Week 2 is officially in the books!
It was a short two-game slate this week, where we had a Friday night game featured on Vice TV that had many, many points scored and a Saturday night edition of #AF1AfterDark that left you in shock and awe at every corner.
We have finally seen every team in action this season and this'll be the last bite sized two-game slate until Week 10. It's still early and teams are going to grow and improve from here, but here's what we learned in Week 2 of the 2025 AF1 Season:
Southwest Kansas Storm @ Albany Firebirds
Result: 78-20 Albany
What We Learned: The Firebirds are just as dangerous as we thought & SW Kansas regressed to the mean after a white hot start to the season
The Albany Firebirds spent the season re-tooling their team and essentially building a wrecking crew on both sides of the ball -- notably signing QB Sam Castronova from the IFL's San Antonio Gunslingers & WR Duane Brown from the Billings Outlaws on offense, bringing in DB Derrick Jones & DL Ezekiel Rose from the Nashville Kats on defense & special teams ace K Henry Nell from the IFL's Massachusetts Pirates (yes there were other free agents they brought in but I'm limiting to handful for the purposes of this blog).
Each of those names had a sizable impact on this game and really set the tone for what to expect from the Firebirds this season. Castronova threw for 7 TDs (with Brown catch 2 of them along with 6 catches for 89 yards) and the entire defensive line was disruptive all game -- resulting in multiple picks for the defense (one by the aforementioned Derrick Jones).
It is very clear that Albany is one of the main favorites to make a run this year, and if THIS is how they started... imagine how they'll improve each week.
For Southwest Kansas, they got off to a great start with a big TD run by QB Jalen Morton to get on the board early, but the offense couldn't do much after that. The Albany defense was playing very physical from the start of the game and seemed to throw the Storm offense off of their game plan.
Storm WR Da'Quan Bailey Brown went down with an injury in the first half (with what we now know is a torn achilles tendon) and the game was basically a wrap since then. There wasn't much the Storm defense could do to slow down Albany & there wasn't much the offense could do to get going.
It was a quick turnaround for the Storm in terms of travel (Sunday night last weekend in Washington to Friday night in Albany), so the impact of the schedule can't be ignored -- but they'll look to regroup quickly as they take on the Oregon Lightning at home in Week 3.
Oregon Lightning @ Washington Wolfpack
Result: 35-28 Washington
What We Learned: Oregon needs to learn how to finish, Ed Crouch is the guy in Washington & #AF1AfterDark voodoo magic is real.
The cliche "it was a tale of two halves" is overblown and constantly overused...
But I'll be damned this game was the tale of two halves! The Lightning started off strong in the first half, with QB Dalton Cole slinging the ball all over the yard and quickly jumping out to a 22-0 lead in the first half. But then suddenly, it seemed like Oregon forgot how to play football for a full quarter and a half.
They were called for a ton of false start penalties (and could have been called for more tbh) and seemed to really have trouble throughout the game with the Center to QB snapping. They opened the door wide open for Washington to comeback and before you knew it that 22-0 lead turned into a 35-22 deficit in the blink of an eye.
They managed to put another dent in the deficit to make it 35-28, but then SOMEHOW they managed to get the ball back with 10 seconds left and had two shots at a hail mary, but came up empty handed for both.
Dalton Cole has 483 passing yards & 7 Passing TDs so far on the year in two games, but they have no wins to show for it. Oregon looked much better than their opening game against Billings, but they gotta get things figured out quickly before heading over to Dodge City to face the Storm.
On the other side, Washington... pulls up chair... please take a seat. We need to talk.
QB Ed Crouch was signed earlier this week and had high praise from Coach JR Wells, saying "we expect him to take over this league". So naturally, you trot out the other QB with a FRACTURED HAND out there for the start.
WHAT.
HUH.
QUÈ.
Oregon jumped out to a quick 22-0 lead and the Wolfpack offense just couldn't get much going, so Coach Wells pulled the trigger and put Crouch out there and suddenly the Wolfpack offense started to get into rhythm.
Throw in some absolutely chaotic Oregon Lightning turnovers and suddenly the game tied 22-22 after halftime in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Mix in the first #BigManTD in AF1 history and it seemed like the Wolfpack offense could do no wrong in the second half.
Crouch was able to come in and throw for 8/15 for 62 yards and FOUR TDs, and with that being only roughly one half and change worth of work on a short week for Crouch -- that's pretty good.
Ed Crouch clearly needs to be the guy moving forward and extra reps in practice and in the bye week will be critical, as the Billings Outlaws are next on the schedule for Washington.
What were your biggest takeaways from Week 2? Follow Off The Wall on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok & BlueSky and let me know!
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