PFT: United Football League and USFL, XFL Articles

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ff-rematch

>>  The Battlehawks and Brahmas met in St. Louis this week, with one thing on the line — the site of next week’s rematch.The home team won, clinching a home game next week between the two teams in the XFL Conference championship game.It wasn’t easy. The Battlehawks won by one point, 13-12. It came down to a 51-yard field goal try that went wide left.The Battlehawks got quarterback A.J. McCarron back, after missing two games with an ankle injury. He completed 10 of 24 passes for 115 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Not long before that, the Brahmas scored a touchdown to make the score 13-12 but failed to convert a two-point try.Via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, the game drew 34,379 fans. Next weekend’s rematch will surely do as well, if not better. The following weekend, St. Louis hosts the first UFL Championship.  <<

Another positive story from MFer...

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... amiz-ahmed

>>The Commanders needed a kicker after cutting Brandon McManus on Sunday. They are signing former UFL kicker Ramiz Ahmed on Tuesday, Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post reports.

Ahmed spent part of the 2024 spring season with the Birmingham Stallions after Chris Blewitt was injured. Ahmed went 10-for-13, including 4-for-7 from beyond 40 yards. He holds the record for the longest field goal in USFL history with a 61-yarder after playing for both the Pittsburgh Maulers and New Jersey Generals.

He has never attempted an NFL field goal or PAT but did handle kickoffs in one game for the Packers.  <<

If he stays on the roster he is another example of UFL to NFL primarily due to spring FB USFL and UFL.

 

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... l-ufl-team

>>  Kai Nacua, the older brother of Rams receiver Puka Nacua, has landed on the inaugural All-UFL team.Nacua is an All-UFL safety.He has NFL experience with the Browns, Ravens, Panthers, Colts, 49ers, and Jets. He joined the Michigan Panthers in 2023. 

The kicker is Jake Bates, who made three field goals of 60 yards or longer, including a 64-yarder.Bates is destined to get an NFL opportunity once the Panthers’ playoff run concludes.  <<

PFT picks up ALL-UFL picks? 

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... lar-season

>>  Via Sports Business Journal, the UFL’s 40 regular-season games on ABC, Fox, ESPN, ESPN2, and FS1 averaged 816,000 viewers. Last year, the USFL averaged 601,000 viewers, and the XFL averaged 622,000.The key is that the UFL had a larger presence on broadcast TV. Six games (all on broadcast TV) had audiences in excess of a million.
 That’s a great start, and it suggests that maybe this spring league will do better than those that came before it, all of which failed. While there were various reasons for it (including COVID), they failed. The UFL seems to be doing well.
 The postseason starts this weekend, with San Antonio at St. Louis and Michigan at Birmingham. The winners meet on June 16 in St. Louis.
 There’s still room for growth. <<

Despite MFer's 2 cents - PFT being positive to football fans about UFL season is a Big Plus IMO.
 

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... f-the-year

It amazes me how much more coverage UFL is getting from (NBC) via PFT while no longer an NBC media rights property.

But this was another positive article and it also shows that NFL coaches are in the league.

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ured-ankle

>> “I told him straight up, any time it’s a legal hit, I’m trying to inflict bodily harm on you,” Tabor said. “That’s just what it is. Any team between those white lines, I’m trying to hurt you. I told him if he runs around the corner again and he sees me again, it’ll be another one of those things that’ll happen again.” 

NFL players rarely if ever talk that way in the years since the Saints bounty scandal. Tabor, a 2017 second-round pick of the Lions who spent time with six NFL teams before joining in the UFL, pulled no punches and made no apologies.

“I’m not a dirty player at all, I don’t think so,” Tabor said. “It was a clean play. A legal play. It’s Armageddon. It’s the art of war. You’re the quarterback. If you don’t play, we win. So the object of the game is for you not to play.”
~
What will UFL management do? On one hand, they need to protect their players. On the other hand, controversy is good for business. Frankly, aren’t you more likely to watch Brahmas-Battlehawks on Sunday than you would have been before reading this item? <<

[MGB01]

Don't need this crap, especially in a league that employs Gregg Williams (although I believe to this day he was set up by Sean Payton). As with the WNBA, what exactly does this do for the league? You know what it does? For a league that has origins, minimal as they are, in the OG XFL, it does nothing but inspire viewer to say "Oh look Vince can't get in his own building anymore so he must be booking this, good reminder to watch the Celtics blow the Mavs out again"

Anyway I'd just tell AJ and Hakeem to do him the same way that Russ and David Moore buried him in 2018. Remind everyone you're a mid in different wording.

Wade, you know better.............................

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... f-the-year

>>  The UFL continues to hand out its regular-season awards. The defensive player of the year for the first season of the XFL/USFL merger is Michigan Panthers defensive end Breeland Speaks.He was a second-round draft pick of the Chiefs in 2018. After two years with the Chiefs, Speaks spent time in the offseason with the Raiders, Cowboys, Giants, and Bills.

The Panthers play the Stallions this weekend for a berth in the first-ever UFL championship.<<

Thx for the promo!

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... f-the-year

>>  Wide receiver Hakeem Butler has been named the UFL’s first offensive player of the year.Butler was an All-XFL selection in 2023 and he won the top offensive award for his play in the first season since that league merged with the USFL.

Butler had 45 catches for a league-high 652 receiving yards and five touchdowns for the St. Louis Battlehawks this season. He will have a chance to add to those titles in a conference title game against San Antonio this weekend.  <<

[4th&long]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... ampionship

>>  For the second time this year, a team from Michigan had a double-digit lead on the road in a conference championship game and lost.This time around, the Michigan Panthers saw an 18-3 first-half lead collapse into a 31-18 loss to the Stallions in Birmingham. Official attendance, via Mike Mitchell of SI.com, was 10,287. 
~

Corral completed nine of 11 passes for 120 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. His performance, and the outcome, will raise questions about whether it will be Martinez or Corral next Sunday in St. Louis, where the Stallions will play either the Battlehawks or the San Antonio Brahmas.  <<

MFer doing more for UFL...