The AAF Thread

[Orlando Tim]

2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

huh?

I mean try to use the NFL season as your spring board- i meant drafting like nascar. The XFL is in mainly NFL cities which i think will make it difficult to get a foothold.

[Spiderweb]

One of the old AFL's early.positivea was good enthusiastic announcers. I tried to watch a game with Maurice Jones Drew, Marvin Lewis and Dan Heilie and it was horrible. Worse than listening to paint dry. MJS is brutally bad, Marvin Lewis sound as if Brown gave him a frontal lobotomy before he was let go...

Edited February 12, 2019 by Spiderweb
Oops

[row_33]

On 2/10/2019 at 10:07 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

 

The season ends by the end of April. MLB has no impact on me.

 

The median age for watching baseball is near  60.

 

 

[The Real Buffalo Joe]

If Orlando had named their team the Breakers, I'd have become an instant fan. 

[MJS]

9 hours ago, Spiderweb said:

One of the old AFL's early.positivea was good enthusiastic announcers. I tried to watch a game with Maurice Jones Drew, Marvin Lewis and Dan Heilie and it was horrible. Worse than listening to paint dry. MJS is brutally bad, Marvin Lewis sound as if Brown gave him a frontal lobotomy before he was let go...

 

The guy doing the play by play was fine, but the other two were worse than horrible.

[Guest K-GunJimKelly12]

With the success of the AAF, I think Vince's best move going forward is to create a league that is a viable option to players coming out of high school as opposed to college.  If he is able to sign a few top high school recruits, it will change the landscape of football.

[TheFunPolice]

I agree that announcers were awful

 

This is even true for the NFL so maybe they can develop some talent to call up eventually

[LeGOATski]

They have a stats page up now: https://aaf.com/arizona-hotshots/stats

 

It's not too well-organized yet. You can only click through each team.

 

Top 2 players in each category:

 

Passing yards

Wolford, Hotshots - 275

Woodside, Commanders - 255

 

Completion % (minimum 10 attempts)

Wolford, Hotshots - 62.1

Gilbert, Apollos - 60

Bercovici, Fleet - 60 (still got benched due to poor decision-making)

 

Rushing yards

Hunt, Apollos - 73

Pressley, Hotshots - 64

 

Receiving yards

Patton, Iron - 107

Ross, Hotshots - 104

 

Sacks

Massaquoi, Iron - 2

Washington, Commanders - 2

Moore, Fleet - 1.5

 

Interceptions

Garvin, Apollos - 2

Many tied at 1

 

Tackles

Gates, Express - 10

Garvin, Apollos - 8

 

Top 2 teams in each category:

 

Points

Apollos - 40

Hotshots - 38

 

Total yards

Hotshots - 416

Commanders - 364

 

Turnover differential

Hotshots +3

Apollos +3

 

After the first weekend, the Apollos and Hotshots stand out as the most well-rounded teams. Garvin was a beast on defense for the Apollos. Wolford lit up the desert sky for the Hotshots, being both efficient and explosive. Both were named offensive and defensive players of the week respectively, along with Iron kicker Nick Novak, who hit all four of his kicks in the Iron's shutout of the Express. 

 

Matchups to watch this week are Apollos vs Commanders (Sunday, 4pm ET, CBSSN) and Iron vs Stallions (Saturday, 2pm ET, TNT)

[PromoTheRobot]

Bumped for week 2:

 

Salt Lake at Birmingham

Saturday, Feb. 16

2 p.m. 

TNT

 

Arizona at Memphis

Saturday, Feb. 16

8 p.m. 

NFL Network

 

Orlando at San Antonio

Sunday, Feb. 17

4 p.m. 

CBS Sports Network

 

Atlanta at San Diego

Sunday, Feb. 17

8 p.m.

NFL Network

[PetermansRedemption]

If they can keep developing this league, it should succeed. A few key points need to happen. They need to target high school kids with the option of making 85k a year for 3 years and then getting drafted, instead of working for 3 years for free and having to do some semblance of classes and schoolwork. If I had no interest in getting a college degree I would certainly choose the former.

 

The AAF also needs to have an agreement with the NFL, where NFL teams can loan practice squad players to the AAF. Since there are 32 nfl teams and only 8 AAF teams it would be around 4 teams per AAF team. And of course you don’t want the AAF filled with all practice squad players so you would need to cap it at 1 per team or so. This would give hardcore fans of those teams a vested interest in watching. I would certainly watch the Birmingham Iron if the Bills had Cam Phillips down there. Other than that, I feel the AAF has a pretty good base. If they can swing those two points I think this league could succeed for a long time. 

[YoloinOhio]

Buffalo Bills linebacker A.J. Tarpley retired from the NFL after playing only one season, in 2016. Tarpley said concussions played a big role in his decision, but now he has returned to the gridiron as a member of the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football. (Buffalo News file photo)

Why former Bills linebacker A.J. Tarpley decided to play football again

https://buffalonews.com/2019/02/14/buffalo-bills-aj-tarpley-rex-ryan-nfl-aaf-san-diego-fleet-bank-of-america-wall-street-2019/

[peterpan]

Kaepernick and Tebow both turned down the AAF.  Kaepernick wanted $20 mil and Tebow stuck with baseball.  

 

If this league didn't make, those two saying no are likely why. ...

 

PS where is Johnny Football in all of this?

[YoloinOhio]

16 minutes ago, peterpan said:

Kaepernick and Tebow both turned down the AAF.  Kaepernick wanted $20 mil and Tebow stuck with baseball.  

 

If this league didn't make, those two saying no are likely why. ...

 

PS where is Johnny Football in all of this?

JFF flamed out in the CFL so doubt they would seek him out for this 

Edited February 15, 2019 by YoloinOhio

[PromoTheRobot]

23 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

JFF flamed out in the CFL so doubt they would seek him out for this 

 

Ditto for Chad Kelly. I could see why Kaep said no. He was getting a fat settlement from the NFL.

[LeGOATski]

8 hours ago, peterpan said:

Kaepernick and Tebow both turned down the AAF.  Kaepernick wanted $20 mil and Tebow stuck with baseball.  

 

If this league didn't make, those two saying no are likely why. ...

 

PS where is Johnny Football in all of this?

If the AAF dies out, it's not because of those two. It'll die out if players stop viewing it as an opportunity to get into the NFL. The points that @Bills2ref noted are ones I also think are key to survival, especially bringing in high school players.

[LeGOATski]

16 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Bumped for week 2:

 

Salt Lake at Birmingham

Saturday, Feb. 16

2 p.m. 

TNT

 

Arizona at Memphis

Saturday, Feb. 16

8 p.m. 

NFL Network

 

Orlando at San Antonio

Sunday, Feb. 17

4 p.m. 

CBS Sports Network

 

Atlanta at San Diego

Sunday, Feb. 17

8 p.m.

NFL Network

Iron and Apollos are currently favored at -7 and -6, but those games should be close. Commanders and Stallions are good teams.

 

On the flip side, the Express and Legends looked horrible in week one, but we'll see. It seems that Mike Singletary is not cut out to be a good head coach.

[Mr. WEO]

On February 15, 2019 at 8:18 AM, Bills2ref said:

If they can keep developing this league, it should succeed. A few key points need to happen. They need to target high school kids with the option of making 85k a year for 3 years and then getting drafted, instead of working for 3 years for free and having to do some semblance of classes and schoolwork. If I had no interest in getting a college degree I would certainly choose the former.

 

The AAF also needs to have an agreement with the NFL, where NFL teams can loan practice squad players to the AAF. Since there are 32 nfl teams and only 8 AAF teams it would be around 4 teams per AAF team. And of course you don’t want the AAF filled with all practice squad players so you would need to cap it at 1 per team or so. This would give hardcore fans of those teams a vested interest in watching. I would certainly watch the Birmingham Iron if the Bills had Cam Phillips down there. Other than that, I feel the AAF has a pretty good base. If they can swing those two points I think this league could succeed for a long time. 

 

If you are a top HS player, you aren't even considering the AAF.  Your chances of getting drafted from college to the NFL are infinitely higher than getting "drafted" into the NFL from the AAF.  If you are not one of the best HS recruit candidates in the country, you likely aren't going to be offered 85K a year for 3 years by a league struggling to find viewers.  

 

Also, the is zero benefit for the NFL to loan players to this league.  And are local fans really going to be interested because there is a single NFL PS player on the AAF team roster?  Hard to imagine how any of this makes sense.  

[YoloinOhio]

Not sure if already posted but what a story!

 

 

[PetermansRedemption]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

If you are a top HS player, you aren't even considering the AAF.  Your chances of getting drafted from college to the NFL are infinitely higher than getting "drafted" into the NFL from the AAF.  If you are not one of the best HS recruit candidates in the country, you likely aren't going to be offered 85K a year for 3 years by a league struggling to find viewers.  

 

Also, the is zero benefit for the NFL to loan players to this league.  And are local fans really going to be interested because there is a single NFL PS player on the AAF team roster?  Hard to imagine how any of this makes sense.  

I completely disagree. 4 practice squad players per team would definitely increase interest. There are plenty of die hard Bills fans (myself included) who would watch for one single player. You aren’t converting many casual fans but you never had much of a chance to do that anyways. 

 

Of course you aren’t recruiting the top 50 HS players in the country. Your sweet spot are the top of the next echelon. If you have a scholarship offer from, say, a UB or 30-60th ranked school. You can go take that scholarship, pretend to work on a college degree, and play football for free. Or you can go, not worry about any semblance of school work, and make 85k a year. Oh, and your talents are still showcased for the NFL draft. Perhaps even more because your playing in a league where 80% of players have had an NFL contract at some point. 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Bills2ref said:

I completely disagree. 4 practice squad players per team would definitely increase interest. There are plenty of die hard Bills fans (myself included) who would watch for one single player. You aren’t converting many casual fans but you never had much of a chance to do that anyways. 

 

Of course you aren’t recruiting the top 50 HS players in the country. Your sweet spot are the top of the next echelon. If you have a scholarship offer from, say, a UB or 30-60th ranked school. You can go take that scholarship, pretend to work on a college degree, and play football for free. Or you can go, not worry about any semblance of school work, and make 85k a year. Oh, and your talents are still showcased for the NFL draft. Perhaps even more because your playing in a league where 80% of players have had an NFL contract at some point. 

 

So prospects just out of the “top 50”would be the “sweet spot” for the AAF??

 

in their wildest dreams!!

 

 

the top 30 are 5 star recruits.  The next 260 or so are 4 stars.  Each Div 1 school has 25 scholarships to give to each feeshman class The SEC alone could take every 4 and 5 star recruit and still have full s home ships left over to give out to 3 star kids.

 

AAF’s is to pick up a few decent college players the NFL doesn’t want.  Otherwise it’s all released players or plane nobodies.

 

No pro league competing against the NFL has survived on hardcore fans who might know th names of 4 PS players on any NFL. Team.  

[RobbRiddick]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Not sure if already posted but what a story!

 

 

That's great, and what this league needs. As soon as I saw Prerez throw three or four passes last week I posted here that he looks like a real QB. You could just see it right away with his mechanics and velocity and placement. Not to say he'd ever make it in the NFL but I'd like to see a guy like him continue to play well and earn a shot at training camp with an NFL team.

[RobbRiddick]

One thing about the XFL that I do think they have in their favour, and which I think this league should copy, is to allow high school graduates to play.

 

I was thinking about this the other day and I think if the AAF allowed this it could add a tonne of interest. Imagine if certain players leaving high school were big producers and good prospects but A) they don't want to go to classes etc. B) they want to develop in a pro-style offense and C) they want to earn some money ASAP.

 

I'm not sure if any big name prospects would just totally bypass college, but imagine if some of the bigger names did? They would produce a huge amount of interest from fans and scouts alike.

 

Plus, it would eliminate the perception of these guys being scrubs, because the HS graduates wouldn't have 'failed' in the NFL yet.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

2 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

One thing about the XFL that I do think they have in their favour, and which I think this league should copy, is to allow high school graduates to play.

 

I was thinking about this the other day and I think if the AAF allowed this it could add a tonne of interest. Imagine if certain players leaving high school were big producers and good prospects but A) they don't want to go to classes etc. B) they want to develop in a pro-style offense and C) they want to earn some money ASAP.

 

I'm not sure if any big name prospects would just totally bypass college, but imagine if some of the bigger names did? They would produce a huge amount of interest from fans and scouts alike.

 

Plus, it would eliminate the perception of these guys being scrubs, because the HS graduates wouldn't have 'failed' in the NFL yet.

 

....the physicality of HS graduates versus former NFL'ers or collegians who didn't make the NFL?.......invest a hundred grand with gurney manufacturers pronto......

[RobbRiddick]

Well we'll see what happens if the XFL does it. As I say, this is the only thing I find remotely interesting about the XFL plans I've read

[PetermansRedemption]

28 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

So prospects just out of the “top 50”would be the “sweet spot” for the AAF??

 

in their wildest dreams!!

 

 

the top 30 are 5 star recruits.  The next 260 or so are 4 stars.  Each Div 1 school has 25 scholarships to give to each feeshman class The SEC alone could take every 4 and 5 star recruit and still have full s home ships left over to give out to 3 star kids.

 

AAF’s is to pick up a few decent college players the NFL doesn’t want.  Otherwise it’s all released players or plane nobodies.

 

No pro league competing against the NFL has survived on hardcore fans who might know th names of 4 PS players on any NFL. Team.  

The AAF isn’t competing against the NFL. Directly from Ebersol’s mouth. He realized leagues fail when competing against the NFL. And yes, 3 and 4 star recruits are who they need to market to. Start picking up a few of them a year. Like I’ve said twice already. The choice isn’t as obvious as you seem to believe. Have you read USFL, football for a buck? It’s a good lesson. One large lesson is that money talks. Your choice is go to college, play for free for 3 years and get drafted. While doing some school work in the process. Or go play football for 3 years for 85k a year and get drafted. 

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

7 minutes ago, Bills2ref said:

The AAF isn’t competing against the NFL. Directly from Ebersol’s mouth. He realized leagues fail when competing against the NFL. And yes, 3 and 4 star recruits are who they need to market to. Start picking up a few of them a year. Like I’ve said twice already. The choice isn’t as obvious as you seem to believe. Have you read USFL, football for a buck? It’s a good lesson. One large lesson is that money talks. Your choice is go to college, play for free for 3 years and get drafted. While doing some school work in the process. Or go play football for 3 years for 85k a year and get drafted. 

 

....NFL I believe is the only major pro sport without a "minor league system" probably because the beleaguered NFL Owners could NEVER afford it (COUGH)....they rode the freebee crest of the NCAA to develop collegians to be ready for the NFL....now the NCAA focuses on "butts in the seats", keeping boosters "happy happy" and raking in megamillions from 38+ bowl games.....they no longer focus on style conducive to NFL readiness.....hence the talk of the  leper like "Air Raid" QB never being successful in the NFL, which Mahomes has proven that blanket theory wrong.....certainly would keep more of these kids employed in football at a lesser scale than NFL after being snookered into thinking their 4 year degree in "General Studies (WTF?)" was their ticket to the big time....nothing wrong with the minor leagues IMO....sure as hell beats only being able to sign you name with an "x" and being back on the streets hoping to avoid a bullet to the head because the NFL dream vanquished....

[2020 Our Year For Sure]

Perez starting off well again. I don't know that he has an nfl arm but he seems well-suited to success in this league

[Steptide]

These teams seem decent at driving down the field and making plays, but can't seem to score 

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

So prospects just out of the “top 50”would be the “sweet spot” for the AAF??

 

in their wildest dreams!!

 

 

the top 30 are 5 star recruits.  The next 260 or so are 4 stars.  Each Div 1 school has 25 scholarships to give to each feeshman class The SEC alone could take every 4 and 5 star recruit and still have full s home ships left over to give out to 3 star kids.

 

AAF’s is to pick up a few decent college players the NFL doesn’t want.  Otherwise it’s all released players or plane nobodies.

 

No pro league competing against the NFL has survived on hardcore fans who might know th names of 4 PS players on any NFL. Team.  

 

Question: if the AAF is competing with the NFL, why is the NFL Network showing their games?

[Steptide]

16 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Question: if the AAF is competing with the NFL, why is the NFL Network showing their games?

They're not really competing. More like working with them

[PromoTheRobot]

Just now, Steptide said:

They're not really competing. More like working with them

 

That was my point responding to WEO. It's pretty obvious the NFL, while not investing in the AAF, are offering their support in other ways.

[/dev/null]

i think there's more people talking about the AAF on TSW than there are in the Birmingham stands

 

[Steptide]

These teams are insanely sloppy in the red zone 

[LeGOATski]

3 minutes ago, Steptide said:

These teams are insanely sloppy in the red zone 

Red zone scoring is tricky. That can take some time to work out, depending on your players. Other teams, like the Hotshots and Apollo's, didn't have much trouble.

[PromoTheRobot]

Pretty good game so far.

 

[Juice_32]

I’m actually enjoying these games. I like Birmingham.

[Steptide]

Only thing that would make this league more fun is if Peterman was playing in it. Screw you Jon gruden 

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, Bills2ref said:

The AAF isn’t competing against the NFL. Directly from Ebersol’s mouth. He realized leagues fail when competing against the NFL. And yes, 3 and 4 star recruits are who they need to market to. Start picking up a few of them a year. Like I’ve said twice already. The choice isn’t as obvious as you seem to believe. Have you read USFL, football for a buck? It’s a good lesson. One large lesson is that money talks. Your choice is go to college, play for free for 3 years and get drafted. While doing some school work in the process. Or go play football for 3 years for 85k a year and get drafted. 

 

Yhe USFL was competing directly with the NFL—for players.  Not long after, money DID talk, and money said “give up”...and the league folded.

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Question: if the AAF is competing with the NFL, why is the NFL Network showing their games?

 

it’s live programmung for a 24 hr pro league network with programming slots to fill.  And clearly the NFL feels it has no threat to its bottom line by airing this stuff for as long as it lasts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

since the 

[Steptide]

Man there is  nobody at these games