IFL Week 4: What We Learned

Week 4 is in the books! Every team now has a couple of games under their belt, and we're starting to see the identities of the 2024 editions of these franchises take shape. Week 4 gave us a mixed bag of good and bad this week, so let's not waste any time with a prologue and dive right in!

Here’s what we learned in Week 4: 

Northern Arizona Wranglers @ San Antonio Gunslingers

Result: 57-50 Northern Arizona

What We Learned: Northern Arizona is a contender for best offense in the IFL, while San Antonio may have the worst defense. 

NAZ QB Joshua Jones has emerged as a legitimate contender for IFL MVP through the first 4 weeks of the season. He started the season rough, but has been lights out in their 2 games since — going 30/40 for 364 yards & 8 passing TDs, 3 rushing TDs (and this includes getting pulled early when the game was seemingly in hand against San Antonio -- could be even higher). 

Wranglers’ RB/WR David Elder had a solid game against the Gunslingers as well — getting 34 yards on 9 rushes to help ice the game late in the 2nd half. With Elder emerging in the run game, you can make a case that Northern Arizona is the most balanced and efficient offense in the entire league so far. 

On the other side, San Antonio is in big trouble if they can’t get their defense figured out. Giving up 60 points per game is a nightmare start to the season and something coach Tom Menas cannot be happy about. QB Sam Castronova put up great numbers against the Wranglers (199 passing yards, 6 total TDs), but a lot of that came in garbage time when the game was already decided.

The final score of this game does tell the whole story of how this game went. At one point this was a 4 possession game in the 2nd half, when Northern Arizona pulled their starting QB out of the game — only then did San Antonio start to chip away at the lead.  

Ultimate pendulum swing for San Antonio this week compared to their season debut. 

Bay Area Panthers @ Jacksonville Sharks

Result: 48-24 Bay Area

What We Learned: Jacksonville is bad-bad & Bay Area is good-good 

In hindsight, picking Jacksonville +8.5 is one of the dumbest picks I’ve ever made. Jacksonville looked bad to start the season, Bay Area looked great. My dumb brain put too much stocking in thinking that Jacksonville would finally figuring things out on offense, and not enough stock in the fact that they look lost out there. 

Their O-line is still bad and No QB on the Sharks roster seems competent enough to string together drives. Their poor defense is doing the best that they can, but when you are getting minimal output from your offensive counterparts, you can only hold the line for so long. It’s time to press the panic button in Jacksonville. 

On the other side, the Bay Area 2024 “Run It Back” tour is full steam ahead. RB Shane Simpson had arguably the best all round RB game of the year so far, with — stats, stats, stats. Daquan Neal didn’t have to do a ton of heavy lifting in this game t get the win (thanks in part to Simpson), but did enough through the air and the ground to keep the defense honest defending him. 

Bay Area is starting to separate itself from the pack of the good teams in the league this season, and it is going to take one hell of a game to dethrone them as the top dog in the IFL. 

Green Bay Blizzard @ Quad City Steamwheelers

Result: 32-24 Green Bay

What We Learned: Green Bay is a boring team to watch, and I think they are okay with that. 

The Blizzard are a team where if you are a fan, you enjoy their style of football (yeah Big Ten football woohoo) -- but if you are a neutral third party or just a fan of Indoor Football in general, they are one of the most boring teams to watch. Green Bay went into this game with their backup QB Skyler Perry at the helm, and their game plan was pretty clear — run the ball with the QB, occasionally pitch it outside and pop up with the occasional pass to keep the defense honest. As boring as it was to watch as a neutral fan, it worked. 

They were able to dictate the tempo of the game, keep the chains moving and lean on their defense to do their job. They ended the game with 28 rushing attempts vs only 9 passing attempts, with 15 of those rushes coming from the QB Perry.

Their defense also played phenomenal, with the defensive front having themselves a DAY.

DL Scean Mustin ended the day with 2 sacks & 4.5 Tackles For Loss, and DL Rafiq Abdul-Wahid had a blocked field goal and many other heads up plays that don’t appear on the stat sheet but kept Quad City out of the end zone. 

On the other side, Quad City has to get out of their own way. They had a ton of dropped passes by their receiving corps all throughout the game, and their QB Judd Erickson looked off on portion of his throws. They started to get into a rhythm in the second half after getting WR Jarrod Harrington involved in the running game and on short routes, but getting him and RB Eddie Lander involved much earlier and much more is going to be key for their offensive identity — and will open things up for Erickson as the game goes on. 

Erickson hasn’t shown the ability to be the dual threat that Quad City needs just yet, so they are going to need that ground game production to come from somewhere. 

Iowa Barnstormers @ Tulsa Oilers

Result: 39-31 Tulsa

What We Learned: This Iowa offense straight up stinks & Tulsa’s home atmosphere might be the best in the league

Do you remember when you would play schoolyard football with your friends? When you would draw up plays in the dirt, and let the best athlete on the team play QB and he would just run around and try to make things happen? 

Now replace this QB in your memory with one that is coming off of a season ending leg injury in 2023. That is the Iowa offense. This team scored 3 points in the first half, and just looked like they were making up plays on the go. QB Darius-James Peterson has a 46.9% completion percentage on the year, and threw 3 deflating INTs vs the Oilers. The Barnstormers’ defense is playing well enough to somehow keep them in these games despite the offense & special teams shortcomings. 

On the other side, Tulsa needs to get more credit for the home atmosphere they have created in just over a year of existence. They had a tough inaugural season on the field in 2023, but they have drawn in a passionate fanbase that exceeds many in the league that have been around for MUCH longer. This BOK Center was ROCKING on the FG return TD & the kickoff return TD, and played a key part in holding on for the victory at the end. 

Tulsa’s offense is starting to look better each week, but would like to see them get into the end zone in different ways when they possess the ball. They were able to work the ball down the field for most of the game, but punching it in (outside of the QB Daniel Smith QB sneak) proved to be difficult for them. 

Tucson Sugar Skulls @ Duke City Gladiators

The Result: 56-49 Tucson

What We Learned: Duke City has to get out of their own way & Tucson QB Mylik Mitchell is a dark horse MVP candidate

Tucson’s offense looked absolutely fantastic in Week 4. QB Mylik Mitchell accounted for SEVEN touchdowns - 3 through the air and 4 on the ground — and he looked great passing the ball. He finished the day 15/18 for 153 yards passing and looked extremely comfortable and confident in the pocket. 

The Sugar Skulls offensive line played an amazing game and kept a clean pocket for the majority of the game and were the reason for their red zone success. The combination of QB Mylik Mitchell & RB Mike Jones is a nightmare for opposing defenses and had Duke City’s linebackers and secondary in a blender all game long on their read option plays. 

On the other side, Duke City’s self inflicted wounds continue to hold them back. QB Javin Kilgo had 2 more INTs this week — including a backbreaking pick in the final minute — pushing his league leading total to 7 on the year through 3 games. Duke City had some success with the running game early with RB Jeff Carr, but leaned into the pass in the second half while playing from behind. With the way the running clock rules work in the IFL, Duke City has to lean not the run more and honestly get some actual running production out of Kilgo. Right now, he is not a threat to tuck in and run or keep it on a read option, and that threat could open things up for the entire offense. 

Duke City has to figure out how to get out of their own way, because they have the talent on both sides of the ball to be 3-0 — but their self inflicted wounds have them sitting at 0-3.