USFL First Impressions: Quarterback is a Problem
It started with a bang on Saturday and fizzled out over the course of Easter Sunday.
The United States Football League is back nearly 40 years after it originated and Saturday's prime-time opening affair between the New Jersey Generals and Birmingham Stallions registered solid viewership ratings across two major television networks.
The USFL announced that the simulcast, which aired live on FOX and NBC along with network streaming platforms, averaged 3.0 million viewers and viewership peaked at approximately 3.5 million viewers at 10:45 pm ET.
In addition to a somewhat substantial television audience tuning in, a noticeable crowd showed up at Birmingham's Protective Stadium to witness the rebirth of the spring football league.
WBRC.com reported that "attendance was around 17,500 for the game, though about 40,000 tickets were sold or distributed." (It is a bit strange that the attendance figure was not listed in the official game box score at FoxSports.com)
The thousands who attended were treated to a tightly-contested opening affair with the hometown Stallions taking their first lead of the game with 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Generals held the ball for nearly 38 minutes and out-gained Birmingham by 131 total yards, but found themselves on the short end of a 28-24 final score.
The first game in Sunday's slate was also decided during the final minute of the final quarter, meaning viewers were treated to two consecutive exciting finishes.
The in-stadium attendance on Easter Sunday was noticeably smaller than Saturday's night when the hometown team played. In total, there may have not been as many 1,000 fans in the stands for Sunday's action.
The non-ideal weather definitely kept some fans away and it was a prominent holiday, but it looks like the league may have trouble attracting fans through the turnstiles when the Birmingham team is not playing.
With that said, the league is likely only concerned about television ratings. FOX and NBC were the driving forces behind the league's launch and if enough people consume the television product, then they can deem the venture to be a success.
QB IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM
Quarterback performance varies greatly even in the National Football League.
The spring leagues that have launched in recent years, specifically the AAF and XFL, have had more trouble finding a reliable quarterback than the Cleveland Browns have had over the past quarter-century.
Initial observations lead me to believe the quality of quarterback play will also be a problem for the USFL. If any one position heavily affects the overall appearance of the product, it is the signal-caller.
The highest Week 1 passer rating (175.6) belonged to spring-league journeyman Luis Perez.
Earning starts, and subsequently performing adequately, in the AAF in 2019 and the XFL in 2020, Perez is giving it a go in the new USFL. Ultimately lacking the arm strength to see the field in the NFL, the former Division II standout (Texas A&M-Commerce) possesses moxie and guile that should serve him well against this level of competition.
Perez, who shared snaps with running threat De’Andre Johnson (Florida Atlantic), was 13-of-18 passing for 143 yards and two touchdowns in defeat. He averaged 7.9 yards per attempt and completed passes at a 72.2% clip.
Former Seattle Seahawks seventh-round pick Alex McGough (Florida International) looked crisp on the Stallions’ two-play, first-quarter touchdown, but did not maintain that level of play for long. He finished 5-of-10 passing for 55 yards with one touchdown and one interception. McGough was responsible for multiple poor decisions and poorly-thrown balls.
Louisiana Tech product J’Mar Smith came on in relief of McGough and led Birmingham to the comeback win. He completed only 52.4% of his attempts, but accounted for two touchdowns and did not commit a turnover. Smith, who passed for 156 yards, scored on a go-ahead two-yard touchdown rush with seconds to play.
In Sunday’s first game, Houston Gamblers quarterback Clayton Thorson (Northwestern) was certainly no Jim Kelly. He was on the winning side thanks to great play from the Gamblers’ defensive front, but went only 9-of-17 passing for 73 yards and one touchdown while also being intercepted once.
One can sum up Thorson’s struggles by examining back-to-back first-quarter plays from the opponent’s 19-yard line. On second-and-8, the Gamblers ran all vertical routes and Thorson was late delivering the ball to his intended receiver up the seam. Then, on third down, he was completely off target on a short-range throw.
Former FCS signal caller Kenji Bahar attempted one pass – an eight-yard completion – for the Gamblers, who may be better off turning the reins over to Monmouth University’s all-time leading passer.
On the other side, Michigan product Shea Patterson averaged 7.7 yards per pass with a 68.0 completion percentage, but seemed sloppy at times. He mishandled multiple snaps and also lost his footing at key moments in the Panthers’ 17-12 setback.
No USFL quarterback had a worse opening weekend than Panthers’ second-stringer Paxton Lynch. The former Memphis Tiger, who briefly spelled Patterson, totaled one passing yard on five attempts and also saw one of his poor decisions result in an interception.
Small-schooler Bryan Scott (Occidental College) took every snap in the Philadelphia Stars’ opener, throwing for 202 yards while averaging a somewhat paltry 5.6 yards per attempt.
Former Northern Colorado starter Kyle Sloter had his moments for the New Orleans Breakers, specifically when he had time to operate, but he also averaged only 5.6 yards per pass in the 23-17 triumph over the Stars. Prior to the USFL, Sloter served time on the practice squad of six different NFL franchises since 2017.
Severe weather in Birmingham prevented the weekend's fourth, and final, game from kicking off as scheduled.
Moved from Sunday to Monday night, the Tampa Bay Bandits and Pittsburgh Maulers saved the worst quarterback play for last.
Tampa Bay's Jordan Ta'amu averaged 5.8 yards per attempt and was intercepted twice en route to a 62.6 passer rating.
After running the ball on their first seven plays from scrimmage and punting twice, the Maulers had two quarterbacks slinging the rock. Unfortunately, neither had much success.
San Jose State’s Josh Love passed for 121 yards on a 7.6 yards per pass average in the 17-3 setback. Meanwhile, former FCS star Kyle Lauletta (Richmond) looked lost. He went 2-of-10 passing for eight yards.
Yes, the USFL is back, but the league appears to have left its star quarterbacks back in the 1980s.
