walsh made a mistake. Park HeeChul never could get going in Kailua. Sure, Barkley gave him a big payday but HeeChul looks comfortable on the East Coast, without a certain someone in the backfield holding him back.
San Francisco owner Daley Holder made a mistake. His trade for Redfeather and Goodspeed has been a dud thus far and with Michael Urban's inability at tailback, the Bulldog offense has put themselves in the exact same position as New York last season. On the flip side, the Knights got Brock Studwell, who is on pase to put up the best numbers in SFL history from the tight end position.
It's arguable that owners made a mistake, too, choosing not to accept A.J. Caswell's ownership application, as he and Barkley now stratagize together behind close doors. We may look back at this season and say, "what was Barkley thinking?" or he might take advantage of other's choices all the way to another title.
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WALSH BOWL V: Coming off losses, Rollers and Intimidators clash
Saturday July 26 — Orlando (1-2) @ Grand Rapids (2-1), noon CT
All-time series: Series tied 2-2
Milestone tracker: Kevin Walker needs 296 passing yards to become the 2nd quarterback to pass for 7,000 career yards. Steven Lambert and Jeb Gatlin need 5 and 2 tackles, respectively, to become the first players in league history to surpass the 150-tackles mark - they're the top 2 tackles in the SFL all-time.
GRAND RAPIDS — Every time Eric and Kyle Walsh get together, fireworks are standard. It should be no different as the two will kickoff an epic Week 5. Both are trying to get back in the win column after Week 4 losses.
The last time the Rollers faced Orlando was Week 1 of the winter season, when David Badha's memorable gashing of Orlando helped the Rollers run out the clock following a big fourth-down stop. Orlando got revenge later last season, becoming the first team to force a shutout, a 41-0 drumming that began the demise of the Rollers, who failed to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
The spotlight is on Kevin Walker in this match up, and his ability to bounce back. Walker has had back-to-back career low performances and will now go against a defense that is giving up a league-low 16.7 points per game. Walker's stat line the last two weeks (6 TD, 11 INT) is already worse than his league-low 9 INT's last season and is approaching his career worst 14 INT's he threw his rookie year. It could be a big day for David Badha - Orlando gives up over 220 yards on the ground, worst in the SFL.
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COMING BACK: A much-improved Wes St. Clair takes on former team
Sunday July 27 — New York (2-1) @ Oklahoma City (2-1), 3 pm CT
All-time series: New York leads 2-1
Milestone tracker: With just one TD, St. Clair will have surpassed his previous career high of 10 TD's in a season. Last week, Pete Bruschi's record performance helped him become the first running back to achieve 3,000 yards on the ground and is behind Jake Legacy (29-28) for the TD record by a position player in a career. Jake Legacy needs 114 yards to become the first-ever 3,000-yard receiver. Isaac Holt needs one more INT to become the 4th player with 10 career INT's, joining all-time leader Billy Joe Casper (15) in that category.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Wes St. Clair will be coming into hostile territory Sunday. Don't expect Renegade fans to give him a warm welcome. To be frank, St. Clair was overpaid and stunk in Oklahoma, throwing 28 INT's to 18 TD's in two seasons. Now, on pace for the greatest season any quarterback has had in league history, St. Clair is coming back.
Oklahoma City is accelerating promotions for an already sold-out Transcorp Stadium. The 'Gades are adding a new Sushi Bar that will open this week, as tourism has become more popular from Japanese with Ayanojyo Aburatsubo on the team. The bar will be called "Subo Time." The team will also be honoring Pete Bruschi's record-breaking performance in Orlando with coupons for free "Bruschis" with every item brought to the stadium that has the word "Orlando" on it. With all the recent rain in Oklahoma, there is no burn ban in effect, which is allowing OKC to burn the items at halftime.
On the field, it will be a rematch of the Summer 2013 Championship Game and the first meeting between the two clubs since Week 1 of the winter season. Both teams have changed a lot since New York won the title, but one constant is Pete Bruschi. In their last meeting, Bruschi was held to just 60 yards on 27 carries and did not score in a 17-10 OKC win.
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COMISSIONER'S CUP: First-ever meeting spotlights Dallas' 'O' against Crabs 'D'
Sunday July 27 — Baltimore (2-0) @ Dallas (0-2), 6 pm CT
All-time series: First meeting
Milestone tracker: Thomas Ranklins needs 107 passing yards to surpass 6,000. In 722 pass attempts, Ranklins has been sacked 84 times (most all-time). Baltimore's Mike Dazzo has not been sacked in two games, and is trying to become the first-ever quarterback to go three straight games without being sacked (first quarterback to ever go two-straight games).
DALLAS - The Commissioner's Cup was expected to be an epic battle between Dallas' Johnny English and Baltimore's defensive hitmen. That match up may not happen as expected.
English, who has been getting a surprisingly-low 12.5 carries per game this season, was expected to get a boost with new Offensive Coordinator Jermaine Smith joining the team, but SFL sources don't appear confident that Smith's adjustments will be ready in time for Sunday's big tilt. The Stars still have plenty of weapons, but Thomas Ranklins insufferable start to his third year in Big D has fans begging for a change.
With all the talk about what Dallas is going to do, Baltimore has taken a rare back seat in game day discussion. They'll be trying to do what Grand Rapids couldn't do last week - become only the second team in league history to start a season 3-0. Dallas has never lost back-to-back home games and have only ever been beaten at home by Oklahoma City. The Stars do have the league's best pass defense, but Baltimore is one of only two teams who have run more than they've passed this summer.
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