This league always provides us with the what we need and always gives us a little taste of the unexpected.
Whether that is a team getting their first win of the season in Week 12, a team somehow still not having a true QB1, or a team that desparately needs a spark on offense cutting their starting QB only to have him go to a conference rival and start to light it up for them immediately and lead them to a victory in his game with the team! stares at Tulsa menacingly
So many storylines and so many different variables at play every week, yet somehow we still learn something new every week about these teams.
Here's what we learned in Week 12:
Quad City Steamwheelers @ Green Bay Blizzard
Result: 64-36 Green Bay
What We Learned: Green Bay is rolling & Quad City simply refuses to run the ball with their best player
Green Bay is quietly getting better every single week and QB Max Meylor has inserted himself into the IFL MVP conversation.
157 Pass yards / game
27 Passing TDs
4 INTs
21 Rushing TDs
The offense is like a snow flurry that slows turns into an avalanche as the game goes on. Each of the past two weeks Green Bay has been in the driver’s seat in the game but then just stomped on the gas in the second half to ice the game and put it away.
The Blizzard defense also continues to impress each week with tons of pressure on the QB and causing turnovers. As a team, they have the least PPG allowed, the most Sacks, tied for 2nd most INTs, tied for 1st in Force Fumbles and are holding their opponents to 33% conversion percentage on 3rd downs. JUST RIDICULOUS STATS!
On the other side, in past versions of this blog we’ve discussed how Quad City has QB 1A & QB 1B situation and this week it reared its head yet again. To quote myself from 5 weeks ago, “For Quad City, right when you think they have the QB situation sorted out, it gets complicated” and it could not possibly be more true now.
QB Mike Irwin started the game, but made some costly mistakes and ended up getting pulled in favor of QB Judd Erickson. But for me, the blame for how this game started to unravel falls on the game plan and coaching staff.
Heading into this game, Green Bay had the best passing defense in the league (statistically & via the eye test) but ranked 12th out of 16 teams in rushing defense. As an offense, if you were to see those numbers what would you focus your attention on in terms of game planning?
You would think that running the ball with RB PJ Vander, who is one of the most talented backs in the league, would have been a priority — but it just wasn’t. Mix in the fact that Green Bay was without a couple key members of the defense due to injury and this should have been a no brainer. Vander ended the day with just 5 carries for 19 yards and 2 TDs.
Quad City just didn’t do a good job of utilizing their strength against Green Bay’s weakness and they were exposed big time. They still control their own destiny in terms of the playoff hunt, but they certainly aren’t making it any easier on themselves.
Arizona Rattlers @ Jacksonville Sharks
Result: 62-41 Arizona
What We Learned: Arizona is keeping up with the West & Jacksonville has been played the same game for weeks now
Arizona had a bit of a scare from the Jacksonville in the first half of this one, but QB Dalton Sneed & RB Shannon Brooks maintained control of this game and showed why they are one of the most dangerous duos in the IFL.
WR Corey Reed Jr has asserted himself as a great weapon in this Rattlers offense and really opened things up vertically — and did so on the very first play from scrimmage to set the tone for the day.
Arizona is starting to find their groove on offense and is making the necessary adjustments on defense to stay competitive and keep up with the rest of the West in the playoff hunt.
On the other side, Jacksonville changed starting QBs again this season, tossing the keys to former Miami & FAU QB N'Kosi Perry. The Sharks started the game off looking feisty on offense and got into the end zone a couple of times on cheek designed QB Draws to take advantage of Perry’s athleticism. The Sharks were in this game up until halftime.
Now stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but after halftime the Sharks fell apart. They were trailing 35-34 and the end of the first half and got outscored 27-7 in the second half. Arizona adjusted, while Jacksonville did not. They had every opportunity to take control of this game, but they just couldn’t finish.
That unfortunately has been the story of the Sharks this season — good start, the other teams makes adjustments and Jacksonville has the wheels fall off in the second half.
They’ve already started the fire sale of the roster and would expect to continue to see that occur over the next couple of weeks. This team is bad and their season is donezo.
Iowa Barnstormers @ Sioux Falls Storm
Result: 47-45 Iowa
What We Learned: Iowa got a spark from a familiar face &
Early in the week, Iowa made some roster moves at the QB position. With Kyle King injured, they needed some new blood in the mix so they traded for QB Daniel Smith and released QB Darius-James Peterson.
Daniel Smith played for the Iowa Barnstormers last season, where he saw action in 12 games, and returned this year after an 8 game stint with the Tulsa Oilers. Smith got thrown right into the action following the trade by getting the start versus the Storm and he looked like he didn’t miss a beat!
He went 18 of 26 with 179 passing yards and 5 TDs through the air and provided the spark that the Barnstormers needed to hold on to any hope of making the playoffs this season.
On the other side, it might be wrap for Sioux Falls’ season. Offensively they weren’t necessarily ’bad’, but they just made a couple costly mistakes that ended up being the dagger for them.
They did a really great job of distributing the ball amongst different players in the ground game — with 5 different players getting a Rushing TD on the day — but couldn’t get enough out of their passing game pull out the win.
They slip to 2-7 on the year and will have to nearly run the board the rest of the way to get back in the playoff chase.
Massachusetts Pirates @ Frisco Fighters
Result: 52-48 Frisco
What We Learned: TJ Edwards is looking great coming off of injury & Pirates took a step in the right direction despite the loss
TJ Edwards returned in his first game back from injury and he looked great! He started off a little rusty, but ended up turning it on in the 2nd quarter and beyond — accounting for 3 TDs through the air and another 2 on the ground. WR Cole Blackman also had a really strong game, leading the Fighters with 5 catches for 74 yards and 2 TDs.
Edwards looked very mobile and back to his MVP form in the second half — where he was finding ways to extend drives and turning nothing into something and just ‘something’ into big plays. If this was the first game back, exciting times are ahead for the Frisco offense.
On the other side, despite the loss the Pirates offense took a massive step in the right direction. Isaac Zico returned to the lineup after spending a month on the IR, and he may be the most important player on the Pirates roster — which may seem shocking considering the caliber of players they have althroughout the offense, but the numbers don’t lie:
PPG this season w/ Zico - 44 PPG
PPG this season w/o Zico - 35 PPG
He seems to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Pirates offense and was the WR that Bennifield relied on the most, finding him for 7 receptions for 72 yards and a TD.
Although the progressed, the Pirates offense still looked hesitant to pull the trigger at times. It seems like QB Alejandro Bennifield was a second or two late on several progressions that result in him having to check down or throw it away and held on to the ball way too long at times. They need to be a lot quicker getting the ball out of his hands moving forward.
San Diego Strike Force @ Tulsa Oilers
Result: 42-34 San Diego
What We Learned: San Diego was good enough to control this game from start to finish & Tulsa’s offense is broken beyond repair
Going into this game, you got the feeling that San Diego was going to come in and control this game from start to finish — primarily because the Oilers offense has shown very little sign of life the past couple of weeks. The Strike Force were able to come into Tulsa and overcome a slightly bumpy start to really dictate the pace of the game and force Tulsa into a spot where they were down multiple scores pretty quickly. QB Nate Davis had a great game, throwing for 196 yards & 5 TDs, and all purpose player Rudy Johnson stepped in at RB to take the bulk of the carries and catch some deep balls as well!
Overall a great game by San Diego DESPITE how they let the spread go from a winner to a push, but I DIGRESS.
On the other side, Tulsa’s offense is very, very bad. Tulsa scored 34 points in this game, but 7 of that came on a kick return (down to 27) and 6 of that came on a gifted ball placement at the 1 yard line with seconds left in the game (down to 21).
21 points in an IFL game is NOT good. The past two weeks combined, the Tulsa Oilers offense has scored 41 points — which is one less than what San Diego scored in this game alone.
Part of the issue is that Tulsa doesn’t have an offensive identity and I don’t think they even know what they WANT to be at this point. Andre Sale is much less of a dual threat than their previous QB, so that narrows the offense down a bit. But then they don’t run the ball with their skill position players, and quite frankly Andre Sale has not shown that he is good enough to be the guy that this offense rests on or flows through.
Tulsa is going through an identity crisis on offense, and they sure could use a guy like Iowa QB Daniel Smith right about now..
Northern Arizona Wranglers @ Vegas Knight Hawks
Result: 58-52 Northern Arizona
What We Learned: Northern Arizona is legit & Vegas will be fine.. for now.
Northern Arizona is a legit force in the West and it is because of their talented rookie QB Josh Jones! He continues to impress week after week with not just his playmaking, but his ability to avoid costly mistakes. Last year, the Wranglers had a dynamic offense that had a ton of turnovers that sunk their season.
This year, the Wranglers have an offense that can be equally dynamic, but they have done an outstanding job of ball security and not making too many mistakes (2nd fewest INTs & 4th fewest penalties in the league).
They did a great job as usual of spreading the ball around and Jones led an incredible drive down field to win the game in the final minute. This was the Wranglers kicking the door down and letting it be known that they are here.
On the other side, Vegas was without QB Ja’rome Johnson in this one due to injury, so Jorge Reyna got the start. He played really well in this one, but just had a tough interception to start the game that put Vegas behind a possession for the majority of the game — essentially giving NAZ the opportunity to start each half with a TD.
Vegas took the leading on an electrifying deuce with 56 seconds left, but couldn’t get a last stop to hold on the win.
The good news is that they went toe to toe with Northern Arizona without their star QB — but the bad news is this is the second time Johnson has missed time due to injury like this.
With Ja’rome Johnson in the lineup, this team is dangerous and can score at any moment. But the last two games have resulted in losses when he was not able to either finish the game or compete at all due to injury.
When he’s in the game and healthy, Johnson & the Knight Hawks has the ability to beat any team in the league. But does he have the durability to make it all the way through the end of the season?
Duke City Gladiators @ Tucson Sugar Skulls
Result: 21-20
What We Learned: Neither of these teams are good, but somebody had to win?
This was an ugly one, folks.
Duke City got their first win of the year in Tucson, but this game was the tale of two halves. In the first half, Duke City scored 0 points while Tucson was able to move the ball down field and be somewhat competent on offense.
In the second half, it was the opposite. Tucson scored 0 points and Duke City was able to move to score just enough to get the win.
This was by far one of the ugliest games of football I’ve seen this season — and this is coming from a guy who watched all 60 minutes of Tulsa-Massachusetts last week.
Duke City was without QB Joe Mancuso (who asked for his release earlier in the week) and they had very few bright spots on offense. WR Gourney Sloan & RB Jeff Carr seemed to get the bulk of the touches in the passing game and the defense really stepped up in the second half.
On the other side, Tucson took an interesting approach to this game offensively but just got sunk by bad turnovers early and late in the game. First play from scrimmage, Mylik Mitchell threw a bad interception. Last Tucson play from scrimmage, he threw another bad interception that was a miscommunication with the receiver in the end zone.
I had high hopes for Tucson this season but they have been a huge let down. Congrats to Duke City for getting their first win of the year, but this was a game that neither team deserved to win (at least on offense).
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