Welcome to USAFL’s Football Night in America… and around the world as I’m sure our friends in Europe are likely already in bed as we kickoff the Sunday Night Game. What an amazing way to start the season as we have an instant classic in the USAFL Bowl XVIII rematch bookended with a brilliant debut for the newest team in the USAFL despite likely taking an L in their inaugural game.
In the 2021 Kickoff Classic, the Deer Antler Addicts and World’s Finest have created an instant classic. As it stands, WFFC leads 132-129 with Mark Andrews left to play, while the Addicts have closed out their day with HUGE performances from Jalen Hurts, DeAndre Hopkins, and Adam Thielen. Hurts was very efficient throwing the football for 27-of-35 passing, 264 yards, and three touchdowns. On the other side, World’s Finest change in offensive strategy panned out with the 2-2-1; RB, WR, TE formation as QB Kyler Murray’s 41 and Debo Samuel’s 33 propelled them to their current lead. Win Probability is 99% for WFFC. Murray's point total exceeded any he had in all but two of 32 games in 2019-20, and remember, he was on a record-setting pace during the first half of last season.
In the only rivalry game of the week, Ebola sent a message to the Strokes and the rest of the league with a dominant 106-73 performance utilizing a two-TE set. There was no doubt the strategy behind drafting two of the best TEs in the league was to start both of them on a regular basis. All praise goes to Russel Wilson throwing four touchdown passes while registering 35 fantasy points. GM Stephen S. only has himself to blame as they left a plethora of points on the bench while gambling on the game-time decision on Brandon Aiyuk who was eventually held out. Ebola looks to close it out with just K Cairo Santos left and gain the advantage 4-to-3 in this budding rivalry.
After 17 head-to-head matchups between the Whitefish and the Penguins, 12 of which have gone to the Pens, one would expect a similar outcome, but going into Sunday Night, the Whitefish have three players left, all studs at their position. Despite being down 90-78, they have a 62%-win probability as the Pens will need to rely on a big game from the Raven’s D to pull out the win. We’ll find out Monday Night if DC can steal one away.
In an improbably low-scoring matchup between two of the league elders, Takada Monster Army maintains a 15-point advantage over Nash Kato who still has Mathew Stafford to play in the Sunday night game. A win for Takada means narrowing the lifetime series to 13-11 and getting a jump on their division rival as Nash Kato rarely misses the playoffs.
Hawk’s Bench put up an impressive 105 points in their first week behind the trio of Dalvin Cook, Keenan Allen, and Tyler Locket’s 68 combined points, but even being down 105-72, Yankee Zulu maintains a 73% statistical advantage over the Hawk’s namely because Lamar Jackson is playing Monday Night. Projected at 114 points means Lamar and company will need 42 points to meet projections and 34 to pull out the victory.
Shots fired! The Koalas are on the verge of break 150 points for only the third time in franchise history. You would need to go all the way back to 2013 to see a performance this stellar from the Koalas. 78 combined points from Patrick Mahomes and Amari Cooper more or less sealed the fate of the Ducks. But credit where credit is due. The inaugural game for the USAFL’s newest team sees 118 points scored with 129 projected by the end of the night. That’s outscoring all but three of the teams in the USAFL. Not a bad start to a dynasty.
That’s it for Sunday Night. We’ll see you all again Tuesday morning as points finalize. Great way to start the season and look forward to everyone’s waiver wire moves this Wednesday.
Comments